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PAC-12 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 4, 2016

Seattle, Washington

Washington - 73, Stanford - 65

THE MODERATOR: We welcome the Washington Huskies, Coach Mike Neighbors, Kelsey Plum, Talia Walton. Coach, I'll let you open.

MIKE NEIGHBORS: Took our best effort tonight. I think Stanford, as I said going into the game, has played as well as everybody in the entire country except maybe us. We're playing really good right now. We played really good in the desert a couple weeks ago. We came back and played really good at home, finished strong. This is the time of the year when what we do during January and February starts to pay off, and you can trust your team to play 40 minutes if you needed them. Everyone of them said they had 40 minutes in them. You have to understand there was not a sub until Chantel got four fouls. This team plays together so well, they trust each other, and care about each other. We've had a special vibe all year long, and it's certainly starting to become noticeable for everybody else now.

Q. Mike, would you rate the ways this is a big deal for your program?
MIKE NEIGHBORS: We're playing on the weekend in Seattle, in the Pac-12. It's brought the tournament here and it's been great. We've been close to breaking some attendance records for overall attendance without us playing into the weekend. And we all feel a little extra pressure when it's here at home, and for us to battle through that and get to play on the weekend is the first and most important thing. The second thing is that we've kind of felt like all year long like the fifth Beatle a little bit. There's been four teams talked about by everybody across the country, the teams that get ranked and we kind of popped in and out. We were always kind of that fifth Beatle. And these guys don't know who the Beatles are. I'll explain it to them when we get to the hotel. But it's like the fifth Backstreet Boy or sixth Backstreet Boy, I think. Yeah, is that better? `N Synch, there you go. So now it's our second time for Kelsey to have a win over Stanford, Thalia`s second time. That's rare, so it means a lot in that. And I think it just really, for these guys, it's just a great way to celebrate what's been a tremendous year.

Q. You said you didn't go to the bench in the fourth quarter. Why that decision?
MIKE NEIGHBORS: Weird things come to me in pregame. I've got to do something different, I don't know. I have this feeling that our group is so tied together right now and locked in, and I wasn't going to get in their way tonight. They know what to do. These guys, there's a lot of coaches on that floor, and I was not going to get in their way. And if I sub, I get in their way, and I wasn't about to do that to this team. Because they have come together. They rally around each other. They pick each other up like no team I've ever been a part of. So I was not about to get in their way. When Chantel got four fouls, I had to get in her way a little bit just because we needed the offense-defense. We used our timeouts to rest. We didn't use them -- fortunately, we just kept the lead. They made a huge run at us. We got tired. I'm not sure. We halfway joked. We're going to petition to try to get into 10:30 tomorrow night if we can to get a little extra rest.

But I felt like this game against Stanford in the grand scheme of things held so much importance that we were going to go all in. So we went for it, and when it started working, now you can't change, you know, you can't change it. We just kept sticking with it, and I think they would have tackled me if I had tried to do something.

Q. Just simply can you explain what this win means for you guys?
KELSEY PLUM: For me, it's such a blessing and an amazing feeling. Obviously I played against Stanford a lot in my career here. And like Coach said, this is only my second win against them. So this is the best time, in my opinion, to get that win, and to do it in the fashion that we did with the girls I got to do it with is so amazing.

Q. Talia, that bucket late in the fourth quarter, what's goes through your mind after you make that one and you hear the crowd go nuts?
TALIA WALTON: We've got this. We won. This is it. We're at the peak. We've got it all figured out. Honestly, I was saying to Chantel after when Katie got fouled, like honestly, I don't know how that went. In my mind, I said make it. But everybody says make it when they shoot. And I just knew at that time, if Kelsey was going to make it to me at that point in the shot clock at that time, then I've got to give her that assist.

Q. Kelsey, did you expect they were going to make a run at you?
KELSEY PLUM: Of course, they're a great team. They're well-coached. They're great players. They started going from the outside and penetrating. They got some easy buckets down there. We knew they were going to make a run, but I was really proud they stayed together. And, you know, took that big "T" shot at the end, that was amazing. That was the best honorable mention, non-conference, first team shot I've ever seen. So very proud of the way she handled herself.

Q. Mike, can you talk about your zone defense and a team like Stanford that shoots the three so well? It was obviously very active. What was your thinking in going to that?
MIKE NEIGHBORS: They run back in transition into zone better than any team I've ever seen. Coaching-wise, you go to every clinic in the country, and they tell you can't run back the zone in transition, and I agree with them. But this team has figured out away to do it. They believe in it. Trust in it. We kind of morph it and played it a couple different ways. We talked about getting out of it a couple times, but I got some stern glares when we tried to get out of it. When we played Stanford, and I think we've said this before, nine is the number for us. Two years ago we said if they make nine threes, we'll change. Nine isn't going to always be the number. That's just 27 points. And to me, if you can just get them 27 out there, and it takes them 28 shots to get it, that's a lot less touches around the rim where they've kind of got the advantage on us. Back in the day that was Chiney and a couple other people, and now it's McCloud and those guys. So it's kind of a numbers thing. It's kind of -- you know, now, we have to play really well on offense, which we did. We shot 47% against a team that held us to 20-something percent at their place. You have to go back and look at the exact number, but it was in the 20s, I'm pretty sure. So those things have to go hand in hand.

But our kids are, as a result of being really together and hooked up, they move together. When that ball is in the air you've got five people moving, their hands are active, their feet are active. Katie Collier plays the back of a 2-3 zone about as good as any big kid in the country. She covers so much territory. You know, we all make mistakes and they're a great team and they're going to make adjustments and get some open shots, but I felt like the 65 that we gave up, that's okay with us.

Q. Talk a little about Chantel also had 16 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal, setting screens. I mean, it was a pretty strong performance.
MIKE NEIGHBORS: She's the best back-up point guard in the country. You know, we get the ball to her a lot in our half-court offense so Kelsey can get off the ball, and she is the best tough rebounder there is, too. The numbers may not say it. There are a lot of people that got maybe some better numbers, but when it comes to getting one tough rebound, that is the kid I want in that lineup. She works so hard at it, it means a lot to her.

We had a hard time getting her the ball on the block, and she just played her role to the extent that we needed. She was the happiest kid in the world at the end of that game. To get 16 rebounds after getting 18 last night, I think, 34 in the last two games, that's really, really hard to do.

Q. Kelsey, can you talk a little bit about that exchange with Karlie Samuelson when you were called for the technical? What exactly happened there?
KELSEY PLUM: Yeah, it was a jump ball, and they called a technical on me. So I obviously disputed the call. It was nothing malicious. I've known Karlie since freshman year in high school. I was just trying to get my arm out of there because it was in a really bad position so that's why I was moving it. But there was nothing malicious about it, and I apologized to her after the game. No harm, no foul.

MIKE NEIGHBORS: I thought the officials gave me the explanation. They didn't give Kelsey the explanation. They said that the jump ball was after the whistle, since it was a dead ball, by rule, they had to go to that. You know, it's exactly like she said. There's not a malicious bone in this kid's body.

Q. Kelsey, we got to watch you after your post-game interview run into the stands and greet your family members. One of them had some substantial tears in his eyes. Can you tell us who was up there, what you said to them and what they said to you?
KELSEY PLUM: So my mom, my uncle and my dad came. And I just told myself before the game if I won or if we won I'd give my mom a hug before I went to the locker room. And it's been a really tough year for my family, so it was just kind of cool to go up there and give mom a hug.

Q. Kelsey, I know you talked a little bit about last night when you were coming up upon Jazz Davis's scoring record. Now that you have it, what's it mean to you?
KELSEY PLUM: Not a thing.

MIKE NEIGHBORS: She ain't lying. So I'll talk about it.

KELSEY PLUM: No, don't. It's okay.

MIKE NEIGHBORS: Okay. We'll talk about it when she's done and the last number is hung, how about that?

Q. Quick thoughts on Oregon State tomorrow night?
KELSEY PLUM: Y'all can't let us enjoy this win? Come on now (laughing).

MIKE NEIGHBORS: Again, a team that, after watching them tonight, they're really clicking. I know that that group has a lot to play for, and they are playing at a very, very high level. It is going to take a lot of rest, a lot of us being very cerebral tomorrow in our walk through or our walk. It's a real challenge. But we said it before the game, if you win this one on energy and effort, you'll play on adrenaline tomorrow. So we're going to have to count on that, and we're going to have to play equally as well, if not better.

But we've had great battles with those guys over the last two years. We all have a really healthy respect for those guys, and when that happens, our kids tend to lock in. I hope we fill this place up, and I'm going to -- I don't usually get on social media very much, but I think Seattle needs to come out here and really fill this bowl up tomorrow night and make this place -- because Oregon State's traveling with a bunch of people. I've seen them up-and-down the street and in the gym tonight. So it's going to take our UW fans to come out and give us a homecourt advantage.

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