Everything From Virginia Tech's Megan Duffy, Kilah Freelon, Carys Baker After Pitt Win

Virginia Tech women's basketball head coach Megan Duffy, as well as forwards Carys Baker and Kilah Freelon spoke to the media after the Hokies' 67-50 victory over Pitt. Here's the entirety of what Duffy, Baker and Freelon had to say Thursday night.

Opening statement from Coach Duffy:

MD: "I'm happy with our grit and toughness today. It was not the prettiest basketball game, give Pitt some credit for that. Their kids played very hard, made some big plays. But I was just really proud of the way we stepped up in the fourth quarter defensively, whether it was our rebounding, taking a charge. Then offensively, finally got back to ourselves a little bit. Sharing and moving the ball and got some really nice possessions."

On what capturing a sixth straight win means:

MD: "It just means a good win against Pitt. This league, it turns into the gauntlet in January and February. So, I just said to our team, 'They're not always going to be pretty.' But the positive thing was we got a great W tonight. I think we've been focused all year, and I'm really proud of our team for really staying in the moment, of getting better every day, preparing for the next team. Wake's style is very different than Pitt, right? And then UVA is going to be very different this weekend. So, just staying in the moment and not getting too high or too low. Just staying really hungry to get better is all we're asking and these two [Editor's note: Duffy is referring to Baker and Freelon.] are the epitome of that. Just trying to improve and get better, positive things will continue to happen."

On the focus on defense in the fourth quarter, where Virginia Tech outshot Pitt, 17-6:

MD: "I just thought we tightened up a little bit. It helped that Mikayla Johnson fouled out late in the quarter, which took the ball out of her hands a little bit. But I think our post defense was really good inside on 21 [Fatima Diakhate]. I thought we got out on [Carla] Viegas when she got hot a few minutes earlier in the game. Just tightened up on a couple things. Guards got their hands on a couple little steals and prevented some easier possessions for them."

On what was working for Freelon (10 points, 11 rebounds):

KF: "Honestly, I'd say just listening to Coach, listening to my teammates, doing the little things a lot. Especially things that we work on in practice, crashing the glass, and making sure I'm there whenever one of them is just driving."

On what made Pitt's Johnson (21 points, 8-for-14 shooting) so difficult to defend:

MD: "She's a great little player. She's a veteran. She's had some really good games this season. I think she's versatile. It's probably the biggest thing that she's added to her game. Always been a pretty good shooter, but her ability to to get downhill and and be physical. She was relentless at times, just the mindset of 'I'm going to get a bucket.' We made a couple mistakes on how we were guarding her and she took advantage of it. Great players do. So, we're going to have to get a little bit better at that. But give her a lot of credit for the evening she had."

On what was working so well for Tech's five-woman lineup down the stretch:

MD: "I think early, we were going to our bench and trying to give these guys a few extra minutes earlier in the game and with a little bit of the up-and-down play, you know at some point you got to go with the five who are really clicking. And I thought that group was out there on the floor really tightened up defensively. And then, finally we just kind of said in the locker room and finally we started doing what we do. Sharing and moving the ball and getting some easier shots and higher percentage shots. I thought we missed a few easy ones tonight. But that's going to happen and that's why we kept talking about, just tighten up a little bit defensively and make sure our rebounding is strong and hope the clock runs out too right at that point."

On if Baker liked the looks the team was getting and if it was one of those nights where the shots just don't fall:

CB: "Yeah, we had good looks like everyone said and everyone just told me to keep shooting. But it was just one of those nights, I guess. But I thought everyone else had a really good night. I mean Kilah was huge for us. Carleigh [Wenzel] had a good night as well. And I think if shots aren't falling, I have to figure out ways to affect the game in other ways. So, I think I cleaned up my rebounding and then also helping everyone on the defensive end as well. So, shots weren't falling but it happens."

On what the players are seeing from the team to explain the six-game winning streak:

CB: "Coach Duffy always tells us, 'Keep the foot on the gas.' We're never going to just go into every game thinking that it's going to be easy. We're in ACC play, we're in January, it's never going to be easy. So, we never go into any game thinking it's just going to be a blowout. Just thinking that we're going to come into practice one day and just kind of not think that we're [going to blow them out]. Everyone's in the same level here, everyone's in the ACC, everyone's playing for something, playing for something bigger. So, we know that coming into every practice, it's not going to be easy. And even Coach always says, 'We got to stay humble in the process.' And I think the P-word is really big for us right now, process. We're always going to be in this process. We're always going to be working to get better and we're going to get into the gym tomorrow. We're going to get better for UVA on Sunday. That's a rivalry game, so it's going to be huge for us. So, we can't keep the foot off the gas. And yes, we won this game tonight, but we got a big one on Sunday."

On what Duffy has seen from the team since the squad's two straight losses to Miami and Louisville, followed by this six-game win streak:

MD: "I think we're just growing together. I think that's always been our plan from back in the summertime to continue to improve. We find that balance of really leaning on each other, of how we're going to do that. I think we're pretty connected right now. I think we're challenging each other in practice, but we're also really celebrating each other when people are doing well. Our bench has gotten better, which takes a little bit of pressure off [Freelon and Baker] sometimes. And that's what we always envisioned. I think our schedule coming up is going to be challenging. I think that's why we're just so focused on playing good quality basketball and really dissecting what happened today. And figure out, OK, how can we be better with our one-on-one defense? How can we be better with executing the offense a little bit better? You look back at a couple games, like Clemson, we're down a bunch and we come back and win. Miami, we're up a bunch and we lose it. Just the margin of error is so slim. So, I just keep telling them, 'Don't get too high or too low.' Just work on every possession. Can you get the max to your ability? Let's make adjustments within the game. I thought they were really in tune as the game went on in the third and fourth quarters. Despite missing some shots, I felt like everybody was there trying to be like, 'Let's fight through this.' And that's paying off. I don't know if we had that at Louisville and obviously, we had a heartbreaker against Miami. So, the more they can mature and grow through adverse moments and just dig into the heart a little bit, hopefully, you put yourself in position to win games."

On Tech scoring the final 12 points of the game and what changed in the final four minutes:

KF: "I'd say a lot of it was just the little things. Just the details of getting back in front of your man, having each other's help side, and we communicated a lot more in those last four minutes than we did most of the game, honestly. It was a lot of communication before the plays would start, through the plays, and making sure we had those help sides."

On moving Leila Wells into the starting lineup, Mel Daley to the bench and how effective that change has been as an on-court fit:

MD: "I think, a little bit was after Miami and Louisville, we just talked about the standard of what we needed to have every day. I could give two craps about who starts. I want them playing to a standard and the way they work, the way they communicate. We've talked a lot about Mel, Samyha [Suffren] and Leila, the way they can contribute to a game in all different ways. Sometimes it's the defense, sometimes it's hitting a couple threes like [Daley] did the other night. Mel can score the basketball and she's really growing with her defense at the same time. So, it's a luxury for me to be able to move people around and that helps Mackie [Nelson] and Carleigh tremendously. So, I don't know, maybe the players care if they start or not, but we're just trying to win and I think everybody's bought into that."

On VT holding a 36-24 advantage in the paint, 20-7 gap in second-chance points and what Baker liked about the team's aggression in the interior:

CB: "I think we had a lot of people step up and help Kilah and me rebound. So, I thought that was huge. I think that was a big emphasis going into the second half, we needed to have more people helping on the rebounding end. I think Samyha was huge in that. She had that spark where she had like two back-to-back rebounds on the offensive end. So, that was really big for us. We just always talk about the guards stepping in and then obviously, Kilah was huge for us too in the rebounding end. So, I think just having everyone contributing, all five rebounding. So, that's always an emphasis for us coming into every game."

On what Freelon feels is the difference in vibe prior to the six-game winning streak to after the sixth win:

KF: "I'd say a lot of it is our energy coming into practice, our energy with the skill workouts we're doing and just the way we carry ourselves with each other, how much more positive we are. We've always been a positive team, but there's a difference in a team that's positive and a positive team that's pushing each other to be even more positive and work harder each day. So, I feel like all of us have been pushing ourselves more and more with the extra shots, the extra defensive stuff, the extra clips. I feel like that's what's making us be more successful right now."