Head Coach Jose Fernandez

Opening Statement:

“They have a very good basketball team. At least for us, we made some shots in the second half to balance that half a little bit. Those first 20 minutes in the first half, they challenged, they defended, they rebounded, especially with not playing in a week. Give the credit to them. Geno (Auriemma) has them playing hard and playing very well.”

Do you see anyone beating UConn if they play the way they played in the First half?
“I think we have a pretty good basketball team. We won 22 games. The first four or five shots they hit were contested shots and they just jumped on us and attacked the glass. I think the only way they are going to get beat is if they beat themselves. ”

Can you talk about UConn's perimeter defense, especially on Jazmine Sepulveda?
“You can do that when you are not given a lot of post touches and you are not finishing inside. That frees up your perimeter game a little bit. It's tough to get in transition when you're getting the ball out of the net every time. We are a transition basketball team, but we are good in the flow of the game and in the open floor. When you are getting it out of the net, your post players aren't finishing, you are not getting in the lane and creating help so we can get a lot of kick outs, you know it's tough.”

What are your chances of going into selection Monday?

“If us losing by 37 to Connecticut determines whether we go to the NCAA tournament or not, then I don't know what the NCAA committee is about. They beat Oklahoma by 28 and they beat a very good Pittsburg team by 53. San Diego State is having a good year and they beat them by 44. Their average margin of victory is 32 a game, so they have done this to very good basketball teams. You can't judge a team by one game. They have done this to a lot of people. I think you have to look at the whole body of work when it comes down to it.”