TCU-New Mexico Postgame Quotes
3/2/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 2, 2010
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POSTGAME QUOTES
TCU 66, New Mexico 54
Fort Worth, Texas (Daniel-Meyer Coliseum)
March 1, 2010
Attendance: 3,909
TCU HEAD COACH Jeff Mittie
On TCU's team goals:
"With every team, we start season with a list of goals to accomplish and from Day One, our goal is always to get to the NCAA Tournament. We obviously have a conference championship on there and this is our first one in the Mountain West Conference, so it's pretty special. We now have three championships in three different leagues."
On TCU's team balance:
"I think we are balanced in scoring, because everyone always thinks of offensive balance, but we are also really balanced defensively. We can do some things this season on the defensive side of the ball that maybe we couldn't have in years past. We have the ability to go with a lot of different lineups. We have some interchangeable parts. For example, Helena can play the 1-5 positions. That allows me to have a lot of flexibility."
On TCU's performance tonight:
"When we've been at home and we've had people down, we have been able to put them away. Tonight was a little bit different. We just weren't quite sharp enough to ever put New Mexico away, but we never let them get too close to us.
"I thought we were tight. We were pressing early. I expected us to have some nerves, because there are always some emotions heading into Senior Night. There were also a lot of side stories to this one. We had the chance to go undefeated at home and a chance for an outright championship. Those are things that take away from thinking about rebound, defensive pressure and taking care of the basketball. We had to work real hard to get back on task. We just never got into a flow in this game and that is a credit to New Mexico's defense, because they just don't give you a lot of easy baskets."
On what TCU needs to work on offensively:
"I think we've got to have better purpose and recognition of what are strengths are going into each game. For example, we came into tonight saying that we were going to do certain things, like attacking their bigs and guards inside, and I thought we settled for jump shots early in this game. You've got to have discipline to turn some shots down and we didn't have that tonight."
On the resting players now that the top seed is secure:
"Every win is important at this point, because it determines seeding for the NCAA Tournament. We are 22-6 now and we are projected to play in that 8-9 game. We can get out of that if we can win some more games. We will not rest anybody Saturday night. We need that basketball game. Our rest is taken care of already, because we have two byes in the MWC Tournament."
SENIOR GUARD TK LaFleur
On winning the Mountain West Conference title at home:
"This feels great. To be able to come out here and win a championship on our home court, it is amazing. It's my last home game, so I am glad that I was able to do the things needed to help our team win."
On winning the first conference title since the 2001-02 season:
"This is my first championship ever. It's amazing. It's a great feeling and there is nothing like it, but we still have some business to take care of."
On what it means to the seniors to win a conference title:
"It's great for our fans to be able to experience this. We are the first team in TCU history to win a Mountain West Conference title and that is something that we have always talked about. To be able to close it out like this and win the conference, it's definitely a great accomplishment. We have always wanted to work towards this and we finally got it done tonight."
Players Mentioned
