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PAC-12 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 2, 2018Kelly GravesSabrina IonescuSatou SaballySeattle, Washington Oregon - 84, Colorado - 47 KELLY GRAVES: I want to congratulate JR and her team. I thought they had a great tournament. I thought yesterday they played about as well as they could have, and we certainly anticipated a tough game today. I know our team did, and I think that motivated us to come out really strong. Sometimes in this first game like that there might be some tournament jitters, but I don't think we had it. I was just impressed with how our energy, both ends of the floor, defensively, offensively, we were on point. We spread the floor. We were shooting it well, the right people were getting the shots. It was just a really good game. I told them after the game they were inspiring, and I was a really proud coach. Q. Kelly, are you pleased that you guys were able to flip the switch from regular season champions to getting into tournament mode without getting a hangover from that championship or anything? KELLY GRAVES: Sure, no doubt. I mean, there's always that possibility. But this team is maturing right before our eyes. This is one of our weaknesses, and I'll show you one case in point. One of our weaknesses has been to build a lead and just kind of play around and not go for the jugular, so to speak. In this game we built a nice lead, and by halftime in the third quarter we came out and played some of the best basketball of our season. So I think they continue to mature. I think people forget, because we hear people talk about other teams as being young. We're the youngest team. We just have players that have been around, it seems like, forever. But we're still a maturing team. I was proud that they let the pass go and they obviously look to move on. Q. Satou, your first tournament experience at the collegiate level, and obviously no jitters there, at least it didn't appear so. Your take on your performance today? SATOU SABALLY: I think our coaches just told us enough that we have to be ready. So, yeah, I think that's what it was. We were just ready to play, and I was. I was dialled in. Yeah, my teammates were just all dialled in. So that made it easier. Q. Sabrina, what was the mood coming out for the third quarter? Because it was an impressive start to the second half? SABRINA IONESCU: We talked about it in the locker room. We knew they were going to come out and they were going to play hard. They were going to play hard the rest of the game. We knew Kennedy and their guards were going to continue to take it to us. So we knew we had to continue to play well and grow as a team. You never know what happens in March. So we did not want to let them get back to the game and we wanted to continue to get better every possession and every play. We let our bench come in and contribute and play good minutes. So it was nice to see. Q. Coach, obviously you have a great group of talented players who play well together; but what has surprised you, if there's anything that's surprised you about what they've done this year? KELLY GRAVES: Again, I think their ability to have fun. I think some of the TV announcers that are around always comment on how loose we are on game days. I don't think we take ourselves too seriously. I think you can see in how they play and how they react to each other on the court that they really enjoy the game. They enjoy playing with each other. I'm really proud of that. I think that's made us better. The fact that we've improved. People forget, we were 8 and 10 in conference play last year. We added a couple of really nice pieces, but it's by and large the same group, and we doubled that win total to 16. They continue to improve and get better. We played in a lot of big games, so they have that kind of experience, so I don't think whatever stage we're on, I don't think it's ever too big for them. So they inspire me each and every day. I truly love coaching them. They're a fun, fun group, even when Sabrina tries to get into the game with a couple of minutes to go. She's always quick to catch my view. But that's why she is who she is, and that's what makes her so special. Q. With it being the first game of what is hopefully going to be a very long postseason for you guys, how valuable is it to have learned the lesson of coming out strong in the second half, even when you might have a big lead? KELLY GRAVES: Like I said, it's been one of our weaknesses. A character flaw, so to speak. We like to use that term, and we didn't today. Hopefully they see that and go, wow. We can be so much better if we stay focused for 40 minutes. It also gave us a chance, that great start in the third quarter gave us a chance to play the bench and get some needed rest. We want to play three games this weekend. So that quarter and a half that they were able to get rested, I think could play big for potential Sunday and certainly for tomorrow. Q. Satou, we had a lot of trouble learning how to pronounce Sabrina's name last year and finally Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, we figured it out. You're the new Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. If you could help us slowly -- I know Kelly says Satou, and the pronunciation guide says Satou, if you could pronounce it slowly so we can understand it. KELLY GRAVES: That's not slow. SATOU SABALLY: The name is fast, Satou Sabally. But Americans say Satou Sabally, and Germans say Satou Sabally. Q. Which do you prefer? SATOU SABALLY: Satou Sabally. Q. Okay. We will put that on loop at the Pac-12 Network. Sabrina, let's talk about somebody whose name I'm going to have to practice. I know you've been pushing her a lot all season long. What can she do now that she wasn't doing a couple months ago? SABRINA IONESCU: Not travel. That's funny. I think she takes criticism a lot better now, and I think she understands we're all trying to make her better and push her to be the best possible basketball player she can be. And she takes it well. She knows no matter what I tell her, no matter how I tell her, is for the better of the team. I think she's learning and learning her strengths and weaknesses and working on it. She's been a great player. She's well deserving of the award she got, and sky's the limit for her, and I'm excited about what the next three years brings her. Q. If you guys shoot the ball the way you did today, I don't think anybody's going to be able to beat you. That was quite a performance when you hit your first ten shots. But moving forward, if you don't shoot the ball that well, because the ball sometimes doesn't go in, what is the real key for your team at this point to know that this is what we're going to do even if the ball's not going in to be able to win? KELLY GRAVES: Guard. I mean, we've shown flashes of being a really good defensive team. We have to be locked in as a unit, because we don't have just phenomenal athletes across the board and all over the floor. I thought, as impressive as the offense was tonight, I really liked our defensive work. I thought we locked in, and like I said, we hit those three early threes we called a quick timeout, and I think they scored ten points the rest of the half, and didn't score until late in the second or maybe one basket throughout most of the third quarter. So if we can lock in defensively like that, then that can sustain us maybe on those nights where we don't shoot it well. But it sure is nice having Lexi Bando back. We haven't lost to a league team with Lexi in the lineup. It just spreads that floor so much. It makes us a lot more difficult to guard. You're right though. There are going to be nights we don't make those shots. But today we did. Q. Sabrina, what's it like for you running the offense knowing that you and Ruthy don't have to be the only two people out there scoring? SABRINA IONESCU: I mean, it's awesome. It definitely is great, but we spread the floor out, and like Coach said, with Bando out there, it opens up driving lanes for me and Maite to create for Satou, Lexi, whoever is out there on the floor, we've started to learn how we play, what our strengths are. And me and Maite try to get the ball to the best option every time down the floor, so it's great. But Ruthy's such a great inside player, that you have to honor her. And if they double her, we have guards open on the wings. So that's something we're growing on getting better at. Q. Coach, you mentioned Sabrina trying to get back in the game in the fourth quarter. Was there any thought to bringing her back to two rebounds after the triple-double? KELLY GRAVES: No. You want me to expound? In fact, she thought it was really funny. Did I? SABRINA IONESCU: No. KELLY GRAVES: I don't think so. Lisa was next to me, she knows. No, I don't even know if she probably even knew where she stood on those kind of things. We've never really focused on that, the triple-double thing. Besides now, somebody has had a quadruple double, triple-doubles are so like 2017. SABRINA IONESCU: Pass (laughing). FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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