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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: SPOKANEMarch 26, 2018Kelly GravesRuthy HebardSabrina IonescuSpokane, Washington Notre Dame - 84, Oregon - 74 THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Oregon. We'll begin with an opening statement by coach, followed by questions for the student-athletes. KELLY GRAVES: Well, I first want to congratulate Notre Dame on moving on to the Final Four. They're a great program. Coach McGraw does such a great job. This particular group is a great team. I'm disappointed for us. I know this is something that we obviously wanted. It was attainable, I felt. I think the second half was the separation. You saw a team that was still trying to climb the mountain, trying to get to where we've never been before. And you saw a team that knew how to get there, and they wanted it. It shows up in that rebound stat. But it doesn't take anything away from what a great season these guys have had. There's so many firsts, I can't even enumerate them. Pac-12 champions twice over this season. They acted and behaved like champions all year. Today we just didn't have enough in that second half to get it done. But I'm really proud of 'em. This is a team that will be back. THE MODERATOR: We will now take questions for the student-athletes. Q. Sabrina, you go to the halftime locker room up six. What was the feeling? What happened the first couple minutes of the second half? SABRINA IONESCU: We got hot there at the end of the second quarter, but we knew they were going to come back fiery. They don't want to lose. They know what it's like to win at a high level. We knew they were going to come out and punch us. We just had to be able to punch back, and we didn't. Q. Ruthy, how challenging was it to rebound against those guys? Did you feel like that was the key to the game? RUTHY HEBARD: Yeah, definitely was a key to the game. They're big, strong, physical players. I think I and a few other people could have done better. But that's how it turned out. Q. Sabrina, it seemed like the pace got to them a little bit in the second quarter. What was the challenge of trying to get back to that pace over the course of the second half? SABRINA IONESCU: We got stops in the first half. I think that led to transition baskets. That's what we're best at. It's hard to run in transition when they continue to score. So that's where we, you know, fell behind. That's where we couldn't really get out of our hole. They kept scoring. They went on a run. We couldn't go on a run, and we couldn't get our rhythm back. But it happens. I mean, we're going to learn from this and we're going to come back next year better. Q. Ruthy, what did Notre Dame do differently than almost any other team this year that they were able to beat you guys underneath the basket? RUTHY HEBARD: I don't think they did anything differently. I think I just needed to get more rebounds, be in the right position a little more. Q. Sabrina, you were obviously the nation's best three-point shooting team all year. Today 27%. What was so good about their perimeter defense that was limiting you from even getting looks? SABRINA IONESCU: I mean, they've been in this position before. They know how to scout teams. They know who our shooter was. They knew what our post players, guards liked to do. They knew our personnel well. That's what they did, they played us to our weaknesses. They're long, they're athletic, they flew by on our shooters and contested a lot of shots. We didn't get a lot of open looks tonight. We have to be able to hit those shots regardless if they know our personnel or not. Q. Sabrina, when you get some perspective, do you think you'll look back on this season, what do you think you'll think about this particular team? SABRINA IONESCU: I'll definitely remember this game. I mean, you know, it was a great run. I mean, this is going to hurt. We had a great year. I'm happy our freshmen were able to come in and contribute and see what it's like to play for an Elite 8. I'm happy we were able to do that last year. I think they're going to come back better. Happy to do this for our seniors. We had a historic year this year, winning the Pac-12 tournament, winning the regular season. At the end of the day we needed to get over this hump, and we didn't. So this is what I'm going to remember. But regardless, we're going to come back, we're going to learn from this, we're going to come back better and hunting this Final Four next year. THE MODERATOR: Thank you to the student-athletes. We'll move on to questions for coach. Q. Looking at the box score, it's 51-29 rebounds advantage, 52 points in the paint. That really was the story, wasn't it? KELLY GRAVES: It was, yeah. It was. Obviously a couple of their players are really strong. But I don't think it was as much that as it was, you could tell, they wanted it. They were physical. They went after it. Jackie Young was so impressive on that offensive boards. We haven't been manhandled like that on the boards all year. A lot of it was in the second half. We gave up some in the first half. I don't think we came out like, Oh, yeah, we're up. I don't think it was anything like that. They just raised their level, and we didn't quite enough. I knew this game was going to come down, I remember texting Holly Rowe before the game, saying, Holly, it's going to be the team that puts that one quarter together defensively that is going to win the game. They did it in the third quarter. That's where the game was won. Q. What did they do defensively? Third quarter you really struggled to get in a flow offensively. Sabrina seemed to be trying to find someone to pick up the slack. KELLY GRAVES: Very first possession was Lexi Bando wide open in the corner, three. We've run that play several times. She was literally wide open and missed it. I thought Ruthy had some looks inside. I thought it got pretty physical at times. I thought Sabrina had some good looks around the rim, some pull-ups that we were making in the first half. We had five turnovers, so it's not like we were giving the ball away or anything like that. We didn't make the same shots that we were making earlier in the game. Now, maybe they were contested a little bit more. But, you know, normally when we get some of those shooters open, like they were, that's like a layup for some of them. Just didn't make 'em tonight. Q. This was Lexi's last game as a Duck. Talk about what her career has been like. KELLY GRAVES: Well, I owe a lot to Lexi. She was the first one to take a chance on us when we started the program. She's a local kid. Not many local Eugenians have stayed at the University of Oregon, especially good players. They won two state championships there. She means a lot to this program now. She left a legacy that nobody before did. 33 wins this year, like I said, the Pac-12 championship. There were so many firsts, I can't even enumerate. She's a big part of that. She's been so consistent for four years. You look at her scoring average, it stayed within one point I think every single year she was there. Most importantly, on top of all her records and those kind of things, she's just been a great representative of our university. She's a great student. She's a good citizen. She's been a great leader on the team. She's been an awesome teammate. I'm really proud of her. Early on she and I would (clash) from time to time because we're similar in some ways. We've both grown up. She's been an absolute pleasure and joy to coach. Q. Are your emotions kind of mirroring Sabrina, this is going to hurt for a while, but it can maybe fuel you next year to get to the Final Four? KELLY GRAVES: Well, I wouldn't make predictions. We were good enough. We were good enough. Last year I don't think we were ready for that. I think this year we were. We played in a lot of big games. I was joking with the team, the other side of the Elite 8 bracket, we played seven games against those teams and played every single one of those teams. Every big game that we've had this year seems like we've won. So we've come through. Tonight we didn't. We met a team that was just a little bit tougher. If you saw my board before the game, number one key to success, toughest team wins. They were the toughest team. Q. Did you think after the first half that this might be kind of like the Pac-12, one of those nights where Sabrina takes over, carries the team to victory? KELLY GRAVES: Well, I was hoping. She's such a great player. She's capable of doing that any time. No, game like this against an opponent like Notre Dame, it takes everybody. Everybody that's playing has to be at their best. We just weren't tonight. But there's always that thought in the back of your mind that, Hey, Sabrina can take this over. She was going against some really athletic and motivated guards, for sure. Q. You mentioned toughness and the physicality of the game. Is that something you'll be looking to enhance with your team next year, get them more physical? KELLY GRAVES: I don't think that's been an issue with us this year. It kind of was tonight. I wouldn't say that's been a downfall or a negative of ours this year. Sure, games like this where they're letting you play, and they did let us play, we didn't respond as well as we should have. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. KELLY GRAVES: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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