ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 2, 2022

Kara Lawson

Shayeann Day-Wilson

Lee Volker

Duke Blue Devils

Postgame Press Conference

Duke 55, Pittsburgh 52

KARA LAWSON: I thought it was a gritty win for us. We obviously didn't start the game the first quarter the way that we had hoped, but we were able to battle back with our defense and with some big shots late by a number of players on the team.

Just really proud of our group. Winning games in this league is not easy. It's not been easy for us all year, so anytime we get one, we're really pleased. And in a tournament format, obviously you get to advance and play tomorrow, and we're really excited to get a chance to play Miami tomorrow.

Q. Shy, I was wondering if you could take us through those shots. You kind of iced the game, and I think you blew a kiss to the crowd. Were you feeling yourself a little bit? How was that?

SHAYEANN DAY-WILSON: I mean, nothing but momentum. I was just really trying to score, do what I can, and my team really played hard. We played together, and obviously we pulled out a big victory.

Q. Were you blowing a kiss to anyone in particular?

SHAYEANN DAY-WILSON: No, no one in particular. It was just a celebration, that's it.

Q. You guys started a big scoring run in the second half, and you started with a deficit. What do you think led to the change in momentum there?

SHAYEANN DAY-WILSON: I think just toughness, just battling, keeping our grit, staying hungry, and just staying locked in together as a team.

Q. Lee, a couple of related questions. When did you find out you were starting? And particularly in the second half when Duke made its comeback, seemed like they were riding your toughness, not just defense but similarly tough man-to-man defense. Just talk about your overall game today.

LEE VOLKER: Yeah, it's really fun to play in tournament time, and we knew we had to get the win so the second half we had to turn it up defensively. And I think to the last question, it really helped us push our offense and build some confidence.

Q. Obviously you had a rough game to finish the regular season against Carolina and then didn't start this the way you want. Was there anything in particular, Coach, that you said at halftime or any particular just words that you gave your team as you're facing possibly the end of the season?

KARA LAWSON: Well, I didn't say that. Guys, we're facing the end of the season. (Laughter).

I think more than anything, what I try to do is let them know that I believe in them and what are the practical things that we need to do to turn the deficit into a surplus for us.

Really at halftime -- they might be able to answer it better than me -- but we just talk about where we can improve, what we need to do better in the second half, and ways that we can get looks or ways that we can be sharper defensively.

It's really just giving them the tools to help them be successful. That's what I want. I want them all to play well. I want them all to have great games.

That's really where my mind goes. Even when we're struggling, I just have great belief in my team, and I feel like just try to keep giving them the tools so that they can succeed. And they showed a lot of competitive grit tonight in the second half. It was a possession game. We made more plays than the other team down the stretch, and that's awesome for us to have for confidence moving forward. Because in postseason you get a lot of possession games and you have to be prepared to make the plays.

Q. Coach, you went to the 2-3 zone, I think, in that second quarter, and they kind of knocked you out of it. Do you think that had an effect on the overall rhythm of the game?

KARA LAWSON: Yeah, you're right. That was in hindsight a poor decision by me to go to the zone. They did hit some threes, went 4 for 8, I think, in the first half. But we were trying to get them out of rhythm. They scored 20 points in that first quarter, and we just weren't defending them well, and the reality of the situation was it wasn't the type of defense that we were in. It was the aggression that we were playing with defensively.

So I thought towards the end of that second quarter we found it. We found that aggression that we needed to have. Once we found it, I feel like our pace and our effort didn't dip that whole second half on the defensive end.

A good learning experience for all of us is let's not wait until the middle of the second quarter tomorrow. Let's try to do it from the beginning.

Q. I want to ask you about Elizabeth Balogun. She struggled down the stretch. She stepped up in the fourth quarter and made some huge plays. Can you talk about her performance today?

KARA LAWSON: You know, I could tell yesterday E was really locked in, and then today, as well, this morning. She just came out, I thought, and brought a great competitive fire to our team. I thought offensively and defensively she was in that group that kind of helped change the game defensively for us. Then she just played so confidently down the stretch. That was a big shot that she hit right there in the middle of the lane, I think, to put us up four.

She's somebody that I have a lot of confidence in, and E is someone that when she's playing well, we're a tough team to beat. So hopefully she'll be able to keep doing that.

Q. Shayeann, either you or Coach, you were named ACC Freshman of the Year yesterday by the coaches of the conference. What are your thoughts on that and kind of your own performance today as someone kind of with that title?

SHAYEANN DAY-WILSON: I'm just really grateful to be honored. The work doesn't stop, and I've just got to keep staying locked in and keeping my team to get big wins.

KARA LAWSON: I'll say something on the back end of that. I think anyone that's watched us play this year knows how important Shy has been to our success. She plays with a great competitiveness, and she's a two-way player. She guards on the defensive end. She scores on the offensive end. She's able to pass, and she's not afraid.

And so all year, I think it was great recognition when I told her yesterday that she had won the award. It's very special to win the award from the other 14 coaches in the league. As you know, we can't vote for our own players, so I was not able to vote for her, but the other 14 coaches decided this was the toughest kid to prepare for in the freshman class in the whole conference. And so I think that speaks a lot to how teams have to try and prepare for her, and then also her consistency through the course of the year.

Of course I thought it was the right decision, but I'm very proud of the progress that Shy has made through the course of the year, and I think she will continue to grow.

Q. You faced Pittsburgh earlier in the season. Obviously for both sides there were some differences, but what was the biggest difference in facing them today, and how did you go about making the adjustments versus the last time you guys faced them?

KARA LAWSON: Well, I thought they played better in this matchup against us than they did in the last matchup, but that's probably a better conclusion for their coach.

But they were more impactful guarding us. I thought they shot it from the three at least better. They didn't shoot it particularly well against us from three in the first matchup. They're a really good team.

Certainly watching them down the stretch, I thought they were playing really good basketball even though they had had some losses. I thought they were playing well. Our team respected the challenge and knew just because we beat them earlier, that doesn't mean anything here.

I'm proud of my group for doing that. But they're a really good team. Their athleticism challenges you at every position, and you have to be prepared for their athleticism and trying to keep them off the boards.

Q. How do you think the added pressure of being in the conference tournament adds to the mentality that you guys have when you're on the court?

KARA LAWSON: I definitely think -- I think you'd be naïve to think that a postseason game doesn't have a little bit more pressure than a regular season game. Of course it does. But I think our players understand that. We don't talk about it that much. We just say, hey, let's go try and win the game.

We'd gone a little bit without winning a game, so our focus was to try and do that. Certainly our players are aware. They're really intelligent. They know it's the postseason and they know if you lose you're out of the tournament, so we wanted to try to win as many games as we can here and try to put ourselves in good positions.