Postgame Quotes: Alabama vs. Duke
11/16/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 
Alabama Head Coach Kristy Curry
Opening Statement:
"The first thing I want to do is say that I appreciate the crowd that came out on this rainy night. As we build the program, the support that stayed in that gym tonight, no matter the score, was absolutely incredible and from the bottom of my heart, I appreciate them. We are going to take every step, everything, to surround this program and continue to work, and I hope those folks will come back and stick with us as we build and continue to support us. It was awesome.
"Secondly, you credit Duke on a night like tonight. When you go back and look now, we shot 55 shots to their 56 and they just made a lot more than we did. Whether it was what they did defensively or offensively, we just couldn't make a shot. You credit them, you move on, you learn and you grow. You have to get into the gym and continue to get shots up. You credit Duke and wish them the best. There was an all-American in every spot, and they played like it tonight."
On if she was pleased with the team:
"Yeah, I think we are all trying to stay positive. We certainly had a lack of effort and desire, but you just have to learn from these experiences. I was pleased with their character and that they tried."
On what she learned about her team tonight:
"We are just very inexperienced. I saw improvement from Hannah. It just takes time. They are trying to learn how to handle a day off and going to class. We are just extremely inexperienced. Today there was a little more adversity, so I learned more about how they react to that adversity and how I can handle it better, do a better job than I did."
On Hannah Cook's first start:
"It was good, but we lost. I know that bothers her and it matters to her that we lost. My challenge is to Hannah, is those freshmen, that they have to learn how to practice as hard as they play in a game. We just need to work on our practice habits."
#11 Hannah Cook, Guard
On what she learned about herself:
"I learned that I need to get in the gym more. I need to get shots up more and just can't be intimidated by the teams we play. I can't act like a freshman. You got to step up, all the time. I learned a lot."
On how she lost her shoe:
"First, I didn't know what to do. If your shoe comes off, you think the play would stop, but it didn't. I just threw my shoe and tried to get back on defense, but I just kind of slid everywhere. Then (Briana Hutchen) got the rebound, luckily she saw me, and that kind of got everyone hyped. It was a great feeling."
#20 Ashley Williams, Forward
On how the team kept fighting:
"I credit the team that we still fought. Sometimes we had our heads down, but we would get into our huddles, just start all over and it was a new play."
On what the team learned from tonight:
"Like coach said, we need to get into the gym. We had 55 shots to their 56, ours just didn't fall. We need to practice like we play."
On Duke's defense:
"It was on me not being open to get the ball. I have to do what I can do to help my team out."
Duke Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie
Opening Statement:
"I'm really proud of our team for the focus. It was a long trip. We had to stay an hour away because your (Alabama's) football team is so good. It's been a challenging trip. It has not been easy. We got rained out of tennis, too - that was not so good either. There were just a lot of things that these kids had to endure coming here. I thought their focus was excellent. I just loved Elizabeth's (Williams) intensity. She's just tremendous on the floor - she just intimidates and dictates everything. I thought we had good balance across the board. Three double-doubles is pretty good for a team to have. Our rebounding dominance was very important to us, and getting to the free throw line 34 times was also very important to us. We're just going to take this and try to get better from it."
On Elizabeth Williams' senior leadership:
"She's a special student-athlete. You're talking about a pre-med major who does it right. You're talking about a very good academic person, and of course athletically one of the best in the country. To me, she's the best student-athlete in the country, meaning student and athlete, and combining the two and what that represents. I love to see her out there showing people what she can do. She's going to be ready for the pro game and do some special things after Duke. We just enjoy every minute with her. It's amazing that she's a senior - it goes by fast."
On Duke's freshmen debuts:
"They were fantastic. Rebecca (Greenwell) is incredible and she found a way to do so much from the floor. We obviously played her from the three-ball, but she can do so much more than that. She's a terrific guard - she can rebound, pass and score, and she showed that. Azura (Stevens) is a very confident player. She's got that long reach and she really uses her length well to give us an advantage on defense. To see her rebound and score was great, too."
#1 Elizabeth Williams, Center
On how she felt about the game overall:
"I think the overall effort was really good. Like Coach P said, I think the focus was really there. Of course the turnovers are something that you don't want, but that's something that we'll work on. I think that our ability to get the ball inside early, to get stops defensively and to hold them showed that it was a very good overall effort from our team."
On Duke's balanced scoring:
"I think we moved the ball pretty well offensively and were pretty decisive about what plays we were going to run, regardless of what defense Alabama was in. I think that's kind of what helped us, along with getting the ball inside. Just having that attack mentality and getting to the line created easy points for us. I thought we did a good job of that."
