BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 13, 2021

Jim Littell

Natasha Mack

Oklahoma State Cowgirls

Postgame Press Conference

West Virginia 59, Oklahoma State 50

JIM LITTELL: Obviously not happy the way we played. You know, you only get so many opportunities to get in those situations and you need to take full advantage of it.

Didn't think we played very well, and then you couple that with the idea that we didn't shoot it very well. We were 30 percent from the floor. What did we shoot, 10 percent from the three line? That's difficult to win when you mix those numbers into it.

So got to play better. Got another opportunity to show what we're capable of. This is the time of the year that all your hard work is giving you an opportunity to play in the Big 12 Tournament and then play at the NCAA Tournament, so we got to be better the next time out.

Q. Coach, I'm curious, do you think going 2-of-18 for threes today, do you think that was more of an issue of shot selection or them just not falling?

JIM LITTELL: I think it was a little bit of both. I think we hurried some and then I think we had some that were wide open and we didn't shoot it well.

And, you know, I would say we probably, out of those 19, probably took five or six that were a little questionable. But I thought the others were good looks and we had time. Then we had to hurry some at the end when we were trying to catch up.

You know, Lex hurried a couple at the end, but we had to get shots up at that point, so probably combination of both.

Q. That three from Deans with a couple minutes to go, that injured ya'lls comeback run. Was that as crushing to the comeback as it looked like it was crushing to your bench with the energy?

JIM LITTELL: The one that went off the glass?

Q. Yeah, it was banked.

JIM LITTELL: Those hurt. I mean, those hurt. I think we cut it to seven, six at the end, and I don't know if that's when it happened or not. I would have to go back and look at the film.

Yeah, you feel like you played pretty good defense and then they do that. But what we're responsible for too is we got three or four stops and then didn't check off the boards and the they started running the clock again, too.

So that hurts you when you feel like you've done a good job defensively and then you have to turn around and guard again. The clock is not in your favor when that happens.

Q. And coach, last question for you before I ask a couple of Tasha. With Taylen picking up the two quick fouls at the start of the game, what can you say about the performances of players coming off the bench like Kassidy, Abbie and Lexy today?

JIM LITTELL: Well, we needed to play better. I mean, they played hard, but we needed to play better. Tay is a very integral part of we do, and she's got to learn. She picked up a tough foul, a hustle foul in the back court. Then the next one she's got to learn at times like the one to my right has already learned, there has to be times that you let them go and go to half with one foul. You can't pick up two fouls in the first two minutes. She's a freshman, and I told her that. She wants to be a good player and she'll listen, but all the great players think take themselves out of it. They are able to navigate around foul trouble and don't put themselves in it.

Q. Tasha just sitting in here this is obviously way different than last year. Do you think there is anything different playing in this place that might have an affect on the perimeter shooting?

NATASHA MACK: Honestly, no. We have to be popping all the time.

Q. Last question for you is obviously you're not taking too many threes, but how weird was it from a team's perspective to see you guys struggle that much from the three. This is one of the worst shooting games I can recall this season.

NATASHA MACK: It hurts.

Q. Question I was going to ask was about Martinez. She had 19 points and 15 points for WVU. What do you think it was about her game that made it so challenging for you all today?

JIM LITTELL: She very active. She is a hustle player and competes and plays really hard. She's got a nice game and she attacks the boards, but they run some pick-and-pop action where we probably didn't guard to the right way schematically, and it left her open for some open 15-footers and she knocked them down.

She's really, really active. She's an all-conference performer and she played like that tonight. She was first team all conference. But she's active on the boards, she plays hard. She loves rebounding, like Mack does here, and when you have people that do that and are willing to be that active, good things are going to happen. She's a good player.

Q. Just in general as far as scouting West Virginia, what was your approach to that when you have her, Kysre, so many different players that they can use out there at once?

JIM LITTELL: I mean, when we played them the first time at Oklahoma State they had five people in double figures. They're solid and they score in five positions, so makes them very difficult to guard. You can't just focus on one or two players because they're all Division I players and all capable of making shots.

Q. Tasha, for you, what do you think is the biggest takeaway from this game that you can take moving forward into the NCAA Tournament?

NATASHA MACK: Honestly, energy. We have to bring the energy because we don't have any people in the stands, so we have to be our biggest fans.

Q. How different is that, just playing -- instead of playing out OSU where you have fans playing here where you have a reduced crowd?

NATASHA MACK: It's just like playing away games. We have to bring it ourselves.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else?

JIM LITTELL: Thank you all.