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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: BRIDGEPORTMarch 25, 2016Vic SchaeferVictoria ViviansDominique DillinghamMorgan WilliamBridgeport, Connecticut THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening comment from coach and then take questions. COACH SCHAEFER: Thank you. Thank you for having us. We're excited to be here. Really proud of my basketball team. We're very, very young and yet, they have accomplished a great deal, especially in the last two years. This year's been a real challenge at times, but we have got some real competitive kids. Competitive spirit is something that's always stood out with them, and they're tough. I'm really proud of our accomplishments. I don't know that if you would have told me in October when we started that we would be here at 28-7, finished tied for second in the SEC, I would have taken it probably and ran and said, see you in March. So, really, really proud of our accomplishments and again, excited to be here. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. I was wondering if you followed Moriah Jefferson through high school and -- COACH SCHAEFER: Sure did. Q. Your thoughts on that. And also your thoughts on how she's turned out at UConn. COACH SCHAEFER: I think she's turned out pretty good. She's one heck of a player. I did -- I obviously at that particular time, I was in Texas, coaching at Texas A&M, and we recruited her hard. It's funny, when we came up here and played in 2012, if I remember right, we won the National Championship in '11, we played up here in 2012, I walked out to go on to the floor for our pregame 30 minutes before, and I looked down there and who is down there on the other bench on their visit, on an unofficial visit, was Moriah Jefferson. So, she was a great player in high school. Obviously, recruited her on her AAU team out of Dallas, and she's obviously had a tremendous career and is one heck of a basketball player. She's smart, intelligent, just getting outside of what she possesses from a physical standpoint, how quick and fast she is. Morgan William, my point guard, is really fast. She's the fastest kid I've ever coached. And I'm sure Moriah is going to be, might be the fastest kid he's ever coached. Because I can tell you on film, and I'm fixing of getting a dose of it in reality tomorrow, but on film, she looks like every bit as fast as Morgan, if not faster. So, a special kid, no doubt about it. Q. After losing the SEC championship and watching the game tape, what are some of the things that you incorporated the next two games to help you guys play on another level? COACH SCHAEFER: I think that when you look back at that championship game, I thought South Carolina really came out and was physical and aggressive. And for whatever reason, we were that way with them the first time we played them, got beat at our place 59-or 57-51, but it was a 2-point game with 53 seconds left. In that ball game in the championship game, for whatever reason, whether we were just running out of juice, we had played back to back, we had a knock down drag out the night before with Tennessee, a real physical game, and we were really physical. For whatever reason, we didn't quite match their intensity physically, and we seemed like we were half a step slow most of the night. So, for me it was, I thought we have got some kids that need a little time, so we took a couple days off, got healed up, rested. We have had some kids walking around in boots for awhile. They practice and they play, but they're in a boot for the rest of the time. So, we kind of rested up, healed up, and then we talked about that. I think I've got a smart team in that regards, and they realized at that point that we didn't quite match their intensity. I think that's the biggest piece in that game. We turned the ball over a lot that night, and we turned it over out top. When you turn the ball over out top, you can't defend it. Those were layups the other way. By the way, this team we're fixing to play tomorrow, they are really good in transition. If you turn the ball over, anywhere, much less out top, it's probably going to be a layup. So we learned that more than anything in that ball game, and just taking care of the basketball. Q. In terms of Morgan, how she's gotten a little bit healthier toward the tail end of the season, and then what she's meant to the team and what the challenges for her going up against such a great point guard. COACH SCHAEFER: Well, I think that, obviously, she's seen enough film now, I probably loaded her diet with a bunch, so she knows what she's dealing with tomorrow. You're dealing with an All-American, you're dealing with a really smart, heady kid. Physically, she's as good as any she will ever see. From a quickness, speed, strength standpoint. So I think Morgan understands what's coming down the pipe and she's -- she will be up for it. She's competitive, as you know. The kid's played on a broken leg most of the year. So, toughness isn't something that's a problem with Morgan William. She has gotten healthier as the year's gone on. She's still not all the way back, but she's more healthy today than she was probably two weeks ago. And that, as you know, Morgan's kind of the engine that makes the train run for us. Her and Jaz understand the importance of what they do and how they conduct our team. So, it's very, very important tomorrow that those two are competitive with Moriah. Q. The first two games Duquesne did a much better job with UConn's pressure than Robert Morris did, obviously. So, are there things you learn from that and how important is it for Victoria to be able to do what she's don't really throughout the whole season? COACH SCHAEFER: Well, obviously, I'll go backwards. Victoria is a big piece what have we do, especially offensively. I complain about Victoria on defense, but she leads us in steals. And she got -- she had Powers down the stretch the other night against Michigan State and did a really good job with her. But Victoria, obviously, is an important piece. And again, I think our team plays with a lot of confidence when Victoria's playing well and scoring for us. So, tell me the first piece again? Q. About Duquesne and their pressure. COACH SCHAEFER: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just taking care of the ball. For us it's been -- to me we turn it over about two times too many a game. If you can keep it under 14, statistics show that you win one more game a year if you average less than 14 turnovers. We're right at the 15, 15.4 mark, I think, something like that. Now, we live in a league that is really defensive minded. Got great defensive coaches. So, and I think so we led the league, I think, in fewest turnovers per game. So, we have got to take care of the ball tomorrow. There's no doubt about it. We have got to get a good shot every possession, and we have got to create a good shot every possession, whatever that shot's going to be. They're not going to give it to you. One thing they don't -- I don't think Connecticut gets enough credit for is their defense. They're all long, they're tall, they're athletic, they're pretty quick, and I don't think they get enough credit on the defensive end. We all know what a great offensive team they are. But defensively, man, they're pretty doggone good. So, I think we, our kids understand that, because I've preached that to them now for awhile and shown them film about it. When you got a team that's got somebody on that's had 404 blocked shots. Think about the shots altered that she doesn't get credit for. So that's a pretty amazing stat. I just graduated a kid that had 300, I think, in 2013, and I thought she was pretty doggone good at it. She got 404. And again, she's probably altered 500, 600 that she doesn't get any credit for. So I think they're really good defensively, and I think that's the piece that we have got to really a challenge in front of us as well. Q. Two-part question about experience. Because you guys have never -- this group has never been this far in the tournament, and they have never played UConn. You've coached against UConn, you've obviously been this far. Just how much does that play into the game plan as far as are they nervous, excited, being here and also just having to play UConn, who obviously, we have seen on TV, but never experienced. COACH SCHAEFER: Well, unfortunately, we probably won't find out part of that until tomorrow when we tip it up. I've got a lot of confidence in my team, I really do. I've got some really competitive kids, and they're tough. They have been in some really tough venues and environments, so I do have a lot of confidence in my basketball team. I've got great kids, and they're really competitive. No, we haven't played UConn before. I have. I remember bringing that team in here from the year after we won it. We came up here and played, and we thought we were coming here and be who we were, be who we are, especially defensively. And if I don't remember it correctly, it was a layup fest. It was bad. So, I think you've got to -- for us, I think our kids understand. They have seen enough film. They have a really good idea how we're going to be attacked. One of the things we do defensively is we impose our will on people. I think that's one of the things that we do. I think the same can be said about UConn. They impose their Will on you. Both ends of the floor. So, I think for us the challenge is to deal with that and try to minimize that as much as we can. I just don't -- you never know how your team's going to respond in this environment, especially with a young inexperienced group like I got. But I do know this, our kids are going to be prepared, they're going to be ready to go, and I really believe they're going to be excited, and they're going to play well. Q. Where do you think you have a chance to experience the most success defensively against them? COACH SCHAEFER: Well, I don't know. We have been through a bunch of scenarios in this past five days and talking about how to defend them in different ways with different philosophies. Like I just mentioned, the last time I came in here it was my way or the highway. And we got shown the highway. It was a layup drill. So, obviously, that didn't work real good with that team. I think the thing that you get concerned about in this environment, with this team, is that -- and talking about the Connecticut, is that when things -- you can work on things for five days and have all the confidence in the world, but what happens with teams is then they get in this ball game, and you have a couple turnovers, it's a layup, next thing you know they hit back to back threes. Now it's a 10-0 run within a minute and all of a sudden, now you're on your heels. Everything you thought was going to be -- you worked on that worked good in practice against your guys, your men's practice team, now all of a sudden you might have had a just a little stretch where it didn't work real good, and now doubt creeps in. So you got to try to stay away from that, if you can. It's the runs that they go on that are just, to me, are very demoralizing, and they all start to me with transition. So, for us, we have got to somehow try to find a way to eliminate turnovers and eliminate that transition. I think that's very important for us tomorrow. Q. You touched upon a couple times being a young team and a lot of times when young teams face UConn, they're intimidated right away by what they see on the opposing chest, UConn. This is a program though that you guys beat Tennessee for the first time ever, not just once, but twice this year. Does that take away part of that intimidation factor, knowing that they can beat a program like Tennessee? Why not go beat a program like UConn? COACH SCHAEFER: Well, you hope so. You hope that the experiences that we have had in our conference do lend you to have confidence in this environment at this level. That's what we have to draw on. We have to draw on our 16 rival games that we played in the SEC. That's how I look at it. Those are 16 rival games. I think I figured it out other day, we have won 30 SEC games in the last three years. That's pretty good. I'm pretty proud of that. So, it's hard to do, and I may -- maybe 27 -- but nonetheless, we have had some success, so it's hard in that environment, in those environments, we have been tested, and we have had some really difficult venues. So you hope you can draw from that. Q. You said earlier this week how this is -- you want to have the mindset of this is another game, this is game 36 on your schedule. Before tomorrow, or maybe has it happened already, where you do kind of talk to your team and bluntly tell them, ignore the record, this is a game we can win. This team is beatable. COACH SCHAEFER: Well, kids are pretty smart, so I don't think -- you can say it, but they're probably going to look at me with crossed eyes and go, what? I mean, I think everybody in the country and the world that has a heart beat understands what you're dealing with. 71 games in a row, I mean, I think that you can say that, but I think that the approach you have to take is, hey, again, we have been to the wars, we have played against some really good teams, we draw on those experiences, we go with our game plan, we know what we do, we have got to try to do what we do. We have to be who we are. We can't morph into some team that we're not in five days. I think you got to be who you are, and I think our kids have confidence in who we are. I think that's the biggest piece, when you go in and you take on a Connecticut, a Tennessee, a South Carolina, is, you got to have confidence in who you are and in what we do. I think our kids have a lot of confidence in that and I think they have a lot of trust in that. And that's all you can ask for as a coach. That's the biggest piece I think a lot of times in coaching is that your kids understand who you are and they trust that who we are is pretty good and what we do -- we have a saying in our locker room, it's not what we do, but how we do it that separates us from the rest of the country. And so I think they -- as long as we can live by that, I think we're going to be okay. Q. When you came in from Texas A&M, how long did it take this group to buy into your defensive philosophy and are they further along than you thought they might be at this point in time? COACH SCHAEFER: I don't think there's any question we're a lot further along than I thought we would be at this particular juncture. Four short years, again, we have, we have won 30 games in the SEC in the last three years. So, the tie for second in our league this year and in year four. It's a tremendous accomplishment, again, for a very young basketball team. I think they have bought in early on, even that very first team that we inherited, as bad as we were at 13-17, we beat number 11 Georgia. Held them to five baskets in the second half. With that group. That's hard to do with any group. With a good team. And we held number 11 Georgia to five baskets in that first year and beat them. Beat them at home. So, and we did it again that year against Arkansas in our league. So I think, defensively, that was the piece that, until you can get good players, until you can get players with skill sets, that's the piece that allows you to be competitive. So, I think that with that first team, they bought in, it got to them, you know, defense in my opinion as a coach, that's the last thing you get, because you have to have so much chemistry. So, once they got it, then that first recruiting class came in, and they saw what was important to that team that we inherited. And so it just has built from there. My freshmen that I have right now, no, they don't get completely get it. But they are -- they're a lot better today than they were in November. But I think that Junior class really has helped bring it along. And now my sophomores, they're now two years in, and they get it as well. We have two kids that have taken over 50 charges. I would ask anybody in the room, go find another team in the country that's got two kids that have taken 50 charges. 50. That's a lot. We got two of them. So, I'm proud of our kids. I'm proud of how hard they play, how tough they are, how competitive and their competitive spirit. So, that's what gives me, as a coach, confidence going into tomorrow. Whoever we play, I know our kids are going to compete and absolutely as hard as they can, and you let the chips fall where they may. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thanks for your time today. Good luck tomorrow. COACH SCHAEFER: All right. Praise the lord and Go Dawgs. Thank you. We'll bring up the. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the student-athletes. Q. Victoria, what gives this team the confidence to believe it can defend UConn? VICTORIA VIVIANS: Because we have great defensive team. We practice every day. We never go to a practice without going over defense. We do tons of defensive drills, we work hard, we get in and get out like, constantly in drills. We have so many drills we go out there and practice. So I feel like if we do well and practice on the drills, we'll come out in the game and play defense good in the game. Q. Morgan, you have seen UConn on tape, everybody talks about how fast, athletic, how physical. In your game plan this week, what are some of the things that you immediately address as a team? MORGAN WILLIAM: Well, we did talk about boxing out a lot, and we talked about slowing down tempo a little bit. Don't go in a rush, because every possession is important. Most importantly, we just got to defend. We got to help side, we got to take charges like we do, we just got to play Mississippi State basketball and everything else will take care of itself. Q. Morgan, spoke with a couple of Robert Morris players the day before they played UConn and then after. And they couldn't believe just the speed, the quickness. Dealing with their pressure and their length and getting in passing lanes and stuff like that. Obviously, you're not in it alone, but how will you approach them and their speed and their ability to take away passing lanes and all that tomorrow? MORGAN WILLIAM: Got to fake a pass to make a pass. They jumping in the passing lane, somebody else got to be open. So, got to stay on your feet. You don't want to travel and turn the ball over. But you got to be smart with the ball, most importantly. Q. Does playing a team like South Carolina and other top flight teams in the country help prepare you to come here and to play a team like Connecticut? VICTORIA VIVIANS: Definitely just because they play really well defensively, too. They get in the passing lanes. They pressure the ball. So I think that just playing in the SEC in general gets us ready for UConn, because we play hard games every night. So, just, I think South Carolina really helps us though, too. Q. Victoria, coach said that your championship game against South Carolina, you guys weren't quite as physical as you had been, you looked like were you a little tired. How important is it to play really physical against UConn to kind of take them out of their game? And is that kind of what you hope to do against most teams, just play them hard and physical? VICTORIA VIVIANS: Yeah, coming into the game, because we're a grind it out team. We're not going to give anything easy. So, just coming in there and playing them tough is a real important factor of the game, because you can't be soft with them because they're not a soft team, so you got to be physical, aggressive, and do great things to be able to beat them. Q. Victoria, you've been averaging 21.5 points per game through the NCAA Tournament. Do you think that your production needs to go up to be successful against UConn? VICTORIA VIVIANS: I feel like it should go up, but, like, if the team is going to do their part, and everybody play a factor in the game, not my scoring. But defensive stops, Dominique and Mo, they score as well, and so I feel like if everybody comes out and do what they got to do, that we'll be successful in the game. Q. Morgan, your coach was just up here talking up a little bit about playing on a broken leg for the entire season. Can you run me through what the season has been like physically and then just how much better you're feeling right now. MORGAN WILLIAM: Definitely been a lot of adversity, but somehow I just been able to get through it. I'm happy to still be playing with my teammates and it's got a lot better throughout the course of the year. But it's do or die now, I just want to keep playing, so pain isn't a word I know, I just want to keep playing right now. Q. Dominique, as the resident junior up there, I guess, one thing you UConn always has to its advantage is the intimidation factor of having UConn in front of their jersey. You guys beat Tennessee for the first time ever this season and that must have been an intimidating factor for you guys every time you played Tennessee. By virtue of that victory, does that kind of lessen the intimidation factor of all the other teams you played, not just in the SEC, but coming into a game like UConn? DOMINIQUE DILLINGHAM: I don't think that we're intimidated at Tennessee. But there is that awe factor that they're like the gods of the SEC, they won a lot of games. They have had Pat Summitt as their coach. So definitely there's always that respect there. And I think that just there's a respect factor. And beating Tennessee, that kind of did like just -- it's kind of just got us over that hump. We always played tough with the upper teams in the SEC, but just getting that first win over Tennessee was, it was a really great moment for Mississippi State and I think that it kind of got us over the hump. It gave us confidence that we can play with anybody. So, I think we have the confidence to play UConn. Q. Victoria, Coach Auriemma said great scorers are going to get their points, even against great defensive teams. You sort of answered this already, but how important is it for you to be able to score without having to take a lot of shots tomorrow and when you look at someone like Breanna Stewart and her ability to block shots and alter shots, will this be the best defensive team you've gone against? VICTORIA VIVIANS: Best defensive team? I don't know. But I feel like the scoring, as long as we win the game, I don't care if I don't score at all, as long as we win the game. Scoring is not a factor at all if we win the game. If we win the game without me scoring, I'm still happy for my teammates for scoring. Q. Can you win the game without you scoring a lot? VICTORIA VIVIANS: If my teammates do what they have to do, they come out and get defensive stops in transition, I guess, again, I feel like we can win without me scoring. We won without me scoring a lot of points before. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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