NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - TOLEDO VS IOWA STATE

March 18, 2023

Bill Fennelly

Ashley Joens

Morgan Kane

Thompson-Boling Arena

Iowa State Cyclones

Media Conference

Toledo - 80, Iowa State - 73

THE MODERATOR: Welcome back to Knoxville. These are the postgame press conferences for the first round matchup between Iowa State and Toledo.

Coach, if you wouldn't mind starting us off with a statement about today's game.

BILL FENNELLY: First of all, I wanted to congratulate Toledo. I thought they played a great game. That's a very good team.

On behalf of Iowa State, I want to thank the people at the University of Tennessee. Amazing, amazing venue, amazing organization. As good as I've ever been a part of, except for Iowa State, of course.

And then certainly applaud the effort of our team. When you get into the NCAA Tournament or any big game, especially, I've always said it's a make or miss shot game. And they made a lot of shots, and we missed a lot of shots.

So credit to them, and certainly wish them the best moving forward.

THE MODERATOR: We have Morgan Kane and Ashley Joens with us. Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Just take us through kind of the pace of that game and how quick Toledo was playing. Was that something you expected? And just how -- what kind of problems did they pose trying to slow them down?

ASHLEY JOENS: Yeah, Toledo is a pretty quick team. Their guards really ran the ball down the court, moved the ball fast. And we just had to try and stay in front of them.

Q. Ashley, they obviously defended you pretty well. Seemed like you were uncomfortable, never really got in a rhythm offensively. What was the issue that they were presenting to you?

ASHLEY JOENS: Yeah, they doubled in a lot, so trying to find my teammates on the perimeter kick. But they did a great job, obviously, kind of doubling down on that.

Q. Ashley, I'm just wondering as you reflect back now, just has it kind of set in, this come to the end for you at Iowa State?

ASHLEY JOENS: Yeah, it's bittersweet, but I've been blessed to play here and...(tearing up).

BILL FENNELLY: You're good. You're good. You're good.

We've been blessed to have her here.

MORGAN KANE: I'll say something. Ashley has had a huge impact not only on the court through her leadership but also off the court, she's really brought us together as a team. And when things get hard and challenging, she's the first one to bring us together.

And so really grateful for that, that leadership, and more to come for her.

Q. Morgan, how were you able to keep clawing back? It seemed like when you dug yourself into that 16-point deficit, you still rallied back and kept it a game.

MORGAN KANE: Yeah, absolutely. This team is really resilient. Obviously today we weren't able to climb out enough. But we always kind of turned towards each other and the coaches, and we were able to make a couple adjustments and keep digging deep on defense and trying to get those stops and push on offense to play our game at the pace we were trying to do.

Q. I know it's tough to remember now, but winning a Big 12 championship and just the season in general, how much fun was that for you all, just to do it as a group?

MORGAN KANE: Man, it was so much fun. There's a lot of great memories to reflect on as the season has now come to an end. And really grateful for the coaches to keep pushing us day in and day out as we come to practice, and grateful for the team. We really rely on each other. When there are challenging times, we come together.

And so we've made some great memories over the season, and for me and Ash, over the past five years. It's been a wonderful experience, and grateful to be a part of the Iowa State family.

Q. I'll build on that, also, last year a Sweet 16 appearance, the accolades for this group, record setting, historic. I guess what is the legacy in your mind that you leave behind? Obviously something to be proud of after your years here.

MORGAN KANE: Mm-hmm. A huge legacy. I think we did it for ourselves and the previous alums that weren't able to get far enough. We do it for ourselves, for our family, just together.

And so like I previously said, we've been able to accomplish a lot, and just very grateful for this team.

Q. Everybody has a different definition of what a successful season is. For what you guys accomplished, and then losing today, I guess, do you envision this season as a successful season for what you did accomplish?

MORGAN KANE: I would say yes. Obviously it stings and it's going to set in for a long time that we did things that we -- we didn't do things we should have done in the stretch. And we can always talk about potential, but I think that despite challenges throughout the season, we really rallied around each other, and we tried to make adjustments, make changes to be the most successful that we can be.

And we're able to say that we're Big 12 champs, so that definitely has something to say.

THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for the student-athletes? All right, you two are dismissed. Congrats on a great year.

Question for Coach Fennelly.

Q. Kind of the same question I asked them. When you look back on it, I know it's hard to reflect right now, but do you look at this as a successful season in your book?

BILL FENNELLY: Yeah, I do. I'm sure a lot of people won't agree. But you think about what this team has gone through, our two best post players are in street clothes, they had to deal with, what I had to go through with my family, losing my mother.

It was a group that showed up every day. No complaints. Yeah, the great thing about this tournament is you get to play in the greatest sporting event there is, and the worst part is it always ends this way, except for one team.

And that's the nature of sport. It's life. You know? A week ago we win the Big 12, and today we lose in the tournament. The narrative is always different, but I -- success to me is probably different than it is to maybe some of our fans and the media. But success to me is what I saw every day from young people that represented our university in a great way. I'll let the other -- I'll let smarter figure that one out.

Q. Now that you're kind of in reflection mode, too, when it comes to Ashley Joens' career, how do you define just everything she accomplished?

BILL FENNELLY: I mean, I think Ash is certainly one of the -- not -- certainly one of the best basketball players I've ever coached, ever been around, ever seen. And she'll go down as one of the greatest college women's basketball players ever.

And the honors, the records, all -- I mean, it's -- you know, we could sit here all day and talk about that. But she's been someone that, like I said, showed up every day, did everything we asked her to do, put this team on her back a lot, especially after Steph got hurt.

So just been a joy to be around her. She's a tremendous person. And she'll be very successful whatever she ends up doing in life.

Q. On the other end of this, kind of an underdog riding the wave, playing lose and confident and coming and coming, when did it hit you today that this is Toledo's night?

BILL FENNELLY: They were shooting the ball so well. And we just really had a hard time defending them. You know, I thought we were -- we just couldn't make some open shots.

Probably the moment was when they banked in the three at the end of the shot clock. That probably was one you're like uh-oh.

But they played great. I mean, they did what they needed to do. It's a very, very good team. Their offense is hard to guard. We knew -- as a staff, we talked about the game was going to be in the 80s. We really felt that way. Both teams I thought could score.

But, you know -- and probably we missed a couple layups. But the three-pointers, you know, are shots that we -- that's a big part of our offense. And we couldn't make them tonight. And when you're not making them and defensive transition becomes a problem, so it just kind of spirals from there.

Q. You talked about make shot, you know, missed shot type of game, and for you guys, really struggling from three-point range, were you happy with the looks you got, or was it just kind of what it's been at times this season?

BILL FENNELLY: No, I think, you know, I would say most of them were pretty open or wide open. That's a shot you got to take to open up the defense. We tried to get -- we tried to get to the free-throw line more, we did a little bit better job of that.

But, I mean, we miss a couple shots, you know, around the basket, the defender's laying on the floor, we can't get it in the basket. That happens. That's basketball. Unfortunately it happens on a night when it ends your season.

But, no, I don't -- yeah, I mean, I can look at the video and say, all right, we probably could have taken 27 instead of 31, but you make 13 or 14 of them, that's different.

But that's the game. And that's why we play. That's the skill set of our kids. And unfortunately tonight it just didn't go down for us.

Q. You might have referenced one of the shots in that last answer, but that five-minute stretch in the second quarter where you guys were held scoreless, what kind of went into that, and where did you guys go wrong, I guess, there?

BILL FENNELLY: No, I mean, I think, you know, any time -- coaches are the worst at giving the other team credit, we didn't do this, we didn't do that. They guarded us really well. And we missed some shots. We only turned the ball over eight times in the pace of the game.

So we had -- like I said, the one play, it happens. We have a post player underneath the basket, misses three shots in a row. That happens. We missed a couple layups. We miss an open three, we miss a couple free throws.

But it's a combination of things. They defended us really well. You could tell they were feeling good. They're making shots. When the other team is making shots, you can't get into transition, they set their defense, and when they're making shots, we can't get in transition.

For five minutes I think that was the thing. They could -- they got it moving up and down, and we didn't. And to their credit. They made the plays.

Q. What was your message to the team after the game?

BILL FENNELLY: I think the biggest thing is I want them to understand what they accomplished. This stings, and it should. If it doesn't, you shouldn't be in the locker room.

But I think the biggest thing is I just told them if this is the worst day in your life, you're going to die a lucky person. And I wanted them to appreciate and understand there's a lot of people in that locker room that really, really did a lot for them. And I want them to understand that and remember that.

The scoreboard will go dark, and the memory and the sting of this will go away slowly. But what won't go away is the way they represented our school, the way they represented each other, their families. That's what they need to focus on.

And hopefully that's a message that they'll take with them, our seniors for the rest of their life and for our other kids, whatever's next for them.

Q. Just curious, what was your impression of Quinesha Lockett on film coming into this game? And then what did you think of what she's able to do, the points, the rebounds, the assists?

BILL FENNELLY: She was exactly what we thought. We told our kids, I mean, that's a -- we tried to reference players in our league, and I said she's a Big 12-caliber athlete, skill set, after the rebounds.

But, no, I think -- and they do a lot of good things for her. They post her up. They run her off a lot of screens.

No, that's a very, very talented kid who has a very even pace to her game. She doesn't seem to get -- you don't speed her up, she takes her time. She gets her angles. Tremendous player, and someone that I'm sure made a real name for herself today if you didn't know already.

But tremendous player. Played a great game. Great game.

THE MODERATOR: Any more questions? Coach, thank you so much. Congrats on a great year.

BILL FENNELLY: Thank you so much for your time.