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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: WACOMarch 17, 2017Lindsay GottliebKristine AnigweMikayla CowlingCourtney RangeWaco, Texas Q. I just want to ask the players, is there a sense of feeling fortunate to be here because a lot of people wondered if you would, and because of that, do you guys feel like you have something you want to prove, hey, we do deserve to be here? COURTNEY RANGE: Well, I mean, first off, we're very grateful that we're in the tournament, and any team would have wanted to have been there. Now that we are and we are a 9 seed, we want to just come out and do the best that we can starting tomorrow night. MIKAYLA COWLING: I agree. KRISTINE ANIGWE: Ditto. Q. Kristine, the height disparity with you and LSU is kind of going to be on focus tomorrow night. Just what have you seen out of LSU and what are you expecting from them in that regard? KRISTINE ANIGWE: Well, they're definitely going to compete. No one just wants to go home. They want to stay here for as long as they can, so we're just getting ready for them to compete and bring all they can, and we're just going to try to do whatever we can to win. Q. Kristine, where have you seen the most improvement in your game throughout the season? KRISTINE ANIGWE: Finishing, I guess, and just like relying on my teammates more and knowing that like trust, so we all trust each other more, so I feel like that's what really helped us become like a better team. Q. Courtney, you were part of the team that was here in Waco -- COURTNEY RANGE: Yes. Q. What's different about this team than the team that was here, and how is Cal different or the same since the last time we've seen you guys in Waco? COURTNEY RANGE: Well, I mean, my freshman year we had Brittany Boyd and Reshonda Gray. Those two together are like a good dynamic -- sorry. But this year, since we're still a young team, yeah, we have every class, but like personally, I feel like this team this year and from last year, because we had all returners, we're a stronger team. Like Kristine said, we trust each other more. We're relying on all 11 players that are playing each game, and to know that we have each other's back, we know that we can go far, and like she said, the trust thing is a big thing with our team, and yeah. Q. I'm going to ask you kind of the same question I asked them. The fortunate part, a lot of people were surprised in a way that you guys got in, but talk about what they said and what you want to see from your girls now that you are in and you've got a chance to prove, hey, we do deserve to be here? LINDSAY GOTTLIEB: Yeah, to be honest, I walked in, I saw you sitting there, and it was total déjà-vu from four years ago; I said, I remember Steven. We are very excited to be here, and kind of like Courtney said, I would imagine all 64 teams are, and if there ever comes a point where I'm not, no matter which team we are, then I shouldn't be sitting here. I think this is the best time of year, and so I think our team can have a gratefulness and an excitement to be here, and yet still a willingness to compete and to want to win the game. You know, I don't think we need to prove that we belong in the tournament, but we want to win the game. The interesting thing is when you're on the bubble, it's a unique feeling. That said, if you looked at the numbers and you really took what the committee said they were looking at, our 30-game résumé compared very favorably with the other teams. I know people want to focus on our conference record and all that kind of stuff, but I think our players are always hungry to prove that they're good. I think they're always hungry to prove that we can compete, and if there's extra motivation to do that, sure, we'll use that. But the excitement to be in it, why not? Q. LSU isn't a team with a lot of size inside, but they're also not a team that from the perimeter shoots a lot of threes or anything like that. What do you kind of see their identity as? LINDSAY GOTTLIEB: I think that Nikki and her staff have done an incredible job of maximizing their strengths, which is the ability to turn you over. I mean, you don't win eight games in the SEC and 20 games overall or whatever they won with a little bit of a lack of size if you're not doing something to disrupt the other team, and they're terrific at turning you over, flustering the guards, not letting you get the ball to interior players, changing up defenses, but really relying on that end of the floor, and then they create match-up problems. At one point they shifted the lineup and they've gone smaller, and I think that that was in a lot of ways useful for them because it just creates match-up problems all over the floor. Q. How have you seen Kristine's game grow this season, and has it surprised you or did you expect that to come? LINDSAY GOTTLIEB: I think her college career thus far has been remarkable, and so to sort of start out as strongly as she did the beginning of her freshman year and still grow and improve is pretty impressive. You know, there was no sophomore slump, so to speak. In fact, she's drawn more attention -- I think her biggest growth has been in her ability to handle all situations, to be able to take a loss or a difficult defense against her and turn that into a positive outcome the next time-out. I think she's a better passer than she was last year. I think she's a more efficient player than she was last year. She's extended her range a little bit. You know, I think her rebounding numbers are up a little bit. But mostly it's in the things we see in the locker room, the ability to embrace this idea of being a leader and being a go-to player. I think as a freshman you're just a talented freshman and you're kind of winging it with your talent, and now she has an understanding of I want to get this team to the next level and what do I have to do to do that. In all the ways that comes with that, I think she's embraced that role. Q. Lindsay, I think each time your team has made the tournament, you guys have won a first-round game, and you've got girls that have experienced that. What is the key to winning a first-round game and to keep streaks like that going? LINDSAY GOTTLIEB: Right. I mean, it's always about the scout and the match-up. I think I have an excellent coaching staff, who the second that the bracket is revealed after we got ourselves together and stopped jumping up and down, we were watching film. I think it's the ability to turn around to scout very quickly. I think the Pac-12 prepares you to face any type of competition. You're always going to face someone good in the first round because it's the NCAA Tournament. And then I think it's mindset. You have to be kind of players refreshed and ready to go, and I think we try to give them the scout, put them in the right mentality, and then we've got competitors out there who don't want to go home, and they want to stay in this thing as long as we can. Maybe that's the formula for success, but really it's a different thing each year with each team. Q. LSU not playing in the tournament last year, is that something y'all can use to your advantage, kind of an experience factor against them? LINDSAY GOTTLIEB: Well, we weren't, either. So I think it's a neat match-up in that I think both teams were really, really hungry to get back to the level that their programs expect. You know, the last time we faced LSU was in the Sweet 16 up in Spokane, Washington, and I don't think there's players from either team who have done that. So I think that all we're trying to do, like Kristine and Courtney and Kayla said, is embrace the moment and be excited to be here because we weren't last year, and at the same time, be competitive and hungry to win the game. I imagine LSU is similar in that sense, but it's going to be, to me, a great match-up. You couldn't have maybe two more evenly matched teams, different styles but evenly matched in a lot of ways, and just really looking forward to what our team can do on Saturday night. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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