Additional Quotes >> Australia 83, USA 77

Sept. 17, 2010 • Salamanca, Spain

Auriemma

Geno Auriemma, University of Connecticut
Did you feel like Australia was the better team tonight?
I thought our defense was nowhere near as good as it was when we played them in Hartford. I thought our energy level was way below where it needed to be, and I was really disappointed in our rebounding and how many times we would get a stop and they were able to continue the possession by getting an offensive rebound. Th an excellent free-throw shooting team, and we put them on the free-throw line. So, we gave up threes, we put them on the free-throw line and we gave them second shots. Anytime you do that against a team, especially a good team, you're not going to win the game.

Did you see any positives tonight for the USA?
Well, you like to think that there always are, and I thought that in spite of how poorly we played, until the last few minutes when they got a couple of second shots, it's a positive that we can play as bad as we played and be down two points in the fourth quarter. So, we'll figure it out, but we need some people to step it up a little bit defensively, and we need to get more of our scorers taking more shots. I don't think we got enough shots for some of our guys. We got to get more help for Tina Charles inside; we didn't have enough scoring inside. So, we can go back and look at the tape of this game and pick it apart and find some things in there that we have to do better.

On the fourth quarter:
They do a really good job of putting the ball on the floor and going by you and forcing you to help, and then that leads to all kinds of other problems. In Hartford, we didn't let them do that, and today they were really, really good at just putting it on the floor and going right by us. And that's something that now we are going to have to spend a lot of time on because that's what most teams want to do to you here. The dribble penetration is something that you have to guard, and we just didn't do a very good job of it. It led to everything else that happened, and it started right from the beginning of the game and it carried over.

Do you have confidence that this team will respond in time for its game tomorrow?
They will. One of the things that concerns me is we don't want to be an up-and-down kind of team. We don't want to play as well as we played in Hartford and then come and play poorly like we did today. But Australia, they are a very disciplined team. They run their stuff, and they run it, and they run it until you make a mistake. I thought it was a real good lesson for us. So, I guess we just need to find out which team are we - the one that played in Hartford or this one right here. I think it's probably somewhere in between.

Catchings

Tamika Catchings, Indiana Fever
On tonight's game:
I think the Australians, they definitely changed their game plan from last game. We knew that they were going to get better, so you don't want to make any excuse as to why you lost a game. I thought they came out, and they were really focused. They knew their game plan, and they knew what they wanted to do. On our end we didn't execute how we have been doing in practice the last few days, and there really is no excuse as to why we came out flat. But we'll get it together, come out tomorrow and play the loser of Spain and Senegal and keep it moving.

Is there anything you can point to specifically that this team needs to improve?
I think tonight the biggest difference is rebounding. (Hollie) Grima did a great job of crashing the boards, and as a team they put their heads down and went to the basket. So, we have to do a better job staying in front of them, and focus on the rebounding aspect.

Do you have confidence that this team will respond in time for its game tomorrow?
Oh yeah, definitely. We don't have a choice, and I think with Geno, he's not going to let this team come out and be flat again. But I think individually, each one of us needs to take our own responsibility for this loss tonight. I think we will definitely regroup, watch some tape tomorrow, go to shoot around and get ready for another game.

Charles

Tina Charles, Connecticut Sun
On Australia's physicality:
They were just aggressive on the boards, and I think that's one thing they try to take advantage of, especially their guards. Their guards just really dove in there and got on the boards, especially (Holly) Grima .

Is there anything you can point to specifically that this team needs to improve?
We know we have to change this. We know we have to come out more aggressive, with a better focus out there.

Can you point to any positives from tonight's game?
Really I guess the only thing is we just have to learn from this. We have to pinpoint more things that we didn't see.

Taurasi

Diana Taurasi, Phoenix Mercury
On tonight's game:
Today was another great reminder why they are the world champs, and we have to keep working hard to get better every single day. They're a hell of a team, and today they played really well.

On the fourth quarter:
It's little things in a game like this, when you're either up eight or down by one going into the fourth quarter. Today we didn't do those little things that usually we are pretty good at.

Do you have confidence that this team will respond in time for its game tomorrow?
There's no need to put our heads down. The sun comes up tomorrow. We just have to figure a way to get it going again.

Whalen

Lindsay Whalen, Minnesota Lynx
On the fourth quarter:
I think just overall, defense and rebounding was what it came down to. I think everyone kind of took turns having mistakes, and we felt like there were some break downs. They got second chance points and second shots, and that ended up being what hurt us. It was back and forth all game, and it just didn't happen for us.

Did Australia surprise this team after you had beat them soundly last week in Hartford?
No. They just played hard, and I think they really wanted it. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, we didn't match that tonight. It was disappointing.

What is the mood of the team after today's loss?
I think if you take tonight and then tomorrow -- we practice, and we play and we get better as a team. Everyone will concentrate on getting better and working on the things that we can get better at. I think the big thing is that tomorrow is a new day, and the tournament starts next week, so we have to keep improving and pick it up from here.

Can you point to any positives from tonight's game?
We definitely didn't play our best game. Right now, it's kind of hard to point to positives, but I think we played hard and fell short tonight. We had a tough shooting night. There were a lot of fixable things that we didn't do well, and those are things we can work on. So, I think a big positive for tonight is the difference makers are all things that we can control and things that we can get better at. We will change our mind set and look forward to the next practice, the next game and improving.