Feb. 18, 2010
Coach Beth Burns
Weekly Press Conference Quotes
Opening Statement:
"As are most basketball teams in this stage of February, we are in a mode where every game looms very large. TCU had really distanced themselves from everybody else, but from two through eight, I believe, we had two games maximum separation. For us to end a drought and our three-game losing skid and to play as well as we did against the definitive best team in our league was just really big in many, many ways. Now you hope we can just bottle that up and get back at it and go to a difficult place where no one in our locker room has ever won at Utah. That will be a challenge..."
On the mood of the locker room after the win over TCU:
"It was our third game in seven days. With the uniqueness of our league and throw in tv into the mix, it couldn't have been more challenging. The irony to me, of the three games on paper, that one would be the most challenging and the one maybe, we could not be successful at. But because of the position we put ourselves in, I think we into that game with a level of intensity and concentration that we had to have and then you just hope (your game plan) works. Confidence and success goes hand-in-hand.
"TCU is head and shoulders better than everybody else. We all have flaws and to show that on our best day that you could argue that everybody who played the game played pretty much to their ability level - our challenge has been to have that happen in one game. If we can continue to understand that is what we need to do, we know we've already beaten probably the odds on favorite with only four games left to be the champion of our league, which is what you need to finish and go into Las Vegas."
On the team's attitude during the three-game losing streak:
"I just think frustration is probably the biggest thing. Whether it's frustration or whether it's been bad breaks - that's life. Life has people that have been hurt or out or in or stuff that happens. We've had busses break down, we've had flight delays - you name it, we've had it. When things don't go well they kind of snowball a little bit. It's not rocket science. We had good work on Sunday and Monday and a good performance on Tuesday. When we don't have good work, hope is not a strategy."
On if the losing streak was just about being in the grind of the season:
"New Mexico to me above all of them, was totally on us. It was a game that we had to get. If you want to win this league, you have to win at home. We didn't play particularly well (at New Mexico), but we played well enough and beat them pretty good. As much as you can tell our team, you can't know how a (visiting) team is going to come in here, because they've been carryng it around for eight games. We didn't match their intensity level and they were bound and determined to beat us and we allowed it to happen.
"I thought we played really well at Wyoming. They made three shots with one second left on the shot clock off the bank. Then you add in that it's two losses in a row and that's what we took to Las Vegas. I think the game at TCU and at Wyoming we just lost the game. Sometimes you just lose, because the other team is better that night. Every other (loss) we had a hand in what happened. I'm glad the TCU game this past week fell where it is, because basketball is all about March. No one will remember anything that happened in November if we can continue to gain confidence on what just happened (Tuesday)."