NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - OHIO STATE VS LSU

March 21, 2022

Kevin McGuff

Jacy Sheldon

Taylor Mikesell

Ohio State Buckeyes

Media Conference

Ohio State 79, LSU 64

MODERATOR: We are joined by Head Coach Kevin McGuff. Junior guard Jacy Sheldon, 23 points, eight assists, three rebounds and three steals in tonight's game. And senior guard Taylor Mikesell on the far end, 18 points, five rebounds and two assists.

Q. How important do you think that first quarter and that fast start for you all kind of setting the tone was for the remainder of the game?

JACY SHELDON: That is something we talked about and kind of focused on, coming out strong and we did. And you know stating that throughout the whole game was something we talked about, too. So I'm proud of how we came out and proud of how we finished, too.

Q. For either of the players, how much did it feel like the whole world was against you on that court? And what was it like for you to kind of respond to that with so much force on both ends of the floor and kind of put them in the biggest deficit they have been in all seasons and sustain it from there?

TAYLOR MIKESELL: Definitely kind of like Jacy said, our biggest goal was trying to, you know, withstand their runs. You know, we knew they were going to have runs, and we've have been this environments like this before. I think I can speak for both of us, it's probably the loudest one we've been in all year. Just being competitors, I think that this is exciting. This is the best time of year. And I think that every single one of my teammates from the bench to the court did a great job staying composed even when they were going on runs.

So I think just withstanding runs was the biggest thing for us trying to manage the crowd.

JACY SHELDON: I would agree. I think, you know, we knew we were going to go on some runs, and we knew they were, too. And then obviously, you know, they've got a great fan base so put all that out there. Staying together I think was the main thing for us. Like she said, every single person contributed there, and it was fun, it was a fun environment.

Q. Jacy, you had Cherry on you for most of the night. What did you do to kind of overcome her aggressive D?

JACY SHELDON: She's a great defender, she's a great player. She -- throughout the whole game she was right there. I think we got -- we moved the ball, we passed it around, made some good shots, made some open plays. But I wouldn't say -- she was there all game, she didn't go away. And like I said, she played a great game.

Q. Jacy, in the second half when they were kind of making their run, they couldn't get a stop, so it became a little bit of a track meet and you guys were able to get back and forth. Does that become fun for you guys? Both of you are obviously scorers and you kind of get to do what you want in that situation.

JACY SHELDON: Yeah, I think when they started pressing there it gave us a little bit of trouble, but I think, like I said, we stayed together there at the end. And going back to that environment, you know, it's tough to play in but it's also the most fun to play in. Especially for competitors, it's what you look forward to. And I think everything involved, it was a lot of fun.

Q. First, before the tipoff, it looked like Rikki Harris was ready to go. She was rubbing her hands together, she was talking to Khayla Pointer before the tipoff. First, do you know she said? And then second, what was the kind of hunger from the team going into this game? Jacy first.

JACY SHELDON: Yeah, Rikki is an awesome teammate and great player, even better person. So she's always ready to go, you can always count on her to pick everybody up. You know, like I said, she's a competitor. She loves it. She loved this environment, too.

And I think -- I don't remember exactly what she said but her message was just we got to be ready to go and we got to come out quick. And I think it worked because we did so.

TAYLOR MIKESELL: Yeah, I guess to kind of touch on what Jacy said, Rikki is one of those people you love to play with and hate to play against. She's going to be guarding the best player the whole entire game. She's going to give everything she has whether she's scoring or not. And, you know, she was one of the biggest people in our huddles, one of the loudest voices even when, you know, she might have been in foul trouble or she went down with an injury. So you love to play with Rikki. And she was ready to go from the start, and I think she helped us all be ready to go.

Q. Jacy, as a local kid, first sweet 16 for Ohio State since 2017. To do it in that type of environment, too, what does it kind mean to you to kind of lead the team to this moment?

JACY SHELDON: Yeah, it's awesome. I'm super proud of our whole team. We stayed together. And like you said, that's a tough environment to play in. So we stayed together. We relied on each other, and I'm just super proud and it's awesome. But we're not done yet. We got a tough opponent coming up so we got to start focusing on them.

Q. Taylor, we've seen Jacy have performances throughout the year like she had tonight. But it’s one thing to do it in the NCAA tournament. What is your impression of how she has played these past two games kind of leading you to this point?

TAYLOR MIKESELL: I think not shocked at all. Jacy is a competitor. She has been doing it all year long, and she's ready for this moment. I think we both looked at each other when we came to watch this game after our Missouri State win. And we were like we can't wait to play in this environment. I looked at her and I knew she was going to be ready. She's been ready all year. Like she said, the job is not done yet.

Q. You touched on this a little bit earlier, Jacy. I saw you break their press a couple of times individually. And you were also able to get some passes up ahead for some wide-open lay-ups after their press. What was the key to breaking that press? And what do you feel, you know, you can take from that moving forward?

JACY SHELDON: Yeah, I think I didn't do a very good job of that, to be honest. I got to be better there. But I think, you know, settling down was our main thing. I think they got us sped up a little bit and we kind of got a little flustered. I think once we settled down and kind of played at the pace we wanted to, it helped us a ton.

Q. Congrats on the win. Taylor, this question is for you because I believe that at your previous stops in your career you were part of teams that hosted during the first round of the NCAA tournament, correct?

TAYLOR MIKESELL: Yes, the first -- my freshman year at Maryland we did. Last year was in the bubble so technically no.

Q. So you guys are the third team to upset a host school on their floor. Yesterday, obviously we had Creighton in South Dakota. And then today Princeton took Indiana to the wire. And the same with Belmont and Tennessee.

Do you think that home-court advantage is not what it used to be in this tournament? And as a player, do you want us to play on all neutral floors for the first couple rounds?

TAYLOR MIKESELL: I think that can go both ways. I think the mentality we had going in was the underdog mentality. And at the end of the day, everybody has to play the same game, the same 40 minutes. So I mean the number by your school doesn't really matter. It's how you show up and play those 40 minutes.

Q. I wonder, Jacy, if you could talk just about yourself personally and the team? Of not playing obviously no tournament in 2020, and then you guys didn't play last year. I mean how did you sort of keep your spirits up through all that? And doing that, like you said, make it all way to the sweet 16. Can you talk about what that is like for you personally and for the team?

JACY SHELDON: Yeah, I think not being able to play in the tournament, I think we could have taken that one of two ways, and we definitely took the high route. If anything, it motivated us. I think we all got better during that time and focused on our game and what we need to improve on. So I'm proud, and it's showing. A lot of us have worked really hard at this. I'm proud of everybody and how they played today. Like T-Mike said earlier, every single person contributed and that is what led us to win this game today.

MODERATOR: Jacy and Taylor, congratulations again. Thank you very much for your time. Now turn our attention and address questions to head coach Kevin McGuff.

Q. Kevin, I was going to ask the girls, but I was curious if you felt like the practice yesterday helped in any way or was that just competitors playing?

COACH McGUFF: You know, first of all, I want to, you know, thank just the staff here, NCAA staff, the LSU staff put on a great tournament. It was well organized. We felt really welcome the whole weekend. So just kudos to everybody that worked so hard to make this happen. And to the Baton Rouge community. I mean what a great environment tonight, my gosh.

That was really fun to play in. Tough because it was so loud, and we had to make some adjustments how we were calling plays and some things because the crowd was so loud and so into it. I can only imagine as Kim continues to build this program what this place is going to be like. Really an amazing environment. Kudos to everybody here who worked so hard to make it happen. And just happy for Kim and excited to see just what a monster of a program she's going to have here in the coming years.

Then to your point, we had to practice versus loud crowd and stuff like that because we knew we wouldn't be able to hear in the first half especially when our team was on the other end. I think it helped a little bit. What it did basically is make us like get hand signals and calls for our plays that I think help us stay a little bit organized.

Q. Coach, I watched you play against Missouri State. Is that your pattern, the defense? You very much frustrated them and frustrated LSU tonight. They were just missing shots badly, they weren't getting into the flow of their offense at all.

COACH McGUFF: I thought we had a good mixture of our press and half-court defense tonight. That is probably the area where we have grown most as a team this year. If you look at where we started in November and where we are now, we've made significant progress and really emphasized that. And that is a credit just to our kids staying committed to that progress because we weren't going to make it to this point if we didn't get better in that area.

Q. Coach, were you guys fine with and was your plan kind of let Pointer get others and/or did it just happen?

COACH McGUFF: No. But we didn't have much of an answer. I mean she's such a great player. And I mean when she got going in the second half and we were trying kind of different coverages but none of them seemed to be successful. Credit to her. She's a great player and we had all kinds of problem with her coming down the stretch.

Q. What do you attribute most -- and I don't know if it is just the way Jacy ran the offense, but it seemed like even though LSU knew they had to go at the perimeter you got a lot of good looks. You went 10-22. Shot above, you had more makes than usual in a game like this. What do you attribute to that?

COACH McGUFF: Well, we had shot ball extremely well most of the year. And in the last couple of games even before we showed up here and played Missouri State we hadn't shot it quite as well. And Jacy in particular, as great as she's been down the stretch, and she's been fantastic, she just hadn't shot her normal self. But man, she made a couple of huge threes tonight.

And I think the other thing is that we were able to really get out in transition and get some open looks. And I thought that was a big key for us that we, you know, for 40 minutes we really ran the floor aggressively and we were able to generate some quality shots.

Q. Congrats on the win, Coach. Game plan looked like going in tonight was being strong in the paint against LSU size. What did you see coming into the game that made you think it was going to be effective? Or was that just a standout performance by the group of forwards you have?

COACH McGUFF: No. I told them about five times yesterday, told them at shoot-around today, told them before the game, if we were going to win the game we were going to have to fight like -- excuse my French -- fight like hell on every possession when the shot went up to get the ball back. And we did. We didn't get it back every single time, but we fought on every possession. And that is where I will tell you I'm most proud of our effort tonight is just we knew we were going to have to compete with them on the boards. They're big, they're physical, they're aggressive. They're one of the best rebounding teams in the country. And that was where we were going to put ourselves in a position to win, and we did. We really fought and I'm really proud of that area.

Q. Hey, Kevin, two things for you. The three by Taylor at the end of the first quarter really seemed to ignite your offense. You guys made five threes in the second quarter and then went off in third. I guess just how big was that to get you guys going? And then the second thing is, I know she doesn't get the quantity of shots up that Kelsey Mitchell did, but the performance that Jacy Sheldon had tonight, is that kind of up there with some of the elite performances you have seen in your time here at Ohio State?

COACH McGUFF: Regarding the first question, Taylor had a three the end of the first quarter that I thought was really big just to really help us feel good about the momentum that we built in the first quarter. And she also had some very timely shots in the second half as well.

And then Jacy, that is against LSU and this environment and then they start pressing and she wasn't like she was perfect, but you never saw her at any point where she wasn't poised. And I think that was the key for our ability to finish out the game was Jacy's poise, keeping us organized, running the team, finishing shots around the basket when we needed them down the stretch. And so just her poise and competitive character I think was key for us in our ability to finish out the game.

Q. Hey, Kevin, congrats on the win.

COACH McGUFF: Thank you.

Q. I wondered, you guys tipped off. Belmont was still playing. When did you find out the final score? And I don't know if you looked at your phone yet, but have you talked to your daughter? Obviously like great day for you family but also heartbreaking for her?

COACH McGUFF: Yeah, I haven't talked to her yet, but amazingly we came out at halftime and before the second half started the Tennessee Belmont game was on the big screen. So I'm sitting there waiting for the second half to start and watching them close out the game and she was in the game at the very end. So I'm watching her and then just trying to get focused for the game. So a very surreal moment for me and for our family. But I'm really proud of her and the season that she had with Belmont and their fight tonight. Obviously would have been amazing if they won as well. Just an incredible weekend for our family.

Q. Thanks for taking the last question, Coach, and congratulations. LSU only took eight total three shots. We know them not to shoot a lot of threes. Does that make them easier to guard? And if it doesn't, why?

COACH McGUFF: Well, we certainly were aware of that. And we were going to try to make them -- of course, our plan was to make them shoot from the three-point line. And the first possession of the game they nailed a three. And I was looking like the dumbest coach in America. But fortunately over the course of the 40 minutes it kind of played to our favor. But even when you're trying to stop them from getting in paint and all that, it's tough because they are so quick and athletic off the dribble and so skilled. And I thought for the most part we did a good job. But boy at the end we just broke down and they were just blowing by us and getting to the paint. And that was a little disappointing, but overall I thought we had the right game plan and our kids executed really well.

MODERATOR: Thanks for your time all week long. Congratulations and good luck in the round of sweet 16. We will be back shortly with Baton Rouge.