ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 6, 2021

Quentin Hillsman

Syracuse Orange

Postgame Press Conference

Louisville 72, Syracuse 59

QUENTIN HILLSMAN: Obviously disappointed in the loss, but extremely, extremely proud of our kids' effort. We're here right now with seven players, and they've given it everything they have for three straight games, and they really played hard. They played with a lot of effort. They played together, and they really executed our game plan. They did everything we asked them to do.

We tried to keep their three-pointers under seven. They made six.

We tried to keep our turnovers under 12. We had 15, a few more than we wanted to give up.

But just from top to bottom, just a great three days.

At the end of the day, Emily was great. She had a monster game. I thought down the stretch we just kind of ran out of gas, and just really happy for our kids' effort. I thought we came out and had a good tournament. Obviously you want to win the whole thing, but we've got a chance the next one, so we're looking forward to the NCAA Tournament.

Q. All season the players have talked about how playing four games in eight days is going to pay off down the stretch, going to pay off in the ACC Tournament, the NCAA Tournament. Was today just too much, too tiring, too many games?

QUENTIN HILLSMAN: Well, in the NCAA Tournament you don't play three straight days, you always have a day in between games. So this is not a normal setting for the NCAA Tournament.

But if you can get through these types of stretches and play well, you definitely benefit from it. I thought we did. That's why getting to this tournament with a double bye is so important, because you get your extra day off. But our kids really played well. They played hard. And obviously playing with one guard and all post players, I thought they did an amazing job of just sticking to our game plan.

Q. You briefly touched on it in your opening statement about the play of Emily. It seemed like she really stepped into a big leadership role with you guys shorthanded. Could you speak to her play, especially during this tournament, where she really seemed to come into her own for you.

QUENTIN HILLSMAN: Well, we needed her to play a lot of roles for us. We needed her to score the basketball. We needed her to handle the ball some. She did all those things for us. I thought she did an amazing job through this entire tournament. Any time you have a player that can play pretty much five positions for you now on the floor, you've got a special player. She was amazing through this tournament. I thought she stepped up and gave us a chance to win every game.

Q. What did you see from your players in this tournament that you didn't see in the regular season that you think bodes well for the NCAA Tournament?

QUENTIN HILLSMAN: I thought they played together. I thought we really played together. Our team, they were able to communicate on the floor, trust the command of their teammates, whether we were switching, whether we were changing defenses, or what have you, I thought they did a really good job of that. That's what gave us a chance to win, and it's going to be really, really big for us going down the stretch in the NCAA Tournament.

Q. You spoke about Emily a little bit earlier, but she had 16 in your first meeting against Louisville and then 21 today. What is it about this Cardinals team that she's able to attack?

QUENTIN HILLSMAN: Well, I just think it's just the way they play up and down and they play fast and Emily is able to run the floor and catch the ball in the middle of the floor and catch the ball in the slot and attack either off the bounce or shoot the ball.

I thought that she did a really good job of that today and in the first game. She was able to get kind of in her kill zone earlier against Louisville. But they still did a really good job of running her off her spot, making her work for every shot, so they're a really good defensive team.

Q. I wanted to ask about Tiana and Priscilla. Would you update us on how they're doing and what you think their availability will be for the NCAA Tournament?

QUENTIN HILLSMAN: Sure, Tiana is fine. Tiana, it's kind of a precaution for her. Tiana hasn't practiced. So, in these tournaments, you can't practice, so I'm not going to throw her back on the floor just into a game. That's not fair to her to just throw her in a game. She needs to get some days back practicing before I will allow her to compete.

Priscilla, she's back in the hotel resting. She's doing much better, and hopefully she can continue to progress. We have some time, so it's kind of really too early to tell with Priscilla. But Tiana, she'll be okay. She'll be back.

Q. You mentioned the effort that you got. Emily, Digna, Kiara played almost every minute of this tournament, Maeva played a lot more minutes the last few games than she has. What can you say about what you got from that group here over the last few days?

QUENTIN HILLSMAN: It's toughness. We got a lot of toughness from those guys, and they played big. And, honestly, Amaya Finklea was huge for us, because there were just moments where we needed to get some clean touches in the paint and to play with our toes, not our hands, facing the ball, and we were able to throw the ball inside to her. So she really made a big contribution to our three games. We punched that ball inside and we played through the post all three of these games, so give her a lot of credit, as well.