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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 4, 2015Amber CampbellDearica HambyJen HooverGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA Wake Forest – 69 COACH HOOVER: I'm just really proud of the whole team, and again, I obviously can't say enough about Dearica Hamby and what she does for us night in and night out. It was definitely a total team effort. Q. Coach Hoover, in the first half Boston College got a lot of back door cuts, a lot of lay‑ins, and they also hit four three‑pointers. Seems like you did a better job of eliminating those in the second half. What changed? COACH HOOVER: Well, I think when you come in to play Boston College, we probably talk so much to our young ladies about we don't want to give them threes. They lead our league in made threes. Season record of how many threes they've made this year for their University. So I think we were probably so jacked to be out and guard the three‑point line that it opened us up and exposed the backdoor cuts a little bit in that first half. Kudos to our players for kind of making that adjustment. They're a very difficult team to guard because they're just really dangerous on the perimeter and they do a great job reading. And whatever you do defensively, they're going to try to beat it. I thought our hands were really active and we tracked deflections. I don't know how many we ended up with, but I know right before the half we got six in a four‑minute span right before the half. Those deflections really affect a lot of their actions, and I know this one had a couple of deflections, and Milessa, too, on what they call a flood pass when they penetrate baseline, and it takes away some of their offense for them. Q. Coach, you talked about the deflections late in the first half. How big was it to get that separation, that little bit of run, you caused turnovers on four of the last five Boston College possessions to kind of regain control of the game. COACH HOOVER: I think that was key for us, it gave us some momentum coming in at halftime. In a game where we had been able to pull up, get our lead and then it got erased and then get a lead, I think it definitely gave us momentum. They when you talking about coming out in the second half and that lead was gone almost before we blinked our eyes. I thought the O board put back by Amber Campbell right at the half was key. It really kind of lifted us up, and O boards were an emphasis for us. Q. Coach, you had a pretty good game up in the Dome early on this season. It was close late. What has to change for you guys tomorrow to get it over the top? COACH HOOVER: Well, I'll tell you, it's been a long time since we played them. They've had two assistants been working on that scout for a while now, I've watched all their games since then. I'd say we had a very slow start up there. It was our first time playing there. We can't have a slow start. Obviously Peterson, Alexis Peterson, just had a field day on us, so we've got to be able to contain her. Butler is a phenomenal shooter, one of the best and quickest in our league at shooting. And then they've got a shot blocker inside and we're going to see zone again. We've got to take care of the basketball, we've got to be aggressive and we've got to continue to dictate with our defense. Q. Dearica, you had 28 in that game at the Dome, pretty big double‑double. What can go right for you again tomorrow? DEARICA HAMBY: Our shooters knocking down shots on the outside, opening up the zone, and when you open up the zone, it's practically one‑on‑one, and then finish. Q. Dearica, you seemed to let the game come to you today, kind of a slow start statistically but then you had that run where you scored 12 points in a row. What were you seeing down low to enable you to attack those gaps? DEARICA HAMBY: I don't really remember. COACH HOOVER: I think one thing we did with Dearica we really tried to do a lot, she does a good job when she can move around and she can get in space. It's one of those when she flashes in and ducks in on somebody, it's tough. When you just leave her on one block, it's a little bit easier. They can be really physical with her and that kind of thing. And again, I think one of the biggest keys was before we had the halftime, two and a half minutes in, we had hit two threes, one by Amber and one by Millesa Calicott. Even if your game plan is to come in and really take away the inside game, they're not going to continue to sit there. That really makes them worried. Q. Coach, what is it about you guys in this particular building every year? It just seems your whole entire level of play from top to bottom is elevated? COACH HOOVER: I have to give all that credit to our seniors because that started before I ever got here. Our upperclassmen, every year they come in with a confidence here and pass it down through the underclassmen about this is our house, we protect our house, and so I think a lot of that comes from them and just that it is‑‑ it's the premier conference tournament in the country, it's kind of show time, and so I think a lot of it comes from them, and then we've just come in and been confident in them. We knew today would be a dogfight. Again, our game at home was back and forth and we came out on the short end of it. Did that give us more motivation today? Maybe it did, but I do know we have three seniors that poured their heart and souls into this program and they're not ready for the season to be over. They're not ready to hang that jersey up and not put it back on, and we're not ready for that to happen. I think they come in with that mentality. Q. Could you kind of talk us through the process of what you guys did during the little delay, what you guys discussed and points of emphasis and all that? COACH HOOVER: Well, they weren't sure how long it was going to be, but probably the advantage for us in that situation is we were in that situation last year. We were up 14 on Carolina before the lights went out last year, and we had about a 15‑minute delay. I think our kids just going through it last year and knowing, we said, go out and shoot a little bit, we want to try to stay up on your feet, move around. We don't want to tighten up and have to warm completely back up. And then just relax because we weren't sure exactly how long it was going to take and if the lights were going to get fixed. Q. But you guys did come out and make a couple quick threes, and I think that was before the delay. COACH HOOVER: Right. Q. Was there a concern that might get you out of a rhythm? COACH HOOVER: Yes, it absolutely was and that's why we kind of stayed pretty chilled and relaxed over on the sideline. We didn't bring them and start talking a bunch of game planning and that kind of stuff. We did come out with a specific play to run coming out of it, but I thought our kids did a good job just kind of staying the moment and I do truly believe because we went through it last year, we weren't like, oh, gosh, what do we do, this is awkward, because we kind of did that last year. So we didn't have that situation. Q. Amber, can you describe your impressions of your first ever ACC experience? AMBER CAMPBELL: Actually my first ACC experience, it felt pretty good. I just treat it like any other game, but also being aggressive on both ends of the floor. I mean, it actually felt really great to play in the ACC for the first time, tournament, at that. Q. Being your first ACC Tournament, does it help to have, I guess, a safety net or maybe a safety valve like Dearica down low? AMBER CAMPBELL: Yeah, it does help a lot, actually. It takes like a good amount of pressure off of me. You know, me and her play‑‑ have good chemistry together. When I see her on the block, I try to give her the ball inside, and like, you know, cutting off of her passes and stuff. COACH HOOVER: Yeah, I think that's one of the biggest things, when you look at her stat sheet and what this young lady did for us, she came out with five offensive rebounds today. And I think our other players understand how much attention Dearica draws on offense and on the boards, and so it just opens so much up for them. Kandice Ball had three and Milan Quinn are the two centers that saw most of the time today. That was a big, big part of our game plan was to attack those offensive boards. When she's got two people on her, it's a harder for her to get them, and she still comes up with three. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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