Geno Auriemma Plays Quotations

I don't know which team we're going to see: the team that we've known in the past that plays really well or the one we haven't seen before that's backed into a corner and in danger of not making the Big East tournament.

She has too much ability to not play well. She just came out and just shot it and made plays. She found a way to be a real basketball player (Tuesday) as opposed to just somebody who plays point guard at Connecticut and runs up and down the floor. (Tuesday) she was a real basketball player.

I don't want to be afraid to run and be afraid to lose and worry about it. I just want to go and run and up down the floor and make some plays and see what happens. That's when we're at our best.

If we play as well as we're capable of playing, we're going to win (tonight) regardless of what Rutgers does. If we don't play our 'A' or to the best of our ability, then there's a pretty good chance that if Rutgers plays well we're going to lose. And that's the way it should be when you play against a really good team. But, you know what? We're home. We're in our building. And the expectation level is we're going to win. That's the bottom line.

I thought we ran so much that we got a little bit tired. We need more contributions from more people if we're going to keep playing like this. You worry this time of year that you get hesitant and tentative and it becomes a walk-it-up kind of game. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want to be afraid to run and afraid to lose. I just want to run up and down and make some plays and see what happens.

There are a lot of good players back, a lot of good teams. I'm anxious to see how this plays out.

I've been in their situation enough times where you come in and you feel like you've got every answer to every question that comes up. And you know the only way you can lose is if you don't play to your ability. I'm sure Duke feels the same way. (Duke) plays in a manner that leads you to believe they're going to win a national championship.

Our defense bails us out a lot of times. Say what you will about both Rutgers games and how bad we were offensively, we had a chance to win. I used to have teams that made every play, every time. Now we're looking at a team that maybe doesn't have the ability to make every play, every time. But what we have to do is make certain plays at key times. If we can do that, we'll be all right.

She'll make plays that are just really key without being in the box score. She's one of those guys at the end of the game, you look and you say, 'What did Will do?' Well, if you weren't at the game and you didn't watch it, you don't know what Will did. And that's Will. And that's always been Will from Day 1 that she's stepped on the floor at Connecticut. She drives you crazy with what she could do and then she amazes you with what she actually does.

Any time you go on the road and you have to make plays to win and you do make them, it's a huge confidence booster.

Ann stepped up and made some huge plays that ended up deciding the game.

You worry at this time of the year that you get a little bit hesitant, a little bit tentative, and it becomes a walk-it-up, grind-it-out game. I don?t want it to be like that. I don?t want to be afraid to run and afraid to lose and worry about ?What if.? I just want to go and run up and down the floor and make some plays and see what happens ? that?s when we?re at our best.

You can't just run plays against a good defensive team. You've got to make them. We let one (bad) play lead to another and another and another ... until it just got completely away from us.

It's easier to fix the plays at the end because they are one-shot deals. What got us 13 down is a little bit harder to fix. I'd have disappointed if it went from 13 to 20. The fact that it went from 13 to two, that's a positive. But getting down 13 on your home court against a Rutgers team that we knew coming in was going to be hard to guard in the perimeter, I'm just really disappointed in the way we came out and played the game.

We got the big lead and we had a chance, when pressure came, to really make some plays to extend it. But we let one play lead to another to another to another. It just got completely away from us. I guess credit their defense, but I was just looking at the stat sheet.

I don't think we forced the ball and tried to make plays that are hard to make. We tried to keep it simple. You look at it, how many turnovers should you have when you play Albany? Seven is a good number. If it were 17, I'd be really disappointed. But those seven could easily be 17 or 20 next week against a better team. You hope it gets better every game where our guys see things.