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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 5, 2016

Jeff Walz

Greensboro, North Carolina

Syracuse - 80, Louisville - 75.

JEFF WALZ: First, again, want to congratulate Syracuse. I thought they played extremely hard. They attacked us from the get-go. Unfortunately we did not come out and play like I thought we would. We did not follow a scouting report, and unfortunately, we're not good enough to just come out and play without following a scout. It really came back to bite us in the butt, and unfortunately, we'll have to learn from this, learn from it the hard way, and now we've got two weeks to wait to find out if we're going to have the opportunity to host or if we have to go on the road for the NCAA Tournament. But it's going to be a crucial two weeks for our program, our players, to see what they get done.

You can't pull teeth to try to get kids in the gym to work on their weaknesses, and at this point in time of the season, because there's so much film out there, your weaknesses get exposed, and we've got to figure out a way to change that.

Q. Peterson and Fondren just seemed to be a step faster than the Cards' guards today. What was going on with that?
JEFF WALZ: Well, I'm not sure they were a step faster. We just didn't guard them. I mean, they just drove to the basket time after time after time, and it was just -- it wasn't our best effort defensively, and as you know, it's been a problem that we've had all year with teams that drive the basketball. Unfortunately we weren't able to get that solved.

You know, then we just got killed on the glass. I know when you look at it, we only got out-rebounded by two, but we got out-rebounded at big times.

I think we had a four-point lead there and all we've got to do is get a defensive board and it turns into a three-point play for them.

We got out-hustled and out-toughed at crunch time.

Q. You mentioned the scouting report. Were there one or two things in particular that the team did not do that really bothered you?
JEFF WALZ: Well, I mean, we start the game and we give Peterson a three, and then we give Ford back-to-back threes, which I guess when we watched her make three in a row last night, I guess we didn't think that she could do that again, but unfortunately we pinch off of her when we're not supposed to, we don't locate her on a simple ball screen in the pop, and they're good players.

In the first period is where I thought the game was won for them. It took so much effort for us to get caught back up that we just physically and mentally got tired, and then at the end there, Brianna Butler hits two huge shots and we knew exactly what they were going to do, but we weren't up there on the ball screen to switch like we were supposed to.

And when you have breakdowns at this time of the year with the people you're playing, they're going to score, and that's something that we've got to figure out or it's going to be a short-lived event in the NCAA Tournament.

Q. Coach, it seemed like Asia Durr gave you another spark off the bench in the first half. You inserted her to start off the second. What did you like about what she brought to the table today?
JEFF WALZ: Well, offensively, like I said, she does some really good things. I thought she was really aggressive for us. Where we have to get her to that next step is just taking care of the basketball. We need to have her on the floor because she can do a lot of things for us offensively, but we can't have four turnovers from her, and then defensively is where she's got to take that next step. As aggressive as she is on the offensive end, I need her to be that aggressive on the defensive end. Sometimes she likes to stand and watch, and at this level you can't do that.

You know, it's room for improvement. I thought she did some really good things. I thought Taja Cole did some good things for us. Three assists and no turnovers against that pressure, I was proud of her.

But you know, we just had some crucial turnovers at the wrong time.

Q. Now with the season, now that you've got two weeks off, give or take, before finding out what's up next, is that kind of a blessing in being able to work on some of the things that you've been talking about?
JEFF WALZ: Well, it's a blessing for me. I'm not sure it's a blessing for the players. I'm not sure they're in there too thrilled to get to deal with me for two weeks before we figure out where we're going to get to play. Hopefully it's at home. I think we've done enough work to be able to get the opportunity to host. I think our rÃ©sumÃ© speaks for itself. But because we're going to work on weaknesses, we are going to spend some time individually working on ball handling, working on shot faking, pull-up jump shots.

The officiating change, and I've tried to explain this to the kids, as soon as you start conference play and get in the NCAA Tournament, everything changes. It's thrown out the window how things have been called the entire year, and it's like that every year. It's not a secret. It's like, there's a lot more contact that's allowed, which I'm fine with. It's okay. But we have kids that are trying to drive in there expecting to get fouls, which they were called fouls at the beginning of the year, well, all the way through the year until now. But as soon as you realize it's not called, you've got to stop doing it, and then you've got to be strong with the ball and try to score.

So those are things as players you have to adjust your game, and hopefully we'll have two weeks to work on those things and you'll see a huge improvement when we figure out when and where we'll get the opportunity to play again.

Q. Last time you played Syracuse they struggled offensively, scored six points in the first quarter. What do you think was different about them offensively today and how much do you think the point guards played into that?
JEFF WALZ: Well, I thought they attacked us extremely well. I thought Peterson just set the tempo of the game right off the bat. She pushed that thing right down our throat, attacked us. She got to the rim.

She is a big-time point guard. She is one of the better ones in our league. There's no question about it. Just the way she controls the game, the way she gets the ball to the right people, you know, and that's something I've challenged our point guards, like you need to -- as a player, you need to look at other players within the league who you play against and say, hey, that kid is pretty darned good; what do they do? It's like what we do as coaches. We sit there and watch games, evaluate things.

I made a mistake, I should not have had Asia Durr take the ball out of bounds there at the end. I put her in a bad situation as a freshman to have to make a read on a pass, and that's my fault. I'm not afraid to admit it. It's my fault. And that won't happen again.

But you've got to have players that are willing, also, to look at others and go, hey, if I could emulate my game like hers, it's only going to help what I do. So I thought Peterson was just a difference maker.

Q. I wanted to ask you about Mariya Moore. She struggled yesterday and then today -- anything you can put your finger on with her this weekend?
JEFF WALZ: No, it's just her mental approach to things right now. When things don't go well, she struggles. She just holds on to everything. If it's a missed shot, she carries that to the next possession. And those are things -- she's just got to mentally get over.

She played 17 minutes for us and comes up with one rebound. You know, it's okay if you're missing shots. She took some good shots. They just didn't go in. But then you've got to do a better job going and rebounding. You know, taking care of the ball, just small things like that, that -- she's too good of a player to allow some missed shots to affect everything she does.

Q. Five first-quarter turnovers led to eight points, Syracuse had 22 points off turnovers. That has to be one of the keys to the game, right?
JEFF WALZ: Oh, there's no question about it, and we only turned the thing over 16 times, five right off the bat, which really gave them the momentum. And then we tried to do things -- Myisha trying to go behind the back, when she's never done that in practice. For some reason we get carried away, and you start trying to -- I'm not sure what goes through their minds, just jump stop. Just make a simple jump stop.

I think the game was tied at that point in time, and then all of a sudden it turned into a transition for them, we foul them, and-one, and then all of a sudden now it's back to a seven-point lead for them at the end of the first quarter, and those are things I'm really trying to get our kids to understand. Don't do things -- don't try them in a game for the first time. It's really a bad idea.

Q. Cortnee Walton only had two rebounds tonight. Can you talk about was that just a product of them keeping her away from the bucket or --
JEFF WALZ: No, I thought they did a really good job of making contact with her, and I thought tonight her hand affected things. She's not able to go after it, some rebounds, like she used to, because she really can't grab it very well with that left hand.

You know, but her effort is always there. It's not like -- I never have to question her effort. But we didn't do a very good job of pushing back. When you box out, you can't just try to jump straight up, especially with the Day girls, the Day sisters. They do a great job of elevating over the top of you, and it's not over the back, it's not a foul. You've got to box them out and rebound the ball in front of you against players like that, and we just did not do a very good job of that tonight.

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