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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 6, 2019

Nancy Fahey

Indianapolis, Indiana

Purdue - 72, Illinois - 60

Q. You guys really played well in the first half, especially in the second quarter. Offensively you guys were really clicking at a high rate, and that third quarter you took a big dip. What was it that really made you guys struggle offensively?
NANCY FAHEY: Part of it was the boards. Let's talk the other end, because they got several offensive boards. We were trying to run some triangle-and-two, and they had several -- that's why I think they punched it, and I also think that they decided to get up in us a lot. They switched defenses, which we knew they were going to do, but I really thought it was the other end when they just got two or three second opportunities.

Q. Big picture, if you're outside looking in, you look at the win total and go, oh, another tough year, but you did take some strides moving forward. What steps did you take forward this year?
NANCY FAHEY: I think the competitiveness of the team. I mean, like you said, we were in a lot more ballgames. We fought a lot longer. Our margins were bigger last year, but I think the attitude in the locker room, it hurts more because we got closer, and the expectations are wins, and we understand that. But there's things you can't see unless you come to every one of our games and see, and like even today when they punched it, there would have been easy chances for us to, okay, it's done, and we kept fighting, and that's all I can ask right now.

Q. You lose one of the better players in the program's history. I know it's not an easy answer, but how do you keep moving forward losing a player of her caliber?
NANCY FAHEY: Well, I think every team in the Big Ten is going to lose an impact player, and one thing you don't do is replace. You don't go, how are you going to -- you let Alex, her legacy is fantastic, got her rebound record today. There's so much she's done for the program. But you let the new kids step into their roles and let them develop their own legacy and move forward and let the things that -- like I told her, her effort, how hard she works, that carries on with the team.

Q. Moving forward to the next year, I know it's so immediate afterwards, but what do you want to see in your team as they continue to move forward in a positive direction?
NANCY FAHEY: Well, you bring in players that -- the quickness of the Big Ten, the size of the Big Ten, you have to kind of -- you have to go out there -- Harris just picked up a couple basketballs off our heads tonight with her incredible leaping ability. We'll still be fundamentally strong, but you just keep working and developing the players here and you go out and do your job recruiting.

Q. The seasons always end abruptly no matter when they are. Can you reflect back on the things that have happened this season and the progress the program has made?
NANCY FAHEY: You know, part of it is just the locker room I left, I asked them did you fight all 40, and the response of the kids is yes. And if you saw their looks in their eyes and how competitive, that's what we try to -- that's what we tried to be this year. Obviously someone asked me if we had a successful season; no, we want to win more ballgames. But you have to look beyond that and how we played our games this year and how close they were and the fight in the kids' eyes. Success is defined in a lot of different ways, and we have to define it in both ways, and we understand that.

Q. The legacy of Alex Wittinger, she got the blocks record and the rebound record today. Can you reflect back on what she's meant to the program? Certainly nobody works harder than Alex does.
NANCY FAHEY: Alex has an incredible motor. As a coach, you never want to coach energy and effort, and she checks those boxes the minute I've got here. And that's what translates. I think it's interesting to get the block record because that's a lot of effort, timing, and just pure like -- like I said, just a gut kind of player, and that's why it's so fitting that she got that block record today.

Q. On the flipside, you have a freshman Mackenzie Blazek that comes in, Alex got in foul trouble, and we saw the growth of her over the year, but certainly you can kind of see her potential today.
NANCY FAHEY: Well, if you have to play Alex every day in practice, you hope that that gets better. But her confidence, and more importantly, it didn't just come because she thought it. She showed up in the gym, put extra time in. There's an attitude with her that I think is really positive as we look forward.

Q. What can you learn from the game today? Purdue shot well, obviously rebounding was a big factor. Anything else you take away from today?
NANCY FAHEY: Well, we ran a triangle-and-two, and so you kind of gamble a little bit. We left some kids open that -- and they responded. You try to play that offense, defensive game, and when that kind of turned, then the boxing, I thought that was a key factor that we just couldn't get -- we got the stops, but we couldn't get the board. And I think that related to our offense because then we had to go down and play five on five a lot.

Q. The first half shot 50 percent, really shot well and was in the game, took a lead. I liked the energy from the team, especially in the first half.
NANCY FAHEY: Yeah, I mean, energy, and it's tough when they did that popping just to maintain it. I think that's one of the things that we came into the game believing we could do. It didn't work out in the second half when they kind of got up and in us, but like I said, the things that are going on in this team are positive.

Q. Finally, how do you approach the off-season?
NANCY FAHEY: Go back to work. As coaches, we go out and recruit, do our jobs, and I know these kids will work hard, get better in a lot of little facets. But this team has never lacked for getting back in the gym and working hard.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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