ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 5, 2021

Amanda Butler

Clemson Tigers

Postgame Press Conference

Georgia Tech 60, Clemson 57

AMANDA BUTLER: You know, we're obviously very disappointed. We lost to a really good team that unfortunately we lost close games to now three times. There's no moral victories, but really proud of my players' fight.

We had some adversity to overcome. Didn't have Gabby Elliott in the second half, and I just thought our toughness and our belief in each other and the way we do things really was what rose to the top.

Just really, really proud of my team. Disappointed to be going home and not to be advancing, but I'm sure there's going to be opportunities to learn from this, and that's what we'll do.

Q. What does it say about this team that you're without Gabby, Kendall only has five points the entire game, and you still come within a missed shot of taking it to overtime and possibly winning?

AMANDA BUTLER: I think it's kind of what I said in my opening statement. I think it's just a demonstration of what characterizes this team. Team 46 is about their fight. They're about not giving up. They're about giving energy to the right things.

Tremendously difficult to play -- Gabby had 25 last night. She's so dynamic and she's a presence for us, as a rebounder, as a scorer, and is emerging as a defensive presence, as well. We definitely missed her. Amari Robinson really came to play. I thought that Delicia was especially tough. I thought Hannah had a great game.

We just had some big moments that we didn't rise to the occasion of, and a couple of rebounds that maybe could have made a difference. We gave ourselves a chance at the end to win it, and we say all the time that the only thing that we can really bank on is let's get a really good shot, let's get one of our shots.

And we're going to hit some of them and some of them we're not, but we're going to live with that and that's ultimately the situation we were in today. Everybody got a great look. Everybody has got great confidence in Weronica. She is a big part of who we're becoming and wouldn't do anything different going down the stretch.

Q. Amari probably doesn't get a lot of the press headlines, but what she does, especially on the offensive glass, you can't say enough about that. What type of player is she and what can you say about her performance tonight?

AMANDA BUTLER: You know, I was really just thinking about Amari before the game, and I think some of the things you just said were really a lot of what was going through my mind.

I just really pray a lot before games. I was just thinking about the little things and how Amari just delivers so consistently in the little things and how valuable a person like that is in a team, the person who will absorb the most contact, who will set the screen, who will make the pass.

Amari is a great teammate. She's an awesome young woman. I'm really, really glad that she's a Tiger. She gave us a chance tonight. That's what we see from Amari all the time.

Just wish for her effort that we could have come out on the other side of this one.

Q. I was wondering if you've had any conversations yet with your seniors about using that NCAA, you know, this year doesn't really count towards the eligibility count, or is that something you'll do in the coming weeks?

AMANDA BUTLER: Yeah, that's kind of a future thing for us. We want to not treat this season like it's a do-over year. We want to squeeze everything that we can get out of it and hopefully get a chance. WNIT, whatever our postseason opportunity is, to keep working towards winning a championship. So we'll have those conversations when it's appropriate.

Q. Delicia I think just kind of embodies the heart and soul of her team. She started her career with you; will probably end her career with you. What can you say about her? She played her heart out tonight.

AMANDA BUTLER: She really did. Just a tremendous amount of growth in her. I could talk to you guys until tomorrow about how proud I am of the way that she's really developed and how coachable she has become. She just wants to be great.

The thing that's so unique about a superstar like Delicia is that every superstar wants to be great because of something that's within them, but a huge part of the success that she really is chasing is because she wants to share it with the people she loves and her teammates.

That's really why I think you see her wear her heart on her sleeve and there's so much emotion and there's so much passion, because she is just an individual that's really fueled by love. Whether it's competition or whether it's cutting up in the locker room, whatever it is, she's about connection.

Super proud of her. I thought she played with a tremendous amount of toughness. She's a pro. She's the best, I think, mid-range player in our league, maybe in the country, and I'm glad she's a Tiger, as well.

Q. What does it say about her as a team leader that in the middle of the third quarter she goes over to Gabby and just kind of encourages her despite not being able to --

AMANDA BUTLER: Well, she understands her impact on other people, especially someone like Gabby. I think they have very honest conversations with each other. I know that Gabby looks up to her, and Delicia knows that.

I think that doesn't automatically for a leader, though, or for someone who's in that position know that you're going to step up to fill that role in someone else's life, but I think that's something that Delicia takes very seriously is her impact on other people. That's one of the areas of her growth that is just tremendous.

When I think about the little girl who came to Gainesville to play with us however many years ago and I think about the woman who's going out there and getting buckets and being a voice and demonstrating toughness and just giving it her all, just really, really proud of her.

Q. If you do get a chance to play in a WNIT, what has to change or improve for you all between now and then for you to really have a chance to kind of make some noise on a stage like that?

AMANDA BUTLER: Yeah, that's a really good question. I think we're obviously playing high-level basketball. Georgia Tech is one of the best teams in the country in my opinion. They've lost some games, but people seem to forget how good our league is.

Everybody in our league has lost some games. Everybody in every league has lost some games.

When you look at what's considered the bottom of our league, man, there are really, really good teams in there. I think we're playing at a really high level. I just think we happen to be playing in the toughest league in the country. There is, though, there's a gap that we've got to fill between being one possession away from winning and winning. Those are the things that we've got to discover between now and whenever our next opportunity is.