Bill Fennelly Quotations

We guarded hard enough in the first half to be in the game. The kids sensed that Britt was hot and we kept giving her the ball. And we just kept guarding like crazy.

We're going to have a lot of people get an opportunity early to see if they can handle this level.

We were trying to go for a quick two or (go) in and right back out. They were switching everything, so we were trying to go quickly to the basket.

This was as good of a team effort as we've had in a long time. I'm very proud of them. This is not going to go down in history as an earth-shaking, dramatic top 10 win for Iowa State women's basketball, but I don't think you can tell the kids that and I don't think you can tell the coaches that. It was special.

We're playing hard; we're scratching, we're fighting and I thought we defended really, really solid. Offensively we're really, really struggling right now.

We're playing hard. I thought we rebounded and defended hard. But offensively, we're really struggling.

We won the game a bunch of times, we lost the game a bunch of times but we made some plays when we had to.

She will be one of the best players that's ever played in this league. She has been up to this point, and I don't think she will soon be forgotten. Her mark is going to be on the Big 12 for a long, long time.

She's Shaq. That's who people will compare her to ? the Shaquille O'Neal type.

She says she can, and everyone says she can play. There's no question we need her to play, but at the same time, she's had such a great year that I don't want to put her in a position where she's not ready.

She's doing better. She ran on it a little bit at practice, and we'll wait and see how it responds. There's a real chance that she'll get a few minutes.

She's a great player, as good as I've ever seen and coached against.

She kept us in the game for awhile. We were on the verge of getting knocked out.

She needs to be more aggressive offensively. We're trying to do some things to get her to look for her opportunities. She has the skills to find a couple extra points.

Most of us won't wait five minutes. This kid waited five years to play.

Megan has really led the charge the past couple of games.

One of the two could be a third scorer for us on a given night. Some of it is inexperience. They care so much. You want to do it so bad that sometimes you paralyze yourself. You don't want to make a mistake.

No one's upbeat; when you lose four games in a row, you shouldn't be upbeat. But there's a difference between what we felt and feeling sorry for yourself. There's still opportunities to play for.

Right now, it's the old shoot-not-to-miss syndrome and passing up shots. We've emphasized that you don't pass up shots; if you miss, you miss. We've had a hard time scoring, but it's never been because of our inability to make a shot.

Based on their history, based on the way they've played over the years, they're a team that everyone has great respect for in the women's game.

If we would have left close, everybody would have said that's OK after what happened to us a couple of months ago.

If we play as hard as we did at Minnesota and play really, really smart, I honestly think we could go 16-0. If we don't play hard and we don't play smart, we could be 0-16.

I think that without question, it's a challenge. We have a lot of new faces,

I thought we were a little intimidated inside. They were guarding us one-on-one and daring us to go to the basket. We missed way too many inside shots.

Overall, I'm happy where we're are. We all know that there's another level coming Wednesday.

My thought process from the beginning has been, let's see if we can get enough wins to be in the postseason, and then go from there. We just don't have the consistency and the depth of talent to be able to say that these games are wins and these games are maybes. We've literally got to take it one game at a time.

I was extremely disappointed Brittany Wilkins was not an all-conference player. And I will mention it to the coaches in our league.

That would be the plan. Any minutes she could give would be good just to give people a rest.

We're not talking about free throws that could win or lose a game, we're talking about free throws that could end the season.

To the players' credit, they didn't panic. That's not about coaching or game planning. It's about the people you have. We'll build off of this.

The players did it; they just willed themselves to some things. They played with an amazing amount of energy. We've come from behind a lot, and we just kept plugging away.

We've got to get more out of them then we did last night. We've got to do a better job of finishing around the basket and getting in better position to score.

You can't be the leader just when you want to be the leader. You have to be the leader all the time.

We felt that was the way we had to play them. That's how we got back in the game at Kansas, playing a switching man, and that made them believe this is a good way to play.

We challenged Heather pretty hard in practice the other day, and to her credit she stepped in and made some huge shots.

Brit's waited five years. That's almost unheard-of for someone to do that. She's played like an all-conference player.

Everyone who loves the game wants to be doing something in March.

At this point in the season, aesthetics doesn't mean a lot to me. We won the game a number of times and we lost the game a number of times.

There's no way to guard her. There isn't. If there is, I don't know anyone that's found it.

It would be a phenomenal upset for us to go real deep in this tournament. The conference tournaments were created to make money and give teams hope. The Big 12 can make the money, and we'll have the hope.

It would be nice to go for our younger kids to get some extra practice, extra games. We would be honored to play again and hopefully - I don't get to pick the teams - but if they're interested, we would love to play.

Coach (Jack) Easley scouted this game, and our kids were calling the plays just like (Nebraska) were. We were energized and when you play good defense it helps your offense and when you play good offense it helps your defense.

The way we've approached it is we're playing the No. 9 team in the country this year. It's a great team, a team that has some new faces, but it's the same approach - very athletic, they defend great.

You don't feel good when you lose, and if you do, there's something wrong. At the same time, you've got to be realistic, and for our team to be down 19 points on the road and all the things that we were fighting through, I was proud that we just didn't say, 'It's time to chuck it in.' We did everything but that.

They're a team that understands how to win. We needed to make one more play to get the game closer. We just didn't have enough of the extra plays that we have to make to have a chance to win.

They're doing the same thing we're doing. They're looking at their schedule going, 'Who can we beat?' They've got this game circled and so do we.

It's just been one of those weird things, and you really can't explain it. You see kids that can stand here (in practice) and make 20 shots in a row and then we struggle (in games).

It's a very big game for us; 16-11 is a lot better than 15-12. It's a combination of ending one year but starting the next one, and you don't want to lose four games in a row heading into the conference tournament.

For back-to-back nights, we've really struggled to make shots, and that's something this team needs to do.

It's almost March. It's time to start making them.

It's always tough to lose, but at the same time I think our kids showed a little bit of something we were looking for. (They showed) a competitive spirit.

The last 7 or 8 minutes, the players willed themselves to play with an amazing amount of energy. We made some huge shots and we guarded them at some critical times.

The last 18 minutes, our kids played the way that Iowa State teams are supposed to play. When you're on the road, down 19 points, your point guard isn't playing, and you have a chance to win it at the end -- that says a lot about your players.

I'm sure they're not going to be in a real good mood, and neither will we. We're having our problems, and they're having problems.

In my career in this league, I've never seen it this vague heading into the conference season. We've all had some decent wins, and we've all had some odd losses, and some people have had some injuries. We're all dealing with issues.

In the time I've been here, I don't know if there's ever been a story like it. You're talking about someone who literally waited five years to play, five years to be a factor. She didn't give up on herself or her team.

I don't know if I've ever coached in a game with four turnovers.

I don't know if I can make it that long. Will my son be a good head coach? Absolutely, positively there is no doubt in my mind that he will be a good coach.

I don't think that there is any question that balanced scoring and taking care of the basketball on the road gives you a chance to win.

I couldn't be more proud of the effort of our team. That was as gutsy an effort as we've had in a long time. It was a tremendous effort, tremendous finish and we're honored to be playing again tomorrow.