NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST FOUR - MISSISSIPPI STATE VS ILLINOIS

March 15, 2023

Shauna Green

Kendall Bostic

Jada Peebles

Illinois Illini

Media Conference

Mississippi State - 70, Illinois - 56

THE MODERATOR: Good evening. Time to get started. I'd like to welcome Illinois head coach Shauna Green, student-athletes Kendall Bostic and Jada Peebles.

Coach, would you like to start with an opening statement.

SHAUNA GREEN: Obviously we came here to compete and win the game, but could not be more proud of these guys and this team for fighting, competing. Had a great first half, really did what we wanted to do. And the second half, that third quarter really was the difference in the game.

Then the rebounding, I knew the rebounding was going to be key. We were down only four on the boards in the first half, and that's why the game was -- you know, we're down one. Then they kind of just took off. Some turnovers led to some easy layups, gave them momentum.

We couldn't score in the third either. Eight points, you're not going to win in an NCAA Tournament, or really any one, if you only score eight points. Then the rebounding separation was just too much, and there's multiple possessions where they got two and even sometimes three O-boards, and you just can't do that.

Again, so proud of our fight. There was a time where we could have given up at the end, and we just kept battling, kept competing, kept fighting.

Also, I really knew we had to shoot it better, and we were 4 for 20. That would have helped a lot, just kind of alleviate some of where we're not always having to attack if we can get some inside-out and get some threes, and they just weren't falling for us tonight. Just one of those games. Credit Mississippi State.

It doesn't take away anything that we did this season. We had an absolutely amazing season and got somewhere that no one -- you're lying if anyone in here said we'd be here. So just really, really happy for these guys to be able to experience this, and now we're going to learn from it, and we're going to use this as motivation coming back because we have pretty much our entire team coming back besides Geo. And we are going to learn from this and use this as we go into next season.

Q. Kendall and Jada, after experiencing this for the first time, what can you guys learn how to take this into the future?

KENDALL BOSTIC: I think overall, just kind of playing in this environment, the NCAA Tournament is different than most other games. There's a different kind of like pressure with it.

I think just being here and feeling the game out, feeling the atmosphere out, I really think this group will take that next year, and we'll know what it feels like so we'll be a little bit more comfortable.

There's plenty of things to learn from this game basketball-wise and just being here.

JADA PEEBLES: I feel like it was just the level of fight and intensity for all 40 minutes, playing a different team off another conference. I think it's just a different level of fight. You've just got to come every single play.

Like you said, the third quarter just did us. But it's a different level of intensity when you are on the court.

Q. Kendall, can you walk us through what's going on with your right leg and how much treatment and what you needed to do to even get on the floor tonight?

KENDALL BOSTIC: It was kind of just injured in practice last week. I've been with our trainer two or three times a day for hours at a time just trying to get it back to normal. Obviously that didn't really happen just with us getting kind of an earlier game than expected.

So just trying to work through it and trying to do the best I can. I've got a lot of stuff on it right now. But, yeah, it's just been a lot of treatment and a lot of just kind of PT stuff.

Q. I guess for both of you. Jada, if you could start. I know what you're saying, but if you could comment on what this season was for you guys, and maybe what it meant to you personally having been to this point.

JADA PEEBLES: It means everything just to be to this point. We just talked about it in the locker room. No one would have thought we'd be at this point at the beginning of the season because the first practice obviously wasn't too hot.

It was just so surreal going through the season, just how we were so together from the start of it and how we all came together throughout the season and went through all these ebbs and flows, all these ups and downs. We just really fought through every single moment and every adversity together.

KENDALL BOSTIC: Just kind of going off of that, just as fast as we gelled playing -- this being pretty much my third new team, I was pretty surprised with how fast we gelled, and I think that really kind of propelled us initially. Then we were able to really build off of that through the season as we learned each other a little bit more, learned the system a little bit more.

Like Jada said, that first practice was atrocious, but it's just crazy to see the growth from then to now. It will be great because this summer we won't have to spend all of our practices just working on the basic fundamentals of basketball. We can really kind of pick and choose what we work on, like kind of critique some of our games and stuff.

So I think just kind of being here and being able to do this is great.

Q. Kendall, especially with what you're dealing with injury-wise, how much of a challenge was their post player for Mississippi State going into the game, and what did you kind of see from her?

KENDALL BOSTIC: I think, if I would have been healthier, it would have been a different game. I definitely could have banged around with her a little bit more, brought a little more offensive game to it. It's just hard to kind of -- it hurts to really plant my foot, so it's kind of hard to make slides, especially with her being so big.

No, she's a great player. She had really good touch around the rim. She rebounds really well. I think it would have been a different game.

Obviously Geo did a really good job on her, being able to be physical with her, alter some of her shots, get good rebounds. So I was really proud of Geo for being able to go in and just compete with her.

But I definitely think it would have been a different ballgame if we all kind of -- the bigs would have been healthy.

Q. How do you think a season like this can help build the program and build the culture around this team in the future seasons to come?

JADA PEEBLES: I definitely think it just really shocked everybody and it shocked recruits coming in as well. Just seeing how we changed the culture ourselves with just being in this culture for only a year, I think it's only up from here.

We made a huge impact in a year, so there's just so much to look back on.

KENDALL BOSTIC: I think it was great to play in, but I know like it's crazy from the outside, but just being able to be in the season and playing in this season has been really great.

So I know like for recruits and stuff and for our fans that traveled here, it's got to be really cool just from the outside looking in. So I think it will be really, really good for the future knowing this program is only going up. That's got to make people excited.

Q. Now knowing what you know what Kendall was dealing with, what was it like for you to have that in the back of your mind and to see her go out there and play like that?

SHAUNA GREEN: Do you really want to know? No. I mean, just talk about the worst timing of having an injury, but it's life and it's basketball. That's why I'm so proud of both her and Bryn.

Bryn hasn't practiced in two weeks and literally hasn't run up and down the floor, but just we don't have the numbers. Against these guys we really couldn't go -- we couldn't go small that much when they went big. So it wasn't a great matchup knowing the injuries we had.

And then with Kendall, Kendall does so much for us. You guys know that. She does so much. Literally the doctor explained it to me last night, just from the -- it's one thing, she's tough, and she toughed through it. But just from the muscle standpoint, it can't react and explode the way that she needed it to.

And I do, I thought it would be -- we had zero scoring inside. I couldn't even really call -- you guys have seen us play. Normally I'm calling stuff, getting to the ball inside. I would have tried to iso her a little bit and brought her out and then have K.B. rip and go and drive and try to get her into more foul trouble. So it kind of limited our playbook and then put way more pressure on our guards.

Bryn's not back offensively. When you haven't played in two weeks, you're not going to really have the rhythm. So I thought she did a pretty decent job defensively in rebounding, but she just didn't get the shots that she normally gets.

So, yeah, it was obviously -- I mean, no excuses, but it is what it is. They're major pieces to our team, and it's just unfortunate that K.B. was not 100 percent tonight.

Q. You mentioned the third quarter already, but was there something different that Mississippi State did coming out of the break that messed with your guys' flow on that side of the court?

SHAUNA GREEN: No. I thought they pounded it in a couple times more. They went into Carter more, like off just initial action, where they weren't doing that before. They were running more of their chin action and keeping her high.

She scored -- she had ten at half, and I thought we did a really good job at her. They did a good job the second half. They probably also saw that K.B. was a little limited and said, hey, we're going to go inside and test her. Credit to them, they pounded it in. She got a few easy ones.

Then I just saw we had, what, two or three turnovers to start the half, and I thought that was a total momentum changer. It just, the confidence kind of comes out of you. They were able to get layups out of it. So I thought that was really a swing. They pounded it in. We had a couple turnovers.

But it was the same pressure as it was in the first half.

Q. You talk about size obviously in the paint, but how much of their length really bothered Gen tonight and what she wanted to do offensively?

SHAUNA GREEN: I don't know. We've seen and faced long teams in the Big Ten that guard really well. I thought Gen got some open looks. They just didn't go in either. She got a couple deflected, but I told her I wanted her to shoot those. We got to the rim at times. We missed some easy bunnies in the first half, but we were right there.

I mean, some of those wide open threes, again, if we hit a couple, I think it gives us more life. So I don't know how much it affected her. I think we've seen it before.

And their guards aren't overly long. They're similar to us. I know they put them taller on the roster, but I didn't think it affected her that much.

Q. What do you hope to build off this and take into next year?

SHAUNA GREEN: That's the one thing that's a great feeling is knowing that you have pretty much your same team coming back. Obviously with only one senior, so that's huge. I told them, if we can keep this core together and add pieces around it. We need more depth. We need some more size. You guys know that. I'm not telling you anything you don't know. It's just like the sky's the limit, I truly believe.

We got here, and again, there's times tonight we had three healthy people on the floor, and we still had opportunities.

With what they've learned, the journey that we've been on, the growth we've made, it's one thing I know last year -- K.B. was right. She said last summer was about -- I mean, I'm teaching them the footwork I want them to shoot. I'm teaching them layups. I'm teaching them how we pass. I'm teaching them terminology. We're trying to grow as a unit and just getting to know each other.

Where now I have a crystal clear vision of what we need to get better at, and believe me, we're going to work on it every single day, some of the things that have been -- you know, the things that are glaring, and we're going to attack those, and we're going to be better for it.

So it helps me because I know now. I know what each of these guys needs to improve on. I know what we need to improve on collectively. And that knowledge is power, and we're going to attack those relentlessly in the off-season.

Q. Just the first half for Makira, what she was able to do there, what did you kind of see from her? What kind of made the difference for her in the second half being not as effective, I guess?

SHAUNA GREEN: Because she plays 40 minutes every game, and I think she just gets worn down. It hurt when Gen got those fouls because, if you notice, Makira then had to -- because Makira will let Gen take the ball up sometimes, and she can get a little bit of a breather. When Gen went out and she had to play -- this team too. It's not like she's walking it up there and no one's around her. They're pressuring her. They're harassing her up there.

And then we have her guarding their best player, and she has to score for us because, again, we're not really able to score inside when we don't have a healthy post player. So I'm asking her to do a lot, and I think Gen being out, and she had to have the ball in her hand, she had to do this, she had to do that, I thought she wore down a little bit, I really do.

But I'll tell you one thing, she fought like crazy. She was the one leading. She's the one talking in the huddle. She's the one telling everyone that to not give up, to continue to fight. So I could not be more proud of her.

Yeah, the shots didn't fall, some of those in the second half, but if you know, she was short on everything. So that's, again, where we need depth because even a minute break, even one little minute break could give them that.

I don't know if they had a kid that played 40 minutes. I didn't look at it that closely, but they've got a lot of players they can mix in.

Q. Just thinking about Geo, her decision to come back, and she's one of the team captains and played big minutes in the second half. Pretty emotional coming off the court. What has she meant to the team this year, and in what ways has she contributed both on and off the court?

SHAUNA GREEN: Just her positivity and the vibes that surround her. I said I'm going to miss her because every day she makes me smile, she makes me laugh. She's just a really good person.

What makes me happy the most about Geo is that she really appreciated this year, like she really soaked it in and she was present. She could have -- she wasn't playing a ton of minutes. She could have given up or had a bad -- like she was the most positive, the loudest every day, and I think you saw what it means to her by her emotion coming off the floor.

We're going to miss her. We're going to miss her every single day. I'm happy that she got to experience this this year.

Q. I know you've been on this team defensively all year, but was that second quarter kind of a true reflection of what you kind of wanted to see, which is ten minutes where they didn't let their offense dictate what the defense did on the floor?

SHAUNA GREEN: I thought the whole first half, I really thought we guarded. There were some slides, and no one could get by us. We're helping in, five people guarding the ball. We're flying around. It was very solid, very disciplined, right on with the scout.

We let 23 get those two threes. That was the only thing that we didn't do a good job of in terms of following the scout because we know she's a shooter. But otherwise, I was really, really happy with how we guarded.

Now, how can we -- we've got to now get to the level where we're able to guard like that for 40 minutes because, as I said, there were some really pretty plays out there when we were making the slides, and we were finally doing what I wanted them to do with pulling in and guarding the ball. Then we've just got to try to finish plays with box outs, but again, we did a decent job of that in the first half.