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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 4, 2015Nicole BoudreauErik JohnsonGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA Wake Forest – 69 COACH JOHNSON: Wake Forest and us are two young teams that have been really inconsistent this year. We've both played some really, really good games. We've both struggled with some turnovers, just some consistency issues. We're going into this game, we said, Hey, the team that plays solid, the team that takes care of the ball, the team that defends the rebounds consistently is going to win, and that held true. Wake Forest deserves all the credit. I thought coach Hoover did a great job. They were prepared, they made some good adjustments. They're defensive pressure really got us back on our heels. We didn't do a great job of getting to the rim in the first half. We finally got ourselves to the line a little bit more in the second half, but again, you have to credit their pressure. They turned us over a little bit, they took us out of rhythm, they contested shots very well. On the other hand, Dearica Hamby, that's a legitimate, high level WNBA players, and she played like it tonight. Her teammates rallied around her, and when she attracts that much attention, it makes it more difficult to box out and do some other things on the rest of the team, and her teammates stepped up, as well. Again, the credit goes to Wake Forest tonight. This wasn't a game where we just blew it. We got beat tonight, and again, I was very impressed with their game. Q. The right side of your record, is that kind of a testament to how good this conference is? COACH JOHNSON: Is the right side the losses? (Laughing). It is. We made a lot of progress this year. There was a lot of games‑‑ we were playing three freshmen and two sophomores consistently, along with Nicole and a couple other juniors. And you're right, we played really well at North Carolina, had a chance to win that game. They come back and win it down the stretch. We had a five‑point lead at Pitt. These are some high‑level, really, really good teams. We played great in stretches against some of the top teams in the country. But you're right, if you don't play great against a great team, then you're going to get beat. There's no question, the ACC is the premier women's basketball conference in the country, but we love it. And I'm telling you, that's why Nicole and her teammates are at Boston College. I will tell you that the attitude in the locker room there, a lot of it came from, our leader here, Nicole, was there's a hunger and one of our assistant coaches pointed that out to them. This wasn't a thank‑goodness‑it's‑over type of feel in this locker room. We're bummed, we're mad that we lost. You can tell it hurts, but there was, man, I can't wait to get back in the gym, I can't wait to go see what we can do next year. We've got so much ahead of us, and even the players that are leaving the program and they're graduating, they said the same thing, guys, you've come so far, you can do this. We're going to keep fighting and we're going to get over the top in some of those. We made big strides this year, and it's going to continue. Q. Nicole, what's the biggest thing you learned from the season? NICOLE BOUDREAU: That's a tough one. I'd have to say that not one person on our team can do it by themselves. I think you saw us play our best basketball when we played as a team, when we moved the ball, when we played team defense, stuff like that. We're that team where we don't have a Dearica Hamby, we don't have an All‑American on our team to carry us through every single game. You might have Kelly step up one game, you might have Emily, you might have Ashley. You don't know who's going to step up and I think that's what makes us really special. So we have to really take that and run with it and play together and really get that chemistry going with each other. I think that grew from game to game this year with, how many freshmen do we have? Five, whatever it is. I think we excelled over the year at getting better at that, and now we have a full off‑season to work at it. And I think next year that ‑‑ I'm so excited, I was telling‑‑ like Coach Johnson was saying, I'm so excited for next year and kind of the pieces that we're brining back and building that chemistry. And I think we have a chance to be really good, so yeah. Q. Coach, in the first half you had both the backdoor game and the three‑point shot going. What did Wake do different defensively in the second half to limit you folks to four field goals? COACH JOHNSON: They used their athleticism well, and I thought that was something that we were able to exploit in the first games that we were able to score 75 points because we got out in transition. We got the ball to the rim. They really picked it up this game, and I've got to give coach and her staff credit, and those players. Their hands were in a ton of passing lanes, and some of those passes were‑‑ somebody is open, but we're a little bit lazy maybe in going over the top instead of faking and going down, and boom, they're there. So look, you've got to credit their players. They played really hard. They were motivated, and again, that's a good team, too. You're going to see that team. I know they lose an All‑American, but there's some good young players, and that's a program on the rise, as well. Q. Is that Wake Forest team a team that can make an extended run in this tournament and make a run into the weekend? COACH JOHNSON: Hey, it's March, right? Nicole right now is wishing that we had another shot at Syracuse. Syracuse is a team that they rely heavily on the three‑point shot, and they're not shooting well. Wake Forest, absolutely. They've traditionally played well here. So look, it's tournament time. Anybody can win, so absolutely Wake Forest has a shot, and I think the world of Coach Q and that Syracuse team. They got us pretty good the last time we played. I thought they played us as tough as anybody did, turned us over, so difficult to guard. It's going to be a great game. I just wish that we were still in this bracket. We had a shot to do it, but absolutely Wake has got a shot, so no question. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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