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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: SPOKANEMarch 24, 2018Kelly GravesOti GildonSabrina IonescuRuthy HebardSpokane, Washington Oregon - 83, Central Michigan - 69 THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Oregon. We'll begin with an opening statement from Coach Graves, then take questions for the student-athletes. KELLY GRAVES: First of all, I want to congratulate Coach Guevara on a tremendous season. The run they made is pretty special. Those kids will remember that forever. I'll tell you, they were tough as nails tonight, that's for sure. She's a great coach. What I really appreciate is you can tell those players love her and they play really hard for her. I wish Central Michigan all the best. I thought tonight was a solid effort for the most part for our team. I loved our energy early in the game. I thought defensively we were on point for the first half. Second half we got a little lax. They started hitting some threes. I thought the three ball might be the key to the game, and neither team shot it very well. For two teams that rely on the three a lot, none of us shot it well. All in all, it was a really good, good game, and I'm really proud of these guys, excited we're playing another day. THE MODERATOR: We will now take questions for the student-athletes. Q. Ruthy, when you started the game and missed a series of threes, I could hear Kelly yelling, Get the ball to Ruthy. How important was it for you to take care of your business in the paint? RUTHY HEBARD: I think it's always important for the post to get in good position, do what we do inside. We have great shooters. Maybe tonight wasn't their best night. It's our job to pick it up and make baskets. Q. Sabrina, a little unsettled at the beginning of the first quarter. How long generally does it take you to get things settled down? At what point in the game did you feel settled down? SABRINA IONESCU: I think we had a little jitters starting the game, which is normal. We were playing for a spot in the Elite 8. I think we started off with just little jitters. We got it out of the way a few minutes into the game. I think we played well throughout the game. We had a little slipup for about five minutes there, but then I think we came back and really put our foot on the gas. Q. Oti, what was it like with family in the stands yelling as loud as possible with every bucket and board you got? OTI GILDON: It was really fun. It's always nice to hear familiar voices in the crowd yelling and cheering you on. I knew I needed to step up for the team. That was our stretch where we had a bad time. I just wanted to make sure I contributed to the team. Luckily I did. Q. Oti, I remember you sparked the team off the bench against Maryland last year, too. What is it about this round that gets you going? OTI GILDON: I have no idea. To be honest, I just really want to help the team succeed and advance to the Elite 8. We were able to do that. Whether it's rebounding or defense, I'm happy to do that for the team. Q. Hudson got going in the third quarter. Sabrina, what kind of adjustments did you make guarding her? SABRINA IONESCU: We knew she was going to come out and try to give her team the best shot of winning. She does that night in and night out for her team. She hit some pretty big shots there. But she didn't hit enough to beat us. We just had to make sure we stood out on her and made her take tough shots and try to keep her out of the paint because she's a great facilitator, as well. Q. Ruthy, I wanted to ask about the matchup with Tinara. That was sometimes a wrestling match, sometimes a skill, a challenge. You must have enjoyed having a chance to play against her. RUTHY HEBARD: Yeah, she's definitely a great post player, really physical. Fun to go against an elite post, best in her league. Yeah, it was really fun. Q. Sabrina, were you aware of how close you were to a triple-double? SABRINA IONESCU: No. No, I wasn't. Now I am (smiling). No, I had no idea. I don't think I played my best game. Regardless if I had gotten one, I wouldn't have been any happier than I am now. Q. All the players, can you contrast your emotions right now with how you felt this time a year ago advancing to the Elite 8? What is this experience like on an emotional level? SABRINA IONESCU: I just think last year we had no idea what to expect. I know a lot of new players this year have no idea what to expect. I think we're leading them well, we're making it known that every game could be our last game, so we have to come out and play with an edge, play as hard as we can, just enjoy the moment. We're happy to be where we are. We're happy to be able to play another game on Monday. We're looking forward to going out there and competing against a great team. OTI GILDON: Yeah, to kind of go off what she said, we're really happy to be here. Last year we were the lowest seed and we proved ourselves as we went on. This year as a 2 seed we need to stay focused and we did that tonight without giving them the edge, coming out hot. It was good. RUTHY HEBARD: Happy to be here, excited to get to the Elite 8. Hope we make another step forward this year. Q. (No microphone.) SABRINA IONESCU: Define 'elation'. Oregon education (laughter). Q. (No microphone.) SABRINA IONESCU: I have no idea what that is. Q. Exuberance, jubilation. Contrast your reaction that way. This seems a little more businesslike. SABRINA IONESCU: I think it is. I think we have high expectations for ourselves. Last year we came in not really knowing any different. So when we win those big games, we had a lot of people doubting us. But we never really doubted ourselves. I think it kind of came as a surprise, yes, we could this, we belong here. This year I think it's known that we belong where we're at, we deserve to be where we're at, we worked very hard to get here the last two years. I think it's more where we should be instead of jumping up for joy. But it's about the same thing for me. I'm excited to be here with this team, with this coaching staff. I don't take anything for granted. Q. Oti, speaking of elation, there will now be a dinner at your house tomorrow? OTI GILDON: No. Q. Why not? OTI GILDON: No, I mean, we're still trying to focus on what we have to do. We have dinner on our own tonight. We want to get some dinner, get in early, so we can get ready for the game on Monday. THE MODERATOR: Thank you to the student-athletes. We'll move on to questions for the coach. Q. Sue said they had good looks, they just weren't falling tonight. Were you pleased with the defensive effort guarding the three? KELLY GRAVES: Yeah, overall. I mean, a couple of those that Presley hit were crazy. She's going to get some. But they were 7-27. We'll take that percentage against them any time. I thought we did a pretty good job actually on their shooters for the most part. I don't know what she would define as 'open,' but we all miss some. It was kind of funny, two really good three-point shooting teams really struggled tonight. Q. How would you describe the team's attitude the past two days, coming in as the higher seed, the role reversal from last year? How did they handle this first round? KELLY GRAVES: We won by double-digits and we're moving on. I think they handled it well. Ultimately that's the test. Yeah, I think this team, you know, they're businesslike when they need to be, but they really are a loose bunch. I haven't seen any difference between this year and last year. This year in January, February, December, they are who they are. It's working. It's working. Q. They're a loose bunch. How about you this year? KELLY GRAVES: I'm never loose, no (smiling). I'm a pain in the butt. Q. This year has your style changed? Have you approached the game with them differently? Is it pretty much the same as last year with them? KELLY GRAVES: I think maybe I've been a little more task oriented this year. As a person, I don't think I've changed. On the court I have a whole different persona than I do off the court. I think when they understand that, then everything goes well. No, I think externally I sometimes feel some added pressure, but that's my job. As long as they don't feel it. I try to shield them from that kind of stuff. They can heap all that on me as much as they want. You know, just when we were 33-4, you have higher expectations. Last year we didn't know what the heck we were doing. We were playing well, but we didn't know. That kind of ignorance I thought really helped us. Well, now we've earned the right to get here, so maybe there's some different expectations that might be affecting me somehow. I don't know. Nothing meds can't handle (smiling). Q. You mentioned you weren't happy with the energy in the second half. Why do you think the team came out a little flat in the second half? KELLY GRAVES: I don't know. I don't know. It was something that happened from time to time earlier in the season. I thought the last month of the season we really came out with that put-them-away instinct. We maybe resorted back to it tonight, kind of let them off the hook a little bit when we had a chance to really kind of separate from them for good. But, you know, we were never really in jeopardy of losing the lead or anything like that. Yeah, we just lost a little focus defensively. That happens. Then the boards, we got to do a better job. We can't allow 22 offensive rebounds on Monday night or we're going to get, you know, blown out. That's the bottom line. Q. When you put the game plan together, did you feel like Ruthy could dominate in the paint? When Oti also gets it going, how big was that? KELLY GRAVES: Yeah, we did, I don't know what we ended up scoring, 40-something points in the paint. As good as Tinara is, she's not used to seeing players like Ruthy. Ruthy makes layups because she gets her deep post-up position. Her team found her tonight. I thought she was just really dialed in offensively. I thought Ruthy had a great game actually at both ends of the floor. That's really good to see. Sabrina didn't have her best night. Maite wasn't at her best that we've seen. And even Bando. Don't get me wrong. Tonight was Ruthy's night. Next night it might be somebody else or Sabrina. Oti, I think you nailed it. There's something about this round. She even hit that little 15-foot jumper that was pretty neat. She just gives us great energy. She's so different than other posts we bring in. She has bounce, a little smaller, can attack the basket. She has the best second jump on our team. If she misses a shot, she's quick to get back up. Happy for her to do it in front of her friends and family. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. KELLY GRAVES: Thank you. We'll see you on Monday. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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