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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: LOUISVILLE

March 20, 2016

Louisville, Kentucky

DePaul - 73, Louisville - 72

THE MODERATOR: We'll take a statement from coach.

COACH WALZ: First, would like to start off and just thank our crowd. I think it's quite amazing what we're fortunate enough to be able to play in front of. For them to come out here, even on Friday for a 2:30 game, and then to come out today again, I thought the crowd was fantastic. Just it's just -- it's a tribute to them. Everybody's got options, everyone's got choices to make, and these fans choose to come out here and cheer us on and have the opportunity to see a great basketball game. So, I would like to say thank you to them and I truly mean that. It's from my heart.

I take great pride in doing whatever I can to get people to come and watch these young women play and even for DePaul, I think it's got to be exciting opportunity to be able to come and see that there's this many passionate people about women's basketball. Because we do go on the road, and we play in front of a thousand, we play in front of 500 at different places. I truly say that I do anything and everything I can to get people to come and it's because I want them to be able to see what spectacular athletes and people and young women that -- not just us, but DePaul, everybody that we play that comes in here has.

Because I think so many people miss out on seeing what unbelievable athletes these young women are. So, I want to say thank you to our crowd, thank you for the fans from DePaul that came down. I thought it was just a fantastic environment.

Would also, again, have to congratulate Doug and his staff and his kids. It was a great ball game. It was a basketball game, it was a game of runs, it was a game where they came up with some big rebounds, they came up with some big stops. They did what you had to do. And unfortunately for us we weren't able to get over that hump.

We had two opportunities there in the last minute of the game to take the lead and couldn't get it done. And credit to them that they sat there and were able to do it. So you've got to tip your hat to DePaul and Doug, and I wish that basketball team the best of luck in Dallas next weekend.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes, please.

Q. Myisha, your view on that final play. What were you hoping to accomplish there?
MYISHA HINES-ALLEN: To get to the basket. We have ran that play before and it was just -- I couldn't finish the shot.

Q. Briahanna, big second half for you, for it to come down to that foul at the end. Did you think that you fouled her, first of all? And then what do you feel like kind of keyed you today?
BRIAHANNA JACKSON: There was some contact on the play, but I feel like I made a play for the ball and so did she. I don't know. I didn't even know I had four fouls.

Q. For any of you, what was it about January today that was just so difficult to stop?
MYISHA HINES-ALLEN: Well, I wasn't really guarding her, so.

MARIYA MOORE: I think it was more playing her off screens. We had to switch higher, and we didn't. She hit some really nice pull up jumpers, so it was on us to get up on the screens and fight over.

Q. Myisha, tough call there at the end. The amount of contact that was there, did you think it was a charge? What was your perspective?
MYISHA HINES-ALLEN: No, not at all. When I went up, I don't know, I -- I didn't think it was a foul or a charge or whatever.

Q. Mariya, the last 10 minutes of that game there was a lot of emotion, what do you feel like ultimately got you back in it after you went down by 10?
MARIYA MOORE: I think it was just relaxing and knowing that if we just get stops, we can get back in the game. So it's just focusing on each play and playing hard while you're in the moment and don't look too forward, because we need some big stops.

Q. What do you guys learn out of a game like this going into the offseason for next year?
BRIAHANNA JACKSON: That, I don't know how many open shots they missed, so I know for me I need to work on making those open shots. And just finishing plays out and just knowing my surroundings, because I have find people to box out.

MYISHA HINES-ALLEN: For me, disciplining details. It came down to the little things in that game. And getting up when somebody's cutting, making contact. We just need to regroup and focus on the little things and get in the gym this summer.

Q. Myisha, coach talked a lot about defense coming into this game. Obviously, DePaul had a great first three quarters. What do you feel like changed or when you were able to kind of buckle down and get some stops there at the end?
MYISHA HINES-ALLEN: Yeah, we just had to buckle down. We knew that it was going to come down to stops on defense and then our last 10 minutes of the quarter, we played great defense. We just couldn't capitalize.

THE MODERATOR: All right. That you. We'll take questions for coach.

Q. Talk about being there and what you thought you had maybe the best view of it with Myisha. First of all, is that what you wanted on that down there that time?
COACH WALZ: We were trying to attack off the dribble. I was hoping Asia was going to turn the corner and really try and put some pressure on her. But we kind of dribbled, as we like to say, like a windshield wiper, around the three-point line.

And then it got kicked back up to Myisha. I thought she made a strong take. It's a 50/50 call. It's one that I thought on her way up they slapped at the ball, but whatever. I mean I'm not worried about that. There's plenty of calls that could have gone both ways, and I'm sure Doug was upset about a few, too.

So, we just did not rebound the ball at critical times. They came up with some huge offensive rebounds, they ended up with eight, I think they had two on one possession. It's a tie game. They come up with one at the end there. Just things that you have to do. You have to have attention to detail. Unfortunately for us, we did not get it done.

Q. You told us yesterday that if you had to chase DePaul it would probably be a long day for you. Are you able to point to any specific reasons why you weren't able to catch them today?
COACH WALZ: No, when I talked to you about chasing them, I meant where we were just flying around, because they were driving by us. I thought we did actually a pretty decent job defensively today. They actually made some tough shots.

You've got Grays banking in a three. There's some things that you're just like, what the heck? You know, you just got to throw your hands up.

I thought that January played extremely well. I thought she was the difference in the ball game, especially in the first half. She's the one that really put some pressure on us, and she made tough shots. She made some really tough shots over the top of people.

So, it's not necessarily that we were chasing them. They made some big ones. We went for a steal late there in the game, and they dribble in and pull up and make about a 6-footer, Millender did, which was a big shot. She's goes 5-5. She comes off the bench and has 12 points. And especially with the foul trouble that they were in, and we were in, it speaks volumes.

Q. I know everything is still very fresh. As you think back on the season, what are some of the things that you're going to think about?
COACH WALZ: Well, losing sucks and if you don't think that way, then you're in the wrong business. Like, when you finish the year with a loss, it sits with me all year.

I was really proud of our kids. I've got a wonderful group of young women that I think represent not only this basketball team, but our university and our city extremely well. I think they're young women that everybody can be very proud of.

We started off 1-4. We finished the month of November and there were a lot of question marks. We get to 3-5, and then we finally realize our backs were against the wall, and I thought they came out and gave great effort in practice, figured it out. And then went on a remarkable run.

But, unfortunately, it's like I told them in the locker room there, this loss has to hurt them as bad if not worse than it hurts me. Because come May, if this loss doesn't still sting and hurt, then you are aren't going to become the player you need to be. Because this has to fuel your fire. This loss has to give you something in desire to want to become better. Just work on your ball handling, work on your shooting, work on following a scouting report. Don't go under when you're supposed to trail someone off a ball screen. Because when you do those things against a team like DePaul, they step up and make shots. That's exactly what they did. Every time we had a breakdown or we as I like to say, we cheated the process, we got scored on.

Q. Can you talk about the evolution of this team and like you said, starting the season 1-4 and then coming and having this great run through ACC play. And then kind of ending the season in a heart-breaking fashion. But even, I guess, just go through a little bit about the freshmen as well.
COACH WALZ: I'm proud of them. As I said, I'm really proud of this group of young women. I was really proud of Asia Durr, she's played through a lot of pain. She's healthy. Now, it's a matter of continuing to play and get herself back to where she's going to be a hundred percent.

And then our other freshmen have some work to do. It's a challenge. You have to want to be great. If you want to be great, you've got to put the work in. You just can't stamp your time card, and then just say, okay, I'm done and go sit down. It doesn't work that way.

You've got to put effort and time in the gym. And that's going to be my challenge to all of them. Because I know they all want to play more. But you've got to be able to step up and make plays, you got to be able to step up and follow a scouting report. And those are things that we struggled with today. They're all great kids. They're great kids. I enjoy coaching them, I enjoy my kids being around them. It's nothing like that. I really, truly enjoy being around them. I love them. They're like my own kids. But that doesn't mean they don't have to get better basketball wise. And those are the challenges that are going to be in front of a lot of them.

Q. You said yesterday their experience was a luxury. How much of that was a factor, they seemed to match you every time you were able to claw back?
COACH WALZ: Well, I thought where their experience got us was at the our defensive end, their offensive end. Right when we got it back to where we're clawing and scraping and getting it back to one or two, we have a defensive breakdown because we're not mentally tough enough. We're not sitting completely engaged in the process, as I always tell them. You can't cheat it. You cheat the process, you're going to get beat. It might work for you for awhile, but eventually it's going to catch up with you. And that's really what took place tonight.

Right when we had it close, we would have a mental breakdown which would lead to a basket and a score. I appreciate everything and, again, I really want to congratulate Doug and his staff, they're great people. I missed playing against him, really enjoyed the years in the Big East with them and want to wish them the best of luck this next weekend down in Dallas.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: LOUISVILLE

March 20, 2016

Jeff Walz

Briahanna Jackson

Mariya Moore

Myisha Hines-Allen