Alabama vs. Southeastern Louisiana: Postgame Quotes
12/2/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 2, 2011
Head Coach Wendell Hudson
On not playing perfect, but leading the entire game:
"Well, you're never going to give a win up. We'll definitely take the win, but we didn't play as hard as we needed to play and didn't do some things that we needed to do on the court, and that is a bit of a concern. When you're trying to build a program, it goes beyond just winning the game, and the way you play. I thought we kind of played hard, but I really didn't feel like we played very smart."
On Jessica Merritt's return to the team:
"She's very athletic. Jessica Merritt, her first game back, I thought she was the one serious bright spot in the way we played tonight, because not only did she get to the basket and she's quick offensively to get things done, but defensively she brought some energy out there for us to get us going. For us, we've just got to get Jessica Merritt in basketball playing shape. We need her to be back on the court, and we need her to be ready from a standpoint to get ready to play and help this basketball team. To continue the rest of the season, we need her and we need Kyra Crosby to come back because some of these substitution patterns and some of these problems we have is because, when you put a team together, and you go through it, you need and hope to have everyone back ready to play together, and that's not where we are right now."
On Erin Hogue's performance:
"Erin is just outworking people. You look at her stat line, and we'll take 11 rebounds and 10 points every night. Erin is playing with a lot of energy, and she is getting better and better."
On Sunday's game against Kansas:
"I don't think there's any doubt that Kansas is the toughest team we've played. When we went up there last year, we went up against a really good basketball team. That was the game, from a coaching standpoint, where we said 'we've got to be better to beat Kansas than we were tonight'. You can't just turn it on and turn it off. We've kind of had peaks and valleys here, and tonight was kind of a valley, and I'm glad we won the basketball game, but if this was a two point win, and we were playing together, and we were doing the things we were asking them to do, then I would feel much better about getting ready to play Kansas. We're going to come back here tomorrow and practice, and hopefully get some things straightened out."
#23 Ericka Russell, Guard
On what the team did well:
"We did not do much well tonight; we did not play Alabama basketball. We didn't come out with a lot of energy and did not play as a team. We will definitely have a lot to work on in practice tomorrow. The one good thing is that we got the win. That was the only positive part about it."
On coming off of a week break:
"I am not going to make any excuses. You have to come out ready to play every game, every tip-off. I do not know what the deal was tonight."
#33 Jessica Merritt, Guard
On coming off of her injury:
"I was more eager than anything. I wanted to do well so bad that I think I jumped in a little too strong, made a couple of mistakes, but that is the game. I tried to play the ball that I knew I could."
On her key points in the second period:
"You have to ease yourself into the game. As the game went on I gained momentum and my confidence came back."
