NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL FINAL - CREIGHTON VS SOUTH CAROLINA

March 27, 2022

Jim Flanery

Tatum Rembao

Lauren Jensen

Greensboro Coliseum

Creighton Bluejays

Elite 8 Postgame Media Conference

South Carolina 80 - Creighton 50

MODERATOR: It's a pleasure to introduce to the stage Creighton head coach Jim Flanery as well as Tatum Rembao and Lauren Jensen. Coach, an opening statement when you're ready.

COACH FLANERY: Sure. Obviously congratulations to South Carolina. They were a lot better than us tonight, and they have a phenomenal team, a phenomenal program. They physically was -- we just didn't match up physically tonight and didn't do some of the things probably that could have helped us there. But a lot of that had to do with us. I mean it certainly wasn't our finest two hours, but credit goes to them, and they'll represent, I think, really well in the Final Four.

To our team, just really been an unreal ten days. But also just a tremendous season. We're super proud of what we accomplished and how we accomplished it. And that's what I just told them in the locker room. I think it's not just how we play on the court. It's who we are off the court.

And I know that those two things kind of intertwine and affect each other, and I think that the love that our players have for each other helps us become a better basketball team. And then when you experience the joy of success on the basketball team, it bonds you off the court.

So a lot of good things ahead for Creighton. Sad to see our three seniors go, but this season creates quite a legacy and expectations going forward. So, yeah, again, we'll flush tonight and focus on all the great things that we did this year, and particularly in the last ten days.

MODERATOR: As a reminder we'll take questions for our student-athletes first.

Q. Tatum, tell us what the challenge was like out there. What was difficult about playing and being successful tonight?

TATUM REMBAO: Obviously they're a lot bigger than us. Their whole entire roster, they maybe have two girls that are smaller than our biggest girl. So we knew that going in. And we didn't start the game off great with scout defense, and they took advantage of it.

LAUREN JENSEN: Yeah. Obviously South Carolina is a great team. That's why they're the No. 1 overall seed. Like Tatum said, they are very big, very undersized in that category. I feel like there were times where we had all five blue jerseys in the paint going after boards and they still somehow came out with the rebound. So that was kind of a struggle for us tonight. And, yeah, they're just a solid, tough team.

Q. What were they doing just to take you guys out of your game from the three-point line, if anything, defensively? I know you guys were held a little bit below your average there.

LAUREN JENSEN: Yeah. I mean, their pressure was really good, especially coming out of the gates. I feel like that was an adjustment for us. We knew it was going to be hard. But they were denying and getting up on everyone. I feel like we settled in a little bit. Our second quarter was a little rough there. We went on a big scoring drought. But that was tough for us.

TATUM REMBAO: Yeah, I think just their pressure. And I feel like we missed a couple of bunnies early that you could kind of tell that the nerves were there. So I think once we kind of settled in, it was just knowing who to screen, and I don't think we did a very good job of that.

Q. Tatum, when you and Payton checked out I think like two minutes left, I don't know if you noticed, but the entire South Carolina bench was clapping. Their fans were clapping. Kind of felt like everyone was trying to give you an ovation on the way out. How does that feel, and how is it going to create a lasting memory for you?

TATUM REMBAO: Kind of a numbing feeling. Really frustrated and angry that we lost, but also just like really joyful that I got to experience all that I got to experience these last ten days and these last five years.

Q. Tatum, you obviously took a gamble coming back this year to kind of write a better ending for yourself, and I just wondered if you're able to encapsulate all this year has meant to you, especially with the unprecedented legacy you're going to leave behind because of this run?

TATUM REMBAO: Yeah. I think my teammates and I have really just loved every second of this year, celebrating each other, really just getting to live life with each other and coming to practice every single day. There were very few days where every single person didn't show up with a smile on their face.

And to be able to do what we did and make it to the Elite Eight, I am so proud of every single person in that locker room. We knew that we were good enough to be here and we believed that we could be here, and we showed a lot of people that we did deserve to be here.

Q. Molly went down with a leg injury like the middle of the first quarter, and then it kind of felt like the floodgates opened for South Carolina. How did that change the game for you guys?

LAUREN JENSEN: Yeah. You know, Molly is huge for us. She's super tough on defense, and she's great for us on offense as well. And so when she went down with that, that was obviously tough for us.

Honestly, even though it looked pretty bad, there wasn't a doubt in my mind that she would probably end up coming back in the game because that's the type of player she is. Super tough.

But, yeah, that definitely hurt us there in the second quarter, but thankfully she was able to come back and we were able to string together some possessions and stops.

TATUM REMBAO: It really hurt us when she went down. Defensively, she's gritty. She's tough. She gets defensive boards. But like Lauren said, she's the toughest kid I know, and you knew that she was going to come back in the game no matter how much pain she was in. And all the credit to her for that because she didn't give up on us at all.

Q. Lauren, it sets the table for some exciting expectations going forward. Obviously you guys have a tremendous class. How do you feel like this experience the last ten days can help for the future of the program?

LAUREN JENSEN: Yeah. It's been a great experience, you know, being able to play in the NCAA tournament and make a deep run. Like you said, we're a young team. Obviously we're going to miss Tatum's leadership and Payton and Chloe. It's going to be a tough loss there.

But even though it's tough with this loss and it's going to sting, it's also exciting looking toward the future to see what we can do with this program and how this team can respond for next year, because I know we're probably going to let this one hurt for a little bit, but we'll all be back in the gym soon and be ready for next year.

MODERATOR: Congratulations to you on a great season for you and your teammates. You may head back to the locker room. Let's go ahead and open it up for questions for coach.

Q. Aliyah Boston is such a physical presence even when she doesn't have the ball. She sort of has her own gravity, I guess, in terms of how you have to defend and have so many bodies around her. How much of an impact do you think she had -- she didn't have a huge line like she did against North Carolina, but she's such a physical presence, especially on the glass?

COACH FLANERY: Right. And when you're playing that much attention to her, you're giving up six offensive rebounds to Saxton maybe because you have to come off her body, or you're just in that position.

Yeah, they do a really good job of getting the ball in the middle of the floor. And now you've kind of got an either/or situation on a duck in, and they split our traps. I mean, we -- you know, we didn't do a good job of forming a trap that they couldn't split.

My regret is that we didn't work on it enough in practice. But obviously when you got one day and you get off the court at whatever time we did, you know, you can't do a lot of live stuff on that middle day.

But I thought it was really telling that we weren't where we needed to be. But even if we'd have been better, I don't know. You don't know if it would have been that much of a difference maker.

I think technically we could have done some things better. But you also don't how much of a difference that makes because you just don't see that size. I mean, we have a couple of practice boys that are probably close, but not quite where she is.

But I think it's accumulation of all their bigs. It's not just her. I mean, like I said, Saxton really hurt us, Amihere hurt us. And, you know, the other part was we gave up some threes to the shooters in that first half that I thought really hurt us.

But, yeah, she's tough to deal with.

Q. It's obviously hard to simulate that type of size even with some of those practice players you might have. Once the game begins and you start to see what those matchups are looking like, how do you even begin to try and adjust or account for that?

COACH FLANERY: Well, I yelled at them. (Laughs). Maybe done that before. Yeah. We just seemed a little hesitant. We talked about the angles that we needed to come down to get into a trap, and I just felt like we weren't -- you know, we talked about being in a position where we could do it quickly. We had to be off enough to get there.

But, yeah, I thought we were hesitant. I mean, and I should have used more timeouts. But, again, we didn't have a lot of prep time. And they can say the same thing. I think we're a reasonably hard team to prepare for on one-day prep. We didn't get there, and some of it is it wouldn't have mattered.

But I thought we had a better game plan setup than what I witnessed the first half. And that happens sometimes. Right? You think you -- you think you've gone over it and told them exactly what they need to do, but, again, with one-day prep, I just felt like we were a little erratic in terms of our understanding of where we needed to be and how quickly we needed to get into a trap.

And they run enough different things, too. It's not always easy to identify that. I thought that was the case as well.

But, yeah, I thought our defensively we weren't as sharp as we needed to be to give us a chance to kind of stay in the game and kind of maybe get to the point where our offense caught up a little bit.

Q. Coach, just general question, but how are you going to remember this run? What do you think it means to you?

COACH FLANERY: Yeah. It means a lot. I think we had a lot of alums make the trip down here, a lot of them made the trip to Iowa City. I know they had a watch party back in Omaha of alums. So for me it's about just seeing how invested everybody who's played for Creighton women's basketball was over the course of this.

And I think that -- as someone who's been at Creighton as long as I have been at Creighton, that's probably the biggest thing that I am proud of and amazed by and what makes me -- because I've coached so many people who were either here in person or texting or gathering at Omaha, and I think it kind of displays what it meant to them to put a Creighton uniform on.

And this team I think represented the best of the best. But I think you also want to think about all those who came before them because I think they're a part of that legacy, too.

Q. Flan, you talked about not wanting to let Aliyah get to the free throw line. She did quite a bit, and so did Saxton and Henderson. Why do you think that they were able to get there so much?

COACH FLANERY: Sure. Well, I mean, a lot of them were second chances where they're just a little bit longer. You know, when you get a deep post up and you miss or the post on the opposite block misses, I mean, sometimes you're just -- you're buried underneath the basket, and length and size is difficult.

We didn't do a great job of peeling back. I mean, we talked about -- I said we have to have five on the glass every single time they shoot the ball. And, you know, we weren't as good as we needed to be there, too.

So it wasn't just our bigs not being maybe quite physical enough at times. But some of it was just natural height and strength. Some of it was our bigs not being quite physical enough, and some of it was our guards not being quite committed to dropping down and helping as the shot went up. So, yeah.

Q. You mentioned that the expectations changed. I want to know a little bit more about that. How do you think the expectations changed, and how are you going to replace the seniors that are leaving next year as much as you can?

COACH FLANERY: Sure. Well, I think that, you know, it's going to be tough to replace our seniors because they did such a great job of guiding our younger players. And we have some really -- obviously our sophomore class is really talented from a production-performance standpoint, they kind of stand out.

But I think older players can lift those players up in tough times and times of doubt, and even really good players doubt themselves at times, and I think our seniors were really good at kind of getting those guys to believe that they're as good as they are and keeping them in a space where they're positive most of the time.

And so -- but I think the success that we had will for sure carry over, and I think leadership lessons carry over, too. I mean, I think that's -- we talk about culture, and, you know, I've told people from 2008 to 2021 we did not lose a kid to a transfer. Okay. So we've had two transfers in 14 years.

So I tell people all the time when you have junior and senior voices in the locker room, that's really important because those freshmen and sophomores are going to go through tough times, times of doubt, times of am I good enough, school is hard, I'm homesick, all that stuff. But we've always had kids in the locker room who can relate and say, yeah, I know, freshman year is tough.

And so I think by the time they get to be juniors and seniors, then they understand that that's what they have to do, and I think our younger players will do that. They'll step into that role because they know how much they got helped. And last year, especially obviously with COVID, was a ridiculously difficult freshman year for those kids.

Q. Flan, just along that note, I wondered if you would humor me in a long-winded answer just of what Tatum, Payton and Chloe have brought to your program and to this team in particular and helping it get to a place that I don't imagine that a lot of people thought it could get to.

COACH FLANERY: Did you say you wanted a long-winded answer?

Q. Yes, I do.

COACH FLANERY: I'm really good at those. You know that.

Q. Yes.

COACH FLANERY: Yeah. Think about it. Chloe played less this year than any year she's ever played at Creighton, and yet she never was a distraction. She never pouted. She never became any sort of an issue. She accepted it. She came to practice every day. She worked. She made her teammates better, and she was ready when she was called on.

So that's a great lesson in unselfishness. And I tell people -- I tell our team all the time, people outside the locker room don't know how important that is, because it is important.

And then Payton had easily the best season, year of her career. I'm really happy for her. She played with so much joy and confidence this year, and I think that allowed her even to become a better leader, because I think when you feel good about where your game is and how much you're having fun, it's really ease to spread that, and I think she did a great job of that.

And then Tatum, I just thought her -- and I knew this would happen because I felt like she came back for the right reasons. She came back because she wanted to have a great fifth year on the basketball court and be and lead a younger team, and she was amazing that way.

Those of you who don't know her or just got to know her these last few days, she's high energy. She's positive. She's a great listener. I know that they like to go to her.

And so they're all three special, and we're going to miss them all. That wasn't too bad, was it?

Q. No. That was good. Thank you.

MODERATOR: And on that note, thank you very much.

COACH FLANERY: Thank you, guys. Thanks for being here.