Angel McCoughtry had 18 points and seven rebounds and former UConn star Tina Charles added 16 points and seven rebounds as the U.S. beat previously undefeated Turkey 89-58 on Wednesday to clinch a berth in the knockout stage of the Olympics.
Lindsay Whalen added nine points, seven rebounds and two assists as the U.S. improved to 3-0 in Group A. Former UConn star Asjha Jones was rewarded with the start on her 32nd birthday and finished with eight points, four rebounds, three assists, one steal and a blocked shot.
Next up is a rematch of the 2010 FIBA World Championship gold medal game when the U.S. faces the Czech Republic. If the U.S. wins and China beats Turkey on Wednesday, the winner of Friday's U.S./China game will win Group A and draw the No. 4 team out of Group B which is Canada at the current time.
Here are some quotes from Geno Auriemma and former UConn stars Maya Moore and Diana Taurasi courtesy of USA Basketball
Geno Auriemma
On tonight’s game:
My views haven’t changed that
much from the last time we played Turkey. When I saw them play in the European
qualifier I thought they looked great. They were clearly one of the top two
teams in the tournament. Watching them play leading up to our game, I haven’t
changed my mind one bit; they have been shooting the ball great. They did that
tonight too. They are a very difficult team to match up with. Last time we
played them their big guys really hurt us, tonight we did a really good job on
their big guys, but their guards really hurt us. They are not an easy team to
prepare for. I thought … Lindsay’s (Whalen) kind of the captain of those
commandos that come in the latter part of the first quarter about the
five-minute mark and they come in and they kind of changed the tempo of the game
and that’s what happened again tonight; she’s been a great leader for them and a
great leader for us. Angel McCoughtry was the difference in the game today …
without question.
On Lindsay Whalen:
When Lindsay was in college
and we were getting ready to play them in the Final Four, I thought she was a
great combination of someone who was hard-nosed and smart, creative. She is
what a guard is supposed to be. Back in the day you had guards, forwards, and
centers. Then somewhere along the line somebody screwed it up and said you have
to have a point guard, two guard, small forward, and all that other stuff.
Lindsay’s just an old fashioned guard from back in the day, the way she
looks, the way she plays. When I watched her in the pros before I had the
chance to coach her I was like, ‘man, this kid doesn’t have any fun playing. She
needs to smile more. She needs to love life and enjoy herself.’ When I got to
know her a little bit at the World Championships and people ask me what was the
most surprising part of the (USA) World Championship Team for you, and I say
Lindsay Whalen. Her attitude, the work ethic that she brings, the confidence
that I have in her is unquestioned. She belongs here, some people might not
have not known that until she won a WNBA Championship last year, but she’s
belonged here for a long time and I’m proud to have her.
On scoring stretches of the defense:
The
difficult thing for us is to have any continuity in our half-court offense,
simply because we haven’t had a chance to spend a lot of time together. A lot
of our offense has to generate from our defense. It took awhile because these
guys are hard to play against. They’re really hard to play against, as most
International teams are, but these guys especially because their ball movement
and the way they make you chase them around, it’s not easy. But, there was a lot
of stretches there when our defense caught up to them and got there ahead of
time sometimes. That’s this team’s best quality is getting out in transition.
We’re going to have to do that. If it just comes down to walk it up the floor
and play strictly on our offense, that’s going to be a struggle for us.
On how the team is shaping up:
Each game we have
gotten better at doing some things that you’re going to need to do to win here
in this tournament. Each game we’ve had longer and longer stretches where we
have been consistently good on offense. Defensively we’re getting better. The
hardest thing in this tournament is playing good defense, because they’re so
well balanced. Every team is well balanced. The minute you make a mistake on
somebody, you’re gonna get hurt on somebody else. We’ve had longer and longer
stretches where we ‘ve been very good. That’s what you have to hope for at this
point, just make sure we get better every game.
Maya Moore
On tonight’s game:
We
were shaky at times in the first quarter. It wasn’t what we wanted. Beginning
of the third quarter we didn’t make it hard enough for them, but overall that
was the type of game we wanted defensively.
On having players with injuries:
Everybody’s got
to deal with that, so it’s an equal playing field. IT’s not anything we’re not
used to. It’s how the World Championships are … that’s what we do all year.
Overseas … well for us overseas coming out to the US. We’re always playing and
it’s something we have to maintain and make sure we are proactive with our
bodies but like I said, everybody has to deal with it.
On the winning streak:
We want to win every ball
game. What happened in the past is in the past, we are proud of it which is the
most important thing. We’ve made some mistakes in international play but we
were able to fix them by the time the Olympics rolled around. That seems to be
the right recipe, to learn from your mistakes before the Olympics. When you are
at the Olympics you make sure you execute every game. We have been working
hard, taking advantage of our off days, to practice and not just sit around so
when we go into each game we are confident we’re going to win.
Diana Taurasi
Is a tight game like this for a while good for this team at this
point?They play basketball too. They work hard and have a
talented bunch of players, we all know them really well; they’ve been training
for two or three months together and you can tell they’ve played together for a
long time. Some games take a little longer, we did some good things out there
today that we can build on. I think it was a good game for
us.
What’s the biggest thing this group needs to work
on?
There’s probably things in the half court
that we need to get a little bit better at on both ends and that just comes with
being a little bit more focused on communicating and being on the same page and
that just comes with more playing time which is kind of limited at this
point.
What do you think going into the next one, what’s the
one thing as a group that you guys will really focus on?
I
think defensively we probably gave up more uncontested shots than we would have
liked and that comes from breaking people down on the perimeter and obviously
help comes and they kick and these are good shooting teams so those are things
were going to have to limit a little more.
Do you feel like
there’s a target on your back and everyone is gunning for the
U.S.?
Yeah, but at the same time we’re gunning for everyone
else too. You don’t get a gold medal just because of your reputation and your
history. You have to go out there and fight for it and grab it, so we’re putting
targets on people too.
On the depth of the team:
That’s always been our
strength. Probably go back twenty years and that’s usually been our strong
suit … having 11 players that can go in the game and you feel just as
comfortable with any five combinations you put out there. That’s pretty special
about our team.
On the second unit tonight:
They did great.
They come in with a lot of energy, create a lot of havoc. Tonight they played
really well again.
No comments:
Post a Comment