NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - MIAMI (FL) VS SOUTH FLORIDA

March 18, 2022

Jose Fernandez

Elena Tsineke

Eliza Pinzan

USF Bulls

Media Conference

Miami 78, South Florida 66

JOSE FERNANDEZ: Give a lot of credit to Miami and how well they played, shot the ball. You know, it's tough when you sit in here and you look at our guys in the locker room, because it's the last time they're going to be together, right, coaching staff, players, especially with the type of year we had.

You know, we just struggled really defending today. Again, Miami made shots and finished, and they shot a really, really big number. I think at one point they were almost up to 70% from the floor; at the half they were at 60.

So three quarters I thought they were even, but those last five minutes of that first quarter hurt. We just never had a chance to get it down.

We got to down to seven, nine, and just we couldn't whittle that lead down.

Q. For Elena, that first half was really, really -- you looked like the best player on the court, and it wasn't close. For you, just what changed between the first and second half there? Was it their zone that bothered you?

ELENA TSINEKE: I feel like in the second half time they started more to collapse more on me, and then I could easily kick the ball out.

We had more offensive opportunities, more scoring from the other guards as well in the second half time, and I think that's better.

Q. Did the pace of the game surprise you, especially from the start it seemed like they came out and just wanted to really run instead of make this more of a slow kind of defensive kind of game?

ELIZA PINZAN: We knew, like we knew they were good in transition. We didn't do a really good job matching up and they knocked down open threes on our mistakes.

That was it.

ELENA TSINEKE: I need to get the question again if that's possible.

Q. Did the pace of first quarter surprise you, how quickly Miami wanted to play in the first quarter?

ELENA TSINEKE: Yeah, they were more athletic and faster than us, but for us it's not -- when we stick together that's not a problem. I just felt like they were just scoring more and they had better percentages.

So it's not about that they were faster, but they were actually making the shots.

Q. Eliza, obviously honored or senior night a few week ago, but it sounds like you do have that extra year the eligibility. I know you wanted to put as much thought into this season as possible, but what does the timeline look like for you as you make your decision whether or not you want to return for that extra year?

ELIZA PINZAN: I mean, now I'm not thinking as much about it just because I was thinking about the end of this season, and it ended today. I will just take my time and think about it.

Right now I don't have an answer.

Q. Hey you guys, so my question is: How frustrating was it there in the second half as you guys are kind of like digging into the lead and then they always had an answer? How frustrating is it for you as you keep on getting closer and they kept having a response?

ELIZA PINZAN: I mean, it was frustrating, especially because we were getting back and then they were always making the little run and we didn't have the opportunity to come back at like six points, four points.

But they made shots. They played really well today, and credit to them.

ELENA TSINEKE: The same kind of answer with Eliza. Credit to them again. They just shot the ball better. It was frustrating because we had to come up with quick solutions. Every time we would have a good defense they would have a good offensive, and every time we had a good offense, they had a good defense. It's just how it is. It's basketball.

Q. Obviously when you came into this year you guys had extremely high expectations just on what you guys were bringing back. Just as this year comes to an end, what's your main takeaways and thoughts?

JOSE FERNANDEZ: Yeah, you know, you return five starters and you added a couple transfers, sometimes -- you know, every team is different and every team's dynamic is different. Every team's chemistry is different.

So you go through things during the year. We went through a lot of things behind the scenes that -- we had a lot of guys that had a very difficult year with some of the things that they went through.

You know, from outside looking in people say, Well, disappointing season. Had a win over Stanford, had a win over Oregon, played a really good schedule. Didn't win the conference; didn't repeat as conference champions.

People don't really understand what goes on behind the scenes and what some of these kids have been through emotionally, physically, mentally.

So definitely not where we wanted to finish, but you got to regroup. We'll get some time off. We will have end-of-the-year meetings and figure out who is coming back, who is not, and we'll be back here next year.

Q. And then just on the game, Elena had such a great first half; Eliza comes and plays strong in the second. Their zone obviously was able to create some other opportunities for you, especially down low. Just between that second half, just every time you seemed to get out on a run you guys weren't able to get the stop on the defensive end.

JOSE FERNANDEZ: We shot 41% from the floor and 41 from three. Usually when we do that -- and 81 from the line. Usually when we do that we're on the positive side of things.

I think the game, it was even rebounding-wise, right, 30 to 30 edge. We had double their offensive rebounds. But came down to us not being able to keep them in front of us.

And, again, Miami made shots. They played very well. You know, we lost; we got to beat. Miami was the better team on the floor tonight. That's what basketball is. That's what sports is.

But this bunch has a lot to be proud of. They won 24 games. It's very difficult to make the NCAA tournament, right? There are 300 teams that didn't make the NCAA tournament, or whatever, 290 of them.

So you regroup and go back to work.

Q. Seemed like when Miami would have a player that got hot you guys would focus on them and they would have another one. They ended up I think it was five players in double digits. What was that like just making those adjustments to finding the hot person?

JOSE FERNANDEZ: You're absolutely right. Every time -- if we would stop Marshall and Erjavec then one of their big -- we hit a three, we cut it down it seven, and then they come down and we rotate and one of their post players steps out, we don't rotate it and hits a three from the top. That was huge.

So, again, look at the bench. It's 29 to 8. You know, they were a lot deeper. That's something we need to get better at in the off-season, and we will.

Q. Hey, Coach, kind of wanted to ask, outside of (indiscernible) there in the first half, you guys weren't able to get much going. What were they doing well defensively on all the other guys? Was it a lack of being able to knock down shots?

JOSE FERNANDEZ: I thought El played really great, with a sense or urgency. She attacked. She came to play. Pinzan on the offensive. You know, good to see Syd hit some shots.

Q. Coach, I know this is probably the wrong time to ask this, but there was a hell of a lot more good than bad that happened to you this year, correct?

JOSE FERNANDEZ: Yeah, yeah. You know, let me tell you right now, there is going to be only one guy -- one coach that's going to be very happy at the end of the season, right?

There is two people that don't end with a loss on our side, the NIT champion and NCAA champion. So, yeah, it's -- but you take an opportunity to reflect on the year we had and where we need to get better and what we need to improve on, and we will.

Q. Coach, how difficult was it to play against a team that you know was able to throw ten bodies in there and basically everyone that they had in the game was able to get a bucket for them?

JOSE FERNANDEZ: Yeah, very difficult. We're also -- you know, it hurts. We're missing one of our best perimeter players in Maria, right? Probably play Dulcy, Maria, so seven.