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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: AUSTINMarch 17, 2017Wes MooreDominique WilsonMiah SpencerAustin, Texas THE MODERATOR: We are joined by North Carolina State. We will open it up for a quick comment from Coach Moore and then we will take questions for the athletes only. Coach? WES MOORE: Just real proud of the effort our young ladies gave today. Defensively they were really locked in. These two in particular did a great job with their match-ups. I thought we took pretty good care of the ball against their press most of the day. I know we had several late turnovers there. That kind of skewed the numbers a little bit, but I thought we did a nice job. Again, it's great to get that first game out of the way. Auburn has a great team. It was a scary game to go into knowing that they were going to press you for forty minutes and the way they fly around. But like I said, I thought our players did a pretty nice job. In a game like this Coach is kind of blocked out of it almost. A lot of it is up to the players to make decisions and knock down shots, and they did a great job of that. Again, these two seniors in particular the defensive job they did and the way they contributed offensively, really proud. They've done it all year long; and, you know, we'll keep, as our friend Darryl Roy used to say, we'll keep dancing with the ones that before you can us. THE MODERATOR: We will take questions for Dominique Wilson and Miah Spencer. Q. You weren't happy last time they went and you couldn't go. How do you feel about this now? DOMINIQUE WILSON: Are you talking about last year? Oh, that I didn't get to go to LA? Q. You weren't allowed to travel. DOMINIQUE WILSON: I'm happy. Just taking it one game at a time. We knew going in, like Coach Moore said, that they were going to press us. I think we did a good job of breaking the press and slowing the ball down and making plays. So I'm happy I'm playing. Q. Did you go with Arkansas or is this your first NCAA game? DOMINIQUE WILSON: No, I didn't go with Arkansas. THE MODERATOR: Pretty good NCAA game? Q. (No microphone.) DOMINIQUE WILSON: I find myself more focused because this is your last game, win or go home. WES MOORE: I should have told you that earlier! (Laughter.) Q. Did you try extra hard to make an impression after waiting five years? DOMINIQUE WILSON: Yeah, sure. Yeah. Q. Did you approach it differently at all? DOMINIQUE WILSON: Um, a little bit because in the ACC there wasn't -- except Syracuse, not most teams pressed us all game, so we played differently. Coach Moore said in the locker room we had to execute differently, ran some different plays that we hardly run because we're not getting pressed. Then people go back into the zone. So, yeah, I came to the game thinking differently. Q. Was there anxiety after all these years? DOMINIQUE WILSON: No, it was excitement. Happy to be here. Q. Miah, you're the point guard. I know your coach said the numbers weren't great at the end, but for most of the game you handled the press. What was the critical factor in that? MIAH SPENCER: Like Dom said, Syracuse, they press us the whole game, too, like that. So I've been in that situation before, but one thing Coach Moore told us not to do is pick up your dribble, and that's what I tried to do, stay off the sidelines and go to the middle of the floor so they couldn't easily trap you. Once I broke the press just looked for those that were open, drops to the basket, kicks, shots, take my own shot, but mainly just kept my dribble. Q. You were kind of spread out? MIAH SPENCER: Yeah, spacing was important, too, as well. THE MODERATOR: Additional questions? At this point we will excuse Miah and Dominique. Thank you, ladies. Questions for Coach? Q. Did playing Syracuse, did it help like that? WES MOORE: Well, they have seen forty minutes of pressure, press, and a lot of traps and they've seen -- these kids have seen it the last three years or whatever. So they probably were a little bit more comfortable knowing what was coming, but it's still tough because, you know, there again, it's kinda random. You don't know exactly when it's coming, where it's coming, so it makes it difficult. As bad as you hate to admit it they kinda dictate what you do and you don't like that. You would like to be the one that controls your own destiny there, but they dictate what you do and you have to figure it out from there; and, again, I thought they did a great job of that. Our defense gets a lot of credit. I think they had 23 points at the end of three quarters, pretty unbelievable job, and obviously the last quarter there they scored more in the last quarter than they did the first three. So we had a dip there, but a lot of it goes to defending and when you get stops it's a little bit tougher to get in that press. Q. I forget what her scoring average was for one year, but did you know what you were getting? WES MOORE: Yeah. Again, I was coaching in Chattanooga, Tennessee for 15 years, and Dominique played and went to school in Atlanta which was about an hour and a half way. So we knew we were getting a talented player. But she as just grown so much the last year. I think this year she has been, you know, unbelievable on both ends of the floor. Today she did a great job defensively on her match-up and offensively obviously she took on a lot of the responsibility. A year ago, maybe didn't shoot quite as high of a percentage, didn't make quite as good of decisions, wasn't necessarily a defensive stopper for us, now this year she is all that and more. I'm really proud of what she's been able to do the last year. Q. You remember her reaction? Sounded like she was upset that, you know, the rules don't even allow her to go to the tournament at the time. Do you remember what that was like for her? WES MOORE: Not a whole lot. Obviously, it is tough on these kids when they have to stay behind, but sometimes a year, that's good for them. They get to practice with the team. They learn the system, get adapted to it. It's almost like you would redshirt a freshman, but obviously it was her sophomore year. It is tough, but I think she is pretty happy with her decision; and I know I'm very happy with her decision. So glad she's here. Q. Have you seen Texas at all? WES MOORE: I saw 'em on TV a couple of times this year. Obviously, the staff was putting together film on them but I was more focused on Auburn. Obviously that will change. We will watch this game here and then get back to the hotel and, you know, go through the games we've clipped and scouting report and get ready. Obviously, it's going to be a great challenge. They're a great team, well coached, and they're on their home floor. All those things make it a tough challenge, but, hey, we're glad we're getting it. Q. You both beat Florida State. Did you see that game? WES MOORE: I did, yes, great game. Q. What were your impressions? WES MOORE: Great game. Texas played a tough stretch there. They played three or four games in a week and, you know, I know they showed a lot of toughness and finding a way to win that game. That's a tough -- Florida State is a tough place to go and get a "W" as we found out, too. It was a great win for us, a great win for Texas, too. But this time of year you throw all that out of window, start over and we'll go from there. Q. (No microphone.) WES MOORE: Well, we just did a really good job with the scout, with the personnel, knowing who did what, knowing strengths and how we were playing individual players. Obviously, Frerking and Montgomery are both great scorers for them, really for that matter as is McKay. But I thought we did a nice job of trying to limit their looks. When they did get a look I thought it was pretty well contested and rebounding too. They're a great offensive rebounding team, so we knew we had to keep 'em off the boards. Our guards had to help. We had three guards get 5, 7 and 10 rebounds, so that was a big factor, too. The posts blocked out and the guards went and cleaned up so to speak, and then we knew we had to take care of the ball against the press because that is where they score a lot too is off transition, off turnovers. So I think all those things contributed to us being able to defend pretty well. THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you. Appreciate your time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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