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The University of Utah Athletics
Quotes From Lynne Roberts Weekly Press Conference
1/9/2018 4:46 PM | Women's Basketball
Opening Statement...
"We are coming off of a good weekend on the road. We got the road sweep, which is the first time we have done that since joining the Pac-12, so that is a good step for us in the right direction. Any wins on the road in this league we will be excited to take. It is early still in conference play, still lots to improve upon and there is always good competition coming in, every weekend is tough. So, we feel good about this last weekend, but we know we have to move on. We play UCLA at home on Friday and then USC on Sunday, and they are both really good. As much as we felt good about last weekend, we are moving on and focusing on two tough opponents at home this weekend."
On if there is anything that she can carry over from tough road games to the tough home opponents this weekend...
"I think it is just a confidence thing. I thought we played pretty dang well at Washington on Friday. I think we were up by around 30 at some point and then we kind of just relaxed a little bit and didn't have a great fourth quarter, so we have to continue to learn to finish games. Sunday, we just were not the best version of ourself, at all. We were down 13 with three minutes to go in the third quarter and I am just proud of our team on finding a way to win and just showing that toughness. The mentality to just hang in there and find a way is something we can take moving forward. We don't have to play our best to compete. I didn't feel like offensively we were very good at all and we still scored 81 points. We are scoring the ball really well and we are scoring a lot of points, but when we watched the film back offensively, we were frustrated. But I think we can gain some confidence from that. We watched film yesterday of all of our turnovers and said we have to clean this up and it is a lot better to learn after a win, even though sometimes you have to lose to learn that lesson."
On what she thinks makes this year's team different...
"As a staff, this is our third year here, so we are still changing the culture to make it how we want it to be. This is my 16th year as a head coach and one of the things I always mandate with my teams is that physical and mental toughness. That is coming into place. By year three, that is when culture starts to set in and I think we are just a little bit tougher. With that said, we have more depth, we have more balance and we just continue to recruit what we are trying to do on both ends of the floor. I think everything is settling in a little bit in terms of how we want to run the program, how we want to play, how we want to defend, how we want to conduct ourselves. The main thing from this weekend is we showed some of that toughness that we haven't shown in years past."
On Daneesha Provo's recent performances and what she thinks might be attributing to that...
"She is playing great. It hasn't just been in conference though, she has been playing really well all season long. When Tori Williams went down with an ankle injury in the first minute against Arizona, up until that point Daneesha had been coming off the bench. It was quite a luxury having someone like that coming off the bench, but now she has been in the starting five because Tori has been hobbled with an ankle. So, I think her production has been up some because of that, but she is also just playing confidently. She has kind of a poise about her that she hasn't shown in previous seasons. She is just a junior and sometimes it takes players a little bit longer, but she is shooting the ball really well, making good decisions and not turning it over, but then defensively she is probably our best on-ball defender. She has the luxury and fun job of defending the opposing team's best perimeter player. She is playing tremendously and we are proud of her and just letting her do her thing."
On the team's rebounding this season...
"Like I said earlier, toughness is big on my teams and rebounding is probably the other important one for me. For me, there is no excuse for not being a good rebounding team. I don't care if you are short or tall or athletic or not athletic, you can be a good rebounding team. People say it is 90-percent desire, but I think it is 100-percent. There are some athleticism things that maybe make you a little bit more effective, but you can rebound no matter what. I firmly believe from a coaching standpoint that if you have a team that can rebound well, you are going to be a pretty good defensive team, you don't have to shoot great. At Washington we won because we had 20 offensive rebounds and like 24 second chance points, that was a quarter of our offense. So that is something that is a non-negotiable if you want to play here and play for me, you better buckle up and be committed to rebounding. That is something I have always done and I believe in it fully. It can win you games when other things aren't going well."
On Tilar Clark's game winning free throws...
"She had just turned the ball over with 50 seconds to go and it was not her best moment at all. We were up two when that happened and they went down and scored off of free throws because we fouled. Then we advanced the ball with 7.5 seconds to go and we drew something out, but Washington ended up scrapping it and it didn't work, so Emily Potter shot kind of an elbow jumper and Tilar flew in there and got the rebound, put it back up, missed, got the rebound again and put it back up and got fouled and they called it. She didn't play great for 39 minutes and 58 seconds, and she would tell you that, but just the toughness to hang with the play and then they reviewed it to make sure the foul happened before the horn went off, so we got to stand there and think about her free throws for about two minutes, so even more time for her to think about it. But she stepped up and sent them in and it showed toughness. It was a good encapsulation of what you have to do sometimes. Things might not be going great for you or the team, but just hang in there and give yourselves a chance to win."
On UCLA...
"We use the word toughness and confidence and we aren't going to need it more than when we play UCLA this weekend. They are so good, athletic and aggressive that if we aren't hanging in there and keep coming back, then it will be a long night. If we can hang in there and just attack them with that fearless attitude, then it could be a fun game to be a part of."
"We are coming off of a good weekend on the road. We got the road sweep, which is the first time we have done that since joining the Pac-12, so that is a good step for us in the right direction. Any wins on the road in this league we will be excited to take. It is early still in conference play, still lots to improve upon and there is always good competition coming in, every weekend is tough. So, we feel good about this last weekend, but we know we have to move on. We play UCLA at home on Friday and then USC on Sunday, and they are both really good. As much as we felt good about last weekend, we are moving on and focusing on two tough opponents at home this weekend."
On if there is anything that she can carry over from tough road games to the tough home opponents this weekend...
"I think it is just a confidence thing. I thought we played pretty dang well at Washington on Friday. I think we were up by around 30 at some point and then we kind of just relaxed a little bit and didn't have a great fourth quarter, so we have to continue to learn to finish games. Sunday, we just were not the best version of ourself, at all. We were down 13 with three minutes to go in the third quarter and I am just proud of our team on finding a way to win and just showing that toughness. The mentality to just hang in there and find a way is something we can take moving forward. We don't have to play our best to compete. I didn't feel like offensively we were very good at all and we still scored 81 points. We are scoring the ball really well and we are scoring a lot of points, but when we watched the film back offensively, we were frustrated. But I think we can gain some confidence from that. We watched film yesterday of all of our turnovers and said we have to clean this up and it is a lot better to learn after a win, even though sometimes you have to lose to learn that lesson."
On what she thinks makes this year's team different...
"As a staff, this is our third year here, so we are still changing the culture to make it how we want it to be. This is my 16th year as a head coach and one of the things I always mandate with my teams is that physical and mental toughness. That is coming into place. By year three, that is when culture starts to set in and I think we are just a little bit tougher. With that said, we have more depth, we have more balance and we just continue to recruit what we are trying to do on both ends of the floor. I think everything is settling in a little bit in terms of how we want to run the program, how we want to play, how we want to defend, how we want to conduct ourselves. The main thing from this weekend is we showed some of that toughness that we haven't shown in years past."
On Daneesha Provo's recent performances and what she thinks might be attributing to that...
"She is playing great. It hasn't just been in conference though, she has been playing really well all season long. When Tori Williams went down with an ankle injury in the first minute against Arizona, up until that point Daneesha had been coming off the bench. It was quite a luxury having someone like that coming off the bench, but now she has been in the starting five because Tori has been hobbled with an ankle. So, I think her production has been up some because of that, but she is also just playing confidently. She has kind of a poise about her that she hasn't shown in previous seasons. She is just a junior and sometimes it takes players a little bit longer, but she is shooting the ball really well, making good decisions and not turning it over, but then defensively she is probably our best on-ball defender. She has the luxury and fun job of defending the opposing team's best perimeter player. She is playing tremendously and we are proud of her and just letting her do her thing."
On the team's rebounding this season...
"Like I said earlier, toughness is big on my teams and rebounding is probably the other important one for me. For me, there is no excuse for not being a good rebounding team. I don't care if you are short or tall or athletic or not athletic, you can be a good rebounding team. People say it is 90-percent desire, but I think it is 100-percent. There are some athleticism things that maybe make you a little bit more effective, but you can rebound no matter what. I firmly believe from a coaching standpoint that if you have a team that can rebound well, you are going to be a pretty good defensive team, you don't have to shoot great. At Washington we won because we had 20 offensive rebounds and like 24 second chance points, that was a quarter of our offense. So that is something that is a non-negotiable if you want to play here and play for me, you better buckle up and be committed to rebounding. That is something I have always done and I believe in it fully. It can win you games when other things aren't going well."
On Tilar Clark's game winning free throws...
"She had just turned the ball over with 50 seconds to go and it was not her best moment at all. We were up two when that happened and they went down and scored off of free throws because we fouled. Then we advanced the ball with 7.5 seconds to go and we drew something out, but Washington ended up scrapping it and it didn't work, so Emily Potter shot kind of an elbow jumper and Tilar flew in there and got the rebound, put it back up, missed, got the rebound again and put it back up and got fouled and they called it. She didn't play great for 39 minutes and 58 seconds, and she would tell you that, but just the toughness to hang with the play and then they reviewed it to make sure the foul happened before the horn went off, so we got to stand there and think about her free throws for about two minutes, so even more time for her to think about it. But she stepped up and sent them in and it showed toughness. It was a good encapsulation of what you have to do sometimes. Things might not be going great for you or the team, but just hang in there and give yourselves a chance to win."
On UCLA...
"We use the word toughness and confidence and we aren't going to need it more than when we play UCLA this weekend. They are so good, athletic and aggressive that if we aren't hanging in there and keep coming back, then it will be a long night. If we can hang in there and just attack them with that fearless attitude, then it could be a fun game to be a part of."
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Basketball
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