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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: PORTLANDMarch 30, 2019Kelly GravesSabrina IonescuSatou SaballyRuthy HebardErin BoleyMaite CazorlaPortland, Oregon THE MODERATOR: We have with us the five starters from the University of Oregon. Ladies, thank you for being here. We'll go ahead and open it up for questions. Q. Ruthy, obviously you played a great game against McCowan in the first meeting. What are the challenges of repeating that, countering whatever adjustments? RUTHY HEBARD: She's a great player. I'm going to have to try again to get low, be strong, physical, depend on my teammates a lot. Hopefully that works out tomorrow. I know we're going to give it our all. Q. Satou, you said last night that you wanted Mississippi State again because you hadn't played well against them. I'm guessing you watched the film. What do you think you did wrong that game or what can you do better this game? SATOU SABALLY: I mean, I just wasn't that dialed in offensively. I did a couple of mistakes. But, I mean, on the other hand my team really stepped up and our bench had a huge game. Oti played a huge game. Everyone can have a bad day, and that was my bad day. Just coming out and being a good player. Q. Sabrina, you're not going to answer the question I want to ask about leaving early, so this is what I'm going to ask you instead. When you were becoming a top player, when you were in high school developing into this awesome prospect, I'm sure you saw, paid attention to all the guys who were becoming top prospects, doing one-and-done, going pro. You seem to be a pretty big advocate of the game. When you were younger, did you think: Why aren't the opportunities available for women to leave early? Why isn't that enticing to them? Is that something you want for the game? SABRINA IONESCU: I mean, looking back on it, back then I don't think I ever thought about that because I didn't think I was ever going to be in this position. Now going through it, learning more about the game, I do think there should be equal opportunity for both men and women regardless of the pay gap between the two sports. I mean, I am still learning things now. I didn't know I was even eligible to leave until I saw it on social media. I had absolutely no idea that I was even going to be given that opportunity besides a few months ago. I think that should be talked about more. I think girls at a younger age should definitely be given that knowledge because they could take, you know, different steps going through high school and going through college in their basketball careers and in school. Q. Sabrina and Ruthy, before the season we talked about how you had the photo of the Tampa skyline in the locker room, your feelings about that before the season. Now that you're at this stage again, have the opportunity to get there, right or wrong, a lot of people are going to judge the success or failure of this season based on reaching that point. Now that you're at this stage, what is the feeling heading into this that you can reach that goal? SABRINA IONESCU: I mean, ultimately it's just another game for us. It's just another opportunity for us to continue to get better, to continue to grow as a team, individually, collectively. At the end of the day it's just another basketball game. Ultimately we are trying to win this game, and we are trying to get further than we have these last couple years, at least with this core group. I think that's what's going to separate us as a more mature and veteran group. I think we want to get better, we want to do more than we have in the past. I think coming into this year we had Tampa written all over our locker room, that was our ultimate goal because that is ultimately what is going to set us apart. RUTHY HEBARD: I'm excited. Hopefully we make it to Tampa. We have one more task beforehand, and hopefully we're all up to the task. Q. Sabrina, what do you remember from the first game with Mississippi State as far as McCowan-Ruthy matchup? How important do you see that being to tomorrow's game? SABRINA IONESCU: I mean, it's going to be huge. That's their key player. That's their best player. That's one of the best players in the country. She didn't have her best game against us at our place. Credit to Ruthy and to our team. We know that tomorrow she's not going to let that happen again, especially with a Final Four on the line. We're going to have to be able to learn and adjust and play better than we did down at our place. Q. Ruthy, you talked about the challenge of defending McCowan. At the other end, putting her in ball screens, what opportunities did that create for you and your guards? RUTHY HEBARD: Putting her in a bunch of ball screens, we knew we would get a lot of shots off. Having our guards go off, turn the corner, getting dump-offs. Taylor played a great game. I remember that. That's going to help tomorrow, as well. Q. Maite, the challenge between your game last night and the game tomorrow, how dramatically different defensively of a challenge are these two games? MAITE CAZORLA: I mean, we're going to have to be dialed in defensively. All five have to rebound. That's what it's going to come to. Q. Sabrina, I think there's a good argument to be made that Maite is the most underrated player in the Pac-12. She does so much for you guys. Your best perimeter defender. What I really wondered was, you have a lot of success because you have a high basketball IQ, so does she. What is it like to play with another guard who is so smart? SABRINA IONESCU: I mean, it's awesome. We don't have to communicate a lot to understand what we're trying to accomplish on the court. We just feed off of each other. I just have to look at her, she looks at me, we know where we're going to go, what needs to be done. I give a lot of credit for everything I've done, for everything this team has accomplished just because of the fact that she doesn't get recognized a lot because of how many stars we have on this team. She's just as important as everyone else. She's been here when this team wasn't very good. She's still here when the team is at its best. Her composure, her basketball IQ, her ability to contribute when she steps on the court is something we definitely don't take for granted. Q. What was it like last year in the tournament not being able to help your teammates, having to watch? What does it mean now to have the opportunity to help them take the next step? ERIN BOLEY: Yeah, it was really hard last year. It was a really exciting year. Obviously they were playing Notre Dame in the Elite 8. It was tough to have to sit out. I was already really excited to be able to play, to be able to come in and help. To be at this point now is awesome. I'm going to do whatever I can to help this team make it one step further than we did last year. Q. Erin, why did you guys struggle so much from three? Was that South Dakota State's defense or were you off? Is it almost a must that you hit some threes to open up the offense against Mississippi State, considering who is in the paint? ERIN BOLEY: I think our shooting has a lot to do with us. We're confident going into the next game as a team. But there's a lot of different parts to our offense. We have always five different people on the floor that can do different things. I don't think it's a make or break for us. But we're moving on from that last game and forgetting about it. We're going to be confident going into the next one. Q. Sabrina, Taylor is such a huge impact in the first game. She found you on an assist. You found her in a pretty big basket in the third quarter. How big a role can she have? She was suited up but didn't play last night. How big an impact can she have? SABRINA IONESCU: The sky is the limit for her. She knows that. Just her will to win, do whatever it takes for our team to succeed is what she's going to do night in, night out, regardless if it's scoring none and giving up the ball to us in order for us to score, or defending and chasing off those screens. She's going to do whatever we need her to do. If she plays tomorrow, great. If she doesn't, great. I think we're right where we want to be, and everyone is going to have to step up a little more in order to take what she's not able to give us. Q. Sabrina, what opportunities did you see putting McCowan in ball screens, creating that first matchup? SABRINA IONESCU: I mean, the floor opened up. She's such a big inside presence. When you bring her towards the outside, that whole paint opens up. That's going to give bigger guards like Erin and Satou the ability to go in on their smaller guards. It's going to give us the ability for driving lanes. It's going to give Ruthy the ability to roll down and be unguarded in that pick'n roll. We can come off, look for the shot, have her chase us around on the outside, which hopefully over a 40-minute game is going to tire her out. Just continuing to find weaknesses that we can pinpoint and use against them is what we're going to do. That's not going to be the only thing that's going to work for us tomorrow. Just watching film, we didn't play our best game over at our place, we still ended up with a win. I think we have to learn from that and not settle for what we accomplished at our place, continue to grow. There's going to be a lot of areas where we need to pinpoint how to win, not just in the McCowan ball screen. Q. Ruthy and Satou, Mississippi State is very, very physical. It's really hard to simulate that when you're getting ready for them. Especially when you played them in December, how did you guys get ready for that? Did you have to guard Coach Graves in the paint to practice? RUTHY HEBARD: He actually did jump in. We practiced it a lot, Coach Graves just banging us up a little bit. We played against ourselves and Lydia, all banging against each other. It was good. I mean, she's super physical. That's going to be the main point of the game. Yeah, we banged up on each other a bit. Coach isn't the best. SABRINA IONESCU: Coach is soft, though. SATOU SABALLY: We also had great practice players. They push us every day in our practices. Just going against the guys, they get hyped up, just going against men I feel like who have that kind of power helps a lot in our practices. Yeah, if not, we'll just have to buckle up a little bit. Q. Obviously a lot of the focus is on Teaira. Are there other Mississippi State players who aren't Teaira that you are focusing on in your film study? SABRINA IONESCU: One through eight that they play. Anriel Howard is one of the best forewomen in the country. They've been to two national championship games. They've been in this position numerous times. You can never win just with one person. That team is just so tightly knit, that coach coaches them so well, they're prepared. They've been in this moment. They've been further than this moment. It takes a team in order for them to win. The pieces she has around her makes her excel at a really high level. We're going to have to take care of all their players, not just her, although she is one of the focus points that we have. THE MODERATOR: Ladies, thank you so much. Best of luck tomorrow. We're with Oregon head coach Kelly Graves. Any opening statement you'd like to make or... KELLY GRAVES: Let's go to work. THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Obviously you guys have a lot of tournament experience, your third time in the Elite 8. What are the challenges of playing a team that's been to the national championship the last two years, and their goal is to take it one step further from that? KELLY GRAVES: Yeah, I think that's been their saying right from the start: Unfinished business. We know we're going to get a very experienced team, but a determined team. They've had their eye to this. They've been here before. They've won twice in this game. We have yet to do that. We want to break through that ceiling. We don't want to be just an Elite 8 program, we want to be a Final Four and perhaps a national championship program. Yeah, until you do it for the first time, you don't really have that blueprint. They've done it, so... Now we want to make sure that's us this time. Q. You had some success with a combination defense against Mississippi State last time. What made that defense work? Is it the kind of thing you can try out two times in a row? KELLY GRAVES: Yeah, you wonder who has the advantage, the team that can adjust to how they were played last time or the one that had the success. I don't know. I don't know the answer to that question. I know we're going to have to try everything. That's the main thing. I think they're one of the best offensive teams in the country. I don't think you can just do one thing because Coach Schaefer is too smart. They will adjust to that. I think, like against most really good teams, you just have to mix things up, give them different looks. Obviously you start with Teaira inside. She is an incredible player, a movable force, so to speak. You look at Mt. Hood out there in the distance, you could put her right next to it because they're the two tallest things in this area right now. I'm telling you, she's incredible. But she has others around her. It's funny, they lost four seniors last year, really good seniors. I looked at their starting lineup again, they have another four seniors in it. They've reloaded. They've done it with a great system, great athleticism, great coaching, lots of talent. Q. You've coached two transcendent point guards, first Courtney and now Sabrina. How do great players make you a better coach? Did you learn anything in coaching Courtney that has helped you bring out the best in Sabrina? KELLY GRAVES: Well, they've both inspired me to be a better coach. I feel like I have to be prepared, I have to give my best each and every day because I know they always did. I have to live up to their standard. Yeah, I mean, I've been fortunate, really, two of the best college point guards ever. I see some similarities in the two. I think what sets those two apart from all the others that I've coached, and a lot that I've seen play, is their competitiveness, their determination each and every day. We talked last night about Sabrina diving into the scorer's table, the opposing team's bench, that's how they play every day. That's what Courtney always brought. She was the first one in the gym. I know it's cliché, the last one to leave, but it's the case. Those are the kind that do it. The time they put in when you're not watching... I know who is going in that gym. We get printouts of who is in and out of the gym with their cards. I've been truly blessed to be able to coach two players like that. Does that answer your question? Is there a follow-up? Q. I did wonder if they were similar. KELLY GRAVES: I think the vision, if you had to look at just one thing that they do, is their vision. They see things. They know players are open before that player knows they're open. They understand angles in passing. I think those are the two things that have set those two apart from any of the players that I've coached. Q. Your thoughts watching film on State, whether it be when they played in Eugene, moving forward, how improved McCowan is from that game to this point? That was really the only game she seemed flustered with what y'all were doing defensively. She's been defended similarly, handled it better. What have you seen from her since that day? KELLY GRAVES: Well, I think that's what's made her so strong. I just think she's been consistent all year long. Against us, it wasn't her best night. Credit our defense. I thought we played really well that night, especially Ruthy and Lydia. They did the yeoman's share of work on them, on her that night. No, I mean, she is what she is. I think the way they play, I really credit Vic. He's created the perfect style to fit her. If you help on penetration, they just lob it to her, it's a layup. If you don't help on the penetration, then the guards make the layups. It's a difficult thing to game plan for. What are you going to try and take away, a layup from a guard or McCowan? The truth is, she just doesn't miss many. So, yeah, we're going to employ some of the same things we did last time. We have worked on and will work on some new things. We just got to keep it a little bit fresh because, like I said, they're just too smart and she's too good of a player, who has help, by the way. She has help. It's not a one-person show. Q. I asked Ruthy, you talked about how physical Mississippi State is, kind of hard to simulate that in practice. So in December, what did you do to get ready for that? Did you have to play against Coach Graves? Sabrina said you wanted to be Teaira McCowan but you're really soft. KELLY GRAVES: True. I'd much rather stand out and shoot threes. I'm more Boris Diaw than Teaira McCowan. Q. Your idea of her scouting report of you, if it was accurate. You agree? KELLY GRAVES: I was always a three-point shooter. By the way, that never leaves. That's the last skill that you lose. The most frustrating part about being a practice player from time to time, and I do have to step in, is I know what I want to do, but I'm incapable of doing it. Or if I make that move, they've already beaten me to the spot. What was the rest of that? Q. That was it. I wondered your assessment. KELLY GRAVES: So they're trash talking, huh? I'll get out there today. I'll lay my 240 pounds on Ruthy. Q. The three-point shooting last night, was that what South Dakota State was doing or was that an off night? Is it going to be critical to open up the spacing by knocking some of those down? KELLY GRAVES: Yeah, I think we're the best three-point shooting team in the country. So we're not going to have nights like that. Four for 20, I thought we took good shots, had a lot of open looks, they just didn't go. We can't have another night like that or we're going to be in big trouble tomorrow, no doubt. No, I have confidence in our players. I think it was just one of those things that happened. It happens from time to time. That's why we've preached all year long, all the years I've been there and coached, that you got to be able to rely on the defense. I thought defensively we were really, really strong last night. So, you know, to know that we were off our shooting game and can still win by double-digits I think is a good sign. Q. How important was it for you guys to put McCowan in ball screens as frequently as you did in the first matchup? KELLY GRAVES: Well, yeah, that's what we do. We try to spread people out and make the centers guard us. I mean, that's no secret. I don't know how they'll adjust, but we were fortunate to get some really good looks at the rim last time. I don't think they're going to allow us to do that this time. We have to be ready to adjust to whatever they do. Yeah, I mean, that's no secret. That's how we play. We want to spread the floor and make centers defend us in the pick'n roll. I don't think I've given anything away (smiling). Q. You've coached a lot of good players, you've been coaching a long time. I know we've still got some time left, not talking about Sabrina leaving early yet. Did you ever think, especially when you first got into coaching, we'd ever be having this conversation even -- a lot of chatter about her and Jackie at Notre Dame going early. Is it weird to you we're even having this conversation in women's basketball or is it a good thing, a step toward equality? KELLY GRAVES: Well, I think it's a good thing, no question about it. I mean, obviously we want her to stick around. I think it's great. In the bigger picture, I believe all of these young people, men and women, should be able to make that choice right out of high school. If I look at my son, who is a math whiz, if Microsoft came to him and said, We would love for you to come work for us, we'll pay you three million a year, whatever that salary is, but you can't go to college, you're going to be a pro, we would encourage him to go. I don't know why it's any different with athletes. I think that's great. That's the way our system operates. So good on her, good on Jackie if that's what they decide. Being a college student-athlete is special. It's a lot of fun. I think what they're experiencing, both of them, just to use two examples, I think it's incredible. They've got to be enjoying this ride. Q. This is more of a season-long question. It seems like UConn is usually sort of the center of the women's college basketball universe. You have been getting more national attention maybe than any other program besides them. A new thing over the past year or so. What has the adjustment to that been like for you? How has it impacted your team? KELLY GRAVES: That's a really good question. First of all, I think it's deserved. This is a fun group. They play good basketball, they're unselfish. When you watch them, they play with lots of joy. They have fun doing what they're doing. I don't think it's changed us at all. Sabrina is just as humble as she always is. But you look every week, there's a new national article, video feature on her. I don't think it's really changed her at all. Same with the others. I think they're very humble kids. You just saw them all. I don't know if Erin said much. Did Erin say much? Okay, Ruthy probably had a big old smile, happy-go-lucky. Satou is more kind of thoughtful. Sabrina, as polished a student-athlete as you're every going to see in front of a microphone. They're really good kids. Maite probably didn't say much, right? That's how she plays. She is a superstar who has a chance to play in the WNBA, but she's very happy playing kind of a secondary role in terms of who is getting the attention. I'm just really blessed to have really nice young women who play their hearts -- they play for each other, they play really, really hard. I'm proud of them. Love each and every one of them. Again, I don't know if that answers your question or not. Sorry about that. Q. You said last night that you guys have been open from the beginning about we want to play in Portland, the players were talking earlier before you came in here about they want to go to Tampa. A lot of coaches shy away from that. We're just focused on the next game, whatever. Why did you make that decision to be bold and honest with them from the get-go about these are our goals, it's okay for us to say them out loud? KELLY GRAVES: We didn't really do it that way I think until recently. If that's what they were saying, I'm glad. I think for the most part we've talked about just the next game, the next game, the next game. But c'mon, we'd all rather be playing close to home. I don't think there was any doubt about that. That's no secret. But we had to earn that right. We had to win the Pac-12 championship outright. We did. To me that's the toughest. Good, I'm glad. Like I said at the start, we don't want to be an Elite 8 program. We've done this now three times in a row. We want to take that next step. I think we've worked hard enough to earn that right to do it. Now we just got to go do it. This is a great circumstance for us. We're in a great position to make that happen. We know Mississippi State is an amazing team, they are. They want it just as bad, have worked just as hard to earn that right. Q. You talked about the players, but you didn't mention, has the increased attention gone to your head? KELLY GRAVES: Well, yeah (laughter). I don't have much of an ego really, so no. They're not coming to see me. If you're coming to look at this, this body of mine, we're in big trouble. But they have handled I think that pressure better than they could have. It's really funny. It's like traveling with rock stars, seriously. The shout-outs they get on Twitter from big-time pros, LeBron, everybody else. Kobe comes to our game. They call us two days before we're playing at USC. Kobe's assistant, he's bringing his daughter, her friends, Duck fans. They want to meet the team after the game. You go to play at Washington, Sue Bird is across from our bench. Our governor has come to a couple of our games, our senator Ron Wyden came down during furlough, the federal employees could come for free. He took advantage of it, brought a whole group down from Salem. If you look at the nine Pac-12 teams that we played, the road games, their average attendance was 2700 on the year. When we played them, it was 5200. It almost doubled. A, we're getting a lot of Duck fans that travel. B, there are a lot of people interested in this group. There's some star power there. We play a fun style. We've gotten a lot of the national attention. I think they're kind of used to this. It's not a big deal. But I love what they've created. You walked into that place last night. This was incredible. We're not at home. This isn't a home game. But we've got a lot of fans that have traveled, that are interested in this group. I think it's great. It's great for women's basketball. I truly would love to see Portland host a Final Four. We have two of the best fan bases right here in the country in Oregon State and Oregon. We had a third NCAA tournament team at Portland State. I think we're showing that we can support something like that here. The Final Four hasn't been on the West Coast in a while. I think it's time for it to come back. Q. You haven't shied away from the expectations of this team all season. Before the season you had the picture of the Tampa skyline in the locker room, that being the goal. For a lot of casual fans success or failure will be whether or not you reach that. What do you say to those that that's the mindset heading into tomorrow? How do you define success of this team this season? KELLY GRAVES: Well, we've never said Tampa or bust or anything like that. What people want to say, they're going to say. We have talked most of the year really in terms of just the next game, the next game, the next game. I think we've compartmentalized that pretty well. I think maybe some are starting to say a little bit more. That's always been our focus. If things don't go well tomorrow, then I'm not going to look upon that as a failure of a season. We've won another Pac-12 championship. We put ourselves into a position to do it. The other day I was watching the men's tournament on our off day, there are some really good teams in that Sweet 16 who were going home. The fact that we've gotten this far three years in a row, I mean, it's hard. It is not easy to do. We started this thing five years ago and have really made a quick climb. It just doesn't happen in women's basketball very often. It doesn't happen in power conferences very often, to go from really the bottom to now back-to-back Pac-12 championships. No, I'm not going to play that game. We're going to go out, give it our best tomorrow. I hope we win. We're going to play hard enough to win. If we do, we're going to be really happy. We'll be humble but we'll be happy. If we don't, we're going to be sad. We're not going to look back and say, This was a failure. We only really care about what we think of ourselves. I don't really worry about what others say, how they want to judge us. That's up to them. But I'm proud of this group. I hope we can go further because I think they've worked hard for it. This is something that they've wanted. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. KELLY GRAVES: See you guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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