Nov. 16, 2008

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Q: How surprised were you that Evelyn Lewis was your leading scorer early on?
A: I was pretty surprised, but was pleased with how she scored because she's somebody that worked really hard to improve her offensive game over the summer. To see her make the kind of moves that she made and to go up and shoot the ball with confidence and aggressiveness. I'm hoping that she'll continue to progress along that path because we're going to need her to score and get other teams post defenders in foul trouble.

Q: What was your evaluation of the zone today?
A: Our thought going into this game was that they were stronger inside than they were around the perimeter. We wanted them to shoot from outside, rebound, and run. We knew that if they got the ball inside that it would be tough for us. We were going to take our chances with them making threes. From that perspective, I thought the zone did its job and made them miss a lot of shots. At one point in the first half, they were shooting 15 percent. The zone did the job that we needed it to do.

Q: Talk about your post play today?
A: (Demetress Adams) certainly was a focus for us. We talked about trying to keep her off the glass and not letting her get a lot of touches around the basket. She's the engine that drives their team. So anytime she got the ball, we didn't want to give her shots. She ended up getting the ball and moving farther and farther away from the basket. I know she's capable of knocking down a 15-footer occasionally, but that's not her game. She's really strong around the basket and I think that's where the zone helped us because she wasn't able to get free and loose around the basket.

Q: You harped on the defense last year. How does the defensive play make you feel this year?
A: I think that they understand that for us to be successful this year, we have to better defensively than we were last year. I think they're really starting to understand that and buy into the kind of effort we need defensively on that end of the floor. They're actually starting to like playing defense. That's a step in the right direction.

Q: When you start the season against a team with a new coach, team films may not mean anything. Watching Temple films may help more, but is that pretty much what you saw out there today?
A: No, the films didn't help us at all. It was tough preparing for South Carolina because the one thing that we know about Dawn Staley and her coaching style and style as a player is that she's aggressive and she's always attacking. So we expected them to be really physical with us and for it to be a very defensive game. I think that score kind of shows that it was a tough, physical, defensive battle. We didn't know what they would do offensively, but we knew their personnel a little bit and we knew that Demetress Adams is their best play and we needed to make it a long night for her. If we could do that, we felt like we could be successful.

Q: What do you think it says about Tyra Grant that when she draws a charge, she goes crazy?
A: This is why they like to get charges because they like to wear sweats when we travel. That's the whole charge thing. If they get a certain number of charges, then they can dress down when we travel. That's what they're excited about and Tyra is the most adamant about dressing down when we travel, so she gets really animated about charges. She also has a very high basketball IQ and reads things very well. She's a natural at drawing charges because she's good at reading what's going to happen and how to get herself in position to take the charge. She doesn't have fear. She's not afraid to take the charge, fall, and take the contact. If taking charges gets her attention, then I hope she continues to take them.

Q: How important was the defense today, especially in the first half?
A: It was important. It's important whether we're scoring or not because we're not at team that we're going to be able to give up a lot of points and be successful. No team is. We don't have a big shot blocker in the middle. We have to play great team defense for 40 minutes to give ourselves a chance. There are going to be nights like the first half where we miss layups and open shots. We won't shoot that poorly every night, but when we are shooting the ball poorly, you have to have something to fall back on. This year, we'll be able to fall back on our defense.

Q: Your first foul wasn't until nine minutes into the second half, how important was that?
A: We made some adjustments at halftime, especially in how we were defending in the post. Those adjustments worked. Our kids were doing a good job of being big and being active by limiting the dribble-drive opportunities that South Carolina wanted to use. Because they weren't dribbling down the gut, they were dribbling around the perimeter. That allowed us to stay out of foul trouble.

Q: How fortunate do you feel to get out of the first half with Julia Togele and Janessa Wolff in foul trouble as well as the minutes that Renee Womack was able to get out on the floor?
A: That was big. We rely on Julia as one of our best rebounders. For her to not play very many minutes at all in the first half and we were still able to do the job defensively and on the backboard, which was big. She gives us more size inside. When she went out of the game, we went small with our rotation. We got smaller in the back of the zone, but they weren't able to really exploit it too much. For us to have a lead and really not miss Julia, that was great for us. I thought Renee (Womack) had a great first outing for a freshman. She's pretty calm and relaxed all the time. She says she really doesn't get nervous before the games. I thought, `yeah right, I'm sure you're going to get nervous.' She doesn't play with nerves. She plays under control and I think she's only going to get better and better. She relies on her defense and gives us a lot of energy in our zone.

Q: Would you rather have a game like today where everyone does his or her thing and no one stands out or would you rather have a dominant player?
A: I'd rather have a game like tonight where out focus is our defense. We're making it tough for other people to score. Whatever we get offensively, I think we can score and we will score. We're not going to shoot this poorly every night. We run and score in transition. We've got good sets that we run. I'm not worried about our ability to score; I'm worried about our ability to defend. If our post group, as a unit, can play like they did tonight where they're rebounding and being big, physical, and limiting other teams' post players from being effective, then I'd be happy.

Q: Talk about the first three minutes of the second half.
A: I felt like we kind of came out and made a few bad decisions. I didn't think it was dire. I didn't call a timeout. I let the team play through it and they kind of corrected it themselves. They probably sensed it and knew that they needed to tighten it up as well as play a little smarter and be sharper. They did. They fixed it and everything went okay. We talked about it at halftime that they were going to come out and be more aggressive. We had to withstand their run if they were going to start the second half. We did that.

Q: Janessa Wolff and Julia Trogele made some shots from the outside, what would that bring to the offense?
A: It's big. I told them if they can shoot the ball to shoot the ball. They're good enough shooters that if they shoot it enough, eventually it's going to go into the basket. If we can get them to both be threats both inside and outside of the basket because they're strong enough players to do that. I just think that it makes us more dangerous that if their center has to come out and guard Janessa on the three-point line. That just opens things up for our guards and everybody else in driving lanes and passing lanes. Things open up. We're just going to encourage Janessa and Julia to shoot the ball and look for their opportunity for the basket.

Q: What are your thoughts on your shooting?
A: They followed me from Temple. Coming into the season I knew we would struggle to score. Finding some scoring from somewhere because I knew they were going to neutralize Demetress contributions to our team. So we have to find a way for other people to help with that a little. We also have to find ways to get the ball in position where she can score, and where she does not have to create all the time.

Q: Did you anticipate Penn State doubling teaming Demetress Adams every time she touched the ball?
A: Yes we anticipated it. If I'm scouting us I will probably try to take Demetress out of the game and make someone else beat us. That is what we anticipated. We anticipated the zone as well. We just couldn't find a way to put it in the hole. Some of the people that are better shooters, on different nights, were not able to knock down shots. We got some positive play out of other people, that were moving it forward. Our problem is that we have to be ready to shoot the ball.

Q: Coming out of halftime you guys looked pretty good, scoring two points off of two turnovers right away what do you think Penn State did to buckle down after that?
A: Anytime you are up 10 you have the tendency to get a little complacent. The game is a game of spurts, their's were a lot bigger then ours and we couldn't keep putting buckets together.

Q: Can you talk about the impact of the WNBA on the college game?
A: I think it is good and bad. It is good that our young lady's can work on their games to become professional athletes. I think it is bad in that some of the things that you may work on that you think would work on the next work on the next level create bad habits. Overall, anytime you can play a sport, and continue to play it professionally in the United States, is something we haven't always been able to do, I think is always going to have a positive effect.