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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: BRIDGEPORTMarch 25, 2016Geno AuriemmaMoriah JeffersonMorgan TuckBreanna StewartBridgeport, Connecticut THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with a opening statement from Coach Auriemma and then take questions. COACH AURIEMMA: There's really not much that I think you can say at this time of the year. We're pretty excited that we're playing a team that we haven't seen, not only haven't seen this year, but haven't seen ever. So I think that's good. Obviously, everybody knows that we're trying to do something that's extremely difficult to do, and that's win a National Championship, as they are, and as the other two teams are in this regional. And as I told the players on the team, our three seniors are about as good as it gets and if we get everybody else to do their part, then we're going to be okay. Q. The coach at Texas A&M built a nice reputation for being a defensive specialist for Gary Boyer, and I'm wondering, if you look at your team is there a defensive strategy that can be developed that can get you out of sync? COACH AURIEMMA: Sure there is. Sure there is. It's a defensive strategy that forces you to miss shots. And sometimes it's because you guard us really hard, and we miss shots. And in some games this year, you just stand there and let us shoot, and we miss shots. So, I think we take great pride in our defense. We think we're a pretty good defensive team. But it's been my experience that, for instance, us trying to guard Courtney Williams during the regular season, the defense is really, really good and it's really, really important, and you have to have it to win championships. But the best defender can't keep a great offensive player down. As I told you guys a hundred times, I'm a great fan of baseball. You throw the right pitch at the right time in the perfect spot and the guy hits a three-run homer. So what are you going to do? So great offensive players can overcome great defense. Not always, not always, but there's a defense for everything, obviously. But somehow or another, great offensive players figure out how to play against great defenses. Q. First and foremost, Happy belated Birthday. COACH AURIEMMA: Thank you. Q. How important is it for UConn that Morgan Tuck and MaryLou start off the game quickly? COACH AURIEMMA: You know, it seems like every game that we play we seem to get the same shots. And sometimes you just shake your head, and you can't understand why they don't, why they don't go in. Like in Tuck's case. When she gets it going, she's unguardable. There's nobody on the floor, either Mississippi State or Texas, UCLA, or anybody we played this year, you can't guard her, because she just can score from every part of the floor. So, when she doesn't make shots, it's like a big shock. Because it's just a matter of time before she's going to make them. But when she starts off a game where she's on it, she's got it, that's a big difference for us. And Lou, Lou's a freshman, you know, so we can get a game like we got against Robert Morris, or we can get a game like we got against Duquesne. When you're a freshman, you never are quite sure what you're going to get. So I think she's going to be great tomorrow. Q. Another coach that won 10 national championships had a pyramid of success. What is -- do you have a secret formula, a secret philosophy that you fall back on, similar to the pyramid of success that John Wooden had? COACH AURIEMMA: Yeah. If you asked me where Coach Wooden's pyramid of success was I couldn't name you one of them. So my pyramid of success is the same as his. His was Alcinder, Walton, and Gail Goodrich, and you name them down the line. Mine is Diana, Mia, Stewie, that's my pyramid of success. And I think that's every great coach's pyramid of success. So once you start with that then you go, okay, well, he got the absolute best players in America every year. We get the best players in America every year. That's what everybody thinks. The things we fall back on are, I'm sure, the same things that every successful coach falls back on, is that every day we try to live up to our potential. So, every day we're trying to make sure that if Stewart is the best player in the country, then she has to be the best player in the country every day in practice, there's no days off. And if Moriah Jefferson is the best point guard in the country, then she has to be the best point guard in the country every day, with no days off. And I noticed that in some other places the best players get days off. They get to take plays off. They get to take -- they get certain liberties that the other players don't get. That doesn't happen at our place. And that's the only thing I can tell you that we fall back on, is our best players have to be great every single day, and then that raises the level of everybody around them. Q. When you talk about Stewart being the best player in the country and that she has to be that every day, and yet, you see her play get even better on a bigger stage, how does she find that gear? What does she draw from inside of her to play her best basketball this time of year? COACH AURIEMMA: Well, I'm not inside her head, so I don't know. If you cut her open, she would be the same as every other kid playing in this tournament physically, but some people just have the ability to summon up what they need when they need it. She is like that in that we talked yesterday a little bit about being courageous. That if you're courageous, then you have a chance to use whatever gifts you have. If you're not courageous, all those gifts you have are pointless. So, we talk a lot about courage. What did Winston Churchill say? It's grace under fire. There's no such thing as being like, I'm not afraid. Sure you are. You mean to tell me Stewart and Tuck and Moriah, there's not that sense of a little bit of, what if we don't get this done? Of course there is. Of course there is. Just like Mississippi State, just like Texas, just like UCLA, just like everybody else, every kid has that in them, what if I can't do this. I think what Stewart has, Moriah has, tuck has over these last three years, they're able to put that aside and just do what they have to do. That's a unique quality that very few people have. And she has it. So does Tuck. So does Moriah. Q. Did you envision this type of production from Moriah when she got here? And what is it that makes her a great point guard? COACH AURIEMMA: I'm just glad she's still here. When I saw her as a freshman, I had my doubts. In the sense that when somebody hands you the ball at Connecticut and they say, okay, you're in charge, that's a lot. And luckily for us, we still have Bria Hartley, at that time, and Caroline Doty was still here. So she was able to kind of come along slowly. And it wasn't until maybe middle of her sophomore year and actually, it happened in the NCAA Tournament, down here, I thought right here. I think it was Kentucky or Maryland or somebody. But that, at that point in time, I started to realize, she's got something that hasn't come out yet. Freshman year, I think she was too caught up in being away from home, how tough this is, how much thought goes into playing that position at Connecticut. How to play with five great players. Four other great players on the floor. It was a lot. But somewhere during the NCAA Tournament, her sophomore year, it was like, I got this. And then every year she's added something to her game. The one thing that she's added the most, other than the fact that she knocks down shots, is she's gotten smarter every day. Every day she gets a little bit smarter as a player. And that's what makes her -- every great point guard is like every great quarterback until the NFL, they're smarter than everybody else. Everybody can throw it, the guys that are great are the guys that are smarter. And she's smarter. Every day. Q. Two part question. Is Coach Dailey still drinking Diet Coke? And what -- COACH AURIEMMA: Ice tea from Panera. A plug for Panera Bread. Q. And what's made her such an integral member of your staff and the success that you guys have had? COACH AURIEMMA: Because she tells us that every day. (Laughter.) I'm an integral part of this staff, and I'm the reason for our success. There's not a day that goes by. She gets ice tea and then that's her affirmation every day. Other than that, it's the fact that there's no detail that goes unnoticed. Whether it's a scouting report of tomorrow's game against Mississippi State, whether it's a recruiting thing, whether it's something in practice that we have to do, whether it's an appearance that we have to make, whether it's a meeting that we have to be at. Something with the administration. Something with alumni. Something with -- it doesn't matter what it is, whatever it is that we have to do, there's absolutely no detail that goes unnoticed, unchecked. And it's been like that for 30 years. And it's unwavering. It's unwavering. And the reason why the players like me better is because I tell them you can do whatever you want. Because I know that the minute I say that, all hell's going to break loose, and they're not going to be allowed to do anything. Because she will clamp down on it. Q. They have, two players combined, about 50 charges taken. I was just curious, is that the thing that stands out to you? And do they remind you -- you played Texas A&M a couple times when he was there coaching. Not during in the tournament, but during regular season. Do you see similarities in a lot of the principles that he did there and that he does here? COACH AURIEMMA: Yeah, yeah. The thing that you notice when you watch Vic's team play is one, the pressure they put on the ball, which I think is the basis of all good defenses. How much pressure can you put on the ball. And they do a great job of that. The other thing is, they make it difficult for you to get the ball from one place to another, which, again, if you can't move the ball, you can't run offense successfully. And they do a great job of that. And then three, they cover for each other really well. They play great help defense. So, they take care of the things that are most important defensively. Ball pressure, they deny you opportunities to pass the ball, and then they bring great help early. When you do that, and you have pretty good athletes like they do, you've got the foundation of a great defense. And that's the same at Texas A&M and same at Mississippi State. You don't get that good like they have gotten that quickly, since he's been there, without being a great defensive team. That's the start. That's the start. Q. It's happened a bit throughout the season, but at this point, does it still light a fire under the team when opposing teams say maybe before or even after the game that this team is beatable? COACH AURIEMMA: Why, did these guys say it too? Q. I was referring more to Duquesne? COACH AURIEMMA: I'm thinking like everybody should say that, because it's true. It's true. I think every team, every team is beatable, and I think it's good when you play a team that thinks if we do A B and C, we're going to win this game. Because I think that forces you to be better that night. As opposed to a team that comes in and goes, you know what? We got nothing to lose, we're just going to go play the game, and we're leaving after the game when we lose by 50. So nobody wants to play a team like that. Every player on my team and every time we play, we want to play people that are committed to winning, and they think they can win. Because that makes us play way better. I think that's -- all of us, the more we're challenged by somebody who thinks that they're better than us, the more we can rise to the occasion. My players don't take it as a slight or anything like that, it's a sign of respect. THE MODERATOR: All right thanks, coach. We'll have the UConn student-athletes up in a few minutes. (Pause.) THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll take questions for the UConn student-athletes. Q. We just heard coach talk about courage, what it means to play with courage and what it means to play up to your talents. What is playing with courage mean to you? BREANNA STEWART: It's funny, because coach was just talking about us, this with us, in practice yesterday and courage can mean a lot of things. I think that when I think of courage, I think of playing through the adversity, the fear, the jitters that you have in the NCAA Tournament games and being able to get through whatever happens and -- in the course of a game or the course of a practice. We're getting into the serious parts of the season, I don't think there's anything more serious than this. And there's going to be times where people struggle and just being courageous to get through that, instead of just letting yourself fall. Q. Morgan, has any defense this season come close to discombobulating UConn's offense? And do you think it's possible for someone to do that? MORGAN TUCK: I think that we have played against some really good defenses. But I think the thing that has made our offense not good is us and just kind of going too fast or rushing things. I think once we kind of slow down, then our offense is good. So, I do think that we're going to come across really good defenses, especially Mississippi State, they're big and athletic, and they're going to have a lot of pressure. But I think for us it's more of just playing our tempo and playing our game and then we'll be fine. Q. Big game, you watched these guys on tape. What is some of the things that you said, I have to make sure I make immediate adjustment to help me win this game? MORIAH JEFFERSON: I think the biggest thing is going to be controlling the tempo. They really like to run and get out and press a lot. So we have to be strong with the ball, making sure we're not having any turnovers that we don't need to have, and just really controlling our pace. It's about the way we play and just making sure that we're controlling the offense. Q. Moriah, when you play a team that you know is a really good defensive team, does it increase your focus defensively? You guys are one of the best defensive teams in the country year after year, does it make you guys play better defensively? MORIAH JEFFERSON: I guess you could say that. We really try to come out and play the same every game, so our defensive intensity is always going to be really high. So, we're going to come out and play defense the way we have been playing all year and try to get some good stops for our team. Q. You mentioned sometimes you have to push through fear. I would wonder if people would assume that at this point you are fearless. Do you get nerves or do you feel yourself pushing through things as you chase history with your teammates? BREANNA STEWART: I think that anyone who is into the NCAA Tournament and doesn't have any type of nerves going into the game, I would say you're lying or I don't know. You know, I feel like for us, no matter if it's first round or National Championship game, we have the same type of nerves, type of butterflies when the game starts, just because we know that there's a lot riding on this game. I think that the difference is finding a way to adjust to that and once the ball -- once the tip happens, the nerves go away, we're just playing basketball. Q. What motivates you more at this point in the season? Is it chasing history, chasing that fourth title, or the realization that one let down in this March Madness, and your UConn careers are over? BREANNA STEWART: I think what means more to us, right now we're just chasing one. The other three we have, which is, I mean, we sound selfish every time we say it, but that's the truth. Realizing that, yeah, this is our senior year. This is the biggest year of our career, and we want to make sure that it's the best one. MORIAH JEFFERSON: I couldn't say it any better. Q. Moriah, what have you worked on this year that has elevated your game more than it was the last couple years? What is it that you concentrate on and has the game slowed down to a point where you think you can, you've seen everything you need to see, when you're out on the court? MORIAH JEFFERSON: One of my biggest focuses on this year was working on my mid-range game. Just kind of focusing on that, so that could have a third aspect, not just shooting threes or driving to the basket. But I think the biggest thing for me is just knowing what these guys like and I know our offense so well that we can run plays no matter what and do something different out of each of those plays. So I think just learning the game more and knowing what plays I need to call at what time has been the biggest thing for me. Q. Moriah, there's been a lot of great point guards that have come through this program, what would it mean for you to set the assist record? MORIAH JEFFERSON: It would mean a lot. I think that assists are one of the biggest things that I focus on here. I played with some of the best players in the country, so any time I can make sure I'm getting the ball in time and setting them up for a basket means a lot to me. So to come in and set that record in front of all the great players that have been here before, it would men a lot to me. Q. Morgan, how important to your psyche that you start off the game quickly for UConn? MORGAN TUCK: It's important. I think all of us, when I have a really good start, it just kind of gets the game going a little bit better and I think we're a little more confident. But we have had some struggles with that at times, so I think our mindset is just, no matter how the start is, it's more important about how you finish it. Q. How do you take the pressure off yourselves at this time of the year? How do you have fun? How does a team kind of chill and just sort of take a break from the emotional stress that might be on it? MORIAH JEFFERSON: We just kind of do what normal people do. Might go to the movies or go eat, just kind of hang out with each other where we're not really thinking about basketball. I know we went to go see the new movie Allegiant that was out. We do stuff like that just to enjoy the time with each other. We know that this time is really about basketball, but at the same time, we want to enjoy it with our teammates. MORGAN TUCK: I think our practice, we're having the most fun in our practices than we is have had all season. Just realizing that this is the most exciting time of the year, it's not, I guess you could get clouded if you think about the bigger picture of everything like that, but we're thinking how many times are we going to be on the court together. Q. Can you just sum up what Moriah has meant to this team over the last few years? BREANNA STEWART: She's meant a lot to this team. Obviously, we all came in together, we went through the adversity our freshman year, and then from sophomore year on, she took control of the team. She took the team under her belt, basically, and wanted to be the leader. She wanted to be the floor general and it's awesome to see her growth throughout the entire four years. I'm sure she could say the same thing about us, but the way she's developed, the way she's matured, the way she's kind of was able to use her speed in positive ways. Just the development of her jump shot, her mid-range game, she's unguardable. MORGAN TUCK: I think that kind of going off her, I think something with her is like all three of us are leaders, but I think Moriah's role of that is she's kind of the intense one, she gets on people a little bit more and she's really, really intense. So I think she brings that aspect to the team, but at the same time she's the first one to pull someone aside and like the most encouraging. So, she really knows how to get people to live up to their potential and really play their best without them feeling like there's so much pressure and there's nothing that they can do. She's really good at making sure people are really level headed and they're able to play really well. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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