NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - IUPUI VS OKLAHOMA

March 19, 2022

Austin Parkinson

Macee Williams

Rachel McLimore

IUPUI Lady Jaguars

Media Conference

AUSTIN PARKINSON: I'm proud of our team. I thought that Oklahoma is obviously incredibly talented. They had a great crowd tonight and put a lot of heat on you with the way they pushed the basketball. But I was proud of our players. We were right there. We're the No. 1 three-point shooting team in our league. We got so many open looks and missed shots and at the end of the day in a game like this, that sometimes can be the difference. But I'm proud of this group. We were right there and a couple shots away from potentially being a different result.

Q. Macee and then for Rachel, Austin just mentioned it there with the pace that they play. How difficult was that to manage especially early in the third quarter, when they got going offensively and y'all had some issues hitting shots.

MACEE WILLIAMS: It was a little frustrating but we couldn't let that get to our heads. We still tried to come together even if we weren't missing shots. Yeah, it was just a little frustrating.

RACHEL McLIMORE: Teams that play fast like that can quickly turn the game, especially when you're missing shots. I was only just proud of my team for like we just fought back, like a lot of teams that would miss that many shots in a row would just fold and lose by 20 and we made it a game. Like we were still in it at the end.

So that's one thing about us; we are not going to give up and we are going to fight till the end.

Q. Obviously you were a big part of what y'all were doing offensively early. What did you feel like you were having success with there other than just beating them size-wise, and then did they change anything there in the second half against you?

MACEE WILLIAMS: I feel like throughout the second half, they started doubling more, so at that point I had to see how they were playing me. My teammates and the coaches did a good job of telling me they were doubling, so that helped out a lot.

Q. I know this loss isn't the way you wanted this season to send but when you think of what the program has done this season and the past couple years what is the legacy that Macee Williams has left?

AUSTIN PARKINSON: Obviously Macee is the best player in the history of our school and probably in the Horizon League. I was really proud of how she played tonight. Again, if I'm a WNBA team, I've got first or second round pick, I take a hard look at her. At the end of the day, we played two Big Ten teams and one Big 12 team, and every single one of them had to double her. To me, that says a lot about what she's able to do individually, and clearly she's left her mark here at IUPUI.

Q. How do you put things into perspective with four-time Horizon League Player of the Year, and you just heard Coach talk about all the amazing things that you've done, how do you put your career into perspective with getting to play this year for the first time in the NCAA Tournament because that was one of the main reasons you came back.

MACEE WILLIAMS: Yeah, I just put it in perspective. By no means, I don't think I'm the best player on the team. But like I said, I just feel like my teammates make me look really good.

RACHEL McLIMORE: She's really humble if you haven't noticed.

Q. The pace that OU plays, how much did you feel like that played a part in what happened there early in the third, and just how do you feel like you handled that totally tonight?

AUSTIN PARKINSON: Honestly I don't think there's much we do different. At the end of the day, you know, that's how they play, and both sometimes that's really good where they get on those big runs but they also can have some turnovers and bad shots.

We forced some turnovers and we got some stops, but at the end of the day, you know, when you're not making shots, wide open shots at the other end, you allow a team like that to get Madi Williams running downhill, you have Robertson coming off screens, I thought we did a poor job on Robertson in the second half. We covered her great in the first half and lost her on some really pretty easy switches we would normally make.

A player like that and you leave her open, it's three points. That was tough.

Q. Can you put this in perspective being the historical aspect of the season overall and how you guys matched up against the best teams on your schedule from beginning to end.

AUSTIN PARKINSON: I think the first game when we took Michigan to overtime, you know, we scheduled a tough schedule right off the bat because we knew head a good team. But we lost in overtime, we beat Iowa at Iowa in a ranked situation, and played these guys really tough.

I mean, at the end of the day, you make a couple other shots and maybe it goes the other direction. But you know, like I said, our kids I think represented IUPUI really well. Finally after having the tournament canceled two years ago, to be able to play on a national stage and have people tuning in tonight, nine, ten o'clock at night, and see what these kids are capable of, I think was really neat.