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PAC-12 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 8, 2020Tara VanDerveerKiana WilliamsAshten PrechtelLas Vegas, Nevada Oregon - 89, Stanford - 56 TARA VANDERVEER: I think we started out very well. We had a very good first quarter, and we just really struggled after that. And a lot of that, give the credit to Oregon. They are a terrific team. They shot the ball well from the perimeter. A lot of different people stepped up for them. They have a great inside game. You know, we really struggled offensively, but I thought we had a real bright spot off the bench with Ashten. She came in, hit some big shots for us and competed. And Kiana led the way for us. Playing every minute of the tournament, putting her team on her back every single game. I hope that this is a very positive motivation for our team looking forward to playing in the NCAA Tournament. I don't know that any game that we would play in the tournament would be any harder. Again, that's a real credit to Oregon and the great team that they have this year. Q. Tara, were you getting shots that you liked, that you thought were good shots? It seemed like there were some good shots that just weren't falling? TARA VANDERVEER: You know, I think especially early, you know, I can think of kind of a really nice shot on the wing that Lexie got, you know, just, you know, we -- I think sometimes things almost -- I don't know want to say are contagious, you know, if you hit a shot, then somebody else hit a shot, then it can build that way. We struggled. We struggled hitting shots. You know, Lexie has had a great tournament, played really well last night, and just -- you know, you can't control the shots. People worked really hard defensively, and they are very, very difficult to guard, but we worked very hard and they still -- I mean, you're right on people and they're still hitting some really big shots. Q. How much pressure does your offense feel or does an offense feel when playing against Oregon to keep up? TARA VANDERVEER: Well, I mean, I think one of the things, you know, like when we -- if you look at who played really well for them, I mean, you know, Sabally did so well last game, and she was 3-11, 0-5, a total of seven points. Someone else picks up the slack for them. You know, so like Boley and their starting lineup, we did a really good job on her, but then Ruthy goes 9-11, Sabrina, 7-12. So they -- if one person for them is struggling, someone else is picking up the slack. That does put a lot of pressure on our team because like we may think we're doing such a good job here, and then someone else is stepping up for them. We don't -- our team I think is really young. We don't have the depth that if Kia has a bad game or Lexie has a bad game that somebody else can step up and get it done for us. Q. Tara, we know they're the most efficient offense in the country, but how good would you say they are defensively, and how big of a factor will that also be for them going forward? TARA VANDERVEER: You know, I think they have worked really hard on their defense. You know, defense -- they're athletic, big, I think that maybe they really -- they learned from their experience at the Final Four that, you know, offense wasn't going to be enough. But, you know, they're big, they're strong, they rebound. You know, you get one shot, and they're going the other way pretty fast. I think the consensus, number one player in the country running their offense, and they have got lights-out shooters. Again, I don't think there is a game that our team is going to play that's any tougher. You know, I mean, this -- just I give them a tremendous amount of credit and, you know, just -- we're not the only team they have beat this year, I think they beat a U.S.A. team early on pretty well too. They are extremely talented. Q. Kiana, going with Tara's point of explaining this as a positive experience, how would you put Lexie's season into perspective having taken a big step forward in being the second leading scorer, and how it helps you when she had a game like last night? KIANA WILLIAMS: Lexie is a great player, two-way player. She takes on the scoring role and guards the other team's best perimeter player. She's had a great sophomore year, and she's been playing extremely well. She struggled tonight, but other people have to, you know, step up. But I'm really proud of Lexie, proud of our team, and she's going to finish out this year and even have a great rest of her two years here. Q. Kiana, what will you guys take from this game and move forward with? KIANA WILLIAMS: Partially I'm just going to take -- this is like learning. They have great chemistry. Their chemistry is amazing. I think for our team one thing to take away is just learning to stick together. I don't think we -- like showed any bad body language or anything when things weren't going our way. That starts with me. I'm just proud of our team for, you know, keep fighting, Ashten came in and kept playing until the final horn. So stick with things. It didn't go our way tonight, but no one gave up or started pouting or anything. Q. Tara, with so many young players, and then the injuries, some of them pretty key, has this season been a little bit like a jigsaw puzzle for you where you just keep moving the pieces around? And even this late you're still sort of working on what that needs to look like? TARA VANDERVEER: You know, I mean, that's a great question. You know, we're so excited to have Maya back, what, this may be maybe her ninth game, you know. And I think she's doing very well, but for her to absorb all the plays, the out-of-bounds plays, everything we're doing, it is just I think a lot to ask, especially a game like this. You know, again they don't ask what year you're in when you check in the game. I'm very proud of our young team and how they battled, whether it is the injury to DiJonai, whether it is to Haley, you know, take three starters off of any team, and they would, you know, give their right arm to be sitting up here as a No. 2 team in the best conference in the country. You're exactly right. We don't dwell on it. There's nothing you can do about it. I think that the experience of playing in a championship game, playing against a great team, we want that to be a positive for our team going forward into the NCAA Tournament. Q. Similar question there: Nadia returned for you this season, and she's been so steady with you, but kind of with that other spot, when you have Ashten, Fran, Maya now back, Alyssa, at the same time how difficult is it to maybe see how tough it may be for them because there are so many minutes to go around, but at the same time trying to get them to a point where you can get all four of them helping you at this point in the year? TARA VANDERVEER: You know, because Maya is just coming back, she really is -- I'm not going to say limited, but her stamina is not where she can go more than two, three minutes at a time. She's working really hard, running the floor really hard. That's a good situation for a freshman, not to have to play too much where their bodies break down. You know, I look at, you know, Nadia has really had a -- she's having a great senior year. You know, I think that three games in three days is -- it is a different kind of competition, like we don't ever have to do this again, but there's plenty of time for them to get valuable minutes. I'm looking at -- you know, I think maybe Fran, Ashten playing 18 minutes, 20 minutes a game is going to be what it is going to be. We have moved Alyssa to the 3 a little bit. I think there's 20 minutes for each of our post players. Q. Last night we asked both Adia and Cori about the next two weeks and how much improvement a team can make in the next two weeks. Would you address that? How much better do you feel you can be in the next two weeks? TARA VANDERVEER: I think that's true. I hope our team -- you know, I -- there's like a little bit of a kind of mixed bag, you know. Our team is disappointed we didn't compete and do better. But we know that this is what I call the dress rehearsal, and the NCAA Tournament, we're confident that we'll be a top seed in that. And I think this can give our team a really good taste of this is what's it going to be in the tournament, this is the sense of urgency and how hard you have to play. To beat Oregon State and to beat UCLA and to be sitting here, I'm really proud of our team. But at the same time, we're disappointed we didn't do better. We can use this two weeks and get better. I'm very excited to have such a young group to say, hey, this is what it is going to look like, what it really looks like at the top. Q. Tara, if I could ask a big-picture question, you have played basically every great team that's been around, and you have been one of them for the last 35 years. This Oregon offense in particular, how good is it when you compare it to some of the best that both you have seen and some you have coached yourself? TARA VANDERVEER: You know, like tonight, they -- I think they looked really good tonight. You know, just maybe their Arizona State loss motivated them, or the Louisville loss or their loss last year in the NCAA Tournament. I think the jury is out. You know, great teams win championships. I'm not -- I mean, I think they -- I think they do have a great team. I don't think it -- I don't think you can, you know, crown a -- we have had, you know, I don't know how many Pac-12 championships, but those -- you have to -- I think you have to prove it in the NCAA. Again, this is a great tournament and I think great practice for a tournament atmosphere, but the test is to come. Q. This is for Kiana and Ashten, the Coronavirus has impacted your campus. I'm wondering as either players or students what -- I guess how you may have felt the effects of this and going forward, you know, into sort of what's a great unknown? I don't know, just maybe your thoughts on how this may impact the tournament, your practices, those sorts of things? ASHTEN PRECHTEL: I mean, we have -- we have the rest of our classes, they're all online now. I mean, we hopefully won't be interacting with people who have it. We just will continue practicing and getting ready, and, I mean, hopefully we'll stay safe. You know, we're just going to keep on getting ready. KIANA WILLIAMS: Yeah. We're just getting updates from our coaching staff and stuff, looking out for emails from our professors and whatnot. Yeah, just washing our hands, doing all that, the little things and, you know, trying to stay healthy. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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