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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 6, 2020

Greensboro, North Carolina

Louisville - 71, Syracuse - 46

THE MODERATOR: We have head Coach from Syracuse, Quentin Hillsman and Kiara Lewis. Coach?

QUENTIN HILLSMAN: Obviously disappointed in the loss, for yesterday was a big game for us. We knew we had to win the first one to get to the second one. We had a great opportunity today to play against one of the best teams in the country. The have a chance to do some big things and possibly win a National Championship. Jeff has done a fantastic job with this basketball team. We knew we had to play with tempo, play with some pace and try to make some shots and when you shoot 17% in the first half it makes a difference. The second half we didn't make a few shots. We were able to you know, speed the game up a little bit and get some more possessions. Just a lot of credit has to go to Louisville. They were fantastic today. We knew this game was going to be tough for us coming off yesterday's game but I thought our kids came out and battled as hard as they could I know I coached as hard as I could and the outcome is what it is.

I was really happy, Kiki has been playing forty minutes a game all season long and to play against a tough team like that who is blitzing her on every ball screen and hedging hard on her. She did a good job of keeping her composure and to play against that style of defense and limit her turnovers, only two in the game fantastic game by her so got to give her credit for keeping us in it. We couldn't get the ball in the basket and you can't score in the 40s and 50s, you gotta score in the 70s and 80s to beat Louisville. They are a special team. Most of all I'm really proud of my team's fight.

Q. With Emily who is the diagnose on her ankle and what did her playing mean to the team?
QUENTIN HILLSMAN: It's just a sprain but obviously less than 24 hours away it's tough to rehab that. If we would not have played today and played tomorrow she would have been a lot better, better shape on her ankle, but it's just a sprain.

She'll be fully recovered by the time we get back on the court but just a lot of credit to her for just trying to play because she could have sat this one out.

Q. Coach, some of the things that you'll say to the team after this game, things that you will be looking forward to do the rest of the season, next year?
QUENTIN HILLSMAN: We just want to continue to play hard and play our way. Obviously, you know, we should be playing in the NIT at least and I'm really looking forward to continuing to play together and to grow.

When you have Emily hurt and tonight with high man not playing that's another guard in our rotation that's a big piece for us and that's tough playing without high man and definitely without Emily, but it was about 14 minutes left in the game, I said, hey, we only got 14 more minutes, we're not go to shut this game down. So we had to finish the game hard. So we scrambled to play hard and came out and just play the way we play.

Q. Coach, this is a schedule that you put up as one of the hardest you've had in a little while. There are still games to play but what about the season down the stretch and your overall team fighting it out through the rest of the year in?
QUENTIN HILLSMAN: That's what it's about, just stay together and continue to compete. Every game we play we're going to go out there and prepare to win the game. We're excited for whatever games we have left, I know I am. Whatever comes next we're going to go out there and play the way we play.

Q. Coach, you were able to contain Dana Evans in the first two meetings during the regular season. What challenges did she present today and what did you see out of her?
QUENTIN HILLSMAN: She shot the ball well, obviously. We came out and we were trying to get our defense set and every time we were in the zone we would get off her and she would shoot the three. She played fantastic today, gotta give her credit for being tough and playing that way.

Our goal was to go into that game and try to have Dana and Kiki kind of cancel each other out and they did, 23 points for her and 18 for Kiki so that was a tough battle. We just needed more scoring from other spots on the floor.

Q. For Kiara, the second quarter seemed like it was a turning point, what was Louisville doing in that quarter and where did you guys struggle?
KIARA LEWIS: We just didn't make shots and like Coach said, you gotta make outside shots and we just didn't do that.

Q. Kiara, they kept you in front and forced you to take mid-range jumpers, what did you see out of their defense?
KIARA LEWIS: Like I just said, the paint was clogged up and that was part of their game plan to enclosing the paint so I couldn't attack and they had one of their longer posts on me.

Q. Bunch of close losses throughout the season. When you think about the season, from a birds-eye view what are flash points that you think of now that we're here?
QUENTIN HILLSMAN: Well, to be at this point of the season and have 16 wins I thought that was a tough task for who we had scheduled. We had some really good wins on the season.

On any given night I think it's proven that we can beat anybody in our conference at least and definitely play with anybody in the country. But obviously when you are undermanned it's tough to sustain that for an entire season when you have players like Kiki playing forty minutes a game every night, and it's tough.

I don't regret not one minute of this. Playing those games where you've got to win by 60, 70 points ain't fun. They're not fun to coach. They ain't fun to play, and I don't think you really learn a lot about your team in that situation. So we scheduled that way so we could be tested. We gotta be ready to compete because our goal was to win the National Championships, and you can't win National Championships by not playing great competition.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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