Nebraska Player Quotes

Senior Forward Jordan Hooper 

On the emotions following Coach Connie Yori’s fall
“As soon as I got my basket I got really excited. Then I turn around and my coach isn’t standing on her feet anymore. It was kind of a range of emotion. But like Coach Sunny said, I knew we could trust our coaching staff and the team. You have to gauge your emotions. Even after you hit a big shot or you let a shot go, you have to gauge your emotions the whole game. It’s a little bit tougher, but it goes the same.”

On playing with more emotion after Coach Yori’s fall
“Well we were playing for ourselves like usually. And today was a big day, pink day for breast cancer awareness. And then that happens. So it gives you something else to play for. You play for your coach, you play for breast cancer, and you play for yourselves. I mean it just gave us all a bigger puff of air I guess.”

On staying focused after the fall
“It’s a little hard to stay focused, but at the same time you’re doing your job and you need to get it done. You can worry about that later. It’s just kind of taking things as they come. The game was first, and then we can start worrying about Coach (Yori). It’s kind of hard at first to stay focused, but then you just keep playing.

On the defense’s momentum change
“Actually we switched up defenses a little more. In the first half we kind of stuck with the same defense, but in the last 10 minutes we kind of switched it up. We did a little bit of zone, a little bit of man. I think it threw them off and sometimes they didn’t know what to run. It’s something that played right into our hands and we could kind of flow with that. We mostly just changed up our defense a little more instead of sticking with the same stuff.”

Sophomore Guard Rachel Theriot 

On the momentum change in the second half
“I think our intensity as a whole got better. We gathered a lot of momentum and just ran with it. We did the little things we probably weren’t doing in the first half and made adjustments.  We used the momentum for us.

On the reaction of Coach Yori’s fall
“It was a little scary, but you just have to stay in the moment. You’re in the game. Like Jordan (Hooper) said, on to what’s next.”

On the crowd
“I think it’s just amazing. All of us just came together and wanted to do it for her. We really engaged in the game and with the fans. The fans were amazing. It was so loud. It was a really good time to play out there.”

On the momentum of the six-game win streak
“I think we’re learning to play more with each other. We play together. We do it within ourselves.”