SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 2, 2022

Johnnie Harris

Annie Hughes

Aicha Coulibaly

Auburn Tigers

Bridgestone Arena

Postgame Press Conference

Alabama 75, Auburn 68.

JOHNNIE HARRIS: I'm really proud of how my team battled this season. Of course, we didn't end the way we wanted to end, but I felt like they battled. They gave me everything they had. It's a building season, but I thought we got better. We got better and better even though it may not have shown up in the wins and losses, but we have a lot to build on.

These two I'm really proud of them. I feel like they gave me everything they had. A.C. was definitely under the weather today, but she battled through some things. I feel like with our team the best is yet to come.

Q. Annie, you had one of your better games against an SEC opponent today. Was there any extra motivation knowing that it was Alabama and you had one more chance to go against those guys?

ANNIE HUGHES: Absolutely. That was extra motivation. I would say another thing, the coaches before this game, they had us really focus. We just went through -- we just went through extra film, extra preparation so, I think that was another thing that just got me really zoned in and ready to go.

Q. A.C., what is your key take-away going to be from this season, and how do you think you can build off of this heading into next year?

AICHA COULIBALY: I feel like I owe a lot to my team, and I feel like I let them down. Going to next season, I will do the best. I will be the better player for them, and I'm going to work on my game more and focus more on winning. I'm going to do whatever it takes.

Q. Annie, what has your Auburn experience meant to you, if you could put it into words?

ANNIE HUGHES: It's hard to put into words. It's meant everything. This is my dream, and I come here, and it didn't go as planned, but it made me a better person, and I will always have a home in Auburn because of it.

Q. Coach, what would be your key take-away from this season that you can build on going into next year?

JOHNNIE HARRIS: I feel like we built a foundation. We tried to put in our philosophy. I think that the kids that are coming back know what we want, so it was -- we were really inexperienced. We had some players that hadn't had any experience playing at this level. We had some with very limited experience playing at this level.

So when you think about that, this team, this is a resilient bunch of kids. They bounce back time and time again, but I think they know now what to expect, so they know how to prepare. They know now how to take care of their bodies, so it's just a lot of little things that I think we've taught them that will carry over for next year.

Q. Looking ahead to next year, it's going to be a lot of new faces on the team. What do you see as the emphasis this offseason heading into next year?

JOHNNIE HARRIS: Getting bigger, faster, and stronger. Bigger, faster, and stronger. This is the toughest league in the country, and you have to have SEC bodies. You have to have SEC skill sets, and I think we addressed some of that in our recruiting. Those kids are going to be young, but they're tough, they're physical, they're aggressive. I feel like they'll be -- they'll come in ready to work and ready to help take this program to the next level.

Q. Coach, what challenges did Alabama guards bring today?

JOHNNIE HARRIS: Well, they got downhill. We wanted to take the three away, and they made five -- six. Five or six. So we wanted to take that away, but they got downhill. They got into the paint. The first half they scored 22 points in the paint, so our help side was not very good. Us guarding off the bounce was the biggest challenge.

Thank you.