No. 3 seed Connecticut vs. No. 2 seed St. John’s
Game 14 – Semifinals, March 5, 2012
XL Center – Hartford, Conn.

Connecticut Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Geno Auriemma
Opening Statement:
“Thank you. We just talked about it with the players in the locker room that it's been a while since we've had an opportunity to kind of be the team that we think we are. I don't know where we kind of lost it, but we kind of became very walk it up, stagnant kind of a team. We tried really hard tonight to make sure that we were more of what we were accustomed to being in December and late November. I thought the kids responded great. We really asked them and challenged them to set a tempo and set a tone for the game those first five minutes, and then being able to sustain it for the entire game, and they were great. They were absolutely fantastic. It's one of the better games and more complete games that we've played in a long time. I'm glad to see it. I'm happy for them, and I know they feel really, really good about it. When you beat a really good team like St. John's, it feels good. We feel good about the way we played almost as good as the win itself.”

What's changed in this team the last week that's got them the confidence and swagger back from the team we've been missing a week ago tonight?
“You know, we'll know more after tomorrow night. We're playing one of the top two teams in the country, I think, tomorrow night. I think the challenge ahead of us is much greater than it was last night or tonight, not to minimize the two wins. But it's not easy playing at Connecticut when you're not good enough. It's not easy when you don't have what it takes to win the way other teams have won, because then you start to get down on yourself, and you start to feel like you're inadequate. Then when Notre Dame does to you what they did to us last Monday night, it just reinforces that maybe we're not good enough. You know, maybe we play Baylor at Baylor, we had a chance to win, and we did. We played at Notre Dame. We had a chance to win, and we did. So if you're not careful, you start to doubt. You start to think maybe we're not good. So I think this past week was more about when I said it didn't matter if you win the BIG EAST tournament or not, I don't know that I feel any different right now. I think it's more about getting back that Connecticut mentality that you're talking about. That's what last night and tonight and tomorrow night hopefully will be about getting back to who we were. Getting back to what we think makes us good. We had lost that. So to me, that's a lot more important than losing the BIG EAST regular season championship. Losing our identity, losing who we are and what we do and how we do things. That to me is much more of a loss than losing a regular season championship. Tomorrow gaining back our identity, gaining back who we are is way more important than winning another trophy.”

Do you enjoy the fact that you're probably not the favorite?
“It makes me angry that we're not the favorite, because, you know, that's where we're supposed to be. We always are. Why would you not want to be? Don't you love when coaches and players say all the pressure's on them? There is no pressure on us. We can just go out and play. There is no pressure on us. Every time I read that, I can't wait to beat that team by 30. We've got nothing to lose. Really? Then why are you coming out here and playing if you've got nothing to lose? So I don't like that underdog stuff. When you're a real underdog, that's great, and we might be. But for that game tomorrow night, we are. We are on the other bench. We're wearing the wrong uniform. We're in the wrong locker room. So, yeah, everybody expects Notre Dame to win. They're talented. They're experienced. They're really good. They play well together. They're tough, physically and mentally. They're exceptionally well coached. We've got nothing to lose. I just want to show up and make sure that we play hard.”

It seems tonight was redemption tonight. It seems the games (Connecticut/St. John’s and Notre Dame/West Virginia) were very similar. Was that just the natural course of thing that's the two better teams took care of business as they needed to?
“Well, winning the regular season championship isn't as hard as it used to be in a lot of ways. It used to be really hard going into the regular season because you have to play everybody twice home and away, and it was tough. So you could identify back in the day who was the best team in the league, because they proved it over a period of time. Now with the schedules being what they are, you have schedules of all the top 20 teams on the road, sometimes you have them all at home, it kind of clouds what that means. But having said that, the best team in our league is Notre Dame. They've proven it. They've proven it since day one. They're the best team in our league. We're the next best team in the league. I would think that we're the two teams that should be playing in a championship game tomorrow. What happened in the regular season where West Virginia won at Notre Dame and St. John's won at Connecticut, that's supposed to happen. That should happen more often throughout the league, and I think it did this year, more so than before. But when it comes to the BIG EAST tournament and the two best teams that should be playing tomorrow night, the two best teams are playing tomorrow night. Sometimes in a tournament it doesn't work that way and there are upsets, but in this case tomorrow night the number one and number two teams in the BIG EAST are playing and as it should be. They deserve it and so do we.”

Freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis
You said last night that you were certain St. John's was going to see a different team than the one they saw in February when you guys lost. What gave you so much confidence that you would turn the corner?
“I just know how my team is. I know we’re strong, and I know we're looking to head in a new direction. We're looking to be a more confident team. And I knew coming out today we weren't going to let anything stop us today.”

Sophomore Stefanie Dolson
In your first two games of your career against St. John's, I think you had a combined six points and today you were up for 23. Talk about your effort and what spurred you to go off like that today?
“Personally, I think I came out with the right mindset tonight. But I give most of the credit to my teammates. They were able to really pass me the ball today perfectly. I don't think there were many passes that they threw into me that weren't on point. So I give most of the credit to them. I think we did a great job of screening for each other, and with that came splits. It was just able to get me wide open and I finished.”

For Bria and Stefanie, how much fun do you guys have when you're out playing with rhythm like that and everyone's touching the ball, everyone's moving and everyone's making their shots?
“Pretty much what (Bria Hartley) said. We all get excited when everyone's scoring and everyone's playing so well. So to go out there, and like she said, to play UCONN basketball it feels great.”

We sat here a week ago tonight after the Notre Dame loss. What's changed from last week to this week when you put together two really good games back to back in the tournament? What's changed for you?
“I think we just come out with the right mindset. We've come out and really executed on offense and played great defense. I think with our team, the most important thing is defense, and that's really what sparks our offense, which we did a great job tonight of getting steals and pushing the ball up the court. I think we've come out with the right mindset of really being aggressive. And like Kaleena (Mosqueda-Lewis) said, being confident with ourselves and our shots. I think we've been doing a great job of it, and hopefully we can keep it up.”

Sophomore Bria Smith
For Bria and Stefanie, how much fun do you guys have when you're out playing with rhythm like that and everyone's touching the ball, everyone's moving and everyone's making their shots?
“I think it's great. You could tell we were out there having a lot of fun when everyone's in sync and we're getting the shots we want. And yes, Stef's (Dolson) scoring and Kaleena's (Mosqueda-Lewis) scoring. It's great for our team. We get a lot of assists and we love sharing the ball. When we play like that, you can tell that's Connecticut basketball.”

Tonight you guys only had 12 turnovers. Can you talk about how important that was to limit them after the game in Stores where you obviously turned the ball over more?
“Every time we're playing we want to limit our turnovers and make sure we're getting good passes and getting the ball to the right spot. So we took pride in taking care of the ball today. Even when they pressured us, we made sure we were strong and got the passes where we needed to be. So we just need to make sure we go out and play like that all the time.”




St. John’s Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Barnes Arico
Opening Statement:
“I thought Connecticut played really well tonight. I knew it was going to be a difficult task for us, but I thought we would have played a little bit better. I don't think we played very well. Connecticut did a great job. Part of that reason was because of their pressure, but we turned the ball over way too much. But we faced, I think, a really great team tonight. A Final Four team. So it was a tough game for us, but we've got to regroup and get ready for the tournament.

I know this loss is fresh in your minds, but can you put in perspective what you went through this Big East season? It was a breakthrough year and finishing second in the conference, what it's meant for you guys?
“It's kind of so hard because you end on a note like this and you really want to appreciate what the kids have been able to do all season. I just tried to talk to them a little bit there in the hallway and say, and I think they felt embarrassed because they weren't playing well, and they played so well leading up to this that they were disappointed and frustrated and embarrassed. But tomorrow's a new day and what they've been able to accomplish this year has been incredible. To beat UCONN at UCONN and break that streak and do all that, we knew that coming here tonight and playing them in Hartford in the Big East tournament was going to be a tall task. We knew that they were going to be prepared. They probably wanted to play us more than anyone, except maybe Notre Dame, but they'll have a shot at that tomorrow. It was a tough game for us, but our year has been tremendous, and I think we've really accomplished things that we've never been able to accomplish before, and our kids have really played tremendous all year. Like I said, I wish we could erase tonight. And I'm sure at some point when I look back on the year and maybe a couple days, I'll get back to how good of a year it was.

Senior Forward Da’Shena Stevens
Da'Shena, Stefanie Dolson had struggled against you guys in the previous two meetings in her career. She scored six points total. Tonight she goes off with 23. What was it about the inside game tonight that worked for them?
“I think she just wants to come in the game and get the ball inside. Just try to throw us off. I think that sometimes we forgot to rotate or rotate down and help off sometimes. I think she's really determined to score tonight and get good position. Sometimes we got caught behind. When you get that far behind, there is really nothing you can do.”

Junior Guard Nadirah McKenith
Why was it so hard for you guys to get into a rhythm? Was it specifically something Notre Dame did? Was it fatigue playing in an overtime game? Can you pinpoint why it was so tough?
“I think tonight we didn't come out and play aggressive as we normally do. We just give credit to UCONN. They came out and fought hard. They wanted this game more than anything. In the beginning of the game, we kind of struggled and never recuperated and regained from the struggle. I think we'll just get better in practice and preparing for the tournament.