BIG EAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 6, 2021

Joe Tartamella

St. John's Red Storm

Mohegan Sun Arena

Postgame Media Conference

UConn - 77, St. John's - 41

COACH TARTAMELLA: Obviously certainly an unbelievable team we played out there. Third time seeing them, I thought we started the game really well, had some really good effort. I thought we played hard. I thought we defended 5 better than we have through the game. We just weren't able to sustain that level as we got through the latter parts of the first half and got a little debilitated there offensively, which has happened against them in the last two games.

I thought we played hard to try to get shots. We didn't do a great job running offense, but they did a great job taking us out of what we wanted to do.

As much as we tried to counter their pressure and taking us out of things we just didn't do a good enough job to get enough shots that I thought were easier shots than what we did. We worked really hard to probably score whatever we did today, but we played certainly a great team.

And proud of our team, obviously, through the year and the fact that we got to this point is probably, is one of the bigger wins we've had. And we've played more games than a lot of teams. Our kids did a really good job staying safe. Our university, administration did a great job of getting us to this point. Probably even more proud of that, regardless of how we played this year and look forward to obviously moving forward here.

Q. Wanted to talk to you about not only the work ethic of your team this year, but just the attitude that they had. They were down 20-30 for the majority of this game after the second quarter and they continued to play hard. As a student reporter, I see Camree Clegg and other players practicing after tough losses, taking shots when they don't need to. You lose Qadashah Hoppie, your team leader, early in the season, you continue to play hard. Talk about the girls and how hard they played this year.

COACH TARTAMELLA: Listen, I think everybody had adversity this year. Regardless of injury and those things. People don't feel too bad if you've. I've been doing this too long. It's not something we look at. Certainly it didn't help us. I love the fact that we have kids putting in extra time. Certainly we need to see it translate onto the court. I'm pleased with them. Obviously we need to be better.

So as much as I can feel good at 8-15 you don't feel as good. But I'm happy with the group that we have and the core that we have returning.

Q. In terms of what they're doing for Leilani especially in the last two games you played them, they seemed like they were just throwing everything at her. What did you see there just in terms of how they defended her these last two games, the last time you played them?

COACH TARTAMELLA: Pretty much the same. They took us out of our comfort zone and made it hard for her. They were able to switch out and take things away. We're, in some ways, we're limited in some ways and being able to counteract it.

But we did the best we could to try to get her looks and to try to free her up. And I don't focus so much on what they were doing to her as much as probably what they did to our other guys and being able to take them out of their rhythm and being able to steal the ball literally from just dribbling the ball up the floor.

We've got to be able to get into offense quicker make harder cuts and do things you've got to do to win games.

Q. She looked like she was out of her sling these past two games through the broadcast how is she progressing?

COACH TARTAMELLA: She's progressing on time right now.

Q. If you could, just with Leilani's progression that she made throughout this entire season and just the role that she had to step into even more so with Q being out, could you just speak to how proud you are in the development you've seen with her all throughout this season?

COACH TARTAMELLA: Listen, Leilani is a special kid. We know that. She had a lot on her plate this year. I'm sure it's worn on her to get to this point. And just been pleased with the fact that we were able to get -- the amount of time she's got to play in games and the amount of effort she has to give the pressure she has on her for what she has to do for our team probably has the most responsibility of anybody. So people get upset with her if she didn't play well or she didn't score. And I thought she was active today. I thought that was a huge part of her growth. I thought she was active. She didn't give up.

I thought defensively she really locked in. She was on the glass. So to me those things were more important as I'm watching this game than anything else. And watching her growth. And I think she's really going to be driven to come back next year even stronger. And so are we.

But obviously it's always good to see a player obviously do well against a team like this but know that when they play them again they're going to make it real hard.