Dec. 20, 2014

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Wisconsin Postgame Quotes
Wisconsin vs. Oral Roberts
Dec. 20, 2014
UW Fieldhouse - Madison, Wis.

Head Coach Bobbi Kelsey 

On how the team feels after the game: 

"We feel great. Any time we win, we aren't going to nitpick about anything. I thought we played well individually and as a team. We took them out of what they wanted to do. When you have a 6-7 player, you can't really simulate that in practice. There's nothing that will prepare you other than just playing the games." 

On five players scoring double digits: 

"It's great, and it's a work in progress because we need to be consistent. As we play better teams, we might not have that so people need to continue to work on their shots and not hesitate (to shoot) when they're open."

On Cassie Rochel's double-double tonight compared to her game against Green Bay: 

"She can play. She just doesn't always show up (like at Green Bay.) I'm not sure what that's about. I don't know if she believes that she's good. Some tall girls she's intimidated by.  We just told her to step away from them and if you miss it, who cares. If you make it, great. You just have to take it. You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take." 

On Tessa Cichy's game tonight: 

"Tessa's probably one of the most reliable kids I've coached. You only have to tell her something one time and she's got it. She remembers, she listens and she's got a knack for basketball. She's competitive. She'd guard the 6-7 kid if I asked her to, and she would think she could and that's the beauty of her personality. Everyone doesn't have that personality, but if I had 10 of her, it might be a little bit of a different story. But I love them all. They all do their part to help the team, but you can't play basketball and be nice and passive. That's the name of the game, and if you're not aggressive, you're not going to be very successful." 

On Cayla McMorris tying her career high of 17 points to lead the Badgers in scoring after being up and down all season: 

"She has an excuse; she's a freshman and it's her ninth or tenth game of college basketball. I don't have any problems with Cayla. She's a top-100 kid and our first one in the program. We need to get more (top 100 players), but it just takes time. She took a chance on us; she didn't have to come here. She could've gone to other Big Ten schools or anywhere. Everyone was on her when I went to recruit her. I didn't know if we were going to get her. As we get kids believing in what we're trying to do and have the patience of the media and other people knowing that it doesn't happen overnight. Wisconsin is a very academic school and you have to find the talented who want to come here that can also get in. We have our best player out, but we can't make excuses. We just need to keep playing and encourage those who can play that this is what you need to do and go out and do it." 

On the Big Ten season starting in eight days: 

"I cannot (believe it.) It's kind of scary. But as the games fall on the schedule, you get prepared for that game.  You don't look at the ones before or after. You need to concentrate on who you're playing and what you need to do to beat them."

Tessa Cichy
On what was working well today for the team:
"I think transition was the biggest thing for us today. It gave everyone open shots. Having Cassie (Rochel) and Malayna (Johnson) away from the basket, because they did have a 6-7 girl … Cassie and Malayna were hitting jump shots that pulled an open area for everyone else. I think our transition was the big thing."

On if running them was part of the game plan:
"They were a good team, but we thought that we were in good enough shape that we could get up and down the floor before they did."

On how this wraps up the non-conference season and prepares them for the Big Ten:
"I think it's good, we're building. I think this shows that and it shows that we're only getting better. This win today was huge going into the Christmas holiday. We'll come back and hopefully keep it going in the Big Ten season."


Cassie Rochel
On her second double-double of the season:
"To be honest, I wasn't really focused on scoring as much. It made it easier because coach said that obviously the girl that was guarding me in my match up was 6'7, and I didn't think that I was going to be able to get in and be smart and stuff like that, so I've been working on my outside shot a little bit, and that came in handy tonight. Also, defensively, I think it was nice with her size, I was a little bit quicker, so it was easier for me to crash the boards and get rebounds."

On her game plan going against her 6'7 opponent:
"Our game plan defensively was to shut her down. It's harder said than done. Offensively, it was to stay out of the lane, because like I said, she is 6'7, so I wanted to pull her away from the basket. She averages five blocks a game, so to just pull her away from the basket and try to cut on her. That way the guards have a lot of room open."