	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

PAC-12 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 4, 2017

Seattle, Washington

Stanford - 71, Oregon - 56

THE MODERATOR: All right. Welcome Oregon. We have got Oregon coach, Kelly Graves, Sabrina Ionescu, and Maite Cazorla. Coach, an opening statement?

KELLY GRAVES: First of all, I want to cop grate late Coach VanDerveer and the Cardinal. They played a great game. They're a great team, and they deserved it tonight. They just played better and harder in that second half. Just once we got behind a little bit, we tried like crazy to keep up, and it just wasn't happening tonight. We didn't bring our "A" game, and you have to to beat a team like that. So I do congratulate them. They're competitors and they know how to play the right way.

But I'm really proud of our team. Disappointed in the outcome today, but really proud of the effort the whole weekend. Oh, boy, I couldn't have asked for more. I thought we played hard, and we're just still learning, we're still growing. We're not where Stanford is right now, but we're capable of beating teams like this. That was what we learned, I think, this weekend.

Q. Kelly, what pulled you guys out of the zone?
KELLY GRAVES: Well, we wanted to actually switch it up most of the night. You know, I don't know. We go by feel a lot of times. We had some successes. I think the boards mainly. We really struggled to keep them off the boards, and that's one of the biggest weaknesses out of the zone.

But we switched it so much tonight. So when you ask me that question, it's like which time? But they're a tough team. They're so good, they're so disciplined that you have to do things to change it up to try to keep them out of rhythm, because once they get into a rhythm, they're really hard to guard.

Q. Sabrina, I know that you wouldn't use this as an excuse, but how tired are you guys at this point? Tournament play is tough?
SABRINA IONESCU: That's definitely not an excuse. We're not tired at all. We didn't come out like we should have, and they played great basketball. Like Coach always says, they're not going to beat themselves, so that's definitely not an excuse. We're doing fine.

Q. Kelly, it seemed you were set up how you were last night, they go up by nine, you call timeout. And obviously you're trying to make adjustments. What just wasn't able to click for your team tonight to be able to creep back into it like you did last night?
KELLY GRAVES: We just didn't get many easy looks. When we tried to get the ball inside, and they do such a good job, we have young post players that are positioning. You're going against McCall, Johnson, those are veteran post players that have played a lot of time and know how to defend. So just not a lot of easy baskets.

Then I thought we became stagnant a little bit. We tried to score off our first option instead of swinging the ball side-to-side. Maybe they break down a little bit, which is what happened early. We had some good looks early in the game, and then we just kind of got away from it a little bit.

But I credit their post play. It was strong tonight.

Q. Sabrina, what did you take out of this tournament run?
SABRINA IONESCU: That we can hang in with every team. We gave all the teams we played a game. I think it just shows what we're capable of and night-in and night-out, we're going to give it all we have, and I think we're excited for the rest of March.

Q. The two teams left in this tournament are pretty experienced teams and have played a lot of games, really, really tough games. Even tonight the games kind of mirrored each other, and it was veteran leadership that pushed them through tough spots. Do you feel like experience was a huge factor tonight? Are you surprised to see two of the most veteran teams in the conference at the end?
KELLY GRAVES: Last question? No, I'm not surprised. They've been the two best teams throughout 18, now, I guess, 20 games. So it's no surprise that they're there. I think experience always helps, always. It's never a negative. This was a situation we've never been in. We've never played three games in three days. You know, and you're playing a better team each and every game you go.

So, yeah, they didn't win the game because of experience. They just played better than us tonight. We'll learn from it. That's the good thing about youth and good youth. We're a young team, and so I think we'll learn from this and we'll get better. At least now they've won a couple games in this tournament, so next year when we come up, expectations are going to be a lot different next time.

Q. Kelly, the previous semifinal, the losing team came in here and was distraught, very, very upset. You guys seem okay. Do you feel pretty good that you're going to go into the NCAA Tournament with some momentum, I think, like Sabrina said? You guys can play with anyone?
KELLY GRAVES: Well, first of all, you know me, so I'm not going to be down. I have good perspective in what's going on. I think we should celebrate what this team has done. We've got to be one of the youngest teams in the country, and a lot of young teams, especially ones that are playing in the most difficult conference in the country, don't have the success these guys are having.

So we're enjoying the ride. I think we earned the spot. That's not up to me now. It's up to somebody else. But the fact that we have four top 25 wins, and one that came last night against a great team on basically their home floor, yeah, we want to celebrate this.

With this group, we just wanted to get to that tournament. And let's face it, Pac-12 play is going to prepare us better than any conference will prepare any team. So once we get there, not that it would ever be easy, but my goodness, are you kidding? We just played Washington and Stanford back-to-back. So what we see in some kind of postseason is not going to be any different.

So, yeah, I think this is great. This is a program that I think is going places. I think most people see that we're going to be a force. So just to get a taste of that and be able to play in it and see how far we can go, I think it's a bonus. It will allow our kids to work harder and know what they're going after in future years. This team is a good group. This is a good group.

Q. Sabrina, just going through this Pac-12 grind, are you looking forward to playing teams that aren't familiar with you guys and know what you do and know all the plays you're running?
SABRINA IONESCU: Definitely. It's always hard playing a team three times. So I think we're excited to go out there and play a team that we're not really familiar with them. They're not really familiar with us. I think we'll be even in that term. We're just excited to continue playing, to be honest with you. It's something we've worked hard for all season, and we've earned.

Q. Coach, you guys scored 25 in the first quarter and you're held to 31 through the final three. What did they do to shut you down?
KELLY GRAVES: They really got into us. We got nothing easy. They took away most of our pick-and-roll games. Started to force us to the baseline. We didn't handle that well. And we started to just play back a little bit. Not scared, but we were on our heels. We didn't play that way. We have to play downhill coming off those screens, and we just didn't get any easy baskets.

We didn't put any pressure on their interior defense at all, so I think that was the main thing. I credit them. They adjusted well, and they stepped up their intensity. They really played hard and a lot more physical those last three quarters.

Q. Maite, what was going right for you here in Seattle and what did you see from Oti as well?
MAITE CAZORLA: No, it's been a really good tournament. I think it's been really fun playing with all of them. I think I had a great tournament too, we just kind of disappointed because we wanted to win. But we have to be proud of what we did.

Q. Sabrina, you've seen the opposing team's best defender all season. I was curious where Bri Roberson ranks in that. She was up, making sure -- trying to make everything tough for you tonight?
SABRINA IONESCU: Yeah, she's a great defender. She's up there with Jordin Canada. She's quick. She's lower to the ground than I am. So all credit to her. She made every shot that I took difficult. Played great help defense. When Maite tried to drive, she was there. But that's what we've been facing the entire season, so we just have to learn to adjust.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297