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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 4, 2020Jonathan TsipisAbby LaszewskiImani LewisIndianapolis, Indiana Wisconsin - 71, Illinois - 55 Q. How does it feel to come out of day one victorious? JONATHAN TSIPIS: Yeah, you're still playing. I think at this time of year in the postseason, we had a good sense of urgency. I hope the seniors are able to lead the charge on that, and I thought Abby Laszewski did that. Having we have a tough task in having played Coach Stringer's team twice, once at the beginning at our place, and then obviously a week ago exactly it'll be at the RAC. Excited that I think our kids understand after the run we made last year how not to get ahead of ourselves, so we haven't talked one minute of Rutgers going into the game with Illinois. Obviously it's a quick turnaround, but they've been used to that process, and that's part of the reason we play tournaments over Thanksgiving where it's back to back, to get them into that recovery mode. It's a huge challenge, but we're still playing, and that gives us the opportunity. Q. Abby Laszewski 24 points and 10 rebounds, really did lead the charge. What kind of separates her from the rest of the group? JONATHAN TSIPIS: Well, I think we're built around our post play. Obviously Imani Lewis was a second-team all-league player, and Abby was an honorable mention. I thought in the first half after about the first five minutes -- again, Abby took shots she's very capable of making. She's got a good touch from the free-throw line, short corner. She got to the free-throw line. Same thing with Imani, so I think they're able to play off each other. I think even the more important thing for the post players is our guards obviously were able to get them the ball in position to be successful. But I thought the jumpers that Niya Beverly and Julie Pospisilova knocked down in the first half started opening some things up to make it easier to get it inside. Obviously it's a tall task defensively, Rutgers is, but again, you hope the seniors are able to play with that sense of urgency knowing that they're only guaranteed one more game, but if there's still one more game to play, anything can happen. Q. Looking forward towards Rutgers, tomorrow the second time you guys are playing them in just a week, obviously not able to come away victorious last week against them, but what did you see in the last game that's could change tomorrow's game? JONATHAN TSIPIS: Well, we've got to keep them off the free-throw line. Obviously Arella Guirantes really hurt us, going 14-for-14 from the line. I thought we did a really good job; it's a three-point game at halftime. It's a four-point game with four minutes left in the fourth quarter. Ironically enough she hits two free throws coming out of the media break. She's a tremendous scorer. She scores in a lot of different ways. We held her to one field goal in the first half. We've got to be able to make her as uncomfortable and take as many contested shots without fouling because again, when you start putting somebody early on the line, it becomes contagious, not only for her but for other people on the team. You have to handle the pressure. I thought we did a good job against them the last time versus when we played them at home. But again, we've got to be able to break that and score and take advantage of, if they are going to commit two people to the ball, how can we get it to a spot where we can be in advantaged situations. ABBY LASZEWSKI Q. Just to start off, how does it feel to get that first win under the belt here in the Big Ten Tournament? ABBY LASZEWSKI: It feels good. That was the goal that we had coming in, obviously. So just to play hard and get that win is really big for us. Q. Obviously a big day for you today. What was kind of working out there and what were you seeing on the floor that allowed you to have that success? ABBY LASZEWSKI: I mean, like Coach said in our talk just then, he just thanked the guards that had 20-plus assists, so they were just really looking for us and looking for the posts, which helped us be successful. Q. You guys talked about how you guys like to go through the posts. Is that something you feel comfortable with, working down there and getting the shots up? ABBY LASZEWSKI: Yeah, that's something we've been doing all season is just kind of like you said, work through the posts and get inside-outside looks, so we just stuck with it today, and it worked. Q. Looking ahead to Rutgers, what's something you think you need to do well to get the victory? ABBY LASZEWSKI: I mean, always against Rutgers you've got to be able to handle their pressure, and I think if we can handle it for four quarters, we have a really great chance to win. IMANI LEWIS Q. First of all, how does it feel to get that first win here today on opening day? IMANI LEWIS: Feels amazing. It's a blessing that we were able to come this far and also that we're playing together as a team, and we all want to win, and we all have the same mindset. Q. You had an 11-0 run at the end of the first quarter and into the second quarter. Do you feel like that was kind of a catalyst for your success today? IMANI LEWIS: Oh, yeah, it was a catalyst, and even into our halftime, we were constantly motivating each other, "Let's go, let's go, like keep it pushing, keep it moving." Q. What was something that you guys really focused in on coming into today? And do you feel like you executed that? IMANI LEWIS: Defensive rebounding, yeah. I think we've been struggling defensively a lot, just mental lapses, and I think today we played really good defense. Q. How important is Abby to the success of this team? Obviously 24-10 today, just really a big part of it being out there today. IMANI LEWIS: Yeah, she's very important, just her big body, her presence, and she just uses that very well. On defense she's stretching, using her body, blocking shots. Q. As one of the leaders on this team, how do you guys get your group ready to go again tomorrow? It's a quick turnaround. IMANI LEWIS: Like I tell everybody, you have to have the winning mindset. We can't hang our heads, like oh, we played Rutgers twice and lost. We've got to go in with the mindset that we're going to win, and then lay out the foundation, like how we're going to win, what can we all contribute to the win. Q. And then this is your third time playing Rutgers now. What's one thing you know that you have to do to have success tomorrow? IMANI LEWIS: We've got to stay on 24. That's their go-to player, so we've just got to lock her up and use that as motivation to keep going. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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