|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
BIG EAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 4, 2018Kurt GodlevskeTori SchickelMichelle WeaverChicago, Illinois Marquette - 73, Butler - 61 KURT GODLEVSKE: Yeah, absolutely. You know, they packed the paint and they wanted to keep us out of our driving attacks off ball screens, and that was their game plan. I think we settled a little bit too much at times for threes, and when we shot them, second half, we seemed a little bit more confident but out of our rhythm. We'll try and fix that in film tonight, sessions, and just make that we're confident regardless of what the defense is giving us. Really proud of our effort that we gave tonight. I thought we gave ourselves an opportunity against a very good ballclub in Marquette, a very well-coached team, and couldn't be prouder of how our girls stuck with our game plan of really protecting the paint and making Marquette really work for everything that they got. We had a 20-plus turnaround in the rebound category this time around, and couldn't be more excited about how we finished and how we played. You've got to give Marquette a lot of credit. I don't think we had any lapses down the stretch, I just think that they made plays. So we're obviously disappointed that we lost, but we're looking forward to big and brighter things in the future. Q. Tori, is this a day where, as a junior, both of you, where you go into the off-season saying, we know what we're capable of? TORI SCHICKEL: Yeah, for sure, like we showed today, I think we are very capable of playing with anybody in this league. There are just a few things that we have to touch up during the off-season, conditioning wise. I feel like it's a different game if we come in fresh, things go our way a little more. But just working on those little things in the off-season and then working to get back here and put ourselves in a really good situation. Q. Michelle, what was the key for you guys on the defensive end on the floor to keep them from breaking out in this game until the very end? MICHELLE WEAVER: We really focused on packing it into the paint because we know they really like to drive and kick, and I think we did a really good job of that. Wilborn was great from the three-point line, so she kind of killed us out there. Other than that, I think we really stuck to our game plan and we did really well just packing the paint and not letting them drive and score from there. Q. Tori, six turnovers; did Marquette present something different this time than the previous two match-ups, and why was it so hard to react? TORI SCHICKEL: Yeah, I think they were kind of not -- they were double teaming at first and then kind of going back, so it kind of threw me off a little, but I really just needed to calm down and kind of just really look at that and be able to read that, and there was something in the second half that was more just take the play over one-on-one when it happens instead of waiting for the double-team to come and waiting for them to get back. Q. Michelle, what's the off-season mindset for this group? MICHELLE WEAVER: I think it's kind of just -- kind of like what Tori said earlier. We know we can play with anybody, so just keeping that mindset there that we can and just working hard because we have a couple new girls coming in next year, so getting them into the mix of things and just keep learning to play together because that's when we play best is when we are playing together, so just keeping that up. Q. You look at this tournament field, and that did not look like a 1-8 matchup. Can you speak to sort of the league and what a matchup like that was to start the quarterfinal? KURT GODLEVSKE: I think it goes and speaks volumes about the Big East in general. We knew even with playing Providence in our first matchup last night that it was going to be no gimme. Very good basketball teams. In our league, it comes down to a lot about match-ups, and for some reason, we match up very well with Marquette and have in both games. Even the first -- the second game at Hinkle, we had a 16-8 lead at some point throughout the first quarter, and that was without Michelle, played the game without her. We have opportunities to continue to grow in those areas, and I just think it really comes down to match-ups, and we seem to just really match up well with Marquette. Q. I know it's tough to think about this after a tough loss, but where do you see the setup for your program and you're thinking about that next step where maybe a year from now in a game like this, that final four minutes could swing the other way? KURT GODLEVSKE: Yeah, I believe that, and I mentioned it a little bit last night. We've come a long ways with this program in terms of where we started from. Next year we're going to have a tremendous amount of depth and a lot of variety of more skilled players that are redshirting this year. Obviously our future and our goals will be a lot different than they were this year coming in, and that's based on what we've done and what we've accomplished throughout this season. Q. And then as Michelle alluded to, Amani killed you guys from long distance. Is that something you guys just weren't expecting or they did something different? What kind of led to that? KURT GODLEVSKE: You know, she's a 25-percent three-point shooter. She just had one of those nights, and we kind of played the numbers and played the odds, and we did that with really all of them and have done that all season with how we defended them. But Amani made the big shots, and we put her in those situations, and she was a player and made those plays, so you have to tip your cap to her. Q. Then the 22-5 scoring advantage for Marquette off turnovers, was the team just slow to react on the fast break, or what led to that? KURT GODLEVSKE: Just a huge strength of Marquette. It was something that we were trying to avoid coming into this game, live ball turnovers, because they make you pay for them, and at Hinkle in our second game, they really made us pay for them. So we were really trying to be conservative with the basketball, making sure we took care of it. Tori mentioned a little bit about that with the double-team. I think she just played a little bit too fast. She only ended up with two of them the second half, so she settled down and just became more of a scorer instead of thinking pass first. She gets into the habit -- she's an unselfish player. But we really tried to avoid those live ball turnovers because Marquette does such a fantastic job transitioning and scoring out of them. 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
|