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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: WACOMarch 16, 2018Kim Barnes AricoHallie ThomeKatelynn FlahertyWaco, Texas Michigan - 75, Northern Colorado - 61 THE MODERATOR: Coach, an opening statement. KIM BARNES ARICO: I thought it was a great basketball game for us tonight. Northern Colorado is really a well-disciplined team, shoots the three exceptionally well, and runs their offense really well. We knew it was going to be a tough matchup for us. But I thought we came out and did a tremendous job on the defensive end, especially in the first half. We were able to find Hallie and establish Hallie early. That was a key for us. Then Katelynn got on fire, as she normally does. Just a great overall win for our team. Excited to be here. This was really a goal of ours, but we didn't want to just get here, we wanted to be successful in the tournament and keep advancing. So that was really important for us to come out and play well today. I was really proud of our effort from the tip. THE MODERATOR: Questions for our student-athletes. Q. Katelynn, first time in the NCAA tournament. You didn't seem to have a lot of nerves. What was it like as things developed for you guys? KATELYNN FLAHERTY: I think we just came out confident. I really didn't feel a lot of nerves, just trying to take it as another game. I think that's kind of what coach reiterated all week. Also to be appreciative of where you are. I think we got defensive stops that really helped us settle into our offense. I think we let the game come to us. Q. Hallie, you had a pretty big size advantage in there. What did you do to try to take advantage of that? HALLIE THOME: Definitely show my numbers. I know I have the guards on my team who can make incredible passes. To have shooters like Katelynn Flaherty and Nicole Munger, just helps a lot to be on the same side as them. Decreases the chance of a double. At the end of the day they have to pick their battle, do you want to go with a two or three. I definitely thought our guards did an outstanding job at finding me. I know when they give me the ball, I'm in a position to score. Q. Hallie, did you feel before the game you were going to see the ball a lot at the offensive end, knowing it's a mismatch in terms of height and length and athletic ability? HALLIE THOME: Yeah, coach definitely emphasized that. I think she's kind of helped my confidence throughout this whole year. With any opponent, even if it's the same size, always saying, Hallie, one-on-one I think you always have the advantage. Having that always in the back of my mind, then coming into the NCAA tournament, even if I have an advantage, you know they're going to give everything, so you just have to be prepared for anything thrown at you. Coach Arico does an outstanding job at making sure we're prepared, have a good offensive execution, being able to take advantage of our height and size, then taking advantage of shooters like Katelynn. Q. Hallie, when they went small in the second half, did your eyes light up? HALLIE THOME: Yeah, for sure. Definitely when you see a small roster, you get excited, but you get a little nervous on defense because of their speed. My team helped me. The whole time I was out there hearing Kayla Robbins screaming, You got it, you're good. Having my team behind my back, knowing I can get a stop on defense definitely helps. Q. Katelynn, I saw a little exchange where coach said to get out there and be aggressive. How many times has she had to say that to you in your career? Did you need that reminder a couple minutes in? KATELYNN FLAHERTY: Yeah, she's definitely had to say that a few times. But, I mean, just coming from your head coach, once she says that, I'm like, okay. It's okay to mess up, as long as I'm being aggressive. It means she believes in me, has always believed in me the past four years. I know that. It is a good reminder sometimes. Like I said, I wouldn't be half the player without how she has my back and how my teammates have my back. I think that really opened up the floor for me when she said that, I was aggressive. KIM BARNES ARICO: Forgot about that part (laughter). Q. Katelynn, you've talked about how guard oriented they are. What did you do to try to shut them down on the perimeter? KATELYNN FLAHERTY: I mean, we scouted their defense for the past few days. I think we really emphasized communication defensively. If we were going to switch, we had to make sure we communicated it. They ran a lot of ball screens, they cut a lot, made sure we were in help on the ball screens. I think we prepared really well. When it came down to it, we communicated well. I think we messed up a little bit in the second half, kind of let our guard down. That's something we're working on, just to continue to play even though we're up. I think overall we did a pretty good job. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. We'll continue with questions for coach. Q. First time in the NCAA for these players. You seemed to really buckle down in defense in the first half. How much was that a factor on the offensive end? KIM BARNES ARICO: It was definitely a factor. I think I was concerned about Northern Colorado, the way they move the basketball, the way they shot the basketball. But we had a few days to prepare. Our kids felt really confident in their prep. Jillian Dunston led the way. I thought she just did a tremendous job on Savannah Smith in the first half. That's key to their team. Savannah Scott got going a little bit in the second half. We really locked up Smith in the first half. Jilly did a tremendous job on her. But Hallie did a great job of protecting the paint, as well. It hurt us a little bit when they went small in the second half. It helped us on the offensive end. Defensively that's a tough matchup for Hallie. But it was a great opportunity for her to have to be in that position. But setting the tone on the defensive end was important for us to establish early in the game. Q. Was there one player in particular on Northern's team you were a little bit afraid of in terms of you can't... KIM BARNES ARICO: Savannah Smith. Actually watching them, I was telling everybody that's been traveling with us, I watched one of their games with they made nine threes before they made a two. I was really concerned about them shooting the three. But it seemed as if Smith was really key for them, Savannah Smith. Once she gets going, their team is really tough to stop. She had 35 points I think in the championship game which I recently watched as well. I thought she was critical for them. Scott is a heck of a player, as well. She really did a great job for them when we did a good job on Smith. Jillian Dunston is a first team all defensive player in our league, so we knew that she would provide that length on Scott and really disrupt her. I thought she did. I thought she got a little worn down in the second half, but that's to be expected. She was key for us, for sure. Q. (Question regarding Savannah Smith getting tight.) KIM BARNES ARICO: That's kind of what we watched. I went back and watched them play against similar type teams to us. Even some of their non-league opponents earlier in the season, when Scott didn't have a great game. I said how did they defend them, get stops. We felt pretty confident with Jillian's length, because she's a bigger guard and a stronger guard, she would be able to do a great job on her. She's done that. She's had to guard point guards for us all year long. Potentially on Sunday she can have a 6'4" kid. Tonight she had a 5'6" kid. That's the kind of defender she's been for us. She really did disrupt, got tips on some of her shots early on. Then Smith started to go to the basket a little bit more. Once we gave Jilly a break, she was refreshed, able to get out more. Really my assistant coaches do a tremendous job of going back and scouting that. We thought that was a critical matchup for them. Q. Did you have any idea they would go small? Had you seen that on film? KIM BARNES ARICO: That was definitely a surprise. I thought we probably could have gone small, but I said let's leave Hal out there, see how she handles it. No, we weren't prepared. I hadn't seen them go that small unless they had the matchup like that. At that point in time, they have nothing to lose, and I think that was probably a better way for them to try to go against us. It was disruptive for us on the defensive end. I thought we did a great job of taking advantage of it on the offensive end. Didn't you feel like Katelynn came out non-aggressive (laughter)? But then she went to work, she did. Q. You mentioned briefly when she went small, you did a great job at the offensive end. You went to the basket. Did that come from the bench or was it instinctive from the players? KIM BARNES ARICO: I think it was a combination. One of the things we've really tried to get better at, this is something -- we had a four-year starting point guard graduate, so we have a freshman and Katelynn running the point for us this year, which is two different roles than they've been in. One of the things we need to continue to get better at is seeing the reads. We work on that every day in practice. Read it, read it. Especially when you have Katelynn Flaherty on your team, two people are going at her every time. If you can read that, you're going to have layups. I thought in the second half there were a number of times we read the defense on their switch as well and got layups. I was really proud of our kids. Akienreh did one time. I was really proud because that's something we've really been working on. The defense doubling, are they switching, can we find the open player. I thought in the second half we were able to do that. I was proud of the way we reacted to that. Q. Did you watch their game with they were 4 for 40 in three-pointers? KIM BARNES ARICO: I did. I watched the Fordham game. One was 0-8, one was 0-9. Fordham is a solid defensive team. They missed some looks in that game. I went back and looked at all the box scores, which ones I should watch. I watched that one. I think the game wound up being 50-44. Neither team could score in that game, but it was a defensive battle for sure. Q. How long do you enjoy this one before you turn your attention to what's next? KIM BARNES ARICO: I think that's a great question. For us coaches, we let the kids enjoy it for a minute because it's tough to get here. For our team, we haven't been here in a minute, and they need to celebrate this. Short-lived, a few hours. But my staff has been working incredibly, incredibly hard on the film. I've watched these teams play a ton. I know, I'll get back to the hotel and we'll start talking about matchups, potentials. It's going to be drastically different than it probably was tonight. But I think when the season's over, it's a great time to reflect, to look back and try to enjoy this a little bit and appreciate this. But for our players, that's what we talked about today, like there's no pressure, there's no pressure. This is a game, and it's supposed to be fun. They prepared their whole lives for this opportunity. Now let's go out and enjoy it. I was so happy that Jillian and Katelynn were able to do that tonight. Jillian seemed relaxed. She wasn't pressing. She was able to go to the rim a couple times and really looked confident. For a coach, that's kind of how you want them to play and how you want them to respond. I hope they celebrate this. Most of their families are here, which is wonderful. They'll have an opportunity now after this to go sit and watch a little bit of the next game and spend some time with their families, then we'll get back to work tomorrow. Q. With Church coming off the floor with an apparent injury, immediate update on that? KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, she said, Coach, I think I overreacted, which is the cutest thing ever. She's a freshman. She hurt her ankle earlier this week, so it's real sensitive. It's swollen, it's sore. She's kind of been tentative all week, limited action all week. That's why tonight we went with Johnson in the starting lineup instead. I think she was scared. Her ankle has been taped up. It's sore. She tweaked it a little bit. But she said, I think I'm going to be okay. That was great news to hear. She should be fine by Sunday. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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