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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: IOWA CITY

March 21, 2019

Iowa City, Iowa

ROBIN PINGETON: First of all, thank you guys for coming out. I think it's going to be a really fun weekend in Iowa City. Obviously we're excited about the opportunity to play again in the NCAA tournament. It absolutely never gets old.

I think just so grateful for the opportunity and excited to be able to coach these girls for another game. And that's really what it comes down to. It's just one game at a time at this time of the year. And I think our team is in a really good place. We understand we've got a really tough matchup against a very talented Drake team. And so it's going to be a battle. But we're looking forward to it.

Q. Sophie, has it hit you that this is your last NCAA tournament?
SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM: Not really. I'm just excited to be here. I think our team deserves it we're in a really good spot right now. Coming off of two weeks practice, we're ready to play. We're hungry to play. Yeah, I'm excited to be here. Like Coach said, it never gets old.

Q. Do you feel different the way you're playing compared to last year?
SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM: Yes, honestly since I've been here at Mizzou, this is the best team emotionally and physically going into the tournament. I feel like our team is in the best spot it's been all year. And what a great time to be, considering it's our last tournament.

Q. Before you got to watch film you thought you had high advantage. After watching film, and do you think you have an advantage?
AMBER SMITH: I think we have an advantage. I think just pounding inside and also getting our shots on the outside.

Q. Sophie, first off, are you feeling better? I know you were a little under the weather?
SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM: Yes, I'm getting better, we're good. I'm excited to get going.

Q. Your mother said you play better sick?
SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM: I guess so. Maybe I need a couple of IV's tomorrow to get me going. I think it helps me focus more. I want to do whatever I can for the jersey and to get that win. But, yeah, I mean I'm feeling better. I don't really sound like it but I'm feeling better.

Q. Sophie, someone who's been around Cierra almost forever, what's it been like to see her come back and kind of get a shot at another NCAA tournament she might not have ever expected?
SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM: She's in a very different situation. Once you step away from the sport people don't get the opportunity to come back, especially at the college level. I think Cierra stepping away for five or six months it helped her body recover a little bit. And I think it also helped her mentally, too. I think she really missed it. And she's not taking anything for granted, I'll tell you that. As Coach says, if you're tired, just wait, because you're going to recover a lot faster in the real word, you're really not tired. It's been awesome to have her back. Her height is a huge advantage that we use a lot down low. So it's been great to have her back.

Q. Sophie, did you ever play against Sara Rhine when in high school ball?
SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM: No, I didn't. But a lot of the other teammates actually I played ball with, from Kansas City Eclipse. Pretty familiar with them. Yeah, they're a good, fundamental team.

Q. What makes Sara so efficient down low?
SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM: She just knows how to seal very well off the ball. She's not afraid of contact. She's just really good at finding the angles. We're going to have to shut that down.

Q. You guys just got here, but what's it like to be back in Iowa, do you feel more comfortable here?
ROBIN PINGETON: Well, I haven't really left my hotel room much. So this is the first sign of daylight I've seen. We got in yesterday late afternoon, but, you know, certainly for me, obviously, you know, it's really neat to come back to Iowa.

I wish my dad was here to enjoy this NCAA tournament with us. He was a die hard fan and been such a huge part of my life. It just would have meant the world to him to be around our team and to be a part of this. But a lot of family, a lot of friends. My sister played here at the University of Iowa, so very familiar territory.

But obviously nothing about this is about me. It's about our team. And so you have those thoughts or you may go there for a moment, but really all of my focus is just trying to put this team in the best position they can against a very talented Drake team. We know we're going to have our hands full. I've been very blessed with this group, proud of their resiliency. The senior class is obviously really special. And just so blessed that we get an opportunity to go battle again together.

Q. Coach, both you and Coach Baranczyk are Bluder -- I don't know if want to say -- disciples or part of their coaching tree. What kind of mentor was Lisa for you?
ROBIN PINGETON: Yeah, I think I'm probably the only one in the country that came from Iowa state and kind of an Iowa disciple, that's foreign territory, and trust me, I grew up in the middle of all that.

But Lisa has been incredible for me. Had a great opportunity for play for her in college. We had a lot of success at St. Ambrose. And then after that I had an opportunity to go play professionally. My mom had a stroke and so leaving the area wasn't the right time. And she gave me an opportunity to go with her as a Division I assistant right out of college. She's been a huge part of my life, both on and off the court, and forever grateful for the impact she had in my life.

Q. Sophie says she thinks it's the best field the team in her time. Do you agree with that?
ROBIN PINGETON: I do, I think our team is in a really good place. Just not only emotionally, physically. I think as we all go through the season, looks different for all of us. Playing in the SEC is such a physical league, and so a lot of times I think you feel the aftermath, just -- and feel it drained when that's done.

But maybe we did a better job with management and practices, and what that looked like throughout the course of the season, I don't know. But I think our kids are in a great place.

I think this last month we've been playing some pretty good basketball. Energy has been high. Focus has been great. Attention to detail has been really good. We've been shooting the ball a lot better. So, yeah, I think when you go into tournament time you want to feel good about where your team is at and I feel as good as I ever have with this team.

Q. Secondly, earlier in the season, how much do you think this team has grown from that time to now?
ROBIN PINGETON: It's interesting, I think every season is so unique in discipline. People want to talk about there's a struggle for up and down. I go back and look at it and think, golly, South Dakota is in the NCAA tournament, Michigan is in the NCAA tournament, Auburn is in the NCAA tournament, you try and think, okay, there were some peaks and valleys, but we played a really good nonconference. And obviously the SEC has been a challenge night in and night out.

I do think there's growing pains, and we had lost at that point in the non-conference Jordan who was a huge piece of what we did offensively and defensively and Cierra Porter wasn't there and Kayla Michael and then we were blessed to get Cierra Porter back after Christmas. It was growing pains, there were a lot of returners, but asking them to step up in a position they hadn't been in before. Kids that were maybe more role players, played more of an impact rotation for us. And so it just looks different.

But I think there's been a lot of growth. And I think the resiliency of our team, after some tough losses that we have had this year have been outstanding for us, and to be in the position we are right now, we are tighter than ever. That's what you want as a coach. You have to get through the peaks and valleys of the first couple of months in the season but in February or March, you feel good about where your team is at and I do. It's a great group. I care a great deal about them. I want to make this last, because it's a special group of seniors.

Q. You said you were sort of familiar with Sara coming into this, and from high school, but what kind of jumps has she made at Drake, and how central has she become to what this team does offensively?
ROBIN PINGETON: First of all, I would say (inaudible) is a tremendous player, and I knew coming out of high school she was, too. So versatile, runs the court and shoots, plays her tail off, can defend, she's just -- she's one of the very, very -- one of the many great players they have on this Drake roster. And then you look at what Jennie has done in her staff with this team. And what she's implemented offensively, it's a really hard guard. In talking to different coaches that played them they say the same thing. High basketball IQ, fundamentally sound, everybody can shoot it. There's reads within that motion, we're familiar with it, we run a motion offense, too, it's a little bit different in the principle, but again the confusion that it can cause at times. And Jennie and her staff has done a great job. So some great players, but you have to give a lot of credit for what Jennie and her coaching staff and the way she's developed them. Not only individually, but how they fit into her system and style.

Q. Are there any lessons that you learned playing for or coaching with her that you still use today?
ROBIN PINGETON: Well, I think, you know, when I go back and people that have really impacted me as a coach, obviously my high school coach, Lisa Bruner, was a huge part of that, Bill Finley, always been a fan of Pat Summit and followed her from a young age. When you spend as much time in those college years you're so moldable. So when I had a chance to be under her and be coached by her for four years and just everything that she -- I think implemented in her system, always been very positive, encouraging. And then to have a chance to work with her, too. Because as a player you know what coaches do, but you have no idea until you're sitting in that conference table with them and you're really diving into the recruiting the xes and o's, and everything, the marking and everything that goes into is that program. So she really opened my eyes to what really coaching is all about. It's so much bigger than the xes and o's, and just the importance of relationships. So, yeah, she's impacted me in so many ways. I can't say one particular thing to jumps out to me right now. But she's certainly had a huge impact on me as a player and certainly as a coach and as a person.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: IOWA CITY

March 21, 2019

Robin Pingeton

Amber Smith

Sophie Cunningham