NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - IOWA STATE VS UT ARLINGTON

March 18, 2022

Bill Fennelly

Emily Ryan

Ashley Joens

Iowa State Cyclones

Media Conference

Iowa State 78, UT Arlington 71

BILL FENNELLY: First of all, I guess the definition of survive and advance for this tournament was probably what you could see from our team tonight. I was really impressed with UT Arlington. They played a phenomenal game. They're so well-coached. They play so hard. Made some big, big shots. Obviously, the crowd, again, was a huge part, but I know there will be a lot of things about what we didn't do, and that's okay. This tournament is not about that. This tournament is about getting things done so you can practice and play again, and that's what our team did, and I'm really proud of the way they found a way to win the game.

Q. Emily, you really came alive there in the fourth quarter. Did you sense that you had to, I guess, kind of take control of the game there?

EMILY RYAN: Honestly, I was trying to make the right play for our team, whatever that happened to be at the time. Just trying to find a way to win, and that's what we did, and I'm really proud of our team effort.

Q. Ashley, what do you think about the way Emily kind of came up there late I think the last four or five minutes of the game there?

ASHLEY JOENS: Yeah, Em does an amazing job of understanding the game. What she needs to do at the right time, and I think she did that really well getting the right people the ball at the right time and being able to score as well.

Q. For either of you guys, Emily and Ashley, after the first quarter you guys trailed by eight. What was kind of being said, and what was going through your guys' heads? It seemed like you stayed really calm the entire game, and that's kind of the nature of this tournament, but what was going through your heads after the first quarter deficit?

EMILY RYAN: Honestly, it was just a matter of keep trying to win the next play, whatever the scoreboard says. That's our mentality throughout the whole game, so just trying to win the possession we're on and then just chopping wood and finding our way back into the game and letting the crowd take over at the end.

ASHLEY JOENS: Like Emily said, the games are long. You've got to keep fighting, keep battling, and I think we did a really good job of that.

Q. For Ashley and Emily, Coach Fennelly talks about survive and advance. What elements of this game did you feel like you really shined in the face of adversity?

EMILY RYAN: I thought we did a great job of battling back when shots weren't falling in the beginning of the game. Just staying confident and knowing that those are shots we're going to hit and just staying together as a team. That was important. Adversity, it shows a lot about what kind of team and player you are, so I thought we did a great job and really proud of our effort.

ASHLEY JOENS: Yeah, I mean, you've just got to keep fighting. Every team is going to give you their best shots, so you've just got to keep battling, and our team stuck together and stayed calm, and we were able to make some plays down the road.

Q. That's something that can give you guys confidence, I guess, moving forward knowing that, okay, the first half of that game was not anything that you would want, but you've still kind of, I guess, regrouped and ended up surviving like Fennelly said.

EMILY RYAN: Yeah. I thought it was important for us just to continue to stay with our identity and not let them take them out of this game. We're going to grow from this and continue to play.

Q. I was just kind of wondering what you thought of what Emily did there down the stretch at the end of the game, kind of taking over.

BILL FENNELLY: She did take over the game. The kid is the ultimate competitor. Everyone who has watched us play this year knows that. I think our team -- you know, we were trying. It just wasn't -- it was one of those nights that everyone was a little bit anxious in a lot of ways, and the number one thing is we're one of the best free-throw shooting teams in the country, and we couldn't make anything, and I think that talks to maybe you're trying a little too hard, but that's Emily's nature. She's a winner in every sense of the word. I think she has a sense, Tommy, that we had a lot of -- some blank looks on our faces at times, and Emily just said, okay, give me the ball, and I'll do something, and the plays were there, and she made them. That's what this tournament is about. It's a make shot-miss shot game, but it's a make shot-miss shot tournament that everyone will talk about.

Q. Is some of the things that didn't go right just kind of flukey stuff, kind of like what you had said almost like, okay -- almost adjusting to, hey, this is what it is? Is it stuff that gives you confidence moving forward that, hey, Sunday will just be a totally different day?

BILL FENNELLY: Better play a totally different game Sunday or it will be -- yeah, it won't be any fun. It reminded me a lot of the second half of the West Virginia game in the Big 12 Tournament. I don't know how many layups we missed.

We missed, obviously, a ton of free-throws. Those are things that our team usually doesn't do and we can't do to be successful.

Their match-ups are hard for us. They're a little undersized, and obviously, we played five guards a lot tonight, which we don't do a lot, but we had to. We just couldn't figure it out. I think to our kids' credit, I told them at halftime, you just played maybe the worst 20 minutes we've played all season. The great news is there's 20 minutes to go. Go play the best and make the decision when you walk up the ramp tonight, do you want to come back down that ramp tomorrow to practice or go up that ramp and just keep walking?

To their credit, I think they learned a lot about themselves. College sports is supposed to be about a life lesson. Life sucks sometimes, and life doesn't go right sometimes, and we can all feel sorry for ourselves or you just keep digging and fighting, and our team kept digging and kept fighting, and they earned the right to come back and play again.

Q. Bill, Ny had some big moments, it seemed, on the defensive end. Got a couple of baskets for you too, but she got two or three blocks. She got her average, but it looked like it was hard for her to get it.

BILL FENNELLY: I thought Ny was really good. She got hit in practice yesterday. We didn't even know if she was going to play today. She does a lot of things for us and gives us some versatility, gives us some ability to do some different things and play five guards, because Ny can guard one through five enough to give us a chance, and I thought she was really, really good. Really good.

Q. Is one of the things about the tournament because you do start a new season and you go from the familiar to the unexpected is going to happen. Here's a team that comes in. Shoot, I think they were 284th and hit seven on their first eight. You guys struggled at the free-throw line. There's a challenge and a beauty in that facing the unexpected in every moment.

BILL FENNELLY: Absolutely. That's the great thing about this tournament, and, yeah, the Smith kid, number 34, is 0 for 10 on the season, and she sticks a three on us. Again, they were very well-coached. They were very well-prepared, and we all know this is not a best four out of seven. All the games that we've watched all day and on the men's side or the women's side, every single team that lost is saying, oh, man, if we would have made a couple of shots here or there. It's the beauty of it and the pain in it. That's why it's madness. Luckily tonight we made just enough plays. I feel bad for Arlington. They did everything they could to win the game. Probably Emily Ryan and Ashley Joens and the best fan base in the country got us through it.

Q. Throughout the entire season you relied heavily on Ashley, Lexi, and Emily. Tonight they scored, I think, 70 of the 78 points you guys had. When you look at that, is that just good, bad, whatever? I guess what's that mean moving forward?

BILL FENNELLY: It's a great effort by them, and it's not good. We kind of reverted back to kind of standing around watching those guys play a little bit, and Ashley had 36, and it's one of those nights. I mean, she could have had 50. It’s just missing free throws and missing a few other shots, but obviously, if we're going to have any chance Sunday, any chance, we better get something from the other people. They should be rested, so hopefully that's the case, but we'll try and throw something together. Georgia is really good. Really good.

Q. I just wanted to ask, what did you see from UTA early that helped them build that lead, and then how did you tell your team to respond to get the win?

BILL FENNELLY: I thought early Arlington made some shots that normally I don't know that they would make, but they ran some really good stuff. They inverted their offense. We had a hard time guarding in space. They got the ball into the lane way too many times against us. Then I thought defensively they didn't panic. They kept guarding the way they wanted to. They did a lot of switching. They kept the ball in front of them. We had some really good shots early. As I mentioned, free throws. I thought our team for the most part -- like I said, we try and play the game with poise and purpose is what we tell our players, and I thought at least in the second half our poise and purpose was really good.