NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - NORTH CAROLINA VS ARIZONA

March 21, 2022

Adia Barnes

Sam Thomas

Bendu Yeaney

Arizona Wildcats

Media Conference

North Carolina 63, Arizona 45

ADIA BARNES: Obviously disappointed with our performance and how we played just on this big stage. I think we had a lot of opportunities but just really never converted.

But North Carolina did a great job. They played well. They disrupted us. They really congested the paint. Didn't allow us to drive and we kind of lived and died by the three-point shot in the first half and just couldn't convert.

So they did a really good job of just out-playing us in multiple ways, so congratulations to North Carolina on the Sweet 16.

Q. For Sam, your last game, at home in a Wildcat uniform, can you put into words what this meant to you?

SAM THOMAS: I mean, I don't think there's words for the experience I've had with my time here. It's been anything more than I could have wished for, imagined. Coming in, winning six games my freshman year, and the run we had this year and last year making it in the tournament, it's been an incredible time.

Q. Looked like they could have called you for that fifth bell the last few minutes. What was going through your head?

SAM THOMAS: We don't want to give that you last foul so I tried to tone it down a little bit. Obviously I wanted to stay on the court as long as possible for my last game and try to help the team out as much as possible. Luckily I didn't foul out, so got the job done.

Q. When you hugging Cate at midcourt, coming off the floor, walking out by yourself, looking at the crowd, can you describe that?

SAM THOMAS: Sorry, all the questions are directed at me, I'm going to start getting emotional (crying).

These fans and this team have been everything for me (through more tears) sorry, trying to get this out.

Yeah, talking with Cate who has obviously been here through four of my five years here, I've lived with her the last three years. She's like family to me now. Her sister and I were best friends. We came in together as well as freshmen. She was on the team. So just built a great relationship with her. So obviously seeing her cry is going to make me cry.

I was trying to hold it in the best I could, but once I saw her and she was saying she's going to miss me next year, it's not going to be the same; and I just really wanted to take that moment with her.

And obviously just exiting the court and looking at everyone in the arena knowing it my last time being on the court as a Wildcat in my uniform.

But it's just knowing that I think the fans are going to follow me on my next adventure in life. They are all like family to me and they just made this place a great place to be at.

Q. What are you taking from this into the next season?

BENDU YEANEY: I'm just going to be hungry. I'm going to have to try to get our team hungry. Today we didn't really play that well and we didn't really look hungry on the floor.

So this is a bitter moment. Sam's leaving, so it sucks that I'm not going to be on the court with her again.

But for the freshmen coming in next year, they have to be ready and every coming back next year has to be ready because I'm hungry and I want our team to be hungry.

Q. This is a tough way to go out but you've had a really remarkable season. Nobody believed that you could be here. Nobody believed that you would host or win that many games. What do you take from that, how special this season was for you?

BENDU YEANEY: It was very special. Nobody believed in us. We shocked the world in the first month beating Louisville who is ranked No. 3 in the country and then we went on the road. Every team has their ups and downs, and you saw that with our team.

But you know, I wouldn't pass it up for the world. Like, it was fun. It was fun to be around my teammates, having obviously been on Sam's last run -- last run here at Arizona. But yeah, it was a fun season, and I'm happy that I'm going to be able to come back for another one.

Q. The foul trouble early with Pellington and Sam later. How did that get in the way of what you guys were trying to do?

ADIA BARNES: You know, I think that at times just not smart fouls, just over aggression and just like unnecessary fouls. Not being smart. I think Sam never has four fouls, so I think that was uncharacteristic of Sam. We can't put North Carolina on the free throw line 24 times, and we talked about it in our pregame in our scouting. They are really good from the free throw line. They are starting -- their score of 7 that they play are over 80 percent.

So unnecessary fouls, out of position and just things that we didn't execute well down the stretch. So a little bit of disappointment as a coach in some of that stuff.

Q. When you had that long drought for four minutes --

ADIA BARNES: Like 15 minutes.

Q. Quite a bit was the subs that come in but it seemed like the starters never got back on track either.

ADIA BARNES: Yeah.

Q. Was that your feeling as well?

ADIA BARNES: Well, so you know, I talked about this in a lot of the press conferences, so to start the game with the personnel we are starting, we have to be on point really good defensively because I know offensively, we are limited.

So you know, we couldn't get stops. I mean, that we had a couple case to the game, first key was transition defense, which in the first five minutes of the game they are streaming down the floor and getting transition. That's key. It showed me early on we were not focused or maybe nervous.

But it's hard for me because the core of our team has been to the championship game when the stakes were a lot higher. That's a focus and that's a mentality, and not locked in.

Then just another key -- rebounding. We did a little bit better rebounding but at times in key moments we couldn't get them. So when I start a good defensive team, we have to be really good defensively, because I know if we go to the halfcourt we are not good in those situations.

Our defensive team wasn't able to get stops, and then we go to our more of an offensive lineup and we were not able to hit shots. So it was rough. I think we disrupted them a little bit and went to our trapping in the halfcourt but it was like our intensity there, it was -- it was there at that time but that intensity wasn't in the beginning of the game.

And I think the mentality has to be different. There needs to be more of a sense of urgency that I didn't feel like we had at times. We had it in spurts when you saw we were driving and I felt like -- I have to watch film, I didn't watch to say much because I feel like it's emotional after a game but I felt like we lost a lot of 50/50 balls especially in the first half. I can count like six in my head, and that's not Arizona. We can't have the personnel we have starting and miss those things.

Just have to get better and we are going to get better because we have good players coming in next year. Yeah, just need to work on a lot of things.

Q. Seemed like every time you guys were about to get back, Kennedy hit a big shot to extend the lead. What made her so difficult to guard today?

ADIA BARNES: I think they were all difficult to guard today. Kennedy handed it to us, Deja Kelly, Alyssa killed us. We couldn't guard them. Those are the big three we had to guard.

I think that on the scouting report, you have to know who a short closeout is and who a full closeout is, and we had a tough time recognizing things. I really felt like coming into this game that we would have more of a sense of urgency overall. So maybe that's my fault we didn't because we have some experience from last year in a much more pressure situation and we've been here.

So I think that's the disappointing thing for me is not able to convert and lock in and the mental mistakes, not -- I could live with we're okay, we shot 28 percent but then we need to get turnovers. So we were not able to get stops, turnovers or manufacture points we usually have.

And then the mental part of locking in, being able to execute certain things. That's the tough part as a coach because you kind of sit there like, okay, so that was a little bit frustrating. And we're going to get better, is the bottom line, because we have a lot of good freshmen coming in and we're going to be better at the small things that I don't feel like we're good at right now.

Q. You've been with Sam for six years. Can you speak on how she was when she came in and how she's grown into the player and person she's become?

ADIA BARNES: Absolutely, and that's one of the things I was really sad about. That's why I called that time-out, three seconds, I was going to get her that standing ovation because she deserves that. Incredible kid, incredible person, incredible young woman. She came to Arizona this introverted shy kid that played the four and then -- that wasn't heavily recruited, and she left this monster defensive player, stellar academic, stellar academically. Just a role model in every sense of the world, like a role model, that's what it is.

That's what a student athlete is: It is Sam, and she gave so much to this program. As a coach, the special things, not only graduating and getting her meeting degree, but for her to everything with such high class and character and represent our school so well in front of Congress and things she wouldn't have been able to do her freshman year. So she grew in the program and she worked hard. She was extremely coachable. She was a leader. Since her freshman year she was a team captain so there isn't anything she hasn't done to the best of her ability and she's always represent you had, me, the program and the university in the best manner possible.

Every team would love to have a coach full of Sams. Every coach would love to have a team full of Sams, and I wish I could call on her and keep her forever; and she would stay two more years if she could because he's not ready to go out in the real world. She's like the perfect -- the perfect player.

Yeah, I hope to find another player like her one day. But I think they are rare. I think a player like her will come along every ten years.

Q. We've talked a lot about the fan base and how they come out and really cheer for you but tonight they were --

ADIA BARNES: Didn't have a lot to cheer for. I recognize that. Sorry.

Q. At times when you started trying to make a come back, there were various times, and they got loud, really loud. It sounded almost like, you know, 5,000 more than were really there.

ADIA BARNES: It did.

Q. How did that help you today?

ADIA BARNES: At Arizona, the fan base is one of the best or some of the best fans in the country, to be able to have -- I think there's probably 10,000 fans here. I'm a little bit embarrassed and disappointed how we performed when they are coming out here and supporting us.

You know, we played hard but I didn't feel like we played hard enough for them and that's usually something -- I haven't questioned a lot of things since my first year here but I did today. Disappointed with how we performed with everybody here. They got loud a few times, they were trying to get us to come back and usually that's when we make our run, and that's why home-court advantage is to important.

But we were never able to turn the corner and never able to bare down and get those stops. That's not us and that's usually what we can do. So yeah, just disappointed overall to be honest.

Q. How do you think in a month or two you'll look back putting some perspective on to this?

ADIA BARNES: I think that no one even probably thought we'd probably even make the tournament or probably thought we'd lose in the first round.

But I know what we are capable of doing. I know that there was a point in the season in February where I thought and I knew and I said this, we were a better team by far than we were last year. We were clicking. We were joined together. We were playing for each other.

And then like I felt like we had a couple losses and it was like -- because I remember at one point in the season we lost three games and I was like, it feels like we lost ten, it really did. That felt really heavy at the moment.

So I think we were just too high and too low sometimes. But then we had some injuries and we had COVID and those are all excuses, so we didn't click the same, so I didn't feel that feeling going into the tournament to be honest. I didn't have that feeling at the Pac-12 tournament.

In a month or two, I'll realize certain things earlier probably could have been different and they just weren't. Like I thought our maturity and our leadership and our experience would carry us a little bit further, and it just never did. As a coach you obviously look in the mirror and you always evaluate yourself for strengths and weaknesses, but there were certain things that I just had to probably handle better throughout the year that I didn't. And I think it really -- those things were exposed in the last part of the season because you saw we kind of started to play like that and that's the reality and it is what it is, and it's not going to happen again. We're not going to have a team where that can happen.

Q. What happened on the tech?

ADIA BARNES: I thought that was an interesting tech. Not going to say anything about that because the officials are really good. The officials do a good job. The tech was interesting -- because I actually did yell at her -- I think in the NCAA Tournament the rule is -- everybody is watching, you have to do it and she kind of yelled and taunted her which Lauren should not have done but we were searching for things to get happy about but she got extra happy. But I mean, that's not even anything to do with the game.

Q. At that point it's a 10-point game, the momentum seemed to be going a little bit more your way.

ADIA BARNES: Yeah, but I think there's so many things that happened that that's not even a factor. I mean it was bad -- the thing is, Lauren has never done that. She's been here two years, she's never got technical. I don't think any of us have. I think she was pumped and everything is a little bit tighter these games.

Q. I wanted to ask you more about that tech because some people were talking that that get called in a women's game more often than a men's game. Do you think that's true?

ADIA BARNES: I do. I absolutely do. There's a list. I think male coaches can coach extremely different than women do, and I think that kind of stuff.

But also, I don't know, because maybe the NCAA Tournament, when all eyes are on that, I think they also have to be really stringent with the rules and I get that, too.

So those are good officials that are at this level, so I think that in the in an NCAA Tournament game, I think that's not going to be as allowed as much but I think just generally speaking, we all know, guys punch each other.

It's just different. I think it's just different. Also it's a different game. I don't like to compare because our sport is so different. It's played different, different emotions. It's just played different.

Q. You brought up the fans, they love you, they cheer for you, and you pack the house a lot. Do you think we're at the point in the women's tournament across the country where we could pack houses that are not on home courts?

ADIA BARNES: No.

Q. What if we went to all-neutral floors?

ADIA BARNES: Absolutely not. I think that's a terrible idea for our game. I don't agree with that at all.

I was asked that question about a week ago, and I think on the list of 100 things to change, to me, that's 100. I think there's so many things to change before that with equity and stuff that that's not even a consideration for me or not even on the list.

I think that it's more valuable in our game because it's different. I think it's more valuable to play in McHale with 10,000 people than it is to go to San Antonio to a neutral site with 1,500 people. I think that makes no sense. I don't think it generates any income, and I don't think it's good for our game where we are right now.

You look Iowa, they had 14,000; South Carolina had 10,000, or 9,500 or whatever and we had 9,500 and probably 10,000 today. That's probably better for our game and no player wants to play in front of 1,500 people. So absolutely not. I think that's an all of idea.

Q. Can you talk about the state of your program?

ADIA BARNES: So obviously you get a job because usually there's something going on or there's no success. That's how we all get job. So I think the job was to rebuild the program.

And so I think we took the right steps. I think if I look back three years ago, the best thing that happened to this program was the NIT, the WNIT. Playing in the WNIT with the one-and-done experience, selling out McHale and momentum every game and getting more fans was so valuable.

Going to the tournament that year, losing in the first round would not have really helped us but that WNIT helped us tremendously.

Then we had momentum going into the COVID year which we would have gone into the tournament as a high seed and last year going into the final game. Tremendous amount of support. Happy because last year we didn't get to experience playing in front of fans, so it didn't feel like the real experience of the NCAA Tournament.

This program here now, we are nationally respected. We are getting high-level recruits and then we have two McDonald's All-Americans coming in, two Gateway Players of the Year, we'll add some other players to the roster and make some changes to the roster.

I'm excited about the future and I'm excited to start with a new young group and add some veterans here and there and I want them to play in front of a packed house. I think after all of the COVID stuff kind of goes away lame bit more in the next year, I think we'll have a lot more fans. Players want to play in arenas like this, and they probably only have ten choices around the country to play in front of packed houses. And we're in Tucson, we're a basketball town and we're a town that loves men's and women's basketball. So they have the opportunity to do that, and it's special.

And if you see, Sam could have run for mayor. I mean, Sam they have probably more tee shirts about Sam than anybody else. But they love her and they have embraced her.

And I think the different thing about the women's game and the men's game is that the women stay for four years typically; now with the portal it's a little different. So the fans get to watch the growth and get to know people, and I think that's really, really valuable and makes our game special.

And so people now next year, they are going to see Cate for five years. So I think that's what we like. You want have that connection and that's what makes our game different. That's what makes the WNBA different than NBA.

And this place just loves Sam and loves our team. Win or loss we didn't play well. I'm disappointed. They are disappointed. But we're going to come back better and stronger and I think that we still have won the hearts of Tucson and a lot of people across the country and I feel good about that.