Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU-Savannah State Quotes
December 22, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 22, 2002
CINCINNATI, Ohio -
BGSU HEAD COACH CURT MILLER:
"One of the things we talked about, just before we left the lockerroom before the game, was a quick start. We got off to a slow start against Cincinnati, and it really put us in a hole, as we were never able to get our game plan going. Against a team (Savannah State) that's struggling, right before the Christmas break, I felt that, if we could come out and jump on them quickly, we could really turn the tide and maybe walk away with an easy win. I had no idea it was going to turn into the run that it did, but I was very pleased with our start, and we were able to get a very good win."
"I've been around some big runs, but never one as big as that. We just kept extending it and kept extending it. I felt like Savannah State's athleticism could hurt us with their penetration and rebounding, but we were doing a good defensive job on the boards, and we weren't giving up any transition points. So, the run just seemed to escalate more and more and more, and then we were feeding off of each other. We reached a point where didn't want to give up any points."
"We're playing better and better basketball as the year goes on. We've got two more non-conference games, and I feel like we need to be peaking when we begin MAC play. We're getting better -- we played a good second half against Cincinnati and then put together a full game against Savannah State. A lot of people leave (for the holiday break) with confidence, the team feels good about themselves, and everyone can go home and brag about BG basketball for a few days before we return to campus and resume working hard. It was just what the doctor ordered, and I'm excited that our players are going home in a good frame of mind."
(Did you feel like Marisa Smith was capable of the type of game she had vs. Savannah State?)
"Marisa is a phenomenal shooter; you're surprised when she misses a shot. You can go into the gym, shoot with her one-on-one and watch her make 20-of-25 'three's.' She's capable of stringing together a run of three-pointers. They've been hard to come by for her earlier in the year. We've been waiting for this breakout game for a while. This (SSU) was a team that probably didn't have our bench scouted in great detail. They left her open, and if Marisa Smith can get her feet set and get open looks like she did today, she's always going to put up big numbers. She can really score."
"I was happy with our overall shooting, as we were 57 percent for the game and over 50 percent in each half. We made shots. We had talked before the game, that we knew we would get some shots and would be able to execute our plays vs. Savannah State, but we still had to step up and make those shots. And, to our credit, we did that; we stepped up and made big shots."
"In a game like that, a big objective is to get out of the game injury-free. We took control of the game early, and it was essentially over by halftime. You want to give your starters time to continue to play and set the tone in the second half. But, your ultimate goal when the game is secured is, 'Let's get out of here without any injuries.' In the game, our starters went 14-of-19 from the field. They got a handful of minutes in each half, and then we got them out of there. You would hate to lose a player when a victory is in hand."
"I'm very happy, obviously, with our defensive performance. We executed our game plan, and made them try to beat us by doing things that they don't want to do, and it was successful. We preach a lot about field-goal percentage defense, and we were disappointed that we let Cincinnati shoot 48 percent against us yesterday. So, giving up less than 21 percent from a field-goal percentage defense standpoint today was very gratifying. We accomplished a lot of our defensive goals today, and I haven't been around too many games where we held the opponent to three field goals in a half."
"We have five wins heading into the Christmas break. We have had more than five wins before Christmas only once in the last decade, and we have a chance to finish the non-conference portion of the season with a winning record. We want to enter the conference season over .500, and we have put ourselves in a position to do that, with two non-league games remaining. We'll come back after Christmas, prepare for those games and try to set a tone heading into the MAC schedule that we can compete against a majority of the teams in our conference."
