Oregon State Quotes vs. USC
Head Coach Scott Rueck
On tonight’s game...
“Just another great crowd today and an incredible atmosphere to play in tonight. Really proud of Beaver Nation for coming out and joining us with their support. I loved the focus that our team played with defensively, especially. I credit USC for disrupting us early in this game and it was a struggle offensively for us. We made plays and never let up – it was a great team win.”
On limiting USC...
“The key was keeping them out of transition. We weren’t really able to pressure the ball, but we were able to contain it and didn’t let their players get to the rim. The kept attacking in an attempt to get Ruth in foul trouble and she just altered and blocked shots. We also did a great job on the boards.”
On working the paint...
“We moved the ball so well in the second half. Another 19 assist game – our average per game. Soon as that ball was moving on the perimeter and the threes started falling like they did, it spread out their defense. Ruth is hard to cover and then we went inside down the stretch. Marie and Kolbie are big time players that not everybody gets to see all the time and what they are capable of. Everyone was on display inside.”
Jr. Forward Deven Hunter
On focus at halftime…
“We just know that we have to come out strong in the second half because that is the crucial four minutes. So we know that we have to keep up what we started in the first half and keep with the game plan.”
On what was working for her today…
“I think that since everyone was playing well it was easy to get points and it was easy to help people get into a position to score."
On their defensive game…
“I think from the beginning our defense was great, so we know we had to keep that up and our shots would eventually fall. We just had to keep doing what we needed to do to stop them.”
Jr. Guard Jamie Weisner
On how their defense was able to lead them to this win…
"Defense wins games. Our offense was a little stagnant to begin with, but we just kept putting it on defensively. Finally our offense clicked a little more and that's when we were able to pull away."
On what allowed them to get into a rhythm offensively in the second half…
"I think it was just spacing, slowing down, and reading their defense. At the beginning of the game we were trying to force some weird shots up and finally we said to just slow down, take our time; we can score on them if we just read the defense."
On how they've been able to steadily improve over the season...
"We always talk about limiting our weaknesses and I think every day we go into the gym with that mindset. We have tough practices every day and everyone is working together in order to achieve that goal."
