Additional Quotes >> USA 114, Slovakia 68

Aug. 15, 2011 • Shenzhen, China

Bill Fennelly, USA head coach (Iowa State University)
On this morning's game:
I think we played a little better than yesterday. The pace of the game was what we wanted. Defensively, we struggled in the first quarter and gave up some stuff, but overall everyone contributed. We’ve seen zone back-to-back days, and offensively we were a little more efficient. Anytime you score 114 points, you can’t complain too much.

On the USA’s foul trouble:
Our foul trouble today worries me a lot. It’s something we’ve harped on because the one thing you can’t guard is the free throw line. We need to do a little more work before they catch the ball, before they cut. We are relying too much on our athleticism rather than fundamental defensive principles. We have to be smarter than that. And the game was officiated differently than yesterday, so we needed to make an adjustment. We showed some frustration at times, which isn’t good, and as the tournament goes on we need to be better at that.

You’ve had two big wins. Will this team be ready as you play tougher competition?
I expect Great Britain will be a tougher challenge for us tomorrow. That’s the nature of this tournament – you play who is on the schedule and you play them hard. With limited practice time you hope that even though the spread of the game is large, you are using that time to get better. We are trying a lot of different sets and combinations, and hopefully when we get a tough game, which is coming, we are ready for that.

Skylar Diggins (University of Notre Dame)
On tonight's game:
I thought it was a good overall effort. (Slovakia) is not a bad team at all. They came out and really competed with us. They never backed down. We had a better start than in our first game, but defensively in the first quarter I think we gave up too many points. In the second quarter, we really picked it up, and I think that’s a credit to a lot of people that came off of the bench and kept the intensity up. I thought everyone did a great job. It was a high-scoring game, a lot of people finished in double figures and we did a great job sharing the ball. That helps with the flow of the game. I tried to my best to push the tempo, and we really tried to speed up the pace of the game. We knew we were going to give up points by how many possessions we were giving them because of how fast we were scoring.

I thought Lynetta (Kizer) definitely did a great job off of the bench, Odyssey (Sims), and a lot of people just gave us great minutes. Chiney and Nneka (Ogwumike) were just amazing, as usual, and Elena (Delle Donne) – it’s just a total team effort for us. I’m excited to see Great Britain tomorrow.

On the USA’s foul trouble:
We need to get used to international referees and how they call the game, and we have to adjust. The same things we get away with in America, we can’t get away with here. So it’s all about making an adjustment, and I think the issue will be nipped in the bud. We just need to lock down on defense and not reach. A lot of times we are not the favorite, so we have to make sure that we keep that in mind and play smart and keep the ball in front of us.

Glory Johnson (University of Tennessee)
On tonight's game:
It was a really physical game, and we knew it would be going into it. We knew we were going to have to play through a lot of adversity, and we just need to be ready for anything and everything. I think we took care of things, and got a good win today.
Our focus was better today. We kind of slacked at the end of the game a bit, letting them get easy scores and open jumps hots. We need to keep working on playing 40 minutes of focused basketball.

On the USA’s defense:
Defensively, we didn’t give up as many drives to the basket, but they hit more jump shots than the last team. But coach said he will take those, so we will let him take the blame for those jump shots and keep focused on stopping guard penetration.

On the USA’s foul trouble:
Today, just knowing that fouls were going to be called a lot quicker, we just had to be ready for it. We struggled with that in the first half. Myself, I got two early fouls and played like two minutes in the first half. In the second half, I knew I couldn’t foul. We have to be a little smarter and know that they are going to call certain things.

Does the USA’s depth help this team deal with adversity, such as foul trouble?
I know my teammates have my back, and when I’m sitting out they can take care of it. Everyone has their part, and when someone goes down other people have to pick up the game. We did that tonight.

Do you think this team is tough to prepare for?
I think other teams don’t really know what to expect because everyone brings something different to the game. I think that makes us hard to guard.

Chiney Ogwumike (Stanford University)
On tonight's game:
I think we are moving in the right direction. We are getting better each game, and the jitters are all out and we can finally just play basketball. A lot of people are making great contributions, and everyone touches the ball most plays. I think we are really playing well right now.

On the USA’s foul trouble:
Slovakia was pretty physical, and we had trouble adjusting to the calls. Some things that we are used to doing may be different in international basketball. The foul trouble was an obstacle, but we all overcame it. No one fouled out on our team. We listened to coach and made the right adjustments eventually. We are learning.

You’ve had two big wins. Will this team be ready as you play tougher competition?
I know we will be ready for whoever we play. Anytime we have competition, anybody that we play against, we really try to step up our game. Every win we get is a win closer to our goal, so I think our focus level will continue to increase. We are ready for another great game tomorrow.

Do you think the USA’s depth makes you tough to scout?
Everyone on our team is a threat, and as coach says, ‘the best person to make the play is the open person.’ We rely on our teammates and we share the basketball, and that makes us a better team.

Odyssey Sims (Baylor University)
On tonight's game:
I thought we played well. We still have a lot to capitalize on, but two games into the tournament we are improving. We are getting better each game, and that is all you can ask for.

Did you feel like you came close to 40 minutes of focused basketball?
We still lost concentration at times – giving up on the end of plays and not switching on screens, stuff like that – but for the majority we played really well.

You’ve had two big wins. Will this team be ready as you play tougher competition?
We have been preparing for tough competition, and we will be ready for whoever we play. We just have to go out there and do our best and compete.