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PAC-12 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 6, 2016

Seattle, Washington

Oregon State - 69, UCLA - 57

THE MODERATOR: All right, congratulations to Oregon State and we've got Coach Scott Rueck, Jamie Weisner, Sydney Wiese, and Ruth Hamblin. Coach, I'll let you start.

SCOTT RUECK: Where do you start? What a great tournament this was, and what a special experience for all of us, and that's for a variety of reasons. The tournament is the most competitive conference in the country, the most competitive maybe the conference has ever been, so it was an incredible tournament and a pleasure to be part of such a quality event.

Pac-12 did a phenomenal job putting this event on, and so did the city of Seattle for having us. Everything was first class.

Want to give a huge congratulations to UCLA for making the final. Cori does a phenomenal job with that team. We've had three great battles with them, and this one ended in a great battle. The first half might have been the best first half we've maybe ever played, to be honest. I mean, we were executing and firing on all cylinders on both ends of the floor. We moved the ball so crisp and clean. Didn't really matter what defense they ran, we had an answer for it.

Then, of course, great teams make runs and certainly they did at us in the end and challenged us, and we had to finish in style which brought the passion back into this game and made the finish one where we were jumping around.

So to be on that stage knowing where we were just a few years ago and to know the entire journey with this group, you know, it's hard not to be emotional thinking about it. To see tears after this victory tonight is really the reason that I do what I do. I don't know. This is an incredibly special group that deserves what they got tonight. They know that we have a lot more to do this year. This is just the next segment.

So this group gets to hang a banner and they got to earn this trophy and they did. They played big; they grinded. This is a hard -- conference tournaments are so challenging because teams know you so well, it's just a big chess match every night and three games in three days for us, it's tough on anybody. They persevered through it and they have a really proud, happy coach.

Q. Scott, statistically and emotionally could you have gotten anymore from these three?
SCOTT RUECK: I haven't even looked at the stats yet. I heard what Ruth's were. Yeah, so I guess no. This group and these three in particular carry a large load for this team, and they should and they do, and that's who they are. Basketball in many ways is their identity not as a person but in what they do and they're committed to it at a level that's uncommon. You should be leaning on them.

It takes that kind of talent and that kind of focus and that kind of drive to get one of these and to win big.

So on the biggest stage that our conference allows, they played their biggest and they've been, you know, working towards this, and we've had lots of experiences, a lot of positive ones and some really hard ones and tonight was a culmination of those experiences coming together to where your best is demanded. You've got a big stage and a big audience and you perform in an elite way. So they're superstars.

Q. Jamie, talk about when you got lifted up by your teammates? What was that feeling like? Sid and Ruth, what went into getting Jamie up there?
JAMIE WEISNER: Yeah, incredible. I just love being a part of this team and I wouldn't want to go to work with anybody other than these girls every day. So to just see the success that we have and just, I don't know, in this is huge. I'm incredibly blessed.

SYDNEY WIESE: Jamie definitely deserved to be lifted up there. If you think back to last year, it was Allie. Allie was our leader, our vocal leader and our glue. And that's what Jamie's been this year for us. On her own she works relentlessly. In practice she works relentlessly. So to see her with that huge smile on her face, even some tears in her eyes, it's awesome. It's awesome to be a part of it. So I'm proud of her.

RUTH HAMBLIN: Yeah, Jamie in so many ways embodies what this team is. It's fun to celebrate her success along with the team's success.

Q. Scott just mentioned that first half might be the best you've ever played. What did it feel like being in the midst of it? What do you think was working so well, and how did it feel to be rolling like that?
JAMIE WEISNER: Yeah, I think we defended, obviously, really well and then offensively we were just calm and making the right reads and seeing the Open person no matter what they threw at us.

SYDNEY WIESE: Yeah, I think limiting their possessions, at least their scores definitely helped us get into a rhythm because they couldn't set up into a press. Then we just stayed into a flow and knocked down shots. It was a lot of fun to be a part of.

RUTH HAMBLIN: Yeah, fun is the biggest word you could describe that with. We were in rhythm, and defensively we were taking away looks that we wanted to take away. And I thought our preparation showed in that first half.

Q. For anybody who wants to answer this, I kind of got the vibe this was one great thing. But you guys want to improve off of last year's early-round exit. How much does this storybook season need to continue and what is your drive for wanting to go even further this year and making the season even more special than it already is?
SYDNEY WIESE: We're not satisfied. Even with this victory we're obviously going to enjoy it today, but then come tomorrow and the next day we're going to start preparing for whoever we're going to face in the tournament. So I think that's been the different mindset that we've had all year is just never relaxing and always staying hungry.

Q. Sydney, this has been an interesting season for you because you had the injury and you were out for a while and had to get yourself settled back in again. Is this for you particularly satisfying given this is still work to be done, but to be back in this spot after the season that you've had?
SYDNEY WIESE: Definitely. It was a good opportunity for me to be a leader in a different way, to see things from a new perspective, being on the sideline. I learned a lot, had a lot of good talks with Katie, and she got really good minutes and gained a lot of experience and everyone stepped up big with any injury that we had, because I know right when I came back, Jamie was out for a game.

But this team is known for handling adversity so well, and so personally this definitely feels good to have this hat on my head right now knowing what I personally would do this season. But even more so with this team and this group, sharing it with them means so much to me.

Q. What can you say about Hanson's defense tonight on Canada and UCLA's guards and just kind of overall in this tournament?
SCOTT RUECK: Yeah, phenomenal. I thought tonight she again set the tone for us. I thought slowing this team in UCLA is committed to transition as much as anybody in the country. 26% of their offense comes out of transition. You can't find more than that. We knew that, and that's such a big part of what they do.

We needed Ruth to be back under the basket, so you've got to slow Jordin down and Nirra down when she dribbles out. That's who we are, and that's how we defend. Gabby was phenomenal again tonight. I wish -- didn't want her to get her fourth foul so early. I thought that kind of helped their momentum in that fourth quarter. But I don't know how you can put value on what she did in the last 80 minutes of basketball that we've played. She's set the tone for us and our defense is what won them both games. So she set the tone.

Q. Scott, what was the biggest weakness this team had last year that's now become a strength?
SCOTT RUECK: Not knowing how to handle success. Just lack of experience in that area. You look at the talent, we're very similar to what we were a year ago overall. It's just you have to, I guess, the clichÃ© you have to lose to know how to win. Last year that is what happened to us. We went on an incredible run through conference. We won it outright, and it tricks you into feeling like it's easy. You forget and it's hard to know until you experience.

You have to keep pressing and you have to keep demanding more of yourself, and you have to keep motivating the person next to you and holding each other accountable. Until you've experienced it, a program's culture, you're going to be on unstable ground and you're going to be hopeful. We came into this tournament last year hopeful.

We came into the NCAA Tournament hopeful instead of coming in saying this is what we're doing and this is how we're going to play, and we're going to be gritty and tough, and know that we're going to take everybody's best shot.

We took Washington's best shot. We took USC's best shot. We took Cal's best shot last Sunday, and we got Stanford's best shot the day before that, and that epitomizes our year. We got Tennessee's best shot in December, and if you look at our schedule that's what we've experienced and been through this year.

It's been a grind. But this group is so battle-tested, and that's the difference. In many other ways we're similar. In that way we're just tougher.

Q. Jamie and Ruth, you've reached the part of the season where your next game could be your last if that's how it works out. What is your mindset being seniors and having things you want to do and knowing that you were sort of always on the edge of being done now at this point?
JAMIE WEISNER: I don't think the mindset changes at all. Obviously going into this year we knew it was our last for everything. So I think we've been playing like that the whole season. Yeah, basically that.

RUTH HAMBLIN: Obviously your senior year is kind of special in that way. But I know for me just playing in the moment and enjoying every moment we've had, it's just so fun to play with this team and yeah, just living in the moment because you can't think too the future?

Q. Ruth, you had a 20/20 game, set the Pac-12 career blocks record what allowed you to have that success tonight?
RUTH HAMBLIN: My team did a great job getting me the ball and just worked early for position for those rebounds and obviously the block. Kind of like our team's scheme on defense too. So these are all just team things and I'm just glad I could help bring that for us and cut down the net.

SYDNEY WIESE: I think the guards did a good job getting beat, and Ruth was there to clean it up for us. That's always the plan apparently.

Q. Coach, you touched on this in your opening statement. But given where the program was when you took over, if you had been told then by this point you could be up here with a trophy, could you have believed it?
SCOTT RUECK: No, no. And the reason, I would have hoped. I would have hoped. I entered this job with a lot of hope, and I've learned how to win and win championships within a conference or at a different level. But competition's competition. So I was confident in my abilities. I didn't know if it was possible in this conference. I didn't know enough.

Once we got into it and we had certain individuals commit to our program, Allie Gibson and then Jamie commits and then Ruth commits and Sam and Deven, and I start learning that, okay, we can recruit the same character. I'm used to coaching, and these are winners looking for what we do and what we have here at Oregon State and looking for a philosophy like mine that then that started changing from hope into, yes, we can, and let's do this.

You know, so that's when it began. To ever predict that you'll be here, I think you just fight like crazy and you pray you get here and you pray that you get to coach people that are as awesome as this right here and not just these three, but a team full of these individuals.

These young women are incredible. That's when it became a reality. It's like, okay, we should. Now this team played with that all year. We should, okay. Now we're going in the tournament, and we should. We just won the best conference in the entire country, and certainly we know there are tons of great teams out there. But we should go out and play our best basketball for the next few weeks.

Q. The Final Four teams are often constructed in a certain way. A lot of times they're experienced. A lot of times they have something to motivate them. They can score. Do you feel like you guys are constructed to be a Final Four team?
SCOTT RUECK: I do. I think you look at the best teams, they're typically the best defensive teams. This team is just a nightmare to score against. They score from inside. They score from outside. They have experience. They've been there. This team has played against everybody and played well against everybody, and they've played storied programs and storied venues, and they haven't even blinked. It's been part of the learning process.

So I believe that this team absolutely has what it takes. You look back to our Notre Dame game this year, only four teams have won at Notre Dame in the last five years, and we could argue that we should have been awarded another free throw to tie that game and send it to overtime, and we didn't have Sydney Wiese that day. So I believe this team should be very confident in their abilities and I do.

That's my background. Like I said, it wasn't this level, but National Championships, one of those, and there was a Final Four there. So this philosophy that I think has been developed over 20 years I think is one that can get that done. You just have to have the right people and I think we do.

Q. You guys built a huge lead and then UCLA does make a run there in the second half. Can that also serve as a teaching moment this week just withstanding that push even when you've built a 30-point lead?
SCOTT RUECK: Yeah, everything's a teaching moment. Every moment is a teaching moment. We as coaches, that's our job to never let one go by without using it. So, yeah, fourth quarter we did some uncharacteristic things. But, man, momentum shifted quick. I mean, that was kind of, I mean, I don't even know how to explain it what I saw in the fourth quarter.

So give them credit for really fighting like crazy. We ended up handling adversity well, but there was a stretch that we could have certainly handled better, so, yeah, we'll learn. Hopefully we'll be in that position again.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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