George Washington University Athletics
GW/Xavier Post-Game Quotes
2/3/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 3, 2010
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Feb. 3, 2010
Final: No. 7/7 Xavier 72, George Washington 56
Post-Game Quotes
GW Coach Mike Bozeman
You played with them for the first four minutes, then after that they went on a streak. What turned?
"I think for the first four minutes we were playing Xavier - and a couple minutes after that we started playing the (WNBA's Washington) Mystics. They are good. (Xavier Coach) Kevin (McGuff) does a great job with them. My assistant coaches do a great job with scouting, they try to find out what they are running, and we try to build a scheme to combat that, try to slow them down. They just have the players that (even) if you are there, you just get scored on. It's a tough cover. But you don't get that way by accident, you don't get to No. 7 in the nation by accident. Kevin does a great job with them. You've got to give credit to Xavier, they started enforcing their will on us."
"Right when you think you kind of have them figured out, somebody else steps up. That's a sign of a good team. Other than the 17-3 record, which is a sign of a good team, when you are playing against them, you have a feeling like 'Okay, you just don't have enough guns.'"
"Again, we are so young, but my girls don't have any quit in them. To be honest with you, at about the seven-minute mark you could see Kevin kind of shutting it down a little bit, but even up to that point we were making nice runs, nice stands. Tiana has been a point guard for four games now so I just think that giving up of herself to move over to a position she hasn't been playing is a testament to the kind of girls that we have. Again, it's not a somber attitude in our locker room. We are not doing back flips, but the girls are going to fight until the end. We have a game, it's college basketball on a high level, so we don't have time to sit back and moan about this one. We have to get ready for Saturday."
"I know the future of GW women's basketball is bright. It's encouraging to me. I can always look back at the film and look at the effort. I know what these girls are fighting through. Nobody wants to be on the losing end of a game like this, but nobody wants to have a 5-16 record either, they didn't come here for this. That's not the history of George Washington women's basketball. So there's a certain smack in the face we have to take with the circumstances that are going on right now, but there's a pride that will remain in that locker room that makes me proud...to see how hard they are fighting for it."
GW sophomore guard Tiana Myers
What do you take away from a game like this?
"I'm actually proud of my teammates. We stuck together throughout the game, we didn't hang our heads. It's a learning experience. We are young, but we executed like the coaches told us, we listened to each other. Even though we lost by 16, we still encouraged each other throughout the whole game. We stayed focused."
On moving to point guard
"Going from the two to the one, it allowed me to calm down. I'm more focused because I have to get my teammates involved. It helps me to be more unselfish - not saying I was selfish before (laugh) - but I just have to focus on my teammates more...learning how they play, executing off of them and feeding off of them. In the two spot I was always in a rush. At the one it makes me relax and look at what's going on. Just step back and take a deep breath and not be in such a hurry, just to analyze the game more.
Coach Bozeman adds: She's a very cerebral player. It's allowed her to take control more. It's given her a freedom for having more responsibility. It takes a special player to do that.
Xavier Coach Kevin McGuff
A little bit of a slow start, but then a spurt...
"Once we started playing with a little more energy we were able to turn them over which allowed us to get transitions and some easy baskets. Tonight we were really good at times, but at times we were also a little lackadaisical. I was a little disappointed in the second half. For us where we are right now we really have to stay focused in making sure we take every opportunity to improve whether it be a game or a practice. Tonight we certainly hoped we could play a little bit better."
"It can't be about the score, it has to be about how we are playing, our process and doing the things that make us a special team. We got away from that a little bit in the second half and to give George Washington credit, they played really hard in the second half and they kept playing. They played really well in the second half."
"We are at our best when we have balance."
Xavier sophomore guard Tyeasha Moss
On their No. 7 national ranking, any extra thoughts?
"My extra thought is that I'm not really satisfied. I kinda think that we could do better. I'm not satisfied with our ranking."
