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MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 7, 2016Jerry FinkbeinerAntoina RobinsonFunda NakkasogluLas Vegas, Nevada Utah State - 59 Nevada - 35 THE MODERATOR: We're ready to begin with Utah State. Coach Jerry Finkbeiner. Coach, start with you, thoughts on tonight's game. HEAD COACH JERRY FINKBEINER: Obviously it's a good win for us. We beat them twice this year already. We have favorable matchups at a couple of positions where we know the Reno girls are well coached. They're a physical group. And on our chalkboard, the pregame, they said they're a never say die group. So we knew we had to play 40 minutes. I'm glad that we had a cushion there at the end so that we could have a couple of our high-minute girls sit on the bench in preparation for tomorrow. But we started the game off really tight, probably as most teams do. At any one given time we had three or four freshmen on the floor. We're a young group. We're learning by doing. That makes my job both fun, but also both -- I'm low on sleep this year. But it's a young group. Everybody is going to be back, that had any significant minutes. Every time we play the game it's very valuable for us, and especially tournament win. This is huge for us moving forward, not only for tomorrow, but on into our program development. A good day. I'm really happy. Funda is a 39-minute game player. Tonight she only played 36. So Funda is going to be really well rested tomorrow. It was a good game for the Aggies, and we're really happy to survive a day and have a chance for tomorrow's opportunity. Q. Coach had mentioned about matchups and this particular team. Over the season you allowed 68 points in the game. Against them you allowed 60. Tonight you held them to 35. Can you expound on those matchups and why you play this team so well? FUNDA NAKKASOGLU: Well, I think it honestly comes down to the heart and energy and effort that we personally had as a team. We knew this was our last chance. It was a do-or-die game. We had to come, give it all we had, put everything on the line, not leave anything on the court. And we had talked about that previously and we just really played with heart and passion and I think that's what, you know, it helped us stay down low in our defensive stance, try to go for the steal, boxout, rebound. And all those keys to stopping people on defense. ANTOINA ROBINSON: Yeah, I agree with Funda. Not allowing them to get second-chance shots. Just trying to get to the ball and getting steals, just playing with heart, like she said. Just never giving up and keep going. HEAD COACH JERRY FINKBEINER: Our team is a big UFC fans, we watched Holly Holm and Miesha Tate two nights ago. We were at Holly Holm's gym about three weeks ago. We don't want everyone to tap out. We had a lot of respect for Holly Holm. She was going down and never did tap out. Conor McGregor, he tapped out. Holly Holm didn't. Talking about Miesha Tate, how she got Holly in a choke and with all her might didn't let go. We're using some of that stuff in the tournament. This is a fun group of young ladies. We have very little baggage, very little drama. It's just a good group, it's fun to coach. It's fun to see them develop and get this first win in the tournament. Q. A lot of the defense tonight centered on stopping you. How did you adjust your game and how did that affect what you came out with? FUNDA NAKKASOGLU: Coming in I knew teams were going to try to stop me, I guess you could say. But my teammates helped me a whole lot. They set screens for me, and they run the open lanes for me, which opens the court up for me personally, when I'm coming down in transition. They get open. They shoot the open layup. They score, and that really helps me, because that means that the other defenders have to go out and play on them, which opens up the court for me. I give all the credit to them and what they do. And then Coach runs play for me and them. And it all kind of meshes in well. And as I said, opens up things for me. Q. I saw a lot of frustration from you over certain foul calls. How did that affect maybe how you were having the girls play? HEAD COACH JERRY FINKBEINER: That's a good question, and it's probably my fault. I try to have poise both with our team and the officials. There wasn't any bad calls. I thought there was a couple of surprise calls. I was happy that there were calls. There were a couple ones that surprised me. And I let it be known, you know, in a professional manner. But a good referee tonight. I know all three of those people. There are surprises. I'm sure Coach Albright says the same on her side. We have a philosophy, for every good call you get, you're going to get one you question. For every one you question you're going to get a good one. It all evens out in the big picture and that's what I try to hold to. Q. On the flip side of that, they got into foul trouble, and they had at one point four with three, and I think we went into the fourth quarter two with four. Did it make it easier for you to be aggressive and attack them? HEAD COACH JERRY FINKBEINER: Good question. At halftime we said we're playing good defense on the ball, but we weren't playing good defense on the pass. We felt like we needed some hands-on, we felt like we could get some steals, fast breaks. Funda, she shoots more free throws than anybody in the conference. That's also a disadvantage, sometimes calls aren't made and she gets fouled a lot. I think she should be on the free throw line a lot more. But that's the style of our play, put her in that stop. She's 6-for-9 on that. But I'm probably just looking for more calls for Funda. We see a lot of hand checks, a lot of arm bars on her, but that's part of the game, too. And the Nevada girls had a game play. Everybody has a game plan against our point guard. I'm happy it was a good team. We spread things out tonight. That was the key. Q. You had the double-double tonight, first of your career, with Utah State at least. What was it you were doing to get that? And also Mason had the five blocks, you guys dominated inside. Was there something you were taking advantage of with that? ANTOINA ROBINSON: My main focus was rebounding and trying to gets shots for Funda. I was trying to rebound as much as I can, and run the floor and get the post players out and play my game. I didn't know how it was going to play out for me today, but I guess it worked out. I've got to bring it tomorrow and play the same way. HEAD COACH JERRY FINKBEINER: We've got a tainted burrito set up for you tonight, so that's okay. Q. This is for anybody or everybody, just your thoughts on matching up with Fresno tomorrow, they have beaten you in two close games already. FUNDA NAKKASOGLU: We're coming to this game feeling like we have great matchups in every position, actually. They obviously are a great team. We feel as though we've improved a lot. And we're at our peak at the moment, which is the best part. But I think we just need lower turnovers because that's what killed us in our last conference game against them. But other than that I think it should be a great matchup game. HEAD COACH JERRY FINKBEINER: We've had two close games, for those of you, I'm sure the notes tomorrow, they had a 19-point lead on us in the second quarter at home, we caught up, had a shot at the go-ahead in the last minute and a half, missed it, they beat us by six, fouled them. At their place last Friday night we had a shot to go ahead with about 45 seconds, missed it, had a foul and they won by four. They're second seed. They're very worthy. They've won a ton of games in the last five minutes. We feel like if we can play with them for 35, our key is just can we play for that last five, too. They can, their juniors and seniors, a lot of seniors and they've been there and done it that. We like the matchup, this is a competitive group, and a high goal set. It will be a good game for the fans in Nevada to come and see. Q. Like you say you had a tough matchup, a lot different feeling on the team this year than last year at this time, talk about that and how that team is excited. HEAD COACH JERRY FINKBEINER: We lost three returning players last year, due to several -- and these are all in season. And they're all now at different universities. And we had a young team last year that really had to limp through things and just survive. This year 8 freshmen, two junior college transfers, ten brand new players. It's a young team. We took these girls to Mexico this past summer, went to Medita and Cancun. We put in some service aspects of the trip for the young people of Mexico, the poor kids in Medita. This group really grew up last summer. Tonight before we hit the floor I reminded these girls it all started in Mexico this past August. It's been a long year, but a lot of growing up. The girls have learned how to serve each other, and that helps on a team game. It's not about me, it's about we. But they really began to take ahold of that. It's a good group of women. Q. I asked this of San Diego State's coach, they were here Friday, loss, came home, came back. You're at Fresno, go to Logan, and come back, now you've got to play back-to-back nights. Any concern for keeping them fresh? HEAD COACH JERRY FINKBEINER: We had a little different road. We played Friday night, we spent the night, we drove to Barstow on Friday, watch Holly Holm on TV and drove in yesterday. So we've been gone since Thursday from home. We stopped in Tehachapi and looked at the trains, and Barstow and looked at the sagebrush. We're trying to make it a fun trip. And now it's business. And it's the discipline of taking care of tournament games. And, again, this is a group that can't express enough really joy with is that we really don't have curfew, because the girls know what time to go to bed. I don't have to watch them tonight in Las Vegas, they'll be ready for tomorrow. We're trying to have fun and trying to take pressure off them at the same time, knowing now is the time. It's a four-game season right now. I'm sure every coach is trying that, but it's working right now. We're a happy group, obviously. And win or lose tomorrow, I think we're still going to be pretty good kids. Q. All season Funda has kind of carried you guys, she's the leading scorer and everything. Today she wasn't phenomenal. She was still good. She didn't hit any 3's, she didn't have a huge game. How important is it to see the other players in supporting roles start to fill in those gaps for her? HEAD COACH JERRY FINKBEINER: Funda is the best point guard in the conference, there's no question. There's no question. Of course, I'm her coach. She's only a sophomore. She has a good feel for the game. There's games she'll get 38, 40 points, and some games 7, 10, 12. She's averaging 21 for the season. Tonight she had some open 3's, usually makes a couple of those fine. But it's most importantly that she has the ball in her hands for 38 of the 40 minutes and she runs the show. There's a lot of comfort in that for her teammates on the floor. Such a young player, she has a lot of poise. So I think poise goes beyond maybe her stats right now in her career. But she's the leading scorer in the conference. 18 points for most people it would be a great game. For her it's a little subpar, but a well-rounded game she brought today. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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