Nebraska Quotes (Monday Press Conference)

Head Coach Connie Yori

Opening Statement:
"There is a reason why Maryland is a No. 1 seed. They are a great basketball team, they're experienced, talented and an exceptional offensive team. I think an interesting stat is when you shoot better from the 3-point line than your opponents shoot from the field, I think that says something about how good you are offensively. They're very underrated on defense as well. I do know that we play in a great league. The Big 12 is 8-0 in the NCAA Tournament up to this stage. We've played against good competition all year. Maryland's a great basketball team. We've seen great basketball teams throughout the year. It will be a great challenge for us, but at the same time, we expect to compete tomorrow night."

On whether Nebraska will play physical against Maryland:
"It's something that we've talked about. We're going to need to play the physical parts of the game and compete in the area of rebounding and get those kids off the blocks. As talented as they are, we're going to have to play physical. If you look at our post players, we are not a real big team in terms of height and weight, but they're going to have to bring it. We're going to have to utilize our depth in the post and play our four post players and give ourselves a chance to compete and be physical."

On trying to contain Marissa Coleman, Crystal Langhorne, Kristi Toliver and the rest of Maryland:
"Well, it's a classic case of pick your poison. Obviously, they have a great inside game and one of the best point guards in the country. They are a great 3-point shooting team, so it's a classic case of pick your poison. We're not going to give you our game plan. We've got to do some different things. There will be occasions when we will play them straight up and there will be occasions when we do some other things."

On what makes Crystal Langhorne special:
"She's physical. She has great hands and she's a great interior scorer. She's good at going one way and coming back the other way. She shoots such a high percentage, which is a concern, as does Laura Harper. She's just a really good athlete. She has great hands and she posts up big."

Senior Forward Dominique Kelley

On making the layup at the end of the Xavier game:
"We were trying to get Mo the ball and have Vonnie come back as a receiver. They double-teamed Kelsey and she saw the up pass and she threw it to me. I took it up."

Junior Forward Kelsey Griffin

On what she expects the environment to be like against Maryland on its home floor:
"One of the other great things about the Big 12 that prepares us is they have really good turnouts, playing at Baylor and Oklahoma. They bring in a really big fan base. I am expecting a similar situation Tuesday night. We stayed and watched a little bit of the game after ours and their fans were really into the game. It's almost like a sixth man for them, which is great, for women's basketball. We're expecting it, but it isn't like we haven't seen it before."

Senior center Danielle Page

On how playing in the Big 12 prepares Nebraska for playing against No. 1 seed Maryland in the NCAA tournament:
"The Big 12 does prepare us for the atmosphere that we are going to see tomorrow night. It's so intense, I think physically in the post and rebounding. Playing against talented teams night-in and night-out really prepares you for the postseason because you're not going to get an easy game in the NCAA Tournament. You work all year on eliminating the small mistakes that cost you games and I think that's going to help us."