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NCAA WOMEN'S D-III BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

April 3, 2016

Indianapolis, Indiana

THE MODERATOR: We have head coach Jeff Hans, student-athletes Abby Owings, Olivia Huber, and Sydney Moss. We'll start with an opening statement from Coach Hans.

JEFF HANS: Good afternoon, hope everybody's doing well. I know we are. We're excited to be here in Indianapolis and able to play in a National Championship game with Division I, Division II. We're down to about 27 hours now finally before we can play, so we're looking forward to it. Another long day to wait, but we'll be ready.

Q. Can you just talk about this match-up between offense and defense that we're going to see tomorrow? You guys are used to averaging 90 points a game. This is a team that holds people to 44 points a game. How do you stop them from being frustrated if they don't get their average, and what do you do to break down that defense?
JEFF HANS: It's a difference of two styles. There is no doubt about it. We saw that last year in the semifinals. We were able to come away with a win that day, and it's going to be the same thing. Very similar to what we saw two weeks ago against Amherst up at Capital University at the semifinals. Because one is one in defense, Amherst, and then Tufts two, or vice versa.

So we know that, but we're okay with that. We can go half court. The biggest thing for us is to not lose our patience, especially on the defensive end and give up easy baskets because we're trying to take too many chances. We want to give them in front of us and be able to defend them and offensively give us good shots.

Q. Question for the players, your campus is only two hours away from Indianapolis down in Northern Kentucky, Cincinnati area, and from the sounds of it sounds like there might be a large contingent of fans making the trip up I-74 and making the trip to Columbus. How big is that going to be for you guys heading into Monday's game as far as crowd support?
SYDNEY MOSS: It's going to be huge, just like a home game. Abby gets them all hyped up by waving her hands, let's go! And just having family and friends and everybody in the stands supporting us will be huge.

STUDENT-ATHLETE: Yeah, like she said, family and friends coming to watch us, that's huge for us like a home game. The crowd into it makes us play better, makes us feel like we're at home, and it's going to be exciting though.

STUDENT-ATHLETE: Yeah, I think the crowd will bring energy and we'll feed off that. It's awesome to be able to play in front of our families.

Q. I was hoping to get your thoughts on the whole weekend and what it's been like to be a part of this Division I Final Four three teams together, and the three divisions together? And the second part, as a coach, having two weeks between the semis and finals, I've got to think that's not a big deal for you guys preparing?
JEFF HANS: The first part of that question, it's been a great experience to be able to get in here, go to the salute event on Friday night with the seven other teams and be able to interact with them and be at the speedway and get a little history lesson that some of these guys may not know about, about IndyCar racing, and then even the Brickyard 500 stuff, being out there and mingling and the fireworks display at the end was nice. The green screen shoot, we don't do that.

Let's be honest. We don't have that stuff. That's something that these guys will take forever with them to be able to be a part of this, and that's what it's about the student-athlete experience, and for us it's Thomas More and Tufts, and then Alaska-Anchorage and Lubbock Christian to be able to be a part of it for the first time ever. And they come back as coaches and be at the Final Four convention, and outside of More participants, and that's a big deal for women's basketball, and we're excited and fortunate to be a part of that.

To answer the second part of your question, two weeks has been a long time. I don't know. Tufts may have a new offense in. They may have a new defense. We may have new stuff. I don't know. We'll find out tomorrow night. But it's -- you've got to practice, you've got to do some stuff. We did a lot of shooting to try to improve on 35 percent last year against them. So we'll see if we can do that part of it.

But I thought the Easter weekend, and I've said this many times, Easter weekend fell perfectly for us, because they were able to get away from each other. I was able to get away from them, you know, to just relax and be with our families, which is very important. So I think it was good, and we came back and had a few good days before we were able to get up here and enjoy this great experience.

Q. Sydney Moss, there is a lot of speculation when you came to Thomas More that maybe it was a temporary stop over. Instead you've thrived and by all accounts you've been happy and had a great basketball career. You enjoyed the campus life and thrived in the classroom. What was it about the D-III experience that worked for you personally?
SYDNEY MOSS: I mean, first of all, family comes first, and I was closer to family, mom, grandma, siblings and stuff like that, then also I just felt -- it just felt right, getting there and meeting coach and some of the other players, it felt like home. I felt like I fit in pretty well. They might think I'm a little weird sometimes, but.

JEFF HANS: No doubt.

SYDNEY MOSS: No, it just felt like home.

Q. Coach, you had mentioned how you got a very strong defense going up against a very strong offense. Do you have a number in mind? Like if we get to this number of points, that I think we're safe to win it?
JEFF HANS: Well, considering there's only been eight games of the 31 that they've given up 50 or more, I would say if we can get the 60 again, that would feel good, but I don't even know if that's safe because they average about 60 offensively. So, I don't know. It's going to be a good game. It's going to be a great game, actually. Two good teams playing, and we're looking forward to the challenge.

Q. Coach, kind of a two-parter, for those of us who haven't seen Sydney play, three-time national player of the year. Can you break that down for us what she does so well? And part two you're on a lengthy winning streak going for a defending national title, you have a three-time National Player of the Year, do you see the parallels with UConn, and do you think of your program as that kind of level in Division III?
JEFF HANS: The first part talking about Sydney as a player, for those that haven't seen her play, I think for Sydney and our whole team, I hope we can put on a pretty good show tomorrow. Watching Sydney play you're going to see somebody that is very unselfish. You're going to see her do things that you don't normally see a woman basketball player do, especially at our level.

It's fun to see. It's fun to coach. I think Abby and Olivia can tell you it's fun to play with her, because they know they better finish plays or they're not going to get a second chance. The length of the court pass, and if they don't make it, it's not going to come the second time. She'll keep score herself the next time, and that's her fault. But that's how she is. That's why she's number one in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio. That's why she's led the country in scoring and everybody talks about the numbers dropping. I don't see it. But because the team has grown around and with Syd.

We're not here because of just one. It takes a team now getting Sydney to transfer in three years ago gave us that player to put us over the top. And to have that, everybody's got one. Breanna Stewart, she's pretty special for them. I don't know the last game because I don't know Christian very well, but those guys have special people, Kelsey Plum and Washington, they're special players and you have to have players around them.

That's what we have and it's a whole team effort. She knows that. Sydney will be the first one to tell you that she's got to have everybody else. She can't do it by herself. But it's not how we want to play. It's about family first. Hopefully we'll put on a good show and the team will too.

As far as UConn, I don't know. It's different ballgames. I mean, you watch them on TV and you see 6'3", you see 6'2" and you see them in five-inch heels and you're like, holy crap, they're 6'8". We have a 6'2" freshman in Shelby Rupp and she's like, "I look small." Yeah, you do.

So Olivia's got some long arms, but nothing compared to what we saw the other night. It's just different. I don't know. Do we want to match what they have done? Heck, yeah, we do. But are we going to? I don't know. It's a challenge. It's a challenge every year. You've got to recruit well, you've got to play well, you've got to be lucky, and hopefully we can continue it.

Q. You faced a tough team last season in the semifinals in Grand Rapids and now you already face them in the championship game here in Indianapolis. Do you draw on the experiences from last season in Grand Rapids as you prepare for Monday night?
SYDNEY MOSS: Yeah, I mean from last year obviously they have a different team, we have a different team. So I think it will be a great game, like Coach said. But being their last year, obviously our experience, having Abby and Nikki as freshmen, and, you know, contributing so much last year that they have that underneath their belt.

So I mean, I think we have a pretty good experience from what we did last year.

ABBY OWINGS: Yeah, I think it only helps since we played them last year. We kind of have an idea of what they do, and they have an idea of what we do. But the cool thing about this year, it's a new year, and there are bigger and better things to come. So we just have to match their talent and just try our best.

OLIVIA HUBER: Yeah, last year was a great experience for all of us, and I think it's going to really helped us (No Microphone) to get more experience and also having five seniors, I think that's going to help us with the experience part of it.

Q. For all three of the players, you're here to play a game tomorrow, obviously, but I'm sure you're taking in the sights and enjoying the Final Four being the first time they've had all three divisions together. What's been your favorite memory so far of the weekend?
SYDNEY MOSS: For sure the food. The police escorts are pretty cool. The salute Friday, taking a lap around the Indy 500. I tried to get our bus driver to go a little bit faster but he wouldn't. Then, obviously playing in this big arena with the team I have and obviously coaches and stuff. I think we're just excited to finally play tomorrow after two weeks off.

ABBY OWINGS: Yeah, I think the police escort thing is kind of cool. You're driving down the street and everybody's looking at your bus. But, yeah, it's been fun. The salute was awesome, the fireworks and getting to spend it with the seven other teams, that was really fun. It's just a great experience.

OLIVIA HUBER: I agree. I think the experience Indy track was awesome because we got to interact with all the other teams. So I think we're all looking forward to tomorrow because that's what we've been working towards all year.

JEFF HANS: Just to piggyback on them, thank you WBCA and thank you to NCAA for allowing us to be a part of this event. Like I said before, it's truly amazing and it's truly a great experience for these guys. We're so appreciative of what NCAA and WBCA have been able to do for us.

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