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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: GREENSBOROMarch 29, 2015Brittany BrownAdut BulgakSue SemrauGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA South Carolina – 80 COACH SEMRAU: What a great basketball game. It's hard to lead for 28 minutes and trail for three and lose it. Credit South Carolina and their toughness. Tiffany Mitchell, I felt like we did a good job with their post kids and I thought Tiffany found her shots and made some big plays down the stretch. Did what we needed to do: We out‑rebounded them. I felt like getting ten more shots, out‑rebounding them, you know, it was difficult to play without our kids on the floor, and that was the difference. We didn't play without fouling, and really, I felt like that was the biggest difference in the game. So for our kids to battle the way they did with a crowd like this, wish we had been in Jacksonville or Tampa, but certainly you have to credit South Carolina and their play all year long and their crowd here today I thought was fantastic. Q. How hard is it to settle into any kind of rhythm when you're constantly going in and out due to foul trouble? BRITTANY BROWN: I don't know, it was really hard, feeling that you wanted to be out there with your teammates and make a difference, but I thought we did fine, even though we were in foul trouble because we have a deep bench and everybody was producing on our team regardless of who was in foul trouble or not. You miss those people being out on the floor but I think our team did what we need to do. Q. Have you guys faced a crowd‑‑ have you been in an environment like that this year where the crowd was so loud and so large? ADUT BULGAK: Yes, we have, every single home game in Tallahassee. We were out there ‑‑ it was a garnet crowd, and the only thing was they was confused which team they were cheering for (laughter). Q. I think you went one basket over eight minutes or thereabouts in the second half and it was just getting tough to get a shot to knock one in. What was South Carolina doing or you guys not doing on offense that kind of made things grind to a halt on offense? ADUT BULGAK: I think they did a great job of defending us and knowing their personnel. But you can't base your next shot on what happened on the last shot. So we just had to keep pushing through and eventually a basket would fall, and it did. Q. At the end of the game, the one sequence where you played defense, South Carolina was only up by two and seemed to miss the rebound. Can you talk about that sequence and how pivotal that was at the end of the game? ADUT BULGAK: That was probably the worse moment of my life, like just the ball was right there at the tip of my fingers and I should have got it. I mean, especially‑‑ proud of our game on rebounds, but like I said, the previous play can't‑‑ that play can't be determined by the previous play. We brought the ball back down and we ended up hitting a big shot. Just got to carry on. Q. I know it's going to take some time to be able to reflect but when you're able to hang with a team that was No.1 in the country for as long as you did, are you able to at least take some sense of accomplishment in that and what you guys were able to accomplish to get to this point? BRITTANY BROWN: I'm really proud of how our team did this year. Of course we fell short of our goals but we made history, and it was just fun. It's one of my favorite years playing basketball besides high school. I love these girls, I love the coaching staff, from GA's to scout ‑‑ scout boys. I will just say, I will remember this forever. It was a great moment. Q. Just going back to the foul trouble, how did that affect what you were trying to do, your bench play, everything, how did the fouls really impact this game? COACH SEMRAU: I couldn't figure it out, honestly, Jordan. We just played a game where neither team went into the bonus until ten minutes in the game two days ago. I was just stunned. I think our kids were stunned. When you're playing‑‑ it was so tough playing without Maegan. When she plays 30‑plus minutes a game and she played six the first half, gets her fourth quickly, third and fourth; I know I'm rambling‑‑ I can't quantify it. I just want to credit the other kids. I mean, to be in the foul trouble we were with her and Adut; Adut played seven minutes in the first half; and to have this kind of game, I'm proud of them. I just wish‑‑ I wish we had had that rhythm that we didn't have. Q. The last time you were in the Elite 8, you faced a juggernaut and it wasn't pretty, wasn't a great game for you guys. Does this show what this program that you were a minute way from going to the Final Four against a very good team? COACH SEMRAU: Yeah, no question. I mean, the calibre of players, just they want to be great, and they were great in a lot of ways this year. I think to play that many minutes leading, what you mentioned was the No.1 team in the country at one point, they weren't afraid. They had so much courage. They stepped into, you know, a packed house, I think it was one time we played like this and that was at Notre Dame and they played great. I don't think it matters whether this team was on the road or at home. They just battle and I'm proud of them for that. Q. Your thoughts on Leticia's effort tonight, seemed like she was battling through and the hand was affecting her. COACH SEMRAU: Yeah, I think it did. And Maegan gives her a lot of relief, and I felt like without Maegan on the floor, we didn't have somebody else that's real comfortable handling the ball in that situation. I mean, Kena did a great job when she was in. I didn't feel like I could play them together for defensive reasons. But yeah, she's a warrior. She's a battler. I think the most important thing for us is understanding when we lose two players, we have to use this momentum, especially back in Tallahassee to build a fan base like South Carolina has. That's certainly something that's extremely important in women's basketball that happens and I hope that the City of Tallahassee will jump on this bandwagon and bring something special next season to Florida State. Q. You had mentioned on the first day you were here, you guys have a different go‑to player every game and you didn't know who it was. Tonight you had a lot of players that statistically were kind of balanced but you just didn't seem to find the one. COACH SEMRAU: Yeah. Q. Was that somewhat not being in rhythm? Was it a matter of nobody quite could step up and make a shot or two and take charge? COACH SEMRAU: Yeah, I think that's what it was. I felt like‑‑ and again, it was just so difficult to substitute, and thinking about, I hated going offense, defense that early with Maegan that early in the second half; that I kept thinking the game could go to overtime. And we had two kids foul out, and that's ‑‑ we don't have kids foul out. I just was trying to protect that, keep it close, and I think that hurt in some ways that she couldn't play the whole time. Q. Can you appreciate now how good a basketball game that was and the fact that I think at one point they had 15 or 16 shots in the first half trailing? COACH SEMRAU: Yeah, unbelievable, low turnovers by both teams, high assists. Just the way that we battled and rebounded the ball against a team that is an excellent rebounding team; I think they are tenth in the country. No, that was a fantastic basketball game. I think it was good for women's basketball. The crowd was fantastic, and we're moving forward. Q. Yesterday we talked about them in the post and how good they are and obviously tonight with their points in the paint, is it what you expected, or what was going on down there? COACH SEMRAU: Yeah, it was what I expected and I thought our post did a tremendous job. They knew the scout very quickly. They adjusted. I mean, it's a war to try to get around, stay in front, guards get to help side, make sure you get back out to shooters; in every way, they adjusted. Welch wanted to go left and they didn't let her go left. I thought we had a tremendous game plan and almost pulled it off. Thanks so much. Thanks to the City of Greensboro for making this an excellent event. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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