ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 5, 2021

Jen Hoover

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Postgame Press Conference

Louisville 65, Wake Forest 53

JEN HOOVER: You know, I'm proud of this team. I hurt. My heart is breaking for them because we came out, we fought hard, we gave them everything we could, and I think going into the fourth quarter, tie ball game against them on the second day of legs, I thought we just fought hard. The ball didn't bounce our way a couple times, and you just -- there's such a small error of margin against the top 10 teams in the country. To become one of those you've got to beat one of them. I think we came in and we knew our game plan, we paid attention to it, and we just couldn't knock down some of those shots we needed to fall.

Give them a lot of credit. I thought they really did a great job coming out and really pressing up in us and really taking us out of our offense, frustrating us at times, doing what a great team does.

Q. In that key spurt, Evans was on the bench and they went on a 7-0 run. You guys looked like you were out of gas at that point.

JEN HOOVER: Yeah, and I kind of tried to rotate us through a little bit, but I thought the key -- I think we came down and missed a left-handed lay-up that I think we've got to make, and then gave up a three in transition to Hailey Van Lith, and I think the very next possession we took a bad shot and they got a lay-up.

Unfortunately when it turns that fast and you're a team that's a little tired already, it does take a little bit of the gas out of you.

I don't think we ever stopped fighting and we knew we could do it, but again, give them credit. I that Evans -- I thought we did a phenomenal job on her, but she's a great player and she found a way to affect the game even when she wasn't scoring, which she's done all year, but she gets seven key assists there late when they had to have buckets. And she's been all year long about getting her teammates involved, and she was able to find people and get them open shots.

Q. You guys shot 59 percent from behind the three-point line yesterday and then only 17 percent today. What changed?

JEN HOOVER: I think they came in right away and said, first of all, they're going to be tired because they've already played and they were hot so we're going to get up in them. I thought they were right there on the catch with any and all of our shooters. I think, again, they were just really physical, and I think that's one of the reasons you see as many free throws as you saw that we got to shoot, because of the way they played, but it still took us out of what we wanted to do.

I thought we still found a way to get Jewel open a couple times, and she can create her own shot so well, but it's tough when you can't -- we really felt like we threw the ball inside, they really collapsed and crowded. I thought Tina Moore did a good job of kicking out a couple times, and we just needed a couple more of those to fall down.

Q. Now you look ahead hopefully to the NCAAs. Are you on pins and needles or can you practice positively hoping you guys are in?

JEN HOOVER: We'll practice positively. We'll give them two days this weekend just because it was a tough weekend. We'll have some team meals and that kind of stuff, keep them around, talking basketball, watching other tournaments, watching the games here, and then we'll start practice back up on Monday and kind of prepare all week. You know, try to have some fun in practice and just do some competitive things and tweak a few things coming out of this tournament knowing that our next opponent is going to watch this game and try to take something from it.

I think we do have a lot of basketball still left to play. We're not as -- I'm convinced we do. I hope others are. I think as well as we played against that team twice this year, too, proves that we deserve it.

Q. I know we keep talking about it a lot, but rankings updated this morning, now have Wake Forest in the last four in. Do you think staying close as you said within three quarters with Louisville, a really good team, do you think that further positions you to be in the tournament when selection show comes on Monday?

JEN HOOVER: I hope so. I know that committee watches these games and they look at that and see that Wake Forest was tied going into the fourth quarter and on the second day of legs, did we run out of gas. It's excuses, but these kids have done everything right and given me everything they could, and I don't fault us at all. I think we've got to be confident we're in.

I do think we don't need a lot of upsets, unfortunately. But it's still a position we've never been in. We've never been able to sit here and be anxious for that selection show, and this group deserves that, and we're excited for it, and we've just got to keep preparing and be ready so that when we get in we can win a game in the tournament. It's not just about getting in, it's about winning.

Q. You mentioned that Wake hasn't been in this position in a long time. The last time y'all made the tournament was when you were on the team in 1988. What would it mean for you personally to see the end of the road with you being on the team and making it to the tournament and then if y'all get the call on Monday? What would it mean to get back into the dance?

JEN HOOVER: It would mean so much to me for these kids because that's why you play this game is to have a chance to go to the big dance. It's something that's talked about. It's March Madness. It's a phenomenal feeling. There's been many a player come through Wake Forest that's wanted that opportunity and really fought hard for it, and part of that is why we are where we are today, because each year we've just been able to lay another brick, another brick, another brick.

For these kids it would mean the world to them, and it would be a new standard that we have tried to create here, my staff and myself, that we want to be a team that's name is always mentioned in the NCAA and that they don't hold that against us because we haven't been in so long. We want to be a regular there and be a team that goes to a Sweet 16, to a Final Four. That was my vision when I came back to Wake. We've got phenomenal facilities, commitment for women's basketball. Let's go, Deacs. Let's go.