NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - NOTRE DAME VS OKLAHOMA

March 21, 2022

Jennie Baranczyk

Madi Williams

Taylor Robertson

Oklahoma Sooners

Postgame Media Conference

Notre Dame 108, Oklahoma 64

JENNIE BARANCZYK: Well, I thought Notre Dame was phenomenal, and if they can continue to do that, watch out, everybody. We needed to be better, and we weren't. That's on us as a coaching staff for not having us ready.

I think we've had incredible moments of learning this year that's going to propel us into an off-season, and I'm still really proud of these women, and I'm really proud that I get to coach them.

Q. Madi, obviously Mabrey hits a bunch of threes but their length inside forced you guys to really pay attention to what they were doing in the paint. How much of a factor was that to maybe get Mabrey going, just the problems they presented inside for you guys with their length?

MADI WILLIAMS: On offense or defense or --

Q. When you guys were on defense.

MADI WILLIAMS: Yeah, I mean, it was tough. She started off hitting early, and so -- but she's also one that we were supposed to just find the whole entire game. We were supposed to keep an eye on the whole entire game. Even if she wasn't hitting, I guess their length was -- not really an issue. They were hitting on the outside.

I don't know. I don't know. I'm sorry. I don't know.

Q. For Taylor and then Madi, it just seemed like at the beginning of the game they kind of made a run and then you guys were just fighting an uphill battle. How frustrating was it that they make a run and you guys just were kind of fighting uphill the entire time?

TAYLOR ROBERTSON: Yeah, we were. We got lost in transition on No. 1. Obviously she's a really good shooter, and we really needed to key in on her and not let her get open looks, and then after that started happening we were down quite a few, and it was just uphill from there and just trying to find a way to get back into it.

We really wanted to try to give ourselves a chance and like get the crowd into it since we had a good crowd, and we weren't really able to do that.

Q. Taylor, you talked about it right there, but when they get off to that run like that, how difficult is it on the offensive end not to try to make up all 20 points that you were down during that stretch, up at once, and then it just seemed to speed things up for you all.

TAYLOR ROBERTSON: Yeah, I think sometimes when we get down by that much, we do try to get it all back at once and then that kind of causes bad things for us to happen, and then we might dwell on that, and then another bad thing happens, and it kind of snowballed for us a little bit, and we could have done a better job in response to that.

MADI WILLIAMS: Yeah, it's been kind of tough for us all year to kind of not try to win the game back in one quarter, in one possession, and I think that's something that we'll get better at as time goes. We've got the off-season to work on that, to work on just getting better. Yeah.

Q. Madi, for you first and then Taylor, you guys are such a great offensive team that I never think you're out of a game, but in this game you just couldn't quite put it together. What was keeping you from -- what happened that you just couldn't put together a great run to get back in this game? Normally you guys can.

MADI WILLIAMS: I don't know, I feel like maybe we just weren't as locked in together. I feel like we probably were locked in individually, but as a team we couldn't figure out how to get connected enough to pull out a few runs this game.

TAYLOR ROBERTSON: In the first half it felt like we had a lot of easy opportunities that we just missed, and that happens. You've got to be able to play through it. But I think there was a lot of chances around the rim and maybe it was their length that caused that, but some of them were open where we usually do hit those, and I think that was part of it.

Q. Despite the loss tonight it was still a really good season. Both of you got your first Big 12 tournament win, your first NCAA Tournament win and took this program to the second round of this tournament for the first time in a few years. I think you guys are both planning on coming back next year, so how does this season help in building something and progressing on to next season where you want to be even better?

TAYLOR ROBERTSON: Yeah, this season is definitely something to build from. We did a lot of really great things this year, and now we know some things that we need to be better at or we can work on in the off-season. I think it was a good year, and it was really fun, and I can't wait to get back on the court next year.

MADI WILLIAMS: Yeah, we've got all the same pieces coming back, so we'll just build on what we started this year, and we'll come back harder.

Q. A lot of emotions going on right now. It's been a phenomenal season for you guys. What do you have to say for your coach right now?

MADI WILLIAMS: I'm just really grateful that Jennie came in and that we decided to stay. She was like she came in and she was a really great experience. She was patient with us, and she kept us around. She didn't have to do that. It's been great.

TAYLOR ROBERTSON: She's really fun to play for. I know I'll be happy to be able to come back and play for her one more year.

Q. Obviously you guys have played teams with great height, and that's been something you've overcome on a repeated basis, but was theirs different? Dodson gets going early and it opens up the outside. I think Madi said snowball, but did you think the length would be as much of an issue as it ended up being?

JENNIE BARANCZYK: Well, I think just their balance today offensively I think puts a lot of pressure on you on the other end, as well, and then I think we did, we pressed a little bit, and we missed some shots that maybe we normally make, and they hit -- they were phenomenal. Yeah, do we need to defend better and not turn it over? 100 percent.

But I also -- you've got to give credit where credit is due. When you've got that kind of balance, there's a really hard way -- it's really challenging because it's not -- we are a team defensive team, and tonight we had to lock down one-on-one, and we didn't, and that's something that yeah, we'll learn. We can learn to be able to do that, but you also have to give credit where credit is due. They picked us apart.

Q. Obviously you'll reflect more at a later date, but you guys accomplished a lot this season. Just how would you evaluate the first season and kind of some of the things you guys were able to do?

JENNIE BARANCZYK: Yeah, it might take some time to really be able to really answer that question.

You know, the worst time to be in the locker room is on that last game like this, and it's also the best time. I really, really love and care about those women in that locker room, and I'm really proud of a lot that we've done throughout the year, and not just in the wins. We've had some really embarrassing losses. Unfortunately this isn't our only one. But we always come back, and we always bounce back, and I'm really proud that these women continue to respond. They continue to be themselves. They continue to make people around them better.

So from a reflection standpoint, I'm just really, really thankful and blessed that I get to coach them.

Q. You talked about in the locker room after the game. I'm curious after what happened in the first half, obviously the way that they took control, what was your message to them at halftime at that point when you've still got two more quarters to go?

JENNIE BARANCZYK: Yeah, you tried each quarter to say, okay, let's just reset it, reset it, and there were different strategies. There were times that I probably yelled at them too much. There were times that I probably didn't yell at them enough and then you try to steady them.

We were rocked a little bit obviously, a lot bit, and we were rocked from the beginning, and we just couldn't come back, so as much as I just said respond well, I don't know if we did today from that sense.

We tried to keep it as much strategy, but we definitely didn't -- like Madi said, we just didn't stay connected. We didn't play together as a team as well as we're capable of doing. This time of year when you're on the home floor playing to go to the Sweet 16, there just can't be any gap in that, and there was tonight.

Q. Expanding on that, when you have that run right at the beginning the game on your home floor, how hard is that just for the team to have the crowd there and then to see that evaporate immediately?

JENNIE BARANCZYK: Yeah, obviously that was a huge challenge, and I think, again, we did not respond. We missed a couple lay-ups, and then obviously Mabrey went off. She was incredible. She banked in a three coming off a ball screen. There were some times we left her, and then there were some times she just hit some really tough shots.

Again, they have some size inside, and we talked about that. So we have to adjust in there. We don't have enough size just to combat one-on-one, so we had to try to help with that.

You know, they hit a lot of threes.

Now, we can overcome 10 threes, but we didn't. Five of those were in that first quarter, and we needed to adjust. We did a better job there but then gave up paint points.

It was kind of a Catch 22 on some things. But I feel like they hit a lot of mid-range jumpers today, too, and they're capable of doing that, obviously, but you've got to give somewhere, and they made us pay.

Q. How instructive was this game for you moving forward? Are there things you can learn from it or do you write it off as a bad day at Black Rock?

JENNIE BARANCZYK: No, I don't think we can write it off. I think a big thing, this season has been interesting because we had a game like this at Kansas State, we had a game like this at Iowa State, so it's unfortunate that we've had a couple of these this year.

Now, you don't want to have it at home and you don't want to have it in March, so we do have to take some of that and learn from it. So we're not going to write it off. We're going to look in the mirror. We're going to be embarrassed, we're going to live with it and we've got to put our boots on and roll up our sleeves and figure out how we're going to get better and be ready for those big moments next season.

Q. This has been a proud and tradition-rich program. What's it been like for you since day one to really reenergize it and see where it's grown since you arrived on campus and setting the foundation for the future where this program in years to come can continue to flourish?

JENNIE BARANCZYK: Well, this program is special, and in every -- obviously celebrating 20 years of the first Final Four, that's special, and you start to see what's happened in the last 20 years, so to be able to be part of this program is huge. I don't think that I just came in and reenergized it. I think this team did, and I think these women really just made a decision to play together and do some really special things this year.

It's going to be hard to look at it right now because it didn't end in a great way, but there's always reasons that things happen, and so this happened for some reason, and it's going to propel us to be better, and it's going to propel us in the off-season, it's going to propel us in the summer.

But we will, and this program is going to go places, and I know a lot of people are keeping an eye on us and our fans are continuing to be so invested, even in a game like this, and then they stay. They didn't have to stay at the end. They could have left, but they stayed.

You can just tell there's some things happening, and you can feel that there are some things happening, and I can promise you that we're going to continue to do whatever we can to represent not only this program or this university but also this entire state.

Q. Two days after your season low in turnovers I think you guys had a --

JENNIE BARANCZYK: I know, we balanced it out, didn't we.

Q. How does that work out when you're also considering the fact that they were red hot shooting and you guys were a little bit cold, points in the paint, all that stuff?

JENNIE BARANCZYK: Yeah, they were red hot shooting. We were missing some uncharacteristic shots, and then we were hesitant on our passes and then we passed it to them, so we would have cutters open and then we just were -- we were rattled. We were just off enough that we ended up passing to them and had obviously way too many live ball turnovers that turned into -- that's the difference in the game. So those are some things we'll have to really work on in the off-season.

But we did some uncharacteristic things. We dribbled when we should pass. We passed when we should have shot it. We did a lot of that today. We'll go back and look at that film.

But part of it's being ready in the moment, and we didn't have us ready in the moment. So that's something as a coaching staff we'll look at, and we will figure out how to get us ready for those moments.

Q. You've had such a great year. I know this game is a disappointment and you're such a positive person. Are you going to have to -- I hope you don't have to work to make sure this doesn't take over some of the bright spots you've had this year. I know you think about those things, so talk about what you'll start talking about tomorrow even though this game was a disappointment for you.

JENNIE BARANCZYK: We'll learn a lot about ourselves in the next 24 and 48 hours and then we'll have a plan. I appreciate that, and that's the -- that's probably the hard thing and the balance in coaching and loving this -- being part of a team, because this is a team, you don't want it to end. You want to keep coaching this team forever.

Q. Despite this loss it was still a really good season. For you trying to build a culture here and get OU back to winning all the time in the tournament like they used to, how does this season help with that and what does it mean to have players like Taylor, Madi and most of this team coming back for another year?

JENNIE BARANCZYK: Yeah, I love that we have a lot of players coming back. I think that's really going to help us, and it's going to propel us, and I think like they both alluded to, a lot of the learning moments that we've had throughout the season. We've gone from -- we started to compete with Oregon, and in that game all of a sudden we were like, oh, my God, we're competing with Oregon, and then we didn't know what to do with it.

Then we came back and we had some games down and we had some great comebacks here, and then all of a sudden it's oh, okay, now we've got to figure out how we're supposed to win the conference, and then we don't show up in a game. Or the moment gets big. I shouldn't even say that we don't show up, but it doesn't feel like we showed up, and then moment gets kind of big. So we've had just a lot of those learning moments that you usually get in -- it's a few years, and this all happened in one season. So we had some incredible highs and then some incredible lows.

So you do try to manage all through that, but I think if we can learn some of that stuff, this program is going to go up a little bit faster than maybe we thought.