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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 2, 2018

Greensboro, North Carolina

NC State - 51, Duke - 45

JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Yeah, obviously a blue-collar game, poor shooting percentages. A lot of defense being played in that game. And so it was going to be the rebounding that wins it. It's very simple. They out-rebounded us by 10. That's a lot of opportunities that they created for themselves that we didn't get done. We did not have enough rebounders from our team.

At this time of year, it really comes down to these nitty-gritty things, and I don't think I've ever coached a team that gave one player 22 rebounds. That's got to be a world record.

Obviously tremendous congratulations to Nelson for her performance, for what she did. She won the game for her team flat out, and I think it's a lesson, because rebounding isn't the sexiest thing, but rebounding won that game, hands down. It's unfortunate for us, we really need to play games.

This tournament is a great tournament, and we've most times advanced in it and had the opportunity to play in the championship and things of that nature, and we don't have that opportunity now, and that's a bad thing. That's a real bad thing.

I have great respect for NC State. Again, Nelson proved the kind of senior she is. I mean, it's incredible what she did out there. I don't think we could have stopped her one-on-one.

It's not one person on our team. It's the fact that five people didn't play together, five people did not box out, five people did not go get the ball together, and that's what it had to be, because 5 made up her mind what she was going to do, and if we were excellent at what we needed to do, we might have had some over-the-back calls and things of that nature to cost her a little bit. But that's neither here nor there at this point.

And I would be remiss if any mention points off turnovers. Horrific transition defense by us, in terms of getting back and stopping the ball. 18 points, that's the game times two, or more than that.

So we didn't do what we needed to do, and you have to credit NC State. They hustled more. They outplayed us. They got to the floor more. It appeared that they wanted it more. I can't say that for sure, but it sure looked like that. And they get to advance and play another game.

Q. Lexie, I know that -- you could see it on your face when you went down. What were you thinking in that moment?
LEXIE BROWN: Yeah, it just hurt a lot. I wasn't really thinking anything. I was just concerned that it was my hip. But I just wanted to get up and be able to get back into the game. Honestly, all I was thinking about was how I can get up, get back, work with somebody for a little bit, and any way to get back onto the court.

Q. Coach, State made it very difficult for Lexie to get clean shots, which seemed to have opened up the door for somebody else to step up. Does Duke have the horses right now to withstand an off game from these players or do you have to ride them through March?
JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Oh, I definitely think we have people that can step up, and I know it's definitely when the defense focuses like they do on two players. But the reality is you have to accept what you're in at the game.

This was a knock-down, drag-out. This was a rebounding game. I don't care who was missing shots. That's kind of to me letting my team off the hook, because basically nobody was streaking. I mean, they shot 29 percent, okay, so nobody shot the ball well, and I don't think that was the determining factor. We know each other pretty well.

There were a couple times we had shots we took on the perimeter, we needed to go to the basket and get in there. Neither Lexie nor Becca got a charge, so we always can measure aggression by that. And at the same time, too, Na Odom can't wait until the second half to decide to play with her rebounding.

We definitely have the players that can play, players that can play together. But the thing about it is you've got to play together, and that's the key. It's not individuals out there trying to make plays one-on-one. It's a team format.

Now, what you did see was coming out of the gates at halftime, we had a team for about six minutes, and we had a super team at one point where Lexie goes out for an injury, and our team continues to do well in the game, and the game is a three-point, two-point game at that point. So what I'm saying to you is it's there. Oh, it's definitely there. It's just not there long enough and consistently enough for everybody to do what they can do.

So this game has a lot of lessons in it for us, and we'll get every one of them, every last one of them.

Q. Rebecca, you guys seemed sort of out of sync for the first 10 minutes, 15 minutes of the game, and then you guys obviously settled down right after half. What was not working before halftime and what was Coach's message for you guys that got you going for at least those six minutes?
REBECCA GREENWELL: We just had too much mental lapses to begin the game. That's something we talk about going in, we need to have a full 40 minutes. But we didn't really start playing Duke basketball until the second half, the beginning of the third quarter, and even after that we got out of ourselves.

I think it was just a lack of focus, too many turnovers, and we just needed to be able to control the tempo more, and we didn't do that tonight.

Q. Rebecca and then Lexie, it looked like State was going to start a perimeter game like they normally do, but then they really worked inside a lot more and seemed to have a tempo in moving the ball. Did the time off -- and not to ask for an excuse, but were you guys ready for that in terms of your game planning versus how they executed compared to when you last played them?
REBECCA GREENWELL: Yeah, I would say we definitely knew coming in that that was going to be their game plan. We knew No. 5 was going to try to drive the ball every single time. We did not play well. Credit to her, she had an awesome game, was just really aggressive. We need to be able to match her aggression more, and I thought we did a poor job at that.

LEXIE BROWN: Yeah, agree with Becca. We knew they liked to play inside-out, our focus was shutting down the paint and then also shutting down No. 1 on the perimeter, which I think we did a pretty okay job of until the very end. But like Becca said, we didn't play her well, we didn't stop her as a team, and stopping her was going to take a team effort, especially on the boards.

Q. Becca and Lexie, we don't know for sure, but I think after today there's a reasonable possibility you'll end up in the NCAA on the road. You guys are seniors, grad students, actually. You've been around the block. How do you as senior leaders get this team to refocus to go on the road and win some games?
REBECCA GREENWELL: Well, now it's do-or-die. If we lose we're done, so we're definitely going to take that to heart. We hope everyone else takes that to heart, as well. We just have to stay focused, come out, give it everything we have our next game coming up, take one game at a time and just go from there.

Q. Lexie, to add on to what Rebecca just said, how much does this really -- what does it feel like right now? How bad a loss is this or could it be? How does it feel, if it's that bad, or how quick can you bounce back from this?
LEXIE BROWN: I wouldn't say it's a bad loss. NC State is a great team. You look and we had the exact same records in ACC play. I personally don't feel super sad. We still have a whole 'nother season left. We could have up to five games. And I hope nobody on our team feels too terribly about this loss. There's so many more things to be proud about this season than to be upset about, and I think we need to focus on that and keep that in mind moving forward.

Q. Coach, I know you guys still are -- necessarily haven't had the same success you've had at home, away from Durham, whether it was here or on the road. What can you do to get the girls ready if you guys do go out on the road in the NCAA Tournament to be able to win in a hostile environment?
JOANNE P. McCALLIE: That's up to all of us. We have been very poor on the road. It's a step that we need to take. This game was a game and an opportunity to take a step in that direction. It's not any one thing. Yes, senior leadership, players on the floor, all of that, the bunch, as well, everyone, coaching, as well, it's all part of it. You have to be gritty. We weren't gritty today, and we weren't gritty enough.

Red was on the floor more than blue. If that's the way it's going to be, then you can't win on the road. You have got to get after it in a way that's very selfless, and to me, the lost opportunity here is huge. I'm extremely disappointed, extremely.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 2, 2018

Joanne P. McCallie

Lexie Brown

Rebecca Greenwell