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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 5, 2015Sidney CookVanessa PanousisDennis WolffGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA Virginia Tech – 51 COACH WOLFF: Well, I'm going to kind of repeat everything that I said last night, that for us to have to come back on a day's rest against a good team, really, really proud of the way the ladies played. I've coached a lot of games in my career. What these kids have done‑‑ and really I'll start last week because we went to Boston College and they played as hard as they could in that game. I think that we were smart against a good defensive team. We changed defenses at the end to try to limit Kelsick's touches, and I thought Kelsey Conyers did a real good job when that happened. Vanessa and Sidney both made big plays, so it's a real, real big win for our program. Q. Can someone explain to me after you guys won one ACC game during the regular season what's gotten into you guys and what's been different this week in Greensboro? VANESSA PANOUSIS: I think it's just the fight that we have. We've stuck together the seasons and we knew that there were a lot of losses that we had during the season that we could have won, and I think we've just stuck together and now we've pulling them off. Q. Do you feel like‑‑ obviously not a very successful season. Do you feel like this run kind of salvaged the season and can you guys make a tournament run? COACH WOLFF: You know, I don't want to say it salvages the season. I think I speak for all the girls, we're disappointed the way the season went. If you're coaching a team at Virginia Tech, with the success that our football team has had, you expect to be competitive and win. I don't want to say it salvages the season. I think that it gives us an idea of who we are. We only lose one player off this team. We have a very good player that got injured that we redshirted and we have a good recruiting class. So I think in terms of where we are going forward, it helps us. Q. You guys led the entire second half. You've had some games in ACC play where you lost the lead and lost the game. Can you talk about what helped you guys be so effective in the clutch tonight? COACH WOLFF: I think the very start of the second half was‑‑ if we had any fatigue, that kind of took the fatigue away. Vanessa made two big threes, they made a lay‑up, they had to call time‑out and all of a sudden the momentum had switched. Not the momentum, but we gained the momentum, and I think that was important. VANESSA PANOUSIS: I think that we've just learnt throughout the season, like I said, we've had so many close games that we haven't won, and I think we've learnt from those games. Q. Pittsburgh shot 31 percent from the field. What did you like about your defense in general and your defense on Kelsick in particular? COACH WOLFF: I thought that Kelsey did a great job throughout when we were man to man and when we were in the box and one. I thought everyone was really locked in all day when we spent time going over the game plan. So I thought that ‑‑ I mean, this is a very well‑coached team. They drilled us during the year. We tried to make some adjustments, and the ladies paid attention and tried to go on with what we asked them to do. Q. Do you just think you've grown as players primarily off the court, just whether it's in practice or in team meetings or whatever? How do you feel that you've matured? VANESSA PANOUSIS: We've always been a close knit team, so that's not really an issue. I think throughout the year we've come to practice every day with a positive attitude, even if we have lost games, so yeah, our practices, and then we try to put what we put in practice into the game. Q. For each player, Vanessa, 20 points, four threes, Sidney a double‑double. For each of you what helped you be effective tonight? SIDNEY COOK: I guess my teammates really just giving me the ball, and if I didn't have anything I'd kick it back out to them. I don't know, I'd just go after rebounds. I'd just give it my all. VANESSA PANOUSIS:  I mean, like yesterday, I tried to give what the defense gave me, so they were going under some ball screens, so I decided to shoot the ball. Q. The move in that box and one, was that always the plan if you got the lead, to go to that box and one? COACH WOLFF: I had said to the ladies before the game that if we were going to stop playing man‑to‑man that's what we were going to do. There was a stretch in there, and Kelsick is so good with a head of steam going toward the basket that I felt, A, we needed to stop turning the ball over and missing lay‑ups because that was enabling her to run out at us. And then once we were able to score and get settled, it made her have to work and them have to work, and that defense, you can only play it so long, and it puts some of their other players in some positions that they probably weren't comfortable in. Q. What did you guys do better than when you played Pittsburgh the first time and also your assessment of the challenges of playing Florida State tomorrow? COACH WOLFF: You know, I thought the first time was one of the worst games we played all year. We were really discombobulated from the beginning. We didn't have a lot of life. You know, and at that point I was struggling to try to figure out the best way for us to play defensively. I've been on the ladies hard about the way we've been playing now for a few weeks, and they have embraced it. It's not going to work if they don't buy in and they've bought in. Florida State is one of the best teams in the country, so we'll prepare for them like we have these last two games. It's an enormous challenge, but for us, where we're at with our team, to be here playing for a third night in the ACC Tournament is a great thing. I thought we played hard in the first meeting. I think Hannah Young had a pretty good game. I think they were missing their big post player. She didn't play in the game. I think this is as deep a team as there is in our league. For our ladies it's going to be really important that we get as much rest and we try to get them to get gas back in their tank so we can play as well as we can tomorrow. Q. This is the first time Tech has ever won multiple games in the ACC Tournament. With the way you guys have been playing, are you shocked to still be sitting here and winning two games in the ACC Tournament? VANESSA PANOUSIS: No, not at all, really. I think at the beginning of the tournament, we said as a group that we could beat all these teams, like I said, there's been so many games throughout the season that have been so close and we should have won, so no, I don't think we're shocked at all. SIDNEY COOK: I'm not shocked. COACH WOLFF: Sidney is a woman of few words as you can tell. She's going to break the press conference record for nothing said. I thought Sidney was very aggressive today, and I think in the second half, she's a little bit undersized, and I think in the second half when she slowed down a little bit and was able to get them up off their feet. She got to the free‑throw line and she was able to score. Sidney tries very hard. She played with a lot of energy and did that yesterday, as well. I'm happy for her, and it's really helped the team. Q. You got off to a slow start. How did you use all those lessons from the season to help turn things around during that game and create such a better offensive showing later on? COACH WOLFF: Well, I think that our being sluggish to begin with would have been more concerning if we were not guarding them the way we were guarding them. They didn't get a lot of separation from them, and then we made a couple shots and got ourselves right in it. I mean, again, we all watch a lot of basketball. That UVA men's game the other night, those guys didn't score for like 13 minutes and still won by like 20. There's going to be runs in the game, and I think we get‑‑ from a coaching standpoint all you're trying to get the ladies to do is continue to run good offense. Q. Dennis, in all seriousness, let me ask the question, I'm sure Tech fans were thinking. Do you feel you have much better job security after these last two wins here now? COACH WOLFF: You know, again, I don't want to be a wise ass to you in this. I've never once thought that I didn't have job security, so I work for great people, they've been unbelievably supportive. We lost our best player to begin the year, so if you're asking me did I need to win two games here to still be the coach of Virginia Tech, my answer would be I don't believe that's the case, but you need to ask Whit Babcock about that. I'm glad we got through here talking about my job again. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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