March 18, 2007

Head coach Brian Giorgis

(Opening Statement): Obviously, we're playing a team that's a different contrast in style to us. They like to get up and down the floor and play real aggressive at both ends of the floor. It should be quite an interesting match-up. They like to force turnovers, we like to value the basketball and not turn it over. I think it could be a great match-up.

(On the past 12 hours since upsetting Ohio State): It's been really a whirlwind, the last 24 hours. Last night, you're getting a lot of calls and texts, etc. At the same time that you want to enjoy the victory, you're thinking ahead 48 hours. And then still while you're watching film, people are still calling and texting, it's nice, but you have to turn it off because you want to stay focused.

(On having experienced guards to face the MTSU press): It's nice to have experienced guards who value taking care of the basketball, but at the same time, their athleticism and their height poses a problem. The only time that we saw something like this is when we played Duke earlier in the year, they started out full-court and got out of it. But in their half-court, they did a lot of the same type of stuff. The one thing that at least we're pretty experienced with is that we're a team that runs sets, but we don't have to run sets. We're a motion team. Their stuff takes you out of what you want to do, and hopefully we have the guards that are experienced enough to know that when they take you out, that they can still find the open person. The second pass will be important, the pass out of the trap is important, but the next pass is the most important. If you can get by some of the stuff that they do, and make that second pass, then you get a chance at a pretty good chance at getting a good shot. They're giving up a high percentage, only because when they don't turn you over, you've got a chance to get a really good chance. We don't have the people to simulate what they do, at least right now.

(On MTSU handling their win streak): We haven't even talked about the streak that they have. Does it put pressure on them? I don't think they look at it that way. We never got caught up in our own streaks. They're things that are nice and look good in media guides, but our whole thing is tht we're going up against an extremely athletic team that just gets after you for 40 minutes. If we want to get to the Sweet 16 and got to Dayton, we've got to be able to attack them and get good shots and at the same time, take care of the basketball and try to stop a very gifted player in Chrissy Givens and a tremendous supporting cast.

(On the physical toll from the Ohio State game): We're hoping adrenaline really works well. We got beat up last night. They're a little sore. You'd like to have more turnaround, but you don't have that time. This is the type of team where you worry like crazy about how you're going to do this, but you don't have much time to prepare for it. You'd like to have the whole week, but this is where we have to rely on the things we've done all year and then hope that it works.

Marist guard Julianne Viani

(On MTSU's style of pressing): I don't think we've seen a team quite like them, pressing-wise because they are a 40-minute in your face type team. So it's going to really be a contest of how well we take care of the ball - passing the ball and using fakes. They're very athletic, so we're going to have to stay very poised in our game tomorrow, that's for sure.

Marist guard Alisa Kresge

(On the past 12 hours since upsetting Ohio State): Most of the time was spent trying to get back to people trying to thank them for watching our game and supporting us so much. It's been so crazy; it's been awesome. But now it's a new day and we need to focus. We've got another game to play, it's not over for us. So we're trying to get back to the mentality of getting ready for another game.

Marist center Meg Dahlman

(On the past 12 hours since upsetting Ohio State): I think I had 25 text messages, five voicemails and a ton of emails. It's nice to celebrate. We went downstairs [in the hotel] and ate at the restaurant as a team and watched the highlights on SportsCenter. But we know that today is a new day and we need to prepare ourselves for Middle Tennessee.