NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - STEPHEN F. AUSTIN VS NORTH CAROLINA

March 19, 2022

Courtney Banghart

Deja Kelly

Alyssa Ustby

North Carolina Tar Heels

Media Conference

North Carolina 79, Stephen F. Austin 66

COURTNEY BANGHART: Wow, what a great day to be a Tar Heel, obviously with a big win for both our men and our women and also my old Princeton Tigers got a big win, so it was a good day in the basketball world.

Clearly we hadn't played in two and a half weeks except for one game and you could tell, and so there was a lot of rust on both ends. I thought we were really stagnant, and at halftime we really got into them a little bit and required that we get back to our standard.

What I'll remember about this game is how much these guys trusted each other. When things weren't going well, the ball moved better and they just really trusted each other. The two gamers to my right can speak for themselves, but I can tell you that I'm really glad that they're Tar Heels. I've been glad since they day they chose it, and they just keep getting better and better and it's a joy to coach them.

Huge win for our program with how far we've come, and we're looking forward to the next opportunity.

Q. Deja, as Coach just said, two and a half weeks with only one game there. Especially these are the most important games of your season. How much time do you need to get into the game all of a sudden and shake the rust off?

DEJA KELLY: It took us a little longer than expected, but we knew that it had been a while since we played. We played one game in two weeks. At halftime our talk was like, we're good, let's just push through it, we're going to fight to win this game, we're not backing down, and we pulled it out in the second half.

Q. Alyssa, when Deja can score in the way that she does, how important is it when you can get the ball to her and know it's going in more often than it's not?

ALYSSA USTBY: Yeah, especially when I get the ball inside, I'm looking out for open shooters because that was today's game was finding open shooters, and when I pass to Deja, I trust that she's going to make the right read and she's consistently shown me to do that. So I just know as soon as I pass it to her I'm looking and I'm ready to box out just in case she misses, but she doesn't miss often.

Q. I just wanted to ask, Coach Banghart just talked about having trust in each other and I saw throughout the game you guys had small moments, breaks in the game where you would come together in huddles. Can you talk about some things that were said in those huddles throughout the game and the importance those played in keeping the energy levels relatively calm?

DEJA KELLY: Yeah, I think what got us here is our connectedness. We play together, we trust each other. We're playing for each other. That's our theme for this tournament. In those huddles our talk was just everyone, let's go. We're not losing this game. We're going to do whatever it takes. Let's defend. Let's get stops, let's get scores, let's pull out this game.

ALYSSA USTBY: After that, those huddles are so important especially if one of us have a bad foul and there's just a lot of heat in the moment, we pull each other together, like calm everybody down, get us on the right page and get us moving forward.

Q. You guys are going to play a team from the West Coast in the next round, either Arizona or UNLV. Have you been able to follow any teams out here or how difficult is it to know how good Arizona or UNLV are since you're on the East Coast?

DEJA KELLY: That'll just be us watching scout, watching film. We'll sit and watch this game. We don't know too much about them but it's kind of good to play someone other than ACC teams since December, so we're excited for that. We're excited for the challenge and for the matchup for whoever we play.

Q. When you guys especially defend in the fourth quarter, obviously this game is back and forth, but to hold them I think at one point with two minutes to go, they only had four points, what did you defensively in the fourth that seemed to work?

ALYSSA USTBY: I think in the fourth quarter we just had to dig deep. Everybody is tired at that point. You're playing a great opponent, so it's about doing the little things, talking to your teammates, getting in gaps, being on help side defense. We really had to focus and lock in defensively in order to keep them off the scoreboard.

Q. Could you guys speak on Hodgson's ability to come off the bench and really come alive in the fourth quarter?

DEJA KELLY: Man, Eva Hodgson, she is such a burst of energy coming off the bench. She's our starter I would say. We'd put her in that starting lineup. Her coming off the bench, she takes charges, she does the dirty work, she hits open threes. She is our energy I would say, and whenever she comes in, you don't see our energy go downhill. If anything it goes up. We love having Eva on the court. She has such a loud voice. She's so encouraging, so I really enjoy playing with Eva.

ALYSSA USTBY: Yeah, Eva does whatever it takes for us to win a basketball game, and you need players like that to go far in March.

Q. You guys had a section of fans behind you where you were sitting. Could you hear them? What was that like to see them from North Carolina here?

DEJA KELLY: It's so great to see our fans follow us all the way to the other side of the country. Like just to know that we have that much support is so amazing. It's so great to look up and see all that blue in the stands, and knowing that they're rooting for us and they flew all the way out here just to see us play and see us win some games is exciting.

ALYSSA USTBY: I think I definitely have a trained ear for the Carolina voices and our fans behind the bench. I remember I was on the free-throw line and I heard Deja's mom was like, Lys, you've got it, and I was like, yeah, I've got it. I was like, this is definitely going in.

Q. There seemed to be a shift of momentum in the fourth quarter and your shots were falling and the team seemed to loosen up, more celebrations on the threes that I saw from players. Could you talk about that and sort of what moment you felt the energy really shift and the moment it shifted in your favor?

DEJA KELLY: I think it started with the defensive end. I think we had a lot more energy. I remember a key point when Alyssa jumped in the passing lane for a steal. I think that was the turning point for us. Coach has been asking for that all game. So Lys got that, I think that was the turning point for us as far as energy-wise because as soon as we saw Alyssa do that, we all turned it up defensively, and then that led to easy offense. We hit a lot of threes, transition threes, lay-ups, got to the free-throw line.

Q. Alyssa and Deja, all season you guys have gone through adversity in games and always fought back and played well. How much of that experience in those sorts of games in the regular season give you confidence that you could pull this off today when you were trailing throughout the middle two quarters?

DEJA KELLY: Yeah, like I said, our connectedness is what got us here. I think once we were down in the first half, our talk, we gathered together and we were just like, listen, we've been playing so well together all year. We didn't come this far to lose in the first round. We are going to give, do whatever it takes in the second half to pull out this win, stick to your principles, pull it out defensively, give more energy defensively. That will lead to offense, and I think we did just that, and we pulled out this win, which I'm super happy about, by the way.

Q. What was the mood in those middle two quarters when things weren't going so well? What was the talk among you guys during those middle two quarters?

ALYSSA USTBY: Yeah, during those two quarters we knew that was a pivotal part of the game. It's either we go up together or we go down. We just had the confidence in each other, we trusted each other, and instead of pointing outward we pointed inward, and we were saying I'll be there on your help side, I will box out, you can get the rebound. It's about working together, and Deja already said it, connectedness is really what roots our confidence and that was what was able for us to help us get that win.

Q. Could you see the look in the faces of their players there in the fourth quarter that they could tell that it was going to fall apart for them?

ALYSSA USTBY: Myself personally when I was guarding their low post, I noticed her stop posting up and stop being aggressive, so that's when I knew I was like, okay, I'm going to pick it up a notch because they're starting to back down, and they didn't fight back. But that's a tribute to our defense and our active on-ball engagement.

Q. Pertaining to the 2-2-1 press that SFA was running on you all, so you knew it was going to come, coming into this game and you seemed to struggle with it a little bit in the middle two quarters. What adjustments did you make going into the end of the game that allowed you to control the ball better?

COURTNEY BANGHART: You know, I've been coaching Carlie a long time and I'm pretty easy on her because her and I have a different vibe. We sort of know what -- I can just be direct with her. At halftime I told her I needed a whole lot more from her with the ball in her hands in terms of an aggressive mindset.

In the first half she was just facilitating and they were really guarding out on the wings, and so her being aggressive in the press break in the second half changed everything for our press break, and so that was a huge part of our success, I think.

Q. This is your 10th tournament here, and I think eight of them you've been the lower seeded team coming into these games. The one time you guys were at Princeton with that undefeated team you were an 8 seed. Is there a difference in your preparation or even just maybe in the mentality of the team when you are the higher seeded team?

COURTNEY BANGHART: You know, I think it's a great question because I'm typically, like you said, I'm SFA. So I think I was able to help our guys understand that these guys, they're ready for you. They've been waiting for the opportunity to play a Power Five all year long. They've been waiting for this opportunity, and they've won 28 games and they're not going to back down. They're like, finally. As we saw with Princeton today, as well.

I think I actually met this game with it. I have even more respect for SFA because I've been in their shoes, right.

But yeah, when you come into a tournament where you're the higher seed, your body of work gives you a higher seed, that helps. It helps because it should in theory give you an easier opponent.

Now, the thing about March as I told our guys is there's no bad teams. It would be awesome to play a bad team, but they're at home, so we don't get to do that.

Yeah, these guys were picked seventh in the ACC, and we start four sophomores, and Ali Zelaya came off the bench and played a lot as a fifth sophomore, and they're now in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Q. From a coach's perspective, because they're sophomores, you guys did get the game you lost last year in the tournament. How much of a difference can you tell in this moment from where they were last year to where they are now?

COURTNEY BANGHART: Oh, totally different. I told them before the game we're in this moment because what needed to happen is every returner had to be better, individually better, and they are, and then I said the additions, so grad transfers and freshmen, they have to contribute.

And then the third thing is they have to come together and decide that they're going to be willing to do whatever it takes to be special, and you check off all those boxes and here we are.

Yeah, it's hard to win here. I'd prefer not to have my NCAA Tournament record plastered all over everywhere because it's not that sexy, but the fact of the matter is I'm sitting here today and I've brought a team that I've really come to love to the second round so far.

Q. It means you've been here a lot, though.

COURTNEY BANGHART: That's true. This is like old hat for me.

Q. Clearly you know what your former school did today; how much in this day, you're trying to be focused on your game, but can you walk us through how you were aware, were you watching, what were you doing?

COURTNEY BANGHART: Absolutely, yeah. Those are kids I've been in their homes. Even their freshmen because they took a year because of COVID. First we got in from practice and we were all celebrating the men's win; we were watching kind of that last few minutes of the men's game together with our cheerleaders and band right in the lobby. It was great. Then I get up to my room, and it's like, oh, God, now I'm stressing about that game.

So the three teams I care about the most all advanced today, so it was a good day for me and the people that I had to both leave when I left Princeton -- I'm still rooting for them, so it was a good game.

Q. Did you and Carlie share that moment?

COURTNEY BANGHART: Absolutely, yeah. Her boyfriend is on the men's team and he flew out for the game. So yeah, we had a moment right towards the end of the game, and I said, I'd better be your first hug, and she's like, you've been my first hug literally since day one, and I said, good point, I'll see you soon.

Q. Deja Kelly, three points away from her career high with a 28-point game. Can you talk about the impact she had on today's game?

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, you know, Deja I was a little bit worried about because she didn't play so well in the first game last year in the NCAA Tournament and that can force you to push a little bit. We met yesterday and talked about what would it take, what would you playing well look like, and she's a cerebral player so she thinks through all the different aspects of the game.

So we listened and we talked about it and I said, hmm, no, none of those answers -- those answers are helpful, but if we win this basketball game you will have played well. So whatever it takes, if that means you have to facilitate -- we don't know because we have to see what SFA does, and we have to be willing to adjust throughout the game.

I thought when she was able to facilitate a little bit more, it opened her up and the ball moved better. So we got her moving a little bit better in the second half, and that opened her up.

Q. I also wanted to ask about Hodgson's role coming off the bench as she does so often for you guys. In particular her coming into the game in the fourth quarter and starting things off with that floater and just how big of a role she played in the momentum late in the game.

COURTNEY BANGHART: Absolutely. Eva has a fearlessness to her. I told her when we met yesterday, I told her, you're too good a player not to have played in March. She's never played in the NCAA Tournament. I said, you're too good of a player for that.

You know, the fact is that you're going to have to not only play but be effective in your very first chance. Luckily you're made for that. The kid is so fearless.

I count on her in all ways, to be in -- she goes in either at the 1, the 2 or the 3. What a gift that is to have someone that I can put in early in the game, late in the game, don't matter, and she can play any of those spots.

Her fearlessness and her energy and her ability to lift others is a very big part of our success and ours. You know she's from New Hampshire, right? So am I. Same town.

Q. When were you having this conversation with her about it's incredible that you've never played in March?

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, I met with the players individually yesterday. We've been here a while, so had some time.

Just to make sure -- I've played in this tournament, as well, two or three times, I can't remember, that's how old I am. And there's nothing like it because you're staring at the finality of your season. It's like hitting you in the head if you let it. That can bring you some emotions that don't allow you to operate at your best.

So I just kind of wanted to talk through where they were at, what does success look like for you and just make sure they were focused on the right things, so that all happened yesterday.

Q. Coach, coming into the tournament y'all were seen as an inexperienced team by people and you kind of talked about it, starting four sophomores. After a win over a team who a lot of its core is seniors, what does that say about the postseason readiness of your team?

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, I feel like every team we play has like five fifth-year seniors because of COVID. So this is a similar team. They've got a ton of experience, ton of NCAA experience. Luckily as I say, that story has been told. With every team we've played in the ACC, all the top teams, top seven all have an impactful COVID senior, and we've got our sophomores rolling through.

You've kind of got to deal with who we are and focus on what we're good at, and what we're good at is we're connected defensively, we play with good pace on offense, and we rebound. When we're good, we do those three things. So we tried to stay true to those principles.

But I'm getting tired of playing against 27-year-olds.

Q. Can you take us into the dressing room at halftime? Was that the most animated or most intense you've been during a halftime this season? How was that?

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, you're right. It was that. It was probably my more -- my grandmother wouldn't have been happy to be in the room if that's what you're asking. But yeah, I think there was -- we were hoping that they could play their rust off, but that didn't happen. So I felt like I could maybe push it off myself with my words.

Just going back to our principles and asking us to be more aggressive and imploring more energy and activity and angles on both sides of the ball. So I would say it was a lot of imploring their energy out of them.

Q. What I asked the players, obviously you guys have been resilient against adversity all season. Do you think that gave them confidence today knowing they've done it before?

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, I mean, it's a tough year. It's so hard to win in March, and I think when you're wearing Carolina across your chest, sometimes that gets taken for granted. It doesn't in our locker room. We know how hard it is to win, and to think about how this group when you're staring at the finality of your season and things aren't going your way and that can make you tight, these guys just show such toughness. They show such toughness. They trust me, they listen, and they give great energy. We've got a bunch of fighters.

You've followed us closely all year and you've seen that, so this was a game that -- I keep hearing our games are "so fun to watch." I'm looking for a really fun game to coach. Hopefully that's the next one.

Q. How were the emotions going from the anxiety of going into the fourth quarter to that run and just total excitement? It had to be an emotional roller coaster for your team.

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, it felt great for me to be able to see them rewarded for trusting each other. We had been asking them to do that, both with their ball movement and their body movement, and the ball stuck a little bit. When the ball started to move and they started to trust each other, it was a thing of beauty.

Then defensively we had to go really small. Alyssa was guarding the 5, a very good player at that, and so that allowed us to switch out on things, so we also were a little bit out of position, as well, and yeah, it's a beautiful thing when you're a part of a group that trusts each other, and they showed that today.

Q. I wanted to ask you about a particular moment in the game, so this was early in the fourth quarter, and SFA called a time-out after you guys had sunk a few shots and your bench is going crazy, UNC fans are going crazy. SFA is running to their bench and you were kind of turned and staring I want to say at the scoreboard ahead of you. I want to know what was going through your mind at that moment.

COURTNEY BANGHART: Fouls to give, fouls that they have, lineup in. Just trying to -- the emotion of the game, it can make you a bad decision maker, right, and so I really try to know that my role is to, as I say, play chess and they play hoops. My job is to make sure that I'm prepared. How many time-outs do they have, how many time-outs we are, and the scoreboard gives you all that information.

Then when I go in and see them I'm able to make sure that they have the information that they need. It was just me being cerebral. That's kind of how I roll.

Q. I believe the score was -- you guys had just gone up by two. What was the game plan going forward to keep that momentum going?

COURTNEY BANGHART: Keep going. We wanted to get an easy one early if we could, attack hips because they were starting to get a little handsy. They were playing more urgently, and so that was either going to be a lay-up or a free throw by attacking hips, and they did a great job of that. They stayed spaced and did that and earned free throw trips and put the game away.

Q. Jordan Lewis last year, 32 points, four three-pointers and then --

COURTNEY BANGHART: 22, I got you, Nugent.

Q. Nugent had --

COURTNEY BANGHART: 26.

Q. A similar game today, but Deja Kelly 1 for 13 last year but she stepped up today. What does that say about her competitiveness to step up when y'all needed it?

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, absolutely. She wanted that so bad. We had an important meeting yesterday just to get her in the right space. But to put up 28 in an NCAA Tournament game as a sophomore is remarkable. She came here to bring Carolina as far as she could do it, and she's doing a pretty darned good job of that.