What Becky Burke and Arizona players said after win over BYU

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Arizona women’s basketball won its first Big 12 game of the Becky Burke era Tuesday night by taking down BYU at McKale Center. For a team that had dropped its first three conferences games, the victory was much-needed.

What changed Tuesday? Burke credited the performance to the team’s all-around effort level.

“BYU plays extremely hard. We played harder,” Burke said. “We’re capable of it. We’ve shown it now. Now that’s the standard.”

Now that Arizona has its first Big 12 win in the bag, Burke believes her team is capable of playing with the same type of energy on a nightly basis.

“Because I think this is a group that when they when they do something well, and get rewarded for it and see the fruits of their labor, I think they then want to do more of it,” Burke said.“

Our recap of the game can be found here. Below is what Burke, Nora Francois, Sumayah Sugapong and Tanyuel Welch had to say after the game.

Burke on her overall thoughts on the win: “I am overjoyed. I’m so excited for our group. You know, we needed this. We worked our butts off for this. That’s a really, really, really good team. I’ve played, I’ve won games, I’ve done it. Like I am so happy for them. For a lot of these, literally, all three of these guys to win their first Power 4 games, especially here in Arizona, it’s really special. And we were just talking through the first three games of big 12 play. We just got to keep battling, stay the course, and when we get our first one, what that is going to do for this team, to just rejuvenate them and build that confidence, that they can go win games if we play the way that we play today. So shout out to our staff and coach Julie game plan was absolutely phenomenal. Shout out to them for executing it to perfection and pairing that with being the hardest game. You know, our effort that was, that was they’ve played the hardest they’ve played all season tonight. So I could not be more happy for these guys.”

On Arizona’s defensive intensity: “Well we forced them into 27 turnovers. I didn’t think it was going to be that high, but, like, I knew we could turn them over. Oheir offense is very, very, very ball screen oriented. There’s one, two, maybe three on every possession. A lot of people have just been letting them use ball screens this year, and they’re so good at picking you apart. They’ll take anything you give them off ball screens. So we just said we’re gonna shake some stuff up. We’re not gonna let them use ball screens and do what they want. We’re going to dictate defensively. Our ball pressure, and then Nora hedged ball screens for 40 minutes like I’ve never seen before, you know. So it was just a tremendous effort by them, but to force a minute 27 turnovers, it’s really hard to win when you turn the ball over that many times. So just just credit to our group for doing that and causing those.”

On asking Francois to hedging ball screens, and what Francois brought offensively: “We had a horrible trip back from Texas Tech, and we’re getting off the plane, and we prepped on the airplane for the next one, and Nora is getting off. And I’m like, Nora, can you hedge a ball screen? She’s like, ‘Very well, actually.’ I’m like, okay, so she proved herself right today. What she did on the defensive end, I think, like, had just helped her flow offensively. I mean, she was very effective on the defensive end. It’s easy when you guard and you do what you’re supposed to do on that end, to have some juice and to have, like, to go sprint to screens. It was really nice to see. And our guards fed her the ball, like, extremely well. She created for herself some. Our guards created for her some. And then she was finishing today, which is the most encouraging thing, you know, because she’s gonna make a couple, she’s gonna miss a couple. That’s kind of what we’ve been living with all year. But she was making them today, and the focus was there. She would say the same thing, and she probably will, but like, credit to the guards too. Nora was screening, rolling and posting, and we were feeding her. like we just kept going to what was working. And that’s just like, such, such high IQ by our players, without me having to like, walk them through every little thing.”

On getting Sugapong back in the lineup: “Yeah, a lot of it’s been like game plan. size of opponents. I told Sumayah the other day, it’s really hard to have you and Lani on the floor at the same time, given this game plan and how aggressive we were going to be and how they’re very guard oriented. We knew Sumayah could play a ton of this game, and she did, you know. So it’s really not a Sumayah thing, it’s a game plan, personnel on the other teams thing, you know. So it was, it was nice to see her go out there and just pick up where she left off. And the tight rotation today, I told everybody in practice like I’m going with who’s going to do what I’m asking him to do at a really high level. So if it’s five or six, the rest of the way, we’ll call plenty of timeouts, we’ll get plenty of treatment, and we’ll see what these guys got. But the five or six that played the heavy minutes tonight were the ones that were getting it done. So if it’s not broke, I’m not going to fix it.”

On the number of hustle plays and playing with a higher effort level: “Yeah, the chart is in my brain. When I see our players on the floor, left and right, it fires me up. Like that is who we have to be. Our slogan is sleeves up. They rolled their sleeves up today. Got dirty like there was no question that we played harder. And BYU plays extremely hard. We played harder. We’re capable of it. We’ve shown it now. Now that’s the standard. Like, we have to be that team. We’ve proven, like we did tonight, that if we’re that team and we can play that hard every night, we’ll give ourselves a chance every single time. These kind of 50/50 games we’ll win. These will sneak a couple that we’re not supposed to win, you know, but we have to play this hard and harder the rest of the way. You know, you saw a little two, two minute stretch. We didn’t play super hard. What happened? Boom, 14 to 4 run. We have to play hard the rest of the season. They can rest in April, like, we have to play hard. So, but I like, to your point, there was a zero question. And the fans love it. I mean, I loved, like, I loved doing that stuff, because I love the fans cheering for me like that on the floor. You want them to, like, cheer for you, right? Like, you want to feel good. You want like, yeah, we got it. We got to do that stuff, especially in the atmosphere that we have here. It just fires everybody up.”

On the support of the fanbase and the significance of beating BYU: “This is how special this place is. I mean, we just started conference play 0-3 and this might have been one of our biggest crowds. That is why I took this job there. We’re obviously going to battle and fight this year and make everybody proud and do a great job and have a lot of momentum. But like, we want to recruit the best players in the country here. We want to win a national championship here. Why would somebody not want to come to a place that, when we’re 0-3 in the Big 12, you still get to play in front of 8,000 people? It is an incredibly unique place when it comes to that. I was excited. I knew we were going to get one. It was a matter of when it was. Because I think this is a group that when they when they do something well, and get rewarded for it and see the fruits of their labor, I think they then want to do more of it. And I think they then want to continue what they did to have that success. Yeah, it was really hard for us to get it right? Three games. But like now that they’ve got it, I think they’re going to be locked in for the UCF game plan the same way that they were for this one. I think they’re going to trust us a little bit more than if we do exactly what we’re asking them to do, that, hey, it actually worked. That’s what type of group this is. So if they needed one to go get two or three in these next few, then I’m glad we kind of got the monkey off our back a little bit. But I told them, if you get even a little bit complacent and you think because you beat BYU that we’ve arrived, you’re gonna drop one on Saturday. This is an every night league, and we can’t take our foot off the gas at all.”

On how the team can offset rebounding struggles: “We’re boxing out. It’s the pursuit to go get it after we box out. There wasn’t a whole lot of shot, like we turned them over 27 times. So that’s 27 shots. They didn’t take for us to rebound it. So I think some of those stats are a little bit skewed sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not a great rebounding team ever, but yeah, I’d rather live steals than rebounds in this game, particularly, T goes and snatches a bunch. But we have to be better at hitting and going and pursuing the ball.”

On preparing for UCF: “I don’t talk or think about the next team until we take care of business with the first team. You look at scores in the league, it’s just what we do, right? But no, I don’t have to know anything about them to know that we need to bring our best on Saturday. We need to play high level basketball. We need to build off this momentum. We need to be extremely locked in.”

On the possibility of starting Big 12 play 2-3: “It would be huge. These are so hard earned and hard to get. They know how hard that win was out there? Like, I’m glad they have an off day tomorrow, because they need it, you know? So it’s big, but we could also be 1-4, so they got to be locked.”

Francois on executing on defense, particularly hedges: “So actually, on the plane leaving our last game, coach asked me, she’s like, ‘Nora, do you know how to hedge?’ I was like, ‘This is my time to shine. This is my time.’ Definitely very familiar with hard hedging, soft hedging, anything. Drop coverage is fine, but just being prepared for that, going into practice, knowing that I’m gonna have my moments. That was really the biggest adjustment.”

On knocking the ball away in late defensive stand: “I read the inbounder’s eyes, and she was trying so hard not to look at my person. So I was like, All right, it’s coming to her. So I just got her arm up, tipped it, thankfully. Sumayah turned around, secured it and yeah.”

On her chemistry with Lani Cornfield: “I had to make an adjustment. I’m used to picking and rolling and putting my hand up to get the ball up here, but with Lani, it’s a lot of bounce passes, so making sure you know your hands are ready. Yeah, because she’ll find you. She’ll find you.”

Sugapong on going 9-9 from the free throw line: “My teammates trusts me with the ball down this stretch, which does a lot for my confidence. And then, you know, all the hours in the gym, just getting a free throws and free throws, that’s what gave me the confidence to step up those shots and knock them down.“

On staying ready when she wasn’t playing as much: “Yeah, just mentally staying locked in. I mean, I trust the coaches their game plan going into every game. So just for sure just staying locked in, being ready when my number’s called.”

Welch on the importance of the home crowd: “One thing I can say, after being on the road for two games, we definitely missed being at home and having those fans. It don’t matter what’s going on in the game. We could be down, we could be up, we could be having, like, a bad stretch, the other team could have a stretch, but they really helped change the momentum for us. You know, we get a little stop and they’ll make it seem like we just won the championship. So a little stuff like that really, really helps our team.”

On being healthy and having six straight games in double figures: “The beginning the season, I had a concussion. You know, I had to work my way back in, work back from my spot. So I just took pride and wanted to be on the floor. I do whatever it takes to help my team. As you can see, I rebounded really well tonight, and I feel like that’s what we needed the most. BYU is really good at crashing the boards as far as offenses, so I made sure I secured it. And as far as my performance go, I just feel like I play a big role for this team, whether I’m scoring or not. On both ends of the floor, offensively and defensively, I set the tone. So with that being said, I have to be there. I have to be present for my team. Also like to use my voice and keep us together and huddle and all that. So yeah, just using that energy and letting my hard work show.”

On staying locked in: “I mean, now that we got our first one, I feel like it would give us a lot more momentum going into these next ones. I feel like we all can agree that tonight was fun. We enjoyed the game. So why wouldn’t we want to just keep growing from here, you know, making it exciting and growing together and just learning throughout the season. So I feel like this win tonight would really help.”

On what it takes to maintain defensive energy: “Well, you got to do it or you’re coming out the game. So I feel like that’s the first part of it. And I mean, those are the type of plays that, if we’re not going offensively, those turn into transition points. There’s just type of plays we need to win games, and everybody wants to win so everybody’s out there playing 100%.”

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