PAC-12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 1, 2023

Lindsay Gottlieb

Destiny Littleton

USC Trojans

Postgame Press Conference

Oregon State - 56, USC - 48

THE MODERATOR: Welcome USC. Thank you for being here. Coach, we'll let you open and then we'll take questions.

LINDSAY GOTTLIEB: I want to congratulate Oregon State. A lot of times in athletics like you get totally self-centered and focused on your own group, but sometimes you take a minute and think about somebody else, and I don't think they had the record that they wanted this season, and Scott is such a good coach, and for them to come out and win last Saturday against Arizona and stick together and not have one of their top players and come back and play the way they played, sometimes it's important I think to think about what the other team has done. So credit to them. They earned that win. They were better than us in virtually every way.

It was the type of a game that they wanted to play more than it was the type of game that we wanted to play. I just have that sick feeling for our program because we didn't get the job done, and in a one-and-done situation it's really disappointing, but I don't think it's indicative of the year that we've had.

Obviously grateful that I think we have more basketball in front of us to have a chance to play this feeling out of ourselves.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions?

Q. Fourth quarter was quite the offensive slog. Really the whole game was quite the offensive slog. What did you think about the shots you were taking? Was it more their defense? Was it kind of both you could have taken some better shots?

LINDSAY GOTTLIEB: Yeah, we talked about it in the locker room. I thought we were playing pretty undisciplined with our shot selection from tip to horn. I think they had a game plan defensively. It's not one that I haven't seen before from an Oregon State team, and we played right into their hands by, you know, taking some early not so great shots. We missed some good looks as well.

But for the most part, I thought the way we played on offense was not how we practiced this week. It was unfortunate because you can't win that way. We tried to speed up the game and force 'em into some turnovers and it worked for a little bit, but it's not going to work well enough if you don't stay sustained with your discipline, and we didn't do that.

Q. Even with some of the shot selection there and whatnot still down the stretch of the game you did have a little bit of a lead there. They hit a couple free throws and stuff, got some shots. What kind of changed for you in late in the fourth quarter there that you were unable to hold onto that lead?

LINDSAY GOTTLIEB: Obviously the free-throw line, if you look at the numbers, that's a huge differentiating factor. We made more field goals and more threes. But I think when it came down to it, the game never felt like it was the way we wanted it to feel, other than a short stretch where we kind of could turn 'em over a little bit and got out in transition.

So, you know, we tried to pressure 'em and put 'em on the free-throw line, let 'em get paint points. They were in control the entire game. I thought when it was a possession game there at the end, they just, when you're doing it your way the entire game, eventually I think you're going to kind of take control and that's what they did. I thought we made a valiant effort at times to speed up the game, but it was a little bit too little and too late, and I never felt like it was the way we wanted the game to go tempo-wise.

Q. Destiny, as the point guard of this team, where do you think you can improve personally to make sure the offense is running smoothly, especially late in the game?

DESTINY LITTLETON: I think personally just shot selection. It's a lot of pressure that is on my shoulders and just making sure that the team sticks together, stays together.

But I do have the ball in my hands a lot and just recognizing when a good shot is a good shot and a bad shot's a bad shot.

Q. For both of you. How can you use this game to fuel you? Like you said, you have more basketball in front of you. How can you use this as fuel to get you guys ready to say, you know what, this was a bad game for our program, but we're going to go out there in the NCAA tournament and put our stamp on it and say, this is who we are as USC basketball?

DESTINY LITTLETON: I just think we have to look back at this game and do some soul searching and figure out who we want to be in the tournament. I wholeheartedly believe that we do have more basketball to go. I think in particular this game we were playing like individuals too much of the game and it came back to bite us.

Credit to Oregon State. We beat 'em twice and it's hard to beat a team three times. They executed their game plan and we didn't really execute our game plan at all. So just moving forward this in-between time is kind of weird. You don't know who you're going to play, but you know you have to stay in the gym and kind of just do a mental reset. Look at your self in the mirror and point the finger at your self and say, What can I do better. Because you know if everyone does that then I think we could really make a good run in the tournament.

LINDSAY GOTTLIEB: Yeah, and that's my job to get us ready to do that. I thought we practiced well coming into this game. Then we get to the game and we didn't do the things that we intended to do. That translation from practice to the game is my job to hold 'em accountable to that. That's what we have to do.

Q. Off what Destiny just said, Scott said that he thought the second game that went into overtime, that they built off that game, they maybe learned some things or they accomplished some things that they built on. Did you see that today, too? That maybe they took something from that game even though they lost it and advanced it to today?

LINDSAY GOTTLIEB: I certainly did. Number one, I'm sure they came in with confidence, saying, Hey, we lost the second time in overtime. What I tried to do was say to our team that it is hard to beat a team three times, but I didn't think we showed up as a good version of ourselves in Galen. So I tried to turn it around and say, We can't let the game be like this again. And almost try to use it to motivate us to figure out a different way. But they did them better than we did us today.

So, yeah, of course I think they learned from that blueprint, as we did, and they just, they won that war of attrition, I guess, on that. But I'm sure they gained some confidence and I'm sure they looked at some things from there that they felt like could work for them.

THE MODERATOR: All right, thank you.