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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 2, 2017Audra SmithNelly PerryConway, South Carolina Louisville - 68, Clemson - 46 AUDRA SMITH: They have so many offensive weapons, and I see them going very far not only in this tournament, in the ACC Tournament, but also deep into the NCAA Tournament. But I'd also like to commend my team and how hard they played on yesterday with not a lot of rest in terms of recovery time but coming out and playing hard tonight. The issue was, of course, as you all know, we got ourselves in a very, very deep hole in the first period there, but they still continued to compete and continued to battle. Coming from last season and winning only four games and not winning a game in the conference to finishing the season 15-16 and 3-13 in the ACC is tremendous for this group. So this is the start of our road or our climb to success. You know, we are still a very young team. We don't have a senior class. We'll have a senior class next year, and I'm excited about that. I'm excited about the fact that they weren't satisfied with today. It wasn't like, okay, the season is over or whatever. No, they were upset. They wanted to be able to stay another day and continue to play. So we have some work to do, and with the success that we were able to accomplish this season, next season I plan on, and I know the team plans on being in this conference room talking to you guys about a win versus a loss. Q. Coach, this was anybody's game for three quarters, just the quirk where they kind of pulled away from you. What were they doing to be so success will? AUDRA SMITH: They came out on fire. Asia Durr and Myisha Hines-Allen, we already know, they are already on WNBA draft boards already. Those kids, they're phenomenal players. So they came out, and they were on all cylinders, and I think fresh legs was a big part of it, too. You know, I think for us we had to kind of catch our breath and kind of catch up, and you know, they were just -- they were scoring. I mean, they were doing a good job of executing their offense and getting scores and we had some turnovers there where they turned into transition points. A couple times we took a couple of quick shots that we talked about not taking, and that led to transition buckets for them. So before we knew it, pop, pop, pop, we're in the hole by 20 points, just that quick. But then we came out in that second period, and then we stepped it up defensively. We held them to 10 points in the second period and won that one -- we scored 14, and then came out at half, tied it up. But when you dig yourself a hole like that, it's really, really hard to come back out of that type of a deficit against a team such as Louisville. Q. Defensively you did a really good job stopping the three on them. Unfortunately y'all's threes weren't quite there. Just talk a little bit about the three-point game and how it affected you today. AUDRA SMITH: In terms of -- in terms of us and their three-point -- on both ends? I think for us, it was pretty much legs. I think it was legs. Some of our shots didn't fall because of fatigued legs. That's a lot. I mean, from playing yesterday and how hard we had to play and we had kids that played a lot of minutes, so I think it was legs. I think for them, what we did was we made sure that we knew where Durr was at all times. She got some off that our hands were right in her face. Our hand was right in her face on the ones that she hit, and she was the only one that hit threes for them. She was 3 of 9. So we made sure that we knew where she was. We made sure that Shook didn't get anything open. We were very aware of Moore, didn't want her to get any open looks. So we did a little junk, a little 1-3-1, but we mostly stayed in that 2-3 zone to try to make sure that we took care of those three-point shots. Q. You were the leader scorer out there. Looks like you played your heart out there for the whole game. Talk a little bit about the defense that Louisville was throwing at you. NELLY PERRY: They're a good defensive team, very long and active. I was getting shots that I wanted pretty much, they just wouldn't fall. Q. As you finish this season, some of the takeaways of this tournament this season that gets you ready for next year, things you're going to work on? AUDRA SMITH: We talked a little bit about that in the locker room, in terms of -- just the things that we have to do in postseason and in the summer, and coming into the start of next season. Just areas of our game individually that each player has to work on, and then collectively as a team. You know, the process is hard. It's hard being a student-athlete. I mean, it's tough. It is a long season. We've been working since -- these kids, Nelly has been working since May. She stayed for the May semester and was working on her own and then when we were able to start workouts with the kids, the two hours of on-court instruction that we were allowed in the summer, we were working in the summer, and then we start preseason practice with conditioning and things of that nature, and then another two hours on the court. We are talking September, October, and then October we start official practice. You know, it's March. It's a long, long season, and we play a ton of games in November. So you know, we talked about that and the fact that our conditioning has to be to the point where -- I can't substitute -- I shouldn't be substituting you if you're tired. There's no such thing as fatigue. We have to get our bodies conditioned. We have to get stronger. There's some things that our guards have to work on in terms of ball handling. We've got to do a better job of taking care of the basketball. Post play, we talk about post play and being better defensively in the post and being able to hold our own and not allow the opposition to get the position they want in the post and we've got to be more effective around the basket ourselves. So we talked about a lot of specifics, and there are things that we're going to get back in the lab and work on. Obviously I've got to give these kids a break because they need a break and they've got to get caught up on schoolwork because that's very important, but there are some things that we have to work on but all very correctable. Q. If an NIT bid did come, would you all accept and would you go? AUDRA SMITH: Oh, my God, yes, is one coming? Q. I don't know, I figured with the record and everything, you might be on the borderline for one? AUDRA SMITH: Can you put in a word for us? Q. I'd be more than happy to do what I can to get Nelly a couple more games. NELLY PERRY: Thank you. AUDRA SMITH: We appreciate that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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