|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: SIOUX FALLSMarch 26, 2016Quentin HillsmanAlexis PetersonBrianna ButlerBrittney SykesBriana DaySioux Falls, South Dakota THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Syracuse making their first appearance in the round of eight. We'll start with an opening statement from coach, then take questions for the student-athletes. COACH HILLSMAN: It's good to be back here obviously playing tomorrow. That was our goal coming into this round, is to make sure that we got to Sunday. So we're very pleased that we reached our first goal. Obviously our ultimate goal is going to the Final Four. So we're very happy for the opportunity. I thought yesterday our kids fought really hard to get back into that game. We had a specific game plan and they followed it down to the second left on the clock. I was very happy for our focus, for the trust in our system, and for us just doing everything we had to do to win the basketball game. Obviously we played a very good team last night. They came up a little short, but they really played hard and really pushed us to be a better basketball team and played really hard. We're just happy to be here. Obviously Tennessee is a great basketball team. Earlier in the year they beat us. We understand what we have to do to come out on top of the game tomorrow. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Brittney and Alexis, when you look at the results here and on the other side of the bracket, that side of the bracket leading into the finals really opened up as far as upsets. What do you think that says about women's college basketball in general? ALEXIS PETERSON: I think it says a lot. You don't really see too many upsets. I think this is why we play the game, because on any given night, anyone can be beat. Teams know what they're fighting for at this time of year. That's why you come out and, you know, you got to stick to what you know, what your game plan is. Ultimately, we got the upset, as well as the other side of the bracket. BRITTNEY SYKES: Just as Lex said, it's just that time of the year. A lot of teams are fighting to keep playing. A lot of seniors on your team, or you may not have seniors. I know for us as Syracuse women's basketball, we have a lot of seniors. We want to make sure we send them off the right way and have a very memorable season. Q. Brianna Butler, you didn't have a great game shooting against Tennessee when you played in Knoxville. Was that an off game or were you bothered by the length they have? BRIANNA BUTLER: I would just say it was a pretty off-shooting night. But, you know, with Syracuse, it doesn't really depend on one player. You can have any person come in and step up huge for us. I think that just speaks volumes for our team. Q. Alexis and Brittney, now that you have had a night to decompress, what is the biggest takeaway you can take from last night's win? ALEXIS PETERSON: I think we can take away we really are a team and really are a unit. We have been faced with a lot of adversity. We took away from that if we stick together and keep believing in each other, we can do some pretty great things. BRITTNEY SYKES: Just as Lex said. Also we're just showing the world what we believed in ourselves this whole entire season, that we're a great team. We can pull those types of upsets and prove to people we are a great team. Q. Briana Day, you did a great job against South Carolina's big, tall post players who intimidated a lot of teams this year. Just speak to how well you played and what you were able to do against them. BRIANA DAY: I just think matching their physicality. They are a lot bigger than I am personally. That doesn't matter. You just have to go out there and play hard regardless. If you feel intimidated, you're going to play that way. You have to play as big as they are. Like I said, I have a big heart, and that's how I play. Q. Brianna Butler, Syracuse Nation really showed up. The atmosphere was big last night. I talked to a couple fans that said they drove 20 hours to be at the game. What does it mean to you that so many people came out to support you? BRIANNA BUTLER: I think that's huge for us. This is a long way from Syracuse, it's a long way from wherever they're from. For them to come out and support us speaks volumes about our success, about our program. We really appreciate their support. Q. Brittney, you are the only team in the nation to have a men's and women's team in the Elite 8. What is that like? BRITTNEY SYKES: It's great. We were texting our boys. We were watching the game in our rooms, yelling and screaming. You could hear us up and down the halls cheering for them. It speaks to Syracuse basketball, period. It's a great program to be a part of. We're so happy for our boys. They deserve it. We deserve to be here. We're just showing the world that, again, we both are really great teams. Hopefully we both get to the Final Four and set some more history. Q. Brittney, Coach Q told a story last night, I assume true, his very first game was an exhibition game they lost in overtime. He said, This is too hard, I'm quitting right now. You weren't around 10 years ago, but you've known him, but some thoughts about his personality. Can you see him after that first game and saying, I'm out of here, bouncing back, bringing a team to the Elite 8? BRITTNEY SYKES: Yeah, our coach is really a character (laughter). We love him. He was telling us yesterday that he wants the best for us. You can really see that through how he coaches us and how he really cares about us. At the end of the day he's always going to take care of us. We're like his daughters. We just really appreciate the things that he's done for us on and off the court. That's why we play so hard. It goes through him. He has a lot of confidence in us. We show that on the court because nobody else believed that we would be here right now but us and him. We play our hearts out. Q. Brittney, what do you remember about the first game versus Tennessee and what has changed throughout the season to allow your team to pull out the games? BRITTNEY SYKES: It was our second game of the season. Some can say that we were still a little rusty. We were trying to find our groove of things. So was Tennessee. But as the games have gone on throughout the season, you kind of find your flow. I think we did that throughout our season after that loss. I just think, remembering from that game, we just have to do what we do: pressure teams, make shots, turn them over, play our game, honestly. Q. Isabella, what is the reaction you've gotten back home in The Netherlands right now? ISABELLA SLIM: I actually got most of the reaction this morning because that's when they woke up. I got a lot of reaction last night because they all watched the game at home. They're just really proud of me, excited for our team. They've been watching us these past couple seasons and know what we've been doing, what we've been working on. Just really excited and really proud. Q. Alexis, apart from the fact that you won the game yesterday, has there been anything distinctive about your visit here to Sioux Falls? I'm guessing you didn't know too much about the community or arena prior to showing up here. ALEXIS PETERSON: The hospitality here has been great. Our hotel staff, they've really embraced us. They welcomed us with warm arms. They've accommodated us to no end. They've really been great for us. They supported us. They congratulated us when we arrived back to the hotel. It's been a great stay so far in Sioux Falls. Q. Briana Day and Isabella, with Tennessee last night, Mercedes Russell and Bashaara Graves really had a couple pretty good games. How difficult is that for you guys to work against them inside? What would you do differently, if anything, compared with the first time around against them? BRIANA DAY: I feel we got to play hard, match their physicality. We're just going to do what we do, follow our game plan, play our scheme, just play hard. I mean, it's difficult for them and us because they have good players and we have good players. I don't see much of a difficult thing there. ISABELLA SLIM: Yeah, I agree with Briana. We have to play hard, be physical with them, be aggressive. Q. Brittney, it looked like last night it didn't matter what the score was, you seemed oblivious to the scoreboard the way you were playing effort-wise. It didn't seem to faze you at all. BRITTNEY SYKES: That's what you have to do. It's the NCAA tournament. No matter what the score is... We've seen upsets in our own gym with Albany and Florida, and they fought back. For us, we just had to keep playing. We knew if we just stick to our game plan, like coach said, we play our scheme, play tough, match their physicality, we would come out victorious. He told us in the room before we started the game, Let our toughness determine the winner. We out-toughed them, won the game. At any given night or moment, if a team gives you that chance to beat them, you have to take advantage of it, and that's what we did. THE MODERATOR: Ladies, thank you very much. We'll excuse you back to the locker room. We'll continue with questions for Coach Hillsman. Q. I know as a coach you don't look at a bracket and say, This high seed is gone, pencil us in. In Lexington, a lot of upsets has opened up the field for everybody. What does that mean for college basketball in general and specifically for Syracuse University right now? COACH HILLSMAN: I think it's getting close. They're always preaching parity. I think it's getting a little closer. You have UConn who is a very good basketball team. South Carolina is a dominant basketball team. So is Notre Dame. You look at those teams, two of those teams losing, it does say a lot about the game, where the game is going. For us it doesn't mean a whole lot because we got to win our games to get to that point. We're not really looking ahead at the brackets. I don't think it really matters much for us. The only thing that matters for us right now is Tennessee. Q. Coach, could you talk a little bit about your defensive philosophy. Have you always been a zone-type coach? What kind of challenges does that defense present for opponents? COACH HILLSMAN: No, I wasn't a zone coach at all. I was a total full-court, man-to-man pressure coach. When you look out of your window, you see all those banners, and none of them are yours, and all are men's basketball and Coach Boeheim, it makes you start to peek downstairs when they're in practice. In our first year we had a lot of injuries. There was one very good player, Nicole Michael, she was tremendous for us. We had other players that were solid, but she was definitely our go-to player. I was trying to find ways to keep her out of foul trouble. I was watching coach. I remember yesterday, I walked in coach's office, I go, Coach, tell me all about the zone, why you play zone. He said, Go shoot the ball. Okay. That was my zone clinic (laughter). I started watching practices and trying to figure it out. As we started to play, coach kind of would come to me and say, Hey, make sure you get the high post covered. He would give me nuggets of things. I would get one question in a year to try to get my zone better. Over time we've been developing to that. You can watch them every day, watch their staff, how they break it down. He's a master of that. It's amazing just watching what they do day in, day out. I remember when they played Florida one year, Florida was No. 1 in the country, I thought, We're in trouble. Florida was 4-37. Michigan State was next in the Garden. They were like 5-40. He never panicked. He never came out of the defense. People say, You got to get out of that zone and play man. No, just play a better a better zone. Nobody is going to say you got to go man to play zone. We just try to stick to what we do. Coach Boeheim is the best. You have to watch the best in the business. He totally converted me. 10 years later, this is what I'm still doing. Q. Coach, were you working any harder than usual late in the game last night? It seemed like you hit every button just right with all your substitutions offense and defense. COACH HILLSMAN: No, not really. It was kind of really what we do. We're kind of a hockey subbing-type team. Try to keep our players fresh. We really try to manage game situations. When we can get our defense on the floor, our best unit on defense, we'll do that, and vice versa offensively. I just thought our kids just followed the game plan. They made it easy last night. I mean, they really did everything we asked them to do. Q. Your story from last night about the first exhibition game when you lost in overtime, my question is, 10 years later, how long did it take you to realize that this is going to be for you, and subsequently how long did it take you to realize that you would take a team to the Elite 8 and Final Four? COACH HILLSMAN: I'm still quitting every day. I'm quitting tomorrow (laughter). You know, it's one of those things. It's what drives you. I always say, I had my first press conference, I think you guys know the whole story from 10 years later, my goal is to go undefeated and win a national championship. That's my goal every year at the start of the season. Why do you go into a press conference and say, We want to go 24-7, hope we get into the tournament? That can't be your goal. My goal always remains to win a national championship. We have a special group of kids. We recruit all of our players to our system. I'm actively involved in recruiting all of our players. I want to know them, be able to trust them when they get here. It's just a great way to run a program, to be involved in this is our goal, continuing to move forward. I always tell them, You guys have to take me there, I can't play. I give them a lot of credit, they're taking me on this ride. I'm just riding their coattails into the next game. Q. What do you see as the biggest changes or difference in this group from, say, maybe that November 20th game in Knoxville till now? COACH HILLSMAN: I think it's just that. We're later into the season. That's big, you know. You can never substitute game experience. We've had some big games. That being a great game for us to play at Tennessee. I thought it was a good game. I thought Tennessee played really well. I thought we played well. We didn't make shots in that game, but I thought it was a great game for under the circumstances. I thought defensively we were pretty good down the stretch. But I had a wide open three on the wing to win it in transition just to make the shot. I think the experience from that game, playing other big games we played in our league has been big for us. Hopefully we can play better in this game. Q. Obviously Syracuse is very excited to have two teams in the Elite 8. Your players talked about how cool it is. You go way back. What are your thoughts about both teams reaching this pinnacle and maybe even farther? COACH HILLSMAN: I mean, it's like what else can you ask for? I was teasing in the locker room. We were in there cheering before the game. I said, I sure hope Coach Boeheim wins. He doesn't come in Monday and parallel parks into my parking space (laughter). It's big, you know. Obviously you want both teams to do well. I root for them. We were leaving the game last night, went into the locker room. We were watching the end of the men's game. I heard Coach Boeheim's press conference. He said vice versa, I was watching the women's game. We really do root for each other. Coach is a special guy. Not too many places in the country where a men's basketball coach would allow you to work. Men's basketball coaches can really stifle women's programs. He promotes our program. He does nothing to take advantage of our programs, put his foot down, kind of say, This is mine. I know when the Melo Center opened, he called me and said, We're splitting this facility down the middle, half is yours, half is ours. He's allowed me to work. I can't praise him enough for that. He could make it a difficult situation, but he makes it so easy for us. I give him a lot of credit for our success. He's the master. I always tease him. I say, When the zone wins it's on me. When the zone lose, it's on you because it's your defense. I'll take that one. Hopefully he doesn't get the credit for any other losses over the rest of the season. Hopefully I'm going to keep winning. THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much for your time. Good luck tomorrow. COACH HILLSMAN: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|