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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 6, 2015Ameryst AlstonShayla CooperKevin McGuffKelsey MitchellHOFFMAN ESTATES, ILLINOIS Ohio State – 83 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff and student‑athletes Kelsey Mitchell, Shayla Cooper and Ameryst Alston. Questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Any of you, did it come up that they had outrebounded you guys by 20 in Columbus in the first game, and was that a point of emphasis in this game to possibly do better, and how did you do better in this game? SHAYLA COOPER: In scouting, we really focused on rebounding and putting a body on them, because when we're watching film, we just saw them getting a lot of second chance and third chance points and scoring. Coach put an emphasis on putting a body on them, making contact, and hitting the board. Q. Kelsey, how much did the play of Shayla off the bench and Alexa in working against Amanda, who is a large person, really lift the rest of you guys? KELSEY MITCHELL: Well, start off by saying Amanda is a great player, a great big. And for Shayla and Alexa to deal with her for 40 minutes, I salute them big time. I just‑‑ I wouldn't be able to do it. So to see them do it and to be successful at it, I think it was a great thing for us tonight. Q. Ameryst, you've only got the eight kids, seven sometimes. And you didn't have a great game in this game. But there are more pieces now than there were maybe two months ago to get you through those kinds of games, aren't there? And how do you think that Shayla and other people did in this one? AMERYST ALSTON: Absolutely. No, I didn't have a great offensive game at all. Kind of took on a different role, trying to really, I don't know, just guard the post. And my teammates, they was definitely there to pick me up. And I thank them for that. Q. Shayla, how do you guard Amanda Zahui B.? What do you have to do? What's the process? SHAYLA COOPER: It was a long process. I started with trying to push her off the block, try to get her somewhere where she wasn't comfortable. At times it worked. At times I got sealed in. But my teammates were there to help me and dig in on her. So that helped out a lot. But I mean, she's a great player. She finished the game with a triple‑double, but we got the win. But it was just a lot to deal with and I had Alexa and Lisa to help me out as well, so that helped me out a lot. Q. You guys just played Iowa and you played them twice this year, but are you thinking about them at all yet, or does that have to start tomorrow morning, Ameryst? AMERYST ALSTON: We're going to celebrate this win a little bit but I don't know. This game is over and I will say that we will begin to focus on the next game. So we can capitalize on that. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach. Q. Kevin, again the rebounding, the last game was just the thing. What's the difference in the game? And this game I think they showed early that they really, really intended to go in there to both Amanda and Shae Kelley, and your kids just looked like from the get‑go they were digging and not allowing it. Was that the game plan? COACH MCGUFF: Yeah, we were much better, obviously, on the boards. That was the difference in the game the first time around. But the rebounding and defense go together in that we got them a little more off the block and in different positions which made it a little bit harder for them to get offensive rebounds. We contained the ball a little bit better. Which means our post players didn't have to help and get out of position to where they couldn't block them out on shots. Overall, I think we were much better defensively with our rebounding, and that was the difference. Q. If you're going to go to the pressure you put on your guards, that seemed to affect their offense pretty much throughout the game, and that was part of it then, too? COACH MCGUFF: I think Cait and Asia did an excellent job not necessarily turning them over. We did get turnovers, but pressuring them, taking them out of their rhythm offensively. If you watched them last night versus Purdue they really got in a good rhythm there in the second half. That was one of the things you wanted to do was try to do make them work a little harder to initiate offense. Q. You guys started off not shooting great but then you started turning them over and that started leading to some transition stuff and some second‑chance stuff, too, really. But again, that's off the defense, too, though isn't it? COACH MCGUFF: We got some turnovers and we were able to get some points in transition. I think in general we started to get the pace of the game the way we wanted it. We got some easy baskets and Alexa really did a great job running the floor. Q. Is this kind of an old school game, like a lunch game? COACH MCGUFF: It was. Like our post players, you know, as I said, Amanda Zahui B. and Shae Kelley are two great post players and our kids had to work really hard. We knew we weren't going to limit them. They had 25, 23 respectively. But we wanted them to work for everything they got. And I think we did do that. Q. And you also got‑‑ again this is a game where Ameryst didn't shoot it well but she gave you other things. COACH MCGUFF: She didn't. She's always great on the defensive end. And she was tonight. She always keeps the ball moving. She makes the extra pass. She's provided some great leadership. And for us to be able to win the game and her not play as well as she usually does on offense is a good sign. And also hopefully a sign that she saved some of those for tomorrow. Q. Kelsey, I think started the game 1 for 6 for the field and winds up with 29 points. I think that's kind of par for the course this year? COACH MCGUFF: That's Kelsey being Kelsey. That's why she was the Big Ten Player of the Year. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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