ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 3, 2022

Kara Lawson

Celeste Taylor

Shayeann Day-Wilson

Duke Blue Devils

Postgame Press Conference

Miami 61, Duke 55

KARA LAWSON: Disappointing loss for us. We obviously battled, and the game was in the balance there in the fourth quarter. Have to credit Miami. I thought they made winning plays down the stretch, made some tough pull-up jumpers to kind of separate from us.

We didn't have enough there down the stretch, and they made the winning plays.

Frustrating for all of us. Nobody likes to lose. But you know, we've got to go back and keep working and keep getting better.

Q. Kara, what was Duke able to do on offense in the first period that you couldn't do the other three?

KARA LAWSON: Well, it certainly helps when you're making shots. I thought we made four threes in the first half and certainly we went dry from beyond the arc. And I thought we got many open looks in the second half from three, we just weren't able to knock them down.

The other thing that I thought really hurt us offensively was we got 20 offensive rebounds, but we only ended up with 12 points in the paint. So our finishing inside was poor tonight, and you've got to really have points in the paint, got to make your lay-ups, and you've got to be able to finish.

So that to me was a big-time difference for us, to have that many -- 20 extra opportunities at the basket but not to be able to finish in the paint.

Q. Seemed like Duke was getting transition baskets early and that kind of stopped. Is it something that they did to adjust to that or did Duke just not attack in transition as well?

KARA LAWSON: You know, I really thought it was just how the game flowed. They had 22 points in that fourth quarter, so what happens is now you're taking the ball out of the net instead of that live ball that gives you that chance to get downhill and have some numbers. So every time we took it out of the net, it slowed us because we had to now inbound it or they could face guard a player and really slow us down.

So I didn't think it was really anything defensively that they did, I thought it was that offensively they started to score more, get to the free-throw line, and now we're having to play more possessions against their set defense.

Q. Celeste, their coach said that they made some adjustments after the first quarter because they thought you were getting too much space to get your shot off. Did you notice them doing anything differently, and did it force you to put the ball on the floor a little bit more and work a little harder to get slots?

CELESTE TAYLOR: I mean, obviously I hit a couple shots, my teammates found me in open spots. They were playing off me. I haven't really been shooting too well from the three so they were sagging off of me, so it kind of allowed me to hit some open shots. But then they just played me honest, they started playing me to what I was hitting.

But at the end of the day, I have my other teammates around me who I know can hit shots. It was just what they gave me in the game, and I had to take it and pass the ball and move the ball and get my other teammates open so that they could hit shots, as well.

Q. Shayeann, how frustrating was today with your shots not falling, and what was -- was it their defense or was it just one of those nights where it just wasn't falling.

SHAYEANN DAY-WILSON: It was very frustrating. I think it was just one of those nights where things don't go your way. I mean, that didn't really get to me. I was still trying to stay confident and still trying to take those shots that I usually make. It was just one of those nights, and I'm just going to get back in the lab and keep working on my game.

Q. For the players, with about four or five minutes left in the game, for all the world it looked like it was going to go down to the wire, a buzzer beater, maybe overtime. There was a really bad stretch where Miami got stops and all of a sudden, they got some separation. From your perspective, what went wrong during that stretch?

SHAYEANN DAY-WILSON: I'll say just decision making. I took a bad shot, I would say, that led to a fast break for them.

It's just all learning. I've never been here before, I've never been in this position, but I've still got to know when to take good shots, and I'm learning as I go, and I'm just going to try to take better shots moving forward.

But they played hard tonight and credit to them because they made shots when it really mattered.

CELESTE TAYLOR: To that point, it goes down the line to everybody. It's not just her thinking that she's taking a bad shot. We know what she's capable of, we know what she can do, and we know she can hit some big shots for us. But I think defensively is where we lacked. We weren't together. We let them do what they do, and I think that that really contributed to that downhill slope.

But at the end of the day, teams go on runs. Basketball is a game of runs, so we had to find a way to lock in and play and continue to play, and we failed to do that.

Q. Celeste and Shy, if the NCAA Tournament doesn't happen for you guys, do you all as players want to play in another postseason tournament if the opportunity presents itself?

SHAYEANN DAY-WILSON: Yeah, for sure. Another opportunity is never a bad opportunity, so I mean, if the opportunity presents itself, then we're definitely probably going to take it.

CELESTE TAYLOR: Yeah, we're just going to work hard and see what we're going to do as a team and probably make that decision together as a team.

Q. For both Celeste and Shy, obviously there's going to be a fair bit of roster turnover in the off-season in terms of people graduating. What is it to suddenly know that a lot of the people that you've been so close with and fighting for the past couple months, you're going to sort of part ways soon?

SHAYEANN DAY-WILSON: I would say it's really tough to let our seniors go and stuff like that. But the class that we have coming in, the freshmen that we've got, probably some other people that we've got, they're just going to come in and fix back what we needed, what we lost, and the pieces that we need. We're just going to try to start back from scratch and try to start back better for next season.