|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 2, 2018Kate CainJasmine CincoreHannah WhitishAmy WilliamsIndianapolis, Indiana Nebraska - 61, Michigan - 54 COACH WILLIAMS: We're incredibly excited to be a part of this tournament and to be down here in a position to be able to continue advancing. Incredible defensive effort for our team tonight to allow us to be able to move forward. Q. Hannah, there was some chatter before the game that this team needed to win tonight in order to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Did you feel that way coming into the game? HANNAH WHITISH: No, not -- there's been a little talk about it, but our focus is just coming in and doing what we can in this tournament, and that's get as many wins as we can. Q. Jasmine, how important was that and-one in the fourth quarter and how much momentum did that put into your team? JASMINE CINCORE: Well, this game -- this was a really, really good one. It was high energy and everybody was feeding off of everyone. Hannah was hitting shots and that fueled everybody else. Kate was blocking shots, and that fueled everybody else just to step up and just step into what we know how to do and what we've been practicing doing and just being aggressive. It was really fun. Q. Kate, seven blocks tonight, most of which came against the zone. Was there a sense of vindication coming from your defensive effort tonight? KATE CAIN: It was definitely like exciting, and I'm like happy that I was able to help contribute to the team, even though on the offensive end I was struggling. It was definitely just nice to be able to help the team out in that way. Q. Hannah, in the fourth quarter, when both you guys turned over to each other back and forth, back and forth, it kind of seemed uncertain where the momentum would shift and it was still a close game at that point. What were you telling each other to slow it down and take the momentum? HANNAH WHITISH: Yeah, you know, when something like that happens toward the end of the game, we need to make sure, especially when we're up like that, we need to make sure that we do have control of the game, and we need to make sure that they know that, and that's what we did. Q. Hannah, it's easy to talk about being at the conference tournament, NCAA implications, but just the look in your eyes after you walked off the court after Michigan, how excited were you to get back out there and have another shot at this team? HANNAH WHITISH: We definitely thought that game was taken from us. So coming out here and throwing punches like we did, that was huge for us, and especially to walk out of this gym with that win. Q. Coach, aside from the NCAA Tournament selection and just the implication of this game coming into tonight? COACH WILLIAMS: Well, first of all, we've been really preaching to this team to just worry about controlling what we can control, and at this point, all that talk of that was just kind of outside, and being able to control what we can control, and that's just trying to continue to find ways to improve and play our best basketball. But I'll tell you, this team really came down to this tournament to make a run to win a championship. Our goal was not just to beat Michigan and find a way to get into the NCAA Tournament. Our goal is to be Big Ten champions, and we want to keep going towards that. We would like to have an opportunity to put ourselves in a position to do that, and we feel like we can be competitive. Q. Coach, in the first three quarters, your team shot in the 30 percents, but in that fourth quarter they shot 56 percent. Can you touch on what you liked from them in those final 10 minutes that really got them to win that game? COACH WILLIAMS: I thought that we took slightly better shots. It seems like we got into fourth quarter a little bit more to the paint, a few more baskets easy at the rim, and then Hannah took some gutsy shots that she knocked down from behind the arc. I think slightly more high percentage shots there in the fourth that just paid off for us, but certainly a little sloppy offensively, and we could find ways to improve on that, but still a very good defensive effort. Q. And there was a moment where it seemed like Michigan was starting to gain some momentum in the fourth and they pulled within three and you called time-out. What did you tell your team in that final time-out? COACH WILLIAMS: I mean, at that time-out we talked about staying disciplined, what's going to win you games this time of year, and that's getting defensive stops, finishing every defensive stop with rebounds and really digging in there, and we just felt like we've come too far to kind of let it slip away. Q. Coach, Flaherty was obviously frustrated tonight. What was the defensive game plan going in against her? COACH WILLIAMS: Well, she's an incredible player, and she's had fantastic games against us since I've been the head coach at Nebraska, and so we knew that we're not going to be able to completely stop her, but I thought being able to mix up our match-ups on her and switch who was the defensive assignment, that's a very, very tough assignment. So to try to for 33 minutes try to chase off all the screens they set for her and all the actions and her movement, she's just very, very smart with what she does, and I thought Janay Morton and Jasmine Cincore both kind of did a good job going back and forth to give her a different look and keep fresh legs on her. Q. There was one point where Janay got her second foul and you subbed and they just kind of looked at each other, they knew how to switch, they knew what was going on. How important was the quiet confidence in the scout and they just knew what they had to do and they were just ready to take on that task? COACH WILLIAMS: Yeah, I think it was a definite advantage that this team has had several days -- we've been preparing for all three potential opponents that we could play today, but kind of knowing after last night that it was going to be Michigan and then having a good time today to watch film and to walk back through it on the court again and to kind of reiterate, but this team all year has just done a pretty special job of really focusing and game planning and being able to try to take away other people's strengths. Q. I know it got into some troubles when the tempo sped up, but early in that fourth quarter for Hannah to get those assists in transition and get a spark back into the team, how important was that? COACH WILLIAMS: I thought her play in the fourth quarter was really important. There was a really big three-point shot that I know came at a really critical time that I was just proud and happy that she had the courage to take, and then she sparks us in a lot of different ways by just making plays for others, too. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|