BIG EAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 6, 2021

Anthony Bozzella

Seton Hall Pirates

Mohegan Sun Arena

Postgame Media Conference

Creighton - 83, Seton Hall - 76

COACH BOZZELLA: Congratulations to Creighton. They made their shots. They outplayed us. They looked like a team that needed to win the game to make the NCAA Tournament and we didn't.

Q. Despite the loss tonight, what can you say about this group and how they've handled adversity throughout the year and how satisfied are you in the grand scheme of things?

COACH BOZZELLA: One of the things I've learned in 28 years as a coach, 29 years as a coach, it's to not really comment too much because you'll probably say the wrong thing.

I'm just going to say I'm completely disappointed. I'm disappointed for the players. I'm disappointed for the staff. I'm disappointed for the managers. I am. But because we didn't deserve to win.

We had a certain game plan. They didn't follow it. Creighton had a certain game and his kids followed it. Listen, everyone had pause. Everyone went through a lot of adversity. Again, did our kids want to win, absolutely? Did we get outplayed? Did we get outcoached? Absolutely.

Was this probably one of the worse losses at Seton Hall for me? 100 percent, not only just because we lost but the way we lost, and knowing what was at stake. It's disappointing.

All I can say is I just give Creighton a lot of credit. We're going to have some questions to try to figure out how to become a better basketball game and win the important games.

Q. First half you guys shot the ball extremely well. They had the lead there. Desiree with 15 points. Can you just talk about that third quarter, you were still there in the game, the fourth quarter, Coach, if you could just talk about that?

COACH BOZZELLA: The third quarter cost us all year. Cost us in our seven losses, probably cost us most of our losses. We just don't come out, I must not make the right adjustments at halftime. I don't know. It's something that I have to look at as the head coach of this program and figure out why we're such a horrific basketball team in the third quarter. The game was lost right there.

We have an eight-point lead, ten-point lead, 12-point lead, and we just give it all the way back, and we're either tied or down in the third quarter. Then we take a four-point lead into the fourth quarter, a couple minutes in and we just have defensive breakdown after defensive breakdown.

Q. I know you guys had a lot invested in this game. I'm sorry it had to end that way, but I guess from your vantage point can you kind of break down what makes Emma Ronsiek and Morgan Maly difficult matchups to deal with for you guys because of the way they're versatile posts?

COACH BOZZELLA: Great question, and I appreciate that. Creighton has always been a very difficult team for us to guard. They always seem to very shoot well against us. They shot 12-for-24 from 3. Again, I thought they got the same amount of shots yesterday and they missed most of them. But what happens is they get into a good rhythm against us. They want to play us. We're a very emotional team. So is Creighton.

Jim is obviously one of the best coaches in the country. He understands what our weaknesses are. And he really does a great job exploiting them. And we refuse to understand what our weaknesses are, and making adjustments for them. But I've said to him all year, 30 and 31 are two of the best players in the conference, two of the best freshmen.

But we went in there. Our game plan -- I'm not afraid to share anything with you -- they can ask as many questions as they want. The game plan was don't let 31 shoot the ball. I made it crystal clear: She's not to attempt a shot. At halftime, after she attempted six, I said, please, you're not following the thing. On top of that, number 30 is also getting shots.

And we told her, if 30 and 31 are going to shoot the ball, they're going to put the ball on the floor with their weak hand and drive the ball. If they don't do that, they're not to get a shot off.

Yeah, yeah, we got it. Not only did they score, I guess, 20 points each, they made eight 3s. They took 15, they were supposed to take 15. And they were supposed to take zero. That's really bad.

It's a hard journey to get this close and to lose this way, it's devastating to me and to my staff. It really is. Thank you.