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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: SPOKANEMarch 24, 2018Gary BlairAnriel HowardChennedy CarterKhaalia HillsmanSpokane, Washington Notre Dame - 90, Texas A&M - 84 THE MODERATOR: At this time we are joined by Texas A&M. We will begin with an opening statement from Coach Blair, then open the floor to questions for the student-athletes. GARY BLAIR: First you had a well-run tournament. Spokane should be very proud of what they put on. I know you've had tournaments in the men and in the women, as well. This was as well-run of a tournament as we've been to. I was just telling my team in 13 years, we've been to 13. Of course, in one of them we went all the way and won it. In those other 12 losses, I could sit back and I could second-guess myself on what we didn't do well, play the poor man's game, what if, bad call, other team just played great. I wouldn't change a thing. We played exceptionally well. Even though we were up 12 or 13 or whatever it was, we knew Notre Dame would come back. They were hitting shots. They were doing what they needed to. That's why they're the No. 1 team and played the hardest schedule in the country. But I'm not going to change a thing. We played extremely well. The game was probably lost in the third quarter when we came out I thought flat. We were trying for the perfect play, whatever. They showed the aggression we didn't show, that we were showing in the first and second quarter. We made so many good things happen. I know Muffet, when she comes in here, she's going to say, My gosh, she's got one, two, three more games to play if she expects to win it, but she saw somebody today in Texas A&M that's going to show her how to win it. What we've got to do, remember, we shot 23% in the third quarter, fourth quarter we went back to doing our thing. Chennedy and Khaalia and Anriel, they were having their way. I think it really hurt us in the second quarter when I had to protect Anriel because she had two fouls. One of the fouls never should have happened because we made a mistake with somebody else. It put her in a vulnerable position. What we've got to do as a basketball team is grow from this, get better. I really believe we're even going to be better than ever next year. But these three up here, if there's 10 to 20 better players in the country than these three up here, I'd like to see them. I'm proud of them, what they've done. Howard's game in the last two to three weeks has elevated us. She's doing it all. Who cares if you're only 5'11". If you're a basketball player, has the heart. Hillsman went against their All-American Shepard, it was an even ballgame, 13 points apiece. That one down on the end might be the next face of this basketball team. But Howard was our most valuable player in this tournament for what she did with the energy. Hillsman was our most important player because she had to stop their All-American, and she did it as well as she could. Their kid, Shepard, did it as well as she could on there. Chennedy is special. More and more kids are going to want to play with this young lady to come in because we've got a Final Four run in us just like Notre Dame has made it for the last time. We've got the consistency of going to tournaments, Sweet 16s, Elite 8s. Notre Dame has the consistency of playing for national championships every year. So give them credit for what they're doing. Go. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the student-athletes only at this point. Q. Chennedy, talk about the third quarter. He thought you came out a little bit slow. What were the problems? CHENNEDY CARTER: They just came out pretty quick. They got the momentum in the third quarter. We kind of laid down just a little bit, energy went down, effort went down. We just got to come out from halftime ready to play. That's a big thing with us, we kind of laid down a little bit, hit a couple shots, they got the crowd going. The game was their way. We just got to work on that, get better. Q. Anriel, when you got off to that good start, you were a big part of it. What did you feel was working for you and your team at that point? ANRIEL HOWARD: I think my teammates and I, like, we were sharing the ball, we were finding the open player, we were knocking down some pretty good shots. They were looking for me, when I was open, and I knocked down some. Q. Chennedy, how proud are you of this team, being it was your first season as a freshman, you made it this far into the tournament? CHENNEDY CARTER: I'm very proud, the way that we played this whole tournament, this whole year, really just showed how strong we really are. We stayed together. We faced a lot of adversity. We're in the Southeastern Conference. It's one of the hardest conferences to me, if not the hardest conference. I'm just proud of the way we came out and played. They're a great team. I'm just blessed. We're going to be without Khaalia next year, but we're going to try to have a better season and make her proud. Q. Khaalia, obviously this is your last game. What has your time at Texas A&M meant to you? KHAALIA HILLSMAN: I'm going to cry now. It's been special, you know. I've been so blessed to be able to play and meet and form so many relationships with these people. I played with Chennedy for one year, and she's already one of my favorite players I ever played with. Anriel, near and dear to my heart. Wouldn't trade her for the world. Jas has been around her for about 12 years, it's just been incredible being able to play with somebody you had a relationship with since high school, even before that. Just like all the relationships that I formed from my older teammates that are on to bigger and better things now, the coaches, they've meant a lot to me, they've helped me out in rough times. They really, like, Coach Starkey and Coach Bond, they really have done some incredible things for me, Coach Blair giving me the opportunity, staying on me, believing in me, and Coach Wright, she's the silent assassin, she does a lot, but it's behind the scenes, so no one will ever know. It's just been incredible. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm getting a first-class education. I formed relationships I'm going to have for the rest of my life. It's just been really special. I'm just really glad I had this opportunity. Q. Chennedy, talk about the problems matching up three-point shooting with them. Why were they a tough matchup there? CHENNEDY CARTER: I mean, they're a great three-point shooting team. We faced a lot of good three-point shooting teams. We just made some unsmart decisions on defense which led them to get players open, wide open on the three. They had a player that went 7 for 11 for three. That's probably what hurt us the most. She's one of the best players on the team. We just got to lock down. We let her get open, get in a rhythm. We can't do that. GARY BLAIR: Not going to interject on that. They scored 21 points on inbound plays. That's the most in history A&M has ever given up in their life. That was the three. We were defending the three and halfcourt offense the best we could against a great team. But 21 points on inbound plays, that was the difference in the ballgame. THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll dismiss the student-athletes. We will now move to questions for coach. Q. The same question I asked Chennedy: How proud are you of this team and the season you guys were able to put together? GARY BLAIR: Like I said earlier, I wouldn't change a thing because our talent base keeps growing. We might not get some of the -- all the McDonald's All-Americans that some of these other teams get, but I think we develop kids. That's our strength. We have kids that play hard. We have kids that play smart the majority of the time. I've got a great coaching staff. If it isn't broken, we're going to keep rolling with it. But these three up here, incredible talent for as many minutes as they're having to play. When you look at the stat line, we won the four points in the paint, 16-7 off turnovers, 16-15 second chance, 12-2 on fastbreak, 6-0 on bench. We needed to run more. But I give you a hint: we were taking the ball out of the net too many times in the second half. Then when we did run, we converted. But that's a lot of mileage on those young people's legs. Sometimes you just don't have it, particularly on the offensive rebounds. We missed a few put-backs that we should have had. That's what saved them in the second half, was their put-backs by their guards, particularly 24. Q. It seemed like in the fourth quarter when they were building their lead, they did a lot of isolation stuff, one-on-one stuff from the high post. That hurt you a little bit, it seemed like. Your thoughts? GARY BLAIR: We tried to mix it up, playing our matchup, our bump, 2-3 zone with some man. We finally had to switch to man on inbound plays. I was going bananas over there because we were making mistakes. Mabrey was walking right back in. They run some very, very good man-to-man stuff off the 1-4 high series. Nobody we have faced this year has a duck-in move as well as Shepard. I mean, she gets down low. Hillsman did as good as she could. But I think it's good. I think that girl is going to make a lot of money when she finally graduates because I think she's a great player. I think Notre Dame could get hurt by some faster teams that have a longer bench than us, that could rotate more guards in. We just didn't have that, okay? But you got teams like Louisville. That's the only thing I could see that could hurt Notre Dame. But they're a very good ballclub. With their 1-4 set, I'd like to run it a little bit more myself. We saw 95% man in the game -- I mean, 95% zone, and triangle-and-two. So a little bit of that. Q. Can you describe the impact of some of the seniors like Hillsman, what it's been like to coach her for four seasons at A&M. GARY BLAIR: Well, she's grown so much. She came from a great high school. You know the story. That's where Michelle Obama is from. Michael Jordan sent his kids there. Okafor played there. Great high school. She had the balance coming in. She was our most gifted ACT score, business school. It's a lot better than you and I when we graduated. All of a sudden she's grown. She's going to be a pro. She's going to be a pro because she's got a heart. She's not going to have to go play 37 minutes a ballgame for a pro team. I think that will make her a better player. She cares about her teammates so much. I think that's what separates her out. She doesn't have that 'I' on her forehead. She cares about those teammates. She embraces A&M, what A&M has to offer, to just the regular student-athletes. Look, y'all have got enough from me. The story should be on Notre Dame. They need to get out and scout this next game. So is that enough questions? Q. How much more would one more score outside help you against that zone? You mentioned matchup. You only had three scorers a lot of time. GARY BLAIR: I got one coming next year in Wilson. I ain't worried at all. She can fill it up from outside. Wilson is going to be a big help for us. Johnson is going inside. So I think we'll be in great shape. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. GARY BLAIR: Appreciate y'all. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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