When she’s blocking shots, I think it’s extremely intimidating to the opponent, and it also changes shots and that gets the transition game going. She gets the ball out quickly.

All of those things are important except staying No. 1. That’s not anything we’ve ever talked about. But the players know what’s on the line. And it is Carolina, so I really don’t have to...

The fact that they are playing with great freedom — they seem to have a chip on their shoulder while they’ve been here, talking about respect. I don’t think that anyone now could possibly not...

We knew it was going to be a battle. It was a great team effort. Five players in double figures, and everybody who came off the bench contributed something to win the game.

We knew we were coming up against a strong team with a great tradition. I’m extremely pleased with our effort, especially with our defense in the second half, which I felt was the difference.

I don’t think [Saturday’s loss] should affect our No. 1 seed at all. If it was to a team that wasn’t ranked — or not highly ranked — I’m sure it would. But because Maryland...

She’s so unassuming, she doesn’t need to be a star.

We’ve had the best conference, but until you back it up, win a national championship, it’s all talk. Now, we’ve shown people.

That was not a good situation for us. Lindsey runs the show for us.

She competes very hard. There’s an aggressiveness about her that, beyond her passing and scoring ability, is something you just can’t teach.

At that point, I felt that Maryland was shooting lights out. They were playing great basketball. So I felt like – I was hoping – they wouldn’t be able to shoot that way for the...

That was a really good start for us. Now we know it gets much more difficult from here on out. We’ll prepare for that. … We’re not kidding ourselves; we know that’s not going to...

It was one of the best defenses we’ve seen.

This is a time for celebration for our team. But there are a lot of tough things going on campus. We don’t know much about it. We’ve been out of town. But when you come...

I knew they were going to come out fighting and battling and they did. When you’ve got a team with such tradition and at home, it’s a very dangerous combination.

I’m really impressed with Jefferson. I’ve watched several tapes on them and she keeps getting better and better. She can create her own shot and she’s strong, physical and athletic. She’s a tough kid. She...

I wouldn’t say it’s an easy fix. I think it’s a mentality. Once again, I feel like we have to become mentally tougher.

When you turn the ball over, they’re going to make you pay for it. Let me put it that way. Against some teams you can get away with turning the ball over 23 times. Carolina,...

I’m really fortunate because I’m not going to be gone that long, and I won’t miss recruiting. This summer I missed a good bit — July’s our big recruiting month — and I missed most...

We don’t run many plays for her, which is different than in the past. But the grand scheme was to make everybody feel important so that, if and when she had an off night in...

We knew win or lose, it was just one game. It doesn’t change anything. It was an opportunity to find out how good we were. Today, we were pretty good.

That was the most beautiful ugly win we’ve ever had. We’re just elated to be going back to the Final Four.

Some teams don’t make you pay. Carolina, they make you pay for your mistakes.

I think both teams take pride in their defense.

It was the most ugly win in the history of our program. We felt the pressure a bit. But we did what was necessary . . . We showed great character to finish the job.

Once she gets into your head, she changes the things you want to do. She has people thinking that she might block their shot.

She’ll get her chance. She’s too good of a player not to.

It’s their athleticism. They do a great job with their traps, and you don’t see it every day, so it’s hard to prepare for. They’re the most athletic team in the country, and it’s difficult...

Initially, when we had our first sellout against Connecticut, our kids were not prepared to handle that. The Connecticut players were because they were used to playing in sellout environments.

She takes such pride in her defense, and I could see the frustration on her face. I told her she was going to be fine, and she was. She changed the game for us. She...

I thought they played an excellent game. I know they’ve been struggling with their rebounding, and I think they took it out on us today.

We were ready to play from the word ‘go’. I was very pleased with our start. I was a little anxious to see how we’d come out and if we’d be a little off our...

I thoroughly enjoy watching them play. We have a tough test on our hands, one I’m looking forward to playing.

I don’t know, we may see them again, we may not see them again. If nothing else it has help to prepare us for any other team that we may see who is extremely athletic...

I think Ivory really stretches out defenses. She takes over five 3-pointers a game. Lindsey takes a little over one. I think that’s probably the biggest difference is that Ivory looks for that 3-point shot...

So, anyway, we made it here safe and sound, and that’s all that matters. We’re calling her ‘Crash’ now.

I thought we came out a little slow. We didn’t have the focus that we normally have.

I’ve seen it too many times. When the pressure’s really on, they come through. I just feel utter disappointment for my players. It’s killing me right now.

We’ve been in this environment several times. Now we use it to our advantage. We fed off the crowd, and the crowd fed off us.

I think this was probably really good for us. They say almost every tournament, there’s always one game where you don’t play well and you’ve got to find a way to win. Hopefully this was...

I think it was good for us mentally. We haven’t blown a team out in a while. … Confidence is sometimes such a fleeting thing. Honestly, this game was probably better for us mentally than...

Parity is a great thing for the sport, but I think we?re still 5-10 years away from reaching the same level. There are more upsets, but only in the early rounds, if you consider those...

That was probably the most beautiful ugly win we’ve had in the history of our program. Connecticut did a fantastic job. It was a war out there. They made us work for everything.

Early on, we were the aggressor, and I thought we did a great job. But I thought as the game wore on they became a little more comfortable.

I think it was their pressure. And that’s not just your point guard, it was all of us. They’re extremely aggressive and very physical, and I don’t think we responded to their physical play very...

It’s really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I’m having two opportunities. I just feel so lucky to be given this opportunity again.

They decided to try and take away our inside game and played a zone, particularly in the first half, and that left our shooters wide open. Then in the second half we got our inside...

Marissa’s game has grown so much.

Those two numbers stood out for me.

We really tried to get a game with Michigan State. We wanted to have a home-and-away (series), but the dates would just not work. Hopefully we’ll get a home-and-away scheduled later on because I really...