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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 8, 2020

Indianapolis, Indiana

Maryland - 82, Ohio State - 65

Q. You won 10 of 12 games coming into tonight; what can you attribute that change to?
KEVIN McGUFF: You know, I just think we've had a steady improvement throughout the year. We've got a young team, and these kids have really committed to getting better, and just kind of things started to click with us here late in the season.

Q. Do you feel like you guys made a statement this week with what you guys did?
KEVIN McGUFF: You know, I'm really proud of the group. We played really hard. We really competed at a high level. Kids left everything out there. We ran into a really good team today. Give Maryland credit; they're excellent. I think they're going to have an opportunity to make a great run in the Tournament. It's going to be fun to watch them. But really proud of the group, and I do think we really showed what we're capable of for the rest of this year and certainly with such a young team in the future.

Q. Do you guys kind of enjoy that underdog role? Is that something that kind of fuels you guys?
KEVIN McGUFF: I think the kids kind of did enjoy that. They kind of had a little edge to them coming in here as a little bit of a lower seed than maybe in years past that we've had, and kind of a lot of people probably weren't talking about us having an opportunity to do anything in the tournament. I think they did kind of use that as motivation for sure.

Q. Where do you go from here?
KEVIN McGUFF: Well, we're off, so we'll be off for a few days and then get back to practice, and we'll wait next Monday, see what the NCAA draw comes, see what that looks like when it comes out.

Q. About how many players do you think will be returning for next year?
KEVIN McGUFF: Still working on that because we've signed three kids. We just lose Savitha off this team, so we'll kind of see how the off-season goes.

Q. You started off with a two-point lead after that first quarter and then Maryland started to pick up some steam. What were you seeing there?
KEVIN McGUFF: You know, they were getting points in transition and off turnovers and in second-chance points. That really hurt us. I thought early on when we could play five-on-five and just in the half court we were okay, but they got too many second-chance points, and that was really what bothered us early on. But in general, I'm really proud of our team. We fought, scratched, and we had a great tournament. Give credit to Maryland; they're terrific. Really good. I think they've got a chance to make a special run in the NCAA Tournament, and that will be fun to watch.

Q. You make it all the way to the final as a 6 seed. How do you use this experience with such a young team moving forward in the NCAA Tournament?
KEVIN McGUFF: Yeah, well, that was the goal was for us to continue to -- we'll get some rest but then get back to practice and keep getting better, and once we get a draw get prepared for the opportunity that lies ahead.

Q. A lot of the team has said that they've kind of taken on the underdog mentality, that people didn't expect them to make this run. How have you seen that kind of take its shape?
KEVIN McGUFF: Well, I just think our focus, our intensity, our togetherness was as good as it's been all year. You could really see that. It was evident on the court.

Q. What makes Maryland such a tough team to play?
KEVIN McGUFF: They're extremely talented, and they've done a great job this year with their defense. They mix their defense up. They just make it really tough on you to generate quality shots, and they're long and athletic so they can switch a lot of things. I think that's probably the biggest difference is they've really taken a jump defensively from past years to this year, and it's really put them amongst the best teams in the country.

Q. Rebecca, I saw her on the sidelines, do you have any expectations for NCAA Tournament time?
KEVIN McGUFF: I don't know yet. We're hopeful. I think she'll be back by then, but she's got a high ankle sprain, and she's getting better. We've got time, so hopefully we'll get her back.

Aaliyah Patty

Q. Was depth maybe a little bit of a factor in this game?
AALIYAH PATTY: I mean, for sure. Playing four games in a row is really tough. Your legs get dead. But hey, you've just got to fight through it, I think, and we didn't do a good job of doing that.

Q. Even in a loss, how do you look back at this tournament? You win three of the four games you make it to the finals. What do you make of them as a whole?
AALIYAH PATTY: I think we know how it feels now to make it so far and then let up. I just feel like we're going to use that as fuel for the next tournament, to work harder and go farther.

Q. Do you feel like you guys made a statement this week? Obviously today's game notwithstanding, just what you guys were able to do over the past four days? Do you feel like that raised some eyebrows?
AALIYAH PATTY: Yeah, a lot of people weren't expecting us to make it this far, not even being ranked. I think a lot of people didn't see Ohio State in the championship. I think we did a great job of proving everyone wrong, although it wasn't the final result we wanted.

Q. Do you guys kind of enjoy that underdog role?
AALIYAH PATTY: I mean, for sure. It's always good to prove people wrong. I feel like a lot of top teams get beat, but being an underdog and being able to beat those top seeds is always a great feeling.

Madison Greene

Q. You started off kind of strong in that first quarter but then Maryland starts to gain some steam. How did you see this game going overall?
MADISON GREENE: I feel like we fought strong. I feel like we fought until the end, we just ran out of gas towards the end and they started hitting shots, and our defense started falling off.

I'm just proud of what we did, but we could have did better I feel like.

Q. With this loss, like you said, you still made it all the way to the final as a 6 seed. How do you reflect on this experience as a whole?
MADISON GREENE: You know, it was an exciting experience because nobody expected us to get this far, so I'm just proud of where we've gotten. We've got more to prove, so I'm excited for the future.

Q. For such a young team to have this kind of experience, how much do you think that's going to help come NCAA Tournament time?
MADISON GREENE: I feel like it's really going to help us, understanding like how we've got to really take care of our bodies and stay locked in every game because every game, every quarter, every second matters.

Jacy Sheldon

Q. How difficult a team are they to play?
JACY SHELDON: They're a great team with a lot of great players. Like she said, they're great in transition. They're really aggressive on the boards, and yeah, they're really deep, too. They're a great team overall.

Q. What's kind of the focus when you do play Maryland? Was there a strategy of who to shut down or anything like that?
JACY SHELDON: We knew we had to stay on their shooters and their bigs are obviously really aggressive, too. They really do have a great team, so we really focused on all of them to be honest. But yeah, they played a great game today.

Q. As a freshman, this being your first Big Ten Tournament experience, how do you take this sort of experience and move it forward in the NCAA Tournament?
JACY SHELDON: Yeah, I think we're all going to learn from this and we're going to use it as motivation in the tournament. I think overall we played a pretty good tournament. Obviously it didn't go the way we wanted, but we'll use that as growth for the future.

Braxtin Miller

Q. What makes them such a difficult team to face?
BRAXTIN MILLER: They've got a lot of great players that come in. They are super long, lengthy, athletic. They are great in transition, play good defense, and they're able to switch 1 through 5. So it just creates some challenges.

Q. What do you take away from a tournament experience like this, to win all the way to the final. How do you take that forward into the NCAA Tournament?
BRAXTIN MILLER: I think it's just a great confidence booster. A lot of people didn't think we'd be able to get to this point. I think we knew, but most people didn't, so to be able to prove that to everyone else is just huge for ourselves and huge for everybody else watching us, as well.

Q. How much have you used this underdog sort of mentality as a motivator both in this tournament and just throughout the season?
BRAXTIN MILLER: I think we've definitely used it, but I don't think we've personally ever felt like an underdog. I feel like we feel we're right there with everyone else. We can compete, and I think that we've clearly proven that. Today obviously wasn't the results we wanted, but I think that it's motivated us to hear everything that people were saying and just be able to try to come out and prove everyone wrong.

Dorka Juhasz

Q. This is the third time you've played Maryland; what makes them such a difficult team to play night in and night out?
DORKA JUHASZ: I mean, they have great upperclassmen leaders, and they're very aggressive, and obviously they force some turnovers. You could see we were down on the boards by I don't know how much, a lot. So they were really aggressive. They looked like they didn't play two games before. Obviously we felt that this was our fourth game, so we kind of like ran out of gas, I believe. But we have to give them credit because they're an amazing team, and obviously they're No. 1 seed in the tournament for a reason.

But I'm really proud of the team because we fought really hard. Obviously it's disappointing right now, but we're looking forward to the NCAA Tournament.

Q. You started out strong from the field in that first quarter, but it kind of started to slow down. Do you think fatigue played a factor in that?
DORKA JUHASZ: Definitely, but just also obviously just fighting and rebounding, and I think we didn't get those loose balls that they got, and they were more aggressive, so that led them to like easy baskets in transition, and we couldn't go back and we couldn't match up in transition defense. Obviously those were really easy points, and they could get up easily.

Q. Even in the loss, this is a pretty remarkable run for a 6 seed to make. What do you take from this entire tournament?
DORKA JUHASZ: It was just a great opportunity for us, and it kind of showed us our character and how we can play together if we're really together. Obviously I'm disappointed right now, but looking back, I think it just got us closer and even more hungry in the NCAA Tournament to do some big things. But obviously we've got to look back, we've got to watch film, we've got to see what worked, what didn't work, and I believe we have like a few days off now to rest, and then we've got to go to work.

Q. Do you feel like you guys made a statement this week? Obviously tonight's result notwithstanding, just the run that you guys have been on, do you feel like that raised some eyebrows?
DORKA JUHASZ: Oh, for sure. I don't think that many teams and many people who watch women's basketball thought that we were going to get in the finals this year, so we were kind of the underdogs this year. So definitely I believe we just like left a mark here, but obviously it didn't turn out how we wanted.

It's just like really we have to give credit to Maryland because they're an amazing team, and they were ready to come out, and obviously they showed why they're this good.

Q. Do you guys kind of enjoy playing that underdog role?
DORKA JUHASZ: Yeah, I think we were really enjoying it, just like listening to media, like hey, who do you pick, who's going to be in the finals. Nobody picked us to be in the finals. I think it just gives us an extra fuel to work harder and just to show that even if we're really young, we're literally babies, like freshmen and sophomores, like we can do some big things if we are together. We're enjoying it a lot.

Q. Winning 10 of the last 12 games coming into the night, what can you attribute that change in the season to?
DORKA JUHASZ: I mean, I'm just really proud of us, like how -- we had like a lot of ups and downs in the season, and obviously March is the most important time of the year, and just -- it's just we worked so hard for this whole season, and actually we were here in the Big Ten Tournament, so we came in like hey, we've got to work, we've got to show what we have.

And I think we did a great job, obviously. As I said, we lost and everything, but I'm really proud, and I think everybody improved. This is a young team, so hopefully in the next two years, we can get to the tournament again, so now we kind of have a feeling like how it's going to go in the future, too, and like you've got to be tough for four games, if it's four games. If it's five, three, you've just got to be tough.

Yeah, I think we got better, and that's the most important thing for March?

Q. Where do you go from here?
DORKA JUHASZ: Well, hopefully dancing (laughs). We've got to rest, and we've got to prepare and just get better, maybe do some individual stuff as we can and then like hopefully if we're dancing, then just always prepare for the next game, and it doesn't matter what's coming after, it's just game by game we've got to prepare, scout and get better.

Janai Crooms

Q. What was being said to kind of attempt to make this upset happen?
JANAI CROOMS: Honestly, just sticking with the personnel and watching film. I mean, I feel like throughout the game I feel like we did an okay job knowing the personnel, knowing the shooters, the drivers. I feel like they're a really great team. They have really good depth, so I think that's pretty much what the focus was before the game.

Q. Have you felt yourself try and become the energizer for this team? I see you before the games trying to pump everyone else. Is that a role you've taken on?
JANAI CROOMS: Yeah, I take on that a lot. That's kind of my role in practice, in games. All throughout the season it's just been my role, and I think I've lived up to that.

Q. How do you use this sort of result maybe as motivation moving into the NCAA Tournament?
JANAI CROOMS: Honestly, a lot of people didn't project us to get this far, especially in the Big Ten Tournament, but getting this far with a young team, I think we can do a lot of big things in the NCAA Tournament and get pretty far if we just stay together, keep our mindset all on the same page. I think we can do some great things.

Q. You said not many people have expected this. With such a young team, were these kind of your expectations to do this in year one with all these freshmen and sophomores?
JANAI CROOMS: Honestly, it was, but at the same time, I already knew -- even last year coming into it as a freshman, we didn't get that far, but I knew my next year, just trying to teach them like take it game by game, just live in the moment and just play your hardest when you're out there.

Q. How have you seen these freshman guards? They say they don't even feel like freshmen. Do you see that in their persona and how they've played?
JANAI CROOMS: Yeah, I see that, especially as the season went on. Back in November I would be like, wow, you could tell these were freshmen, but as the season went on, they matured. They got so much mature. I feel like Madison has handled her role being the point guard of the team, and just being able to come in as a freshman and being able to take that role is really big, and I think she has done really good with that.

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