ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 4, 2021

Amanda Butler

Clemson Tigers

Postgame Press Conference

Clemson 68, Notre Dame 63

Q. You guys beat Notre Dame in December. Did you maybe find some of that December Magic again?

AMANDA BUTLER: You know, we talked a lot before coming here that we didn't feel like we needed magic, you know, that we really believe in who we are as a team and the things that have made us a good team and the things that we've learned the hard way that we can't give energy to.

Certainly we go back and look at that game. But, man, it was so long ago and they've evolved and Niele does a really, really good job, her and her staff. We knew they would be ready and it wouldn't look like December's game for sure.

The Tigers came to play from beginning to end.

Q. They had the five-point play and the four-point play there towards the end of the third quarter. What was your message to the team going into the fourth?

AMANDA BUTLER: Well, we just wanted to keep playing possession basketball, like we just had to understand the gravity of each opportunity and to not get hung up in something that had just happened and to not have any extra anxiety about something that was maybe going to happen next.

Like be exactly right where you are and bring all the fight that you can possibly muster for that possession, and that'll be enough, and that's what we tried to do.

Q. Your team takes great pride in its defense. Y'all held Notre Dame to nine points in the fourth quarter and they went maybe four or five minutes without a basket. What was it about the 2-3 zone that kind of shut them down?

AMANDA BUTLER: Well, first of all, you have to tip your hat to them because they really forced us into that zone. That was not plan A, but they were doing a really good job of attacking us in man and we weren't doing a very good job of keeping them in front of us.

But our zone is a great complement to our man, and we wanted to just play really smart personnel defense. And then the challenge is sometimes then making sure that you check all your rebounding assignments, and we did miss a few -- maybe not a few, maybe a couple, but we got really, really big ones when it mattered most.

Q. Gabby Elliott has obviously been great all season long, but what can you say about her in her first ACC Tournament game?

AMANDA BUTLER: You know, Gabby wasn't going to try to tip toe in here and be unnoticed, and that's why she chose Clemson. She wanted to come to a place where she could make an immediate impact and a big splash, and that's what she's doing. That's what we expect her to do. That's what her teammates expect her to do.

Just really, really proud of the big plays that she made. And at this point in the year, I don't think that a player who's logged as many big minutes as Gabby is really thinking like a freshman. I thought she did a great job of handling the adversity of missing some really open shots early and just sticking with it and continuing to try to find her place.

Q. Delicia has obviously been a team leader for this team all season long, but the foul there on the sideline in front of the bench seemed to make her play at a different level. What can you say about her play in the third and fourth quarters?

AMANDA BUTLER: Well, I'll tell you what, I think the way she played, we all know she plays with that tremendous emotion and we love that passion, but I think the play that really triggered the way she played in the third and fourth quarter defensively was the very end of the half when she's pressuring the ball and she lays out just to get a tip.

There's really not even enough time to get a steal and go down and score. She was just really setting the tone at the end of the first half I thought for the second half, and her teammates responded to that.

Q. What's your message to your team to just kind of rest up and move on to tomorrow?

AMANDA BUTLER: Absolutely. There's no scouting that's going to be going on with the team tonight. We've got to turn it around as a staff and really choose well the things that we want to spend time talking about and showing them on film.

Fortunately this is a team that we're very familiar with. It wasn't that long ago that we played them a second time. And so there will be that familiarity with personnel and some things that we tried to do against them last time, but, you know, the message going to bed tonight and then waking up tomorrow morning is we're going to be us. That's what we came here to do.

We came here to be us, and then whoever we had the opportunity to play, that was more of a detail than the main story. The main story has got to be about us and what we give energy to and what we make important.