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PAC-12 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 8, 2020Kelly GravesRuthy HebardMinyon MooreSabrina IonescuLas Vegas, Nevada Oregon - 89, Stanford - 56 KELLY GRAVES: Well, first of all, I want to congratulate Stanford on a great year. You know, they have set a high bar for this conference for many years, and I think they have helped everybody else elevate the league. It's not that they're coming back to us, I think we're all elevating. And that's due to Coach VanDerveer and her great team. Tonight they just met a better team. We played great. I just thought defensively we were on point. Offensively, it is one of the most efficient games I have seen us play. Everybody contributed. When we needed different players to step up, different players did. That was super, super nice to see. I'm really proud of them for their effort, and we validated a very hard-fought two-month grind Pac-12 regular season championship now with the tournament championship. We don't have to share it with anybody. Q. Congratulations on the win. Can you talk about the energy that the whole team brought and specifically the defense and presence that Minyon brought tonight? KELLY GRAVES: You know, it's funny, your great players find a way to step up in the biggest moments, and, you know, Minyon -- you know, there have been games where she's struggled, but she's got the heart of a champion. And on the biggest night, on the biggest stage, she was able to step up her game. And that changed I thought the whole game. By her making those shots, it was like, yeah, we know what Stanford was trying to do, and it wasn't going to work. She stepped up to that challenge. You know, Ruthy I thought was huge all night long. Sabrina gets a lot of credit, she should. The person that puts this all together is Ruthy down low. If we don't have her, teams would play us differently. We wouldn't be able to make the plays we do from the perimeter, shoot as well as we do from the perimeter. Then when you have someone like Sabrina, who then puts it all together, she's like that conductor of the orchestra. She is -- she's got everything exactly the way she wants it. All three of these guys really stepped up tonight. It was great to see. I'm really happy for them. They worked hard for this. There's been a lot of pressure on this team this year, maybe more so than any Pac-12 team I can remember. And they have done it. They have answered the bell each and every time. Q. I have a two-part question to start with Minyon and then for the two ladies. There was a point in the second quarter where you're going for a rebound, it looks like Lexie sort of dropped you on your backside. And the look on your face, that you went up for a rebound on the same sequence, took it to the other end and you were just possessed for the next couple of minutes. It looked like it fueled your fire even more. You had your game face on, then it just intensified. For you two ladies, when you see something like that, what does she bring out of you two? MINYON MOORE: I have some crazy game faces I really can't control. But, yeah, it's just putting fuel to the fire, kind of like: Oh, you're to push me over? All right, let's see what we can do. It wasn't intentional. It is just a game thing. I can't control my faces. Yeah, it just fired me up. RUTHY HEBARD: It is fun to see her, her face change, because she's such a competitor. And I'm like, oh, gosh, look at Yon, she's trying to screen her, she gets through it, she gets her hands on the ball, just really fun and hypes the whole team up. SABRINA IONESCU: When she plays that hard, we want to play that hard for her as well. So I think she set the tone defensively, which fueled her offense and our offense as well. Q. For Ruthy, you guys I thought tonight -- I watched you walk an interesting line between winning a game you wanted to win very badly and looking pretty businesslike doing it. Like the celebration was you guys celebrated it, but it wasn't crazy, it wasn't -- it felt like it was sort of a check off the to-do list. Am I reading that right? RUTHY HEBARD: We're really excited to be -- Stanford is a such a good team, but I think we know that we have a lot more we want to accomplish before we finish this year off. We're really happy for the win, and we're really excited for what's next to come. KELLY GRAVES: Can I just touch on that? You have been around our team a little bit. They celebrate and have fun every day. I think we're the loosest team you will ever see. I don't think we need moments like this to celebrate and let loose. I think it is kind of who we are and, you know, I think it is in our DNA, this is how we act each and every day. Q. Two questions. Ruthy, you had kind of a tough game last year in the championship game. Did that kind of fuel you a little bit today? RUTHY HEBARD: Everything fuels me. Of course we remember last year's game. We wanted to get them back, and I'm just happy with how I played and how my teammates were able to put confidence in me and get me the ball. Q. Minyon, it looked early in the game you were maybe as aggressive as you have been in quite a while offensively. Is that fair to say, that you took the challenge and really were aggressive offensively? MINYON MOORE: Yeah. Teams have obviously helped off on me, and I know that it kind of hurts our offense and hurts our inside game with Ruthy. I took it to heart and I know shot the shots tonight, I'm happy they went in, my teammates and coaches have faith in me. Yeah, I took it to heart, yeah. Q. I have this for Sabrina, and, Coach Graves, if you want to answer it too. One thing that Coach VanDerveer said is you guys are the most efficient offensive team in the country, she really feels like defensively you have taken it up a level, individually and as a collective, as a team this season. Can you talk about that and how much maybe that is an extra comfort factor, if you will, going into the NCAA Tournament, that your defense has gotten as good as it is? SABRINA IONESCU: It is for sure. I mean, especially us two that were here for the last four years, we have relied on our offense a lot in games when we were not shooting the ball particularly well, when we maybe have gotten in foul trouble, we haven't been able to rely on our defense, and I think last year we realized that we fell short due to the fact that we needed to defend better. So this year, I mean, our whole focus coming into this year was defense, and obviously it starts individually and then it joins in collectively. I think, you know, from us, that play and start to the bench, we all are focusing on our defense and trying to be the best we can because you can impact the game regardless if you're making a shot or not. We know that some nights our shots aren't going to go in, and we need to be able to rely on our defense. And we're just continuing to get better in that aspect of the game every day. Q. To piggyback off that, I don't know how many times we have asked you over the course of the year how much Minyon has played a role in increasing that defensive identity, but as a collective, as a group, especially down the stretch here, how has it become this one person leads the charge to now everybody has bought into that mindset? KELLY GRAVES: I think it's come from a couple of different areas. Number one, if you remember this time, and you mentioned Ruthy in this championship game last year, she was playing on one leg. You know, at this time last year, Maite had the flu, Taylor Chavez was out for the season. We actually suited up seven players. When you're playing 40 minutes a game, like our guards had to do, you know, the energy you have to exert at the defensive end may not be the same. We have depth this year. We have gone from the 191st most efficient defense into now a top 30 defense. I think that's critical. It starts because we have better depth, we have had good health. We have a couple of players that come off the bench, Jaz Shelley and Taylor Chavez, who lift us defensively, not just offensively, but lift our defense, but Minyon gets a lot of the credit. It has been Minyon not necessarily that she's disrupting people, but she's slowing transition down. We gave up no transition points to one of the best transition offensive teams in the country today. They got zero transition points. That was our number one key tonight. Minyon is the one that is slowing the ball down in transition. Number two, she's our best talker. Number three, she's a bulldog and is tough as nails. And if you're not holding up your end of the bargain defensively, she's going to let you hear it. She's the one that I think has really driven that bus, everybody else has hopped on, and I think we have now seen the benefits of playing both ends of the floor. We're still the most efficient offense in the country, and it is not even close. But now we can play both ends of the floor, which makes us really difficult to play I think. Q. Minyon, I'm sure you watch these guys postseason runs the last few years on TV. What's it mean to you? I saw you doing snow angels in the confetti, you have the net around your neck. What's this mean right now? KELLY GRAVES: She's no angel. MINYON MOORE: Joke chokes. It means everything. Yeah. By this time I'm at home with my feet kicked back watching them on TV. Yeah, it means a lot. Obviously I idolize Sabrina and Ruthy, so I've obviously supported them in the postseason. To be a part of it now, to be a part of a program who is not only all about basketball but about family and pushing you to be a better person off the court and on the court is everything. I'm just really blessed to be able to do it alongside these amazing people. And we still have a lot of business to take care of. Yeah. This is a great conference win and conference championship, but we have a lot more to accomplish. Q. During the regular season you outdistanced teams by 28 points; in this tournament, 23. How important was it to continue to not just win games but dominate, to fuel that run going into the NCAA, basically never letting your foot off the jugular? KELLY GRAVES: Number one, we just wanted to win the game; however, we did -- we knew the entire nation was watching. This is the time of year that committee members are watching as well. It's not why we try -- you know, we don't play harder because of that, but I think it's important the way we played this game, the way it played out. We showed really everything that we can do tonight. This is a very effective team. We have ten wins, ten wins against teams that were in the top 16 in the last reveal. Ten. That's more than the other three projected No. 1s combined. We have five of those were on the road, okay, more than twice the number of those other three combined. We had two on a neutral site. So we have shown that we are a really good basketball team, and it doesn't matter where we play, and we play the best, and we have beaten the best. So I really just look forward to now the next six-game tournament to see what we can really do. Yeah. This team at times have been very dominant in their play. Q. This is for Minyon. You know, you have had quite a journey to get to this point between the injuries and USC and now here. You know, this is between the US -- USA, excuse me, and the UConn game, probably one of the bigger stages that I would imagine you have played on with Oregon now. What was it about that first quarter and the second especially where you just kind of had it in a zone? Did you kind of know you were in a zone, especially shooting from the outside early? MINYON MOORE: Yeah. I mean, they have all been great experiences. And once I see the ball go in once, it is kind of I have more confidence going from there. It is just a matter of seeing the ball go to the basket. Yeah, in a zone, when my teammates are hot, too, we're all hot together, it is kind of like unstoppable. So yeah, they're all great experiences, and we still have a lot to take care of, like I said. So hopefully I keep hitting these shots. Q. This is for anyone who wants to take it. You all lost to ASU back in January, and after that it just -- I saw you guys just take off. Was that game just a motivator for just the rest of this season? KELLY GRAVES: Well, it proved to be because we played pretty well since. That game was on me. I did a poor job. We're up 12, seven minutes to go, I have to help us win that game, and I didn't. I thought we played through it. These guys, although they did give up 30 points in the fourth quarter -- we reminded them of that, at least on 50, 100 occasions? But I think it really did motivate us. We -- I think watched that game a lot after, and just, you know, we went through the motions. And I think from then on we determined that's not going to happen again. We will not not play hard. And they got the message and have continued to do it. Again, I credit this senior class. These guys, I'll tell you, it's a pretty damn good group. They're fun to coach and fun to be with each and every day. Q. Second question. This is the second year in Vegas, and you know it is through 2022, but what are your all thoughts on it being in Vegas, how this tournament went in general? KELLY GRAVES: You want me or them? Q. Anybody. KELLY GRAVES: I love it. I have been a proponent of it from the day I got into the conference because, you know, my previous school, we played down here, I see the benefits of being in Las Vegas. You know, you have been in Eugene in March, sometimes you want to get out and get to the sunshine. And so I think, you know, the longer we have it here, the more comfortable the fans become and the more they look forward to it. You will see a good portion of this fan base that was here this weekend, they will get their tickets next year in the next month or two. You watch it, they'll start to plan their vacation time around this tournament. I went for a walk this morning on game day, and I got goose bumps. As I'm walking, I see Mom, Dad and two little boys, couldn't have been six or seven, okay, they're in their Duck gear, out walking around: Hey, Coach. You know, they're making memories. I think this is so cool. They have made Vegas a destination to go to. It actually gave me goose bumps this morning, got me fired up. And I was a little fired up there a couple of times tonight. But I think it is great. It is a great venue. Las Vegas Aces have really helped, you know, that connection with them. I saw A'ja Wilson throwing some shirts out, right, when I should have been paying attention to the timeout when Sabrina was blown by on defense. No. I think it's great. I hope we stay. You got my vote. SABRINA IONESCU: Me too. MINYON MOORE: Same. Q. Kelly, I noticed there's a bunch of players in the postgame, they were plotting to hit you with cupcakes. You turned around on the ladder. You knew it was coming. What was that moment like? You knew you were going to get blasted? KELLY GRAVES: Little did they know I could have taken a lot worse, right? As a coach, I always have the last laugh. So they need to remember that as well. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's coming. Not for a while. I'm actually going to give the team a week off. We have always done that. We'll meet back up Saturday night for a light shootaround, and it gives me one week to prepare in how I get back to them. RUTHY HEBARD: The seniors were not a part of it. I didn't touch you at all, actually. KELLY GRAVES: Yeah. Sure. I'm sure there is a lot of video that may suggest otherwise. However, I think it's great. You know, I would -- I welcome that anytime, because we're celebrating. We're celebrating something special, Pac-12 Tournament Championship. Q. Kelly, I think you guys will probably be the No. 1 overall seed. The resume you outlined, I think you'll be the No. 1 overall seed. Would you like to enter the tournament as the No. 1 team ranked in the country? KELLY GRAVES: I don't care. I just know we're playing. I think we'll be No. 1. Honestly, I don't know how much that matters. In the end, you have to play really good teams. Everybody is going to be good. So we're praying for Portland. I hope that's where they put us. I think that would be special. I've got a feeling that if they do, we're going to break some regional attendance records up there. I think the people in the Northwest are really energized about this team. That's beyond my pay control. I can lobby, but I'm not going to. I'll let our work do the talking. Did I mention that we've won 10 games? Yeah. SABRINA IONESCU: Every single time. KELLY GRAVES: Five of those on the road? Did I mention that already. MINYON MOORE: It is his favorite stat. I was just waiting for it. KELLY GRAVES: You know, we didn't play South Carolina, so I don't know. You know, I know they're a really good team. I don't know. You know, we didn't play any SEC teams either. I look at the Louisville loss against a very good team and a game where we just weren't quite ready for a new defense. That was on the islands. I think sometimes you can discount any game played on an island tournament over Thanksgiving, you know. But the reality is we are 10-0 since December 1st. RUTHY HEBARD: Write it down just in case. KELLY GRAVES: The loss we had was in November. We're 10-0 against the top 16 since December 1st. Can I say that again? No. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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