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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: AUSTINMarch 21, 2016Karen AstonAriel AtkinsLashann HiggsAustin, Texas Texas - 73, Missouri - 55 COACH ASTON: Well, we must have had a pretty good win for all of you to still be awake right now and here. We appreciate you staying. I just can't say enough about how proud I am of this basketball team. First and foremost, when you win 30 games, it takes a lot of work from a lot of people, and it takes day-to-day work. You just don't show up and win 30 games in a season unless you've got players that are committed to work on a daily basis and you have coaches and staff members and support staff. So the first thing I would say is how proud I am of our players and everyone that has anything to do with our program because this was a job that they put a lot of work into. And tonight was a team that you love to coach. I would say the two games that we played here were a team that you really love to coach, because they played free, and they played about as hard as they could play. And everything wasn't perfect all of the time, but when you ask your teams to give their best effort, and to make sure that they get 50/50 balls and make sure that they are continuing to play every possession and they do that, then there's not a whole lot more you can say, other than I'm really excited to be in the Sweet 16. I'm excited for our team, and looking forward to moving on. I thought we beat a really good team tonight. I thought Missouri was really good. Looked at them on film extensively, saw them play live and I was very, very impressed with them. I thought our defense really took them out of the things that they do best. I'm really, really proud. Q. With the way McCarty was defending tonight, did you feel like this was your opportunity or your opportunity to score? ARIEL ATKINS: I don't necessarily think it was my responsibility. They didn't kind to guard me in the third quarter, and so my teammates were screaming at me, "You're open and you need to shoot." Q. I thought you were one of the biggest sparks, especially in the first half. When you came off the bench to go into the game, what was your mind-set, to do what you did? LASHANN HIGGS: Well, when I was coming off the bench, I just had to remind myself that my number is being called, always be ready and my number was called and felt like I was ready. Went out there and played as hard as I can. Q. Do you think you can play like that every game? LASHANN HIGGS: I think with some work, more work and improvement, that yes, I can. Q. Ariel, just talk about what it means to be in the Sweet 16, what the mind-set is now going to Bridgeport? ARIEL ATKINS: It means a lot. I'm extremely excited to be in the tournament. It's manage that we really have to work for and our seniors deserve this. They worked extremely hard. They pushed us every day and it just feels really good to get them back here. Q. Were you surprised that -- ARIEL ATKINS: I think we were kind of fast. So we were hoping to disrupt them a little bit. I don't think they caught us off-guard. I think it was something the coaches saw and they implemented it so that we could do that. Q. Ariel, on paper, it looked like their guards had a size advantage on you guys, but in the first half you outscored them 22 in the paint. Was that you guys being more physical and how would you attribute that? ARIEL ATKINS: It was definitely important to us to be physical. We know they are a very tough team, they very physical. They are tall. So I think we really put a point on that to try to do that. Q. To not get in early in the game, 22-0 edge in the first half -- ARIEL ATKINS: Yes, I guess so. Q. Ariel, how much pressure was on this basketball team tonight to win this game, because you know what the disappointment level might have been like had you not reached the Sweet 16 after winning last year. ARIEL ATKINS: We haven't even talked about that or thought about that. I don't think there was any pressure because we really just wanted to come out here and give it our best and give it our all and come out with an opportunity to go to Bridgeport. Q. Is there a sense of, not unfinished business, but there's more to do? ARIEL ATKINS: Yes, we want to do more. Q. How confident are you guys right now, because we were in the locker room with you guys, talking about we expected to be here. How confident are you guys moving forward? ARIEL ATKINS: I think we are right where we need to be. We have things that we need to work on. We are not where we need to be but I think we are confident in who we are right now. Q. Coach said something about, she couldn't see a team play harder tonight than you guys played. How much of an emphasis was it, no matter what you did, you left it out there? LASHANN HIGGS: As a player like myself, I like to play really fast, and there are times I have to calm down a little bit. But yeah, I try to mainly focus on defense and try to not lose my man and let them shoot threes, which is what they are really good at. I just listened to what the point guard and upperclassmen have to say and play as hard as I can and leave it all out there. Q. I know this is not the necessarily overriding goal, but is it a bit of a mission accomplished to check off two wins at home in the NCAA Tournament going into the Sweet 16? LASHANN HIGGS: I think it is, this is our seniors last home game, period. So it was pretty special for us to send them out right. Q. Did you feel like the 17-3 run, broke their spirit and took them out of the game? LASHANN HIGGS: I honestly don't think so. I think they were continuously trying to contest. They are a really tough team and they have good guards. Q. Can you guys talk about being at home -- it was a rough start and you were behind. You were doing all little things, rebounding, playing together. How did all that energy sort of carry over? ARIEL ATKINS: Throughout the year, improvement as a freshman, we've always been told it's the little things that matter. And from sitting on the bench, I realized that they were like, getting open threes, and like in the time we discussed that, that wasn't the game plan, so I tried to like get on the screen and be there on the catch and not let them catch the ball. Q. I know you guys keep talk about being excited, but Coach had to get on you when you walked in, and said, why are you all so quiet. Is more of a businesslike excitement or what? LASHANN HIGGS: I don't know, I said I think we're supposed to be here. I think we put in a lot of work. I think that our seniors, they have grown up so much, and I continuously talk about them because that's the face of this program -- indiscernible -- I think we've grown up. Q. How impressed were you with Sophie Cunningham? LASHANN HIGGS: From the scouting report, she was Sophie tonight. She's a good guard. She's strong, physical, she can shoot, she can drive. Q. Ariel, how is this team different from the team that lost to Baylor in the Big 12 tournament? ARIEL ATKINS: Grew up some more. I think our ability to bounce back. Q. How big of a spark was Lashann? COACH ASTON: I would say that our entire bench was a spark. I thought that they really, it wasn't that our starters weren't playing good, but I do think that they energized our team, not just Lashann. Lashann made some baskets that to the average fan, that's what everybody looks at and they were huge plays. But I also think Brianna Taylor gave us a list. I thought Kelsey Lang was good tonight. And basically everybody that came off the bench, Jordan Hosey. So I would say that that was sort of where they couldn't catch their breath, and I think a lot of people say that about our team when we're good is that when the bench and everybody is energized, they feel like it's waves coming and I think that was significant tonight that everybody was so energized, not just two or three people. Q. How important was it just to the evolution of growth of the program to get past this weekend and to the next one? COACH ASTON: I think it's very important. I mean, you don't want to underwrite that at all; that you want to take significant steps every year. That's sort of been the progression of this program. And people always talk about, what is your vision, and each year, we talk about what our vision is for the next year. And that was clearly one of our goals was to get back to the Sweet 16 and have an opportunity to take another step, which we didn't get to take last year, which was to the Elite 8, and we have that opportunity again. And again, I would echo Ariel in a sense that the seniors have kept us grounded with that. And they haven't allowed us to get down, and because they know, they understand the goal that's ahead. So they never allowed us to get overwhelmed when we had a failure or even too high when we had success, and I would attribute all of that so the seniors. It was wonderful to see them go out tonight like they did. Q. How do you explain the 38-10 in the paint? COACH ASTON: Well, I think it was off of transition, a lot of it was. So paint is a lot of different -- you can describe that in a lot of different ways, so I think it was a combination of us getting out in transition off of some stops. Penetration, lots of different things. That was surprising, actually, when I saw that at the half, when I saw that stat, because we had -- I actually made the comment that it should have been 30-0, because we missed some chippies (ph) that should have gone in, but a lot of those were transition offensive rebounds. You look at 21 offensive rebounds against a team that I think is really solid on the boards; that's an effort thing. Q. How is this team better prepared for the Sweet 16 this year than they were a year ago? COACH ASTON: Well, the first thing I would say is that we get to sleep in our beds tonight, and last year we were flying across country from San Francisco and got in at six in the morning and got to study hall at eight. So that would be a significant difference; that we are getting to go to bed at a reasonable hour, I would think tonight, and in our own beds. That's the importance of the hosting and having that opportunity to be at home and be in front of your crowd like we were tonight. So now that I think they understand that; and then you just talk about understanding, even just the difference in the path you take, the travel. They had never done that before. There's more responsibility when you get to the Sweet 16, so all of those things we understand better. Q. How excited do you want them to be? They seem like they are more business-minded? COACH ASTON: I don't know, I almost think that they are acting like their coach, instead of -- I couldn't figure out why they weren't in there dancing or something. They are not done. I mean, there's no question. And you always want them to celebrate the little things, but this team, and I would say it's mainly the seniors. I mean, they are not done. And so they don't have a reason to celebrate yet. Q. Is it almost a sense of up until now, this was taking care of business, getting back to where you were, and the next step is a bigger one? COACH ASTON: I think so. I think they definitely -- and that's the thing I've appreciated about this group, because again, we've had some failures. We were disappointed we didn't win the Big 12 tournament, really disappointed, because we put ourselves in a position to try to get a championship, and we didn't do it. And I always like to see how you respond to those things, and the character of this team is extremely high, because they have just never let those things get in the way of what is your ultimate goal, which is what happens in the NCAA Tournament. Q. What do you know about UCLA at this point? COACH ASTON: Well, we played them last year, so I'm familiar with them just in a sense of the fact that it was early. It was that road trip we had to Stanford and UCLA. I don't think they are the same teams by any means. I think they ended up winning the WNIT last year, and more mature team, just like I'm sure we are, and should be a terrific game. Could be a track meet; my guess is, it might be a track meet. Q. Sophie seemed like she controlled the Missouri offense. Was the goal to not let everybody else beat you on the defensive end? COACH ASTON: Well, I thought sort of the unsung heros of the game were our two five players, because they manned the paint and they were able to help in a lot of ways and I really think that was something that, again, wouldn't be noticed on a stat sheet. But they were in a position to help a lot, and we knew we were going to get posted by their guards. We knew that we had some size problems, and the fact that our fives were always roaming in a help position was really a significant issue for them I think. Sophie is terrific, wow. I was very impressed with her, on film and in person, in particular. But they are a good basketball team, and we sort of took them out of what their comfort was tonight. Q. Going to Bridgeport -- COACH ASTON: Never been there before. I'm excited. Q. Going into the lion's den, whatever they are going to call it -- COACH ASTON: Yeah, we've got to play the Bruins, and again, our team, they will be locked in. They understand that UCLA is really good and one thing at a time. Q. As good as the seniors have been, and you've talked about them, how gratifying is it that a freshman and a sophomore did the most damage tonight? COACH ASTON: It's a good point. I think it kind of reminded me a little bit of senior night, and I was worried tonight about that. But we reacted the same way that we did senior night. We had so much energy against CCU on senior night and I was concerned about that game because it was -- I didn't know how the seniors would play, and that's a hard game to play when you know you're playing your last game, and this was truly their last game in this arena. And they have a lot of pride, and being at Texas. Some of them, I thought they all played really well. I thought Celina played terrific. I thought Empress came in and hit a couple of big shots and Imani manned the paint. And Brady's kind of tweaked her foot a little bit more, so she was not -- she was very limited tonight. In fact, I didn't think she was going to play at all and I walked down there and said, "Can you go in?" She said, "Yeah, I can do it." I was glad she got to go in. But that's a hard game to play and I thought that's a reflection of how our young players feel about them. And it was the same feeling that I had about senior night, which is that the young players provided the energy to get the win. And it's almost like little sister's got to take care of big sister here. Q. With the clock running down -- do you think that summed up the night for you guys? COACH ASTON: It did. It absolutely did. It just -- she hit two of those. Looking at me like, what are you talking about, and I'm like, the clock's running out, okay, just throw it up. I mean, a lot of things went right. I didn't think we shot the ball particularly well in the second half, but they did a great job of not worrying about that and that's been our Achilles' heel sometimes is that when the ball isn't going in, everybody is offensive minded I guess, and that's where we've grown so much, and all you guys that watched us last year -- last year we tanked a little bit sometimes when the ball didn't go in for us, and we've done much better with that this year. Q. What do you like most about your team heading into this next round? COACH ASTON: I do like defense. I like to watch what we watched tonight. I think in the tournament, you're going to run into some teams that can really score a draft (ph) ball on you, in particular, and I think you even noticed some upsets have happened because a team has had a player on their team that can really score a lot of points. So I think your defense and in particular, your team defense, has to be extremely good. And we have some answers for a lot of things I think defensively, and I love that, because again, the ball is not always going to go in. And you have to be able to defend people I think in a tournament, especially guards. When you get late in the tournament, guard play is a pretty big deal. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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