Gail Goestenkors game preview press conference: Texas A&M (State Farm Lone Star Showdown)
Jan. 28, 2009 On Texas' play against OU: I felt like the first part of the game we gave great effort. We came ready to play. We played with them until about the 13-minute mark in the second half. As the game wore on, we wore down. On playing a full 40 minutes: When you're on somebody else's home court and it's a great team, you have to have great focus for all 40 minutes. A couple of times we were able to call some time-outs and slow down their momentum, but you only get five time outs. When we ran out of time outs we couldn't stop the bleeding. On not dwelling on the ending of the Oklahoma game going into the next four games: We broke down the tape, and it was a tough tape to watch. It's like taking your medicine. It doesn't taste good, but it's going to make you better. Once we finished the tape we focused on what we need to do to be the team we want to be, and we had a great practice. On the lack of time in-between games: You don't have time to celebrate over a win in this conference. You don't have time to really get upset over a loss, because you've just got to change your focus and get ready for the next game. In a way, it's good. I'd rather have another game to play right away than just sit and lull over all the mistakes that we made. On the play of senior guard Carla Cortijo: Carla did a really nice job for us. I thought she came to play. On the play of the bench: Ashleigh Fontenette I thought came in and gave us great minutes. Kristen Nash gave us great minutes off the bench, and Ashley Gale I thought grew up in that second half, got a little tougher inside. So I thought we saw some great things from them.
On the play of the team leaders: Some of our leaders didn't have the kind of game we need from them to be successful. They've been through these wars, so we expect them to lead us, even if they're not scoring, to lead us with their defense, their scoring, their toughness. They know they have to set a great example for the rest of the team. On Wednesday's game against Texas A&M: It's just a great rivalry. In the ACC we had just one big rival, the Duke/Carolina game. Here, I feel like, we've got Oklahoma, which is a great rival, A&M is a great rival, Texas Tech. It's like you go on and on and it's not just one game. It seems like every single night out, it's a great rivalry, and you've got to be ready to go. Emotions run really, really high. On last year's Texas A&M game: That was the worst game I think for us last year. It was a rough one. We had to really turn things around and say, `Is this the team we want to be, or do we want more for ourselves?' I thought, after that we really turned the corner and did some really great things. On the team's confidence level: It's on the way up. It's not still where we want to be, but, like I've said, we've had some really good practices, especially yesterday. I told them we just need to play the way we're practicing today, because we're competing, we're fighting, we're focused and we're motivated. Now we've just got to put it out on the floor in a game situation as well. On junior guard Erika Arriaran: I think Erika's still on her comeback trail. She's put a lot of pressure on herself. She was out for a year and a half and she wanted to be back 100 percent right away. I try to tell her she's got to be patient with herself and just take time. She just needs to catch and shoot right now. She's trying to think the game too much right now. On A&M's defense: Their defensive pressure is probably the best we will face all year long. They really get after you on the defensive end. First and foremost, you've got to take care of the ball. You've got to give yourself the opportunity to score. Takia Starks and Danielle Gant are two of the best players in the league, both offensively and defensively. |
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