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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTFebruary 28, 2018Suzie McConnell-SerioYacine DiopGreensboro, North Carolina Wake Forest 72, Pittsburgh 38. MIKE FINN: Coach, just a brief opening statement and Then we'll go to questions. SUZIE MCCONNELL-SERIO: You know, this was a disappointing way to end our season. We felt like we had made a lot of strides over the course of the last month of the season and battled and competed in most games, and for some reason, we didn't show up today. I thought Yacine Diop played her heart out. Was proud of her effort and how she just continued to battle and tried to carry this team but she didn't have a lot of help today. You know, credit Wake Forest. Their defense disrupted a lot of things that we were trying to do. We didn't hit shots. They have so many weapons. Offensively we tried to switch our defenses and they just made plays throughout the course of the game. It was a tough way to end our season. Q. You had a pretty good second quarter, and it was a competitive game at halftime, and I don't know what happened in the third period, the wheels came off. What did you see out there? SUZIE MCCONNELL-SERIO: You know, I think we struggled to hit shots. We came out of the locker room and tried to run offense, and you know, Yacine being our best player, trying to play through her, running things geared towards her, and our first two possessions, we turned the ball over and just wasn't off to a good start. They capitalized on both of our turnovers. We had to call a quick time-out to try to regroup. We just struggled to hit shots. I thought when we executed and when we made passes, we got shots. We just weren't able to knock down shots. You know, Wake Forest, they have so many scorers. You know, when you look at Penna, you look at Sharp, even Campbell who has really, I thought come along as a scorer for them and being able to create. They just played really well. You know, to be successful at this time of year, you have to be playing your best basketball, and when you're talking about surviving and advancing, and we certainly didn't do that today. Q. You looked, particularly in the second half, you looked like a coach who is telling your players to do something and they aren't listening to you. Am I imagining that or is that accurate? SUZIE MCCONNELL-SERIO: I don't think our players weren't listening to what we were trying to do. I think it was maybe Wake Forest beating us up. They were hedging our on-ball screen, so when we were running on-all screens, side pick-and-roll, I was looking to hit the pick-and-pop situation, and we kept going to the other side trying to attack the hedge. Just our decision-making had to be better in the course of the second half, but I don't think our players aren't intentionally not listening to what we're trying to do. I just think Wake Forest disrupted a lot of it and our players were trying to make plays over the course of the second half, and somebody was trying to step up, or they were trying to look for Yacine or try to get the ball to a shooter, but we just didn't make good decisions. Q. So Yacine, you seemed to play your heart out all game, especially towards the end, even when there was four seconds left on the clock, you were still playing your heart out -- towards the end of the game you were playing your heart out still. What is it like -- what is the importance of playing till the final buzzer and not giving up throughout the entire game? YACINE DIOP: My philosophy was that even though that we were losing, but we're still out there. So we might as well just have fun with it, since we love this game. So I was just playing my heart out, even though like we were losing, but I wasn't like trying to think of that way, oh, we're losing and giving up. I was trying to think as a player like until the buzzer and I just have fun with it. MIKE FINN: Thanks, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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