NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - COLORADO VS DUKE

March 18, 2023

Kara Lawson

Elizabeth Balogun

Jordyn Oliver

Cameron Indoor Stadium

Duke Blue Devils

Media Conference

Duke, 89 - Iona, 49

THE MODERATOR: Joining us from Duke, Head Coach Kara Lawson. Student athletes Elizabeth Balogun and Jordyn Oliver. We will start with a short opening statement from coach, and then questions for the students athletes.

KARA LAWSON: We are pleased to be moving on. To be one of 32 teams left in the tournament. It is exciting for us. Now, we have a quick turn-around for our next game. I think I am more forward-looking. I will try to give you some thoughts on this game. I thought our team started the game with great intensity. I thought there was a preparedness about them.

A respect for the opponent about them. And I thought all of our players that played tonight were really locked in to what we were trying to do. That is what you hope for. As a coach, in March, you hope that your team is locked in. They are playing with great intensity. Playing with great effort. Our group did that tonight. I am proud of how we played and excited for the opportunity to play again on Monday.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student athletes, please.

Q. Question for Elizabeth. After not having played for two weeks, how was your team able to come out with the energy and focus right at the beginning of the game?

ELIZABETH BALOGUN: We just stayed focused and ready. Just preparing ourselves for today. Every day at practice, we try to better ourselves as a player and as a team. You know, just getting better as individuals, and that keeps us ready.

Q. The best offensive performance since December coming after a few difficult games on that side of the court. What was different tonight? Was there anything stressed during practice in the lead up, from the confidence perspective or scheme perspective, in particular, heading into the Iona game?

THE MODERATOR: Jordan?

JORDYN OLIVER: Coach always believes in us. She always told us throughout the whole year that we are a confident team and we can score on offense. She always told us we are a great team in March. We keep going and going, and we have been practicing, and it showed today.

ELIZABETH BALOGUN: Confidence in us. She keeps reminding us how great we are. That mentality of everybody just have to use it to attack the next game.

THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for the student athletes? Ladies you are go back to the locker room -- pause. Late addition.

Q. Sorry to disappoint Y'all. Jordyn, could you talk about Iona averaged about 20 three-point attempts. Shooting 40% clip. How were you able to limit them to 2 of 11 tonight?

JORDYN OLIVER: You know, the defense throughout the year is something we put our hat to. We keep trying to get better and better, we knew coming in they were a good three-point shooting team. We knew that we would have to limit their three-point attempts to win the game. So we kept working on that.

THE MODERATOR: Now, anything else for the student athletes? Ladies you are free to go.

Q. I'm sorry. As Coach Lawson alluded to, looking forward to Colorado. Have you started any sort of scouting there? Or was the focus solely on Iona tonight?

ELIZABETH BALOGUN: No, scouting. We focus one game at a time.

Q. What was it like, the atmosphere? Colorado was well represented as well. With the quick 8-0 lead, did you kind of feel the fans getting into it?

JORDYN OLIVER: Playing in Cameron every day, it is a great place to play. The fans are always there, pulling for us. Giving them an 8-0 run at the beginning is always great.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else for the student athletes? Going once, going twice. This time, are you free to go. Thank you, congratulations, ladies.

THE MODERATOR: Open it up to questions for Coach Lawson.

Q. When we were talking last week about jump-starting your offense, you indicated that fastbreak and transition points would be crucial. Could you talk about that aspect of the game today?

KARA LAWSON: I feel like most of the year we have generated quality transition opportunities. We have just tried to work through the year to continue to get better at converting them. There have been some games where our conversion rate was very low. Just we have kept working on it. We have done transition work every day in practice. It was nice to see them have really good success in the transition game tonight. I thought a lot of people contributed. Ran the court hard. Passed ahead. Extra passes. Even down to the end of the game. A really good pass, I think it was Imani to Jiselle late in transition. Those points really help us on the offensive end. I think they have any offense, not just us. When you have a number situation, you are getting downhill, it makes the game easier. You are not having to go against a half-court defense the entire time. We played a lot on the move tonight. That was good to see.

Q. You talked about your depth all year. Was it good to see pretty much everybody get at least one rebound and a couple of points?

KARA LAWSON: Our depth has been a strength of ours all season long, we play a 10-player rotation. We played more than that tonight. It was good to see some of our players that don't get to play a lot in games get minutes. Our 10-player rotation has been key all year. Our bench has been key for us all year. We have very little drop-off from the starters to the bench. I think even tonight, they did a great job. I thought Jordyn, in the first half came in and impacted the game with her pace and her ability to finish plays. When you go on down the year and look at the game, there is usually a bench player or two or three that help to change the game for us to win. It is definitely a luxury to have. As a coach, to have as many players as I do that are capable of impacting the game.

Q. Congrats on the win. I wanted to ask about Kennedy Brown, she had eight rebounds and a number of assists, how important was she in scoring, and grabbing offensive rebounds, you have the most second chance points all season tonight.

KARA LAWSON: Kennedy is a terrific player. She is very well rounded. When we play, we play through her a lot. Well, she is very, very gifted at anticipating. Then, certainly, her height gives her an advantage in terms of seeing double teams coming, and reading the defense. She would be a good passer even if she was 5'6", because she has that. I don't know. I certainly didn't help her get it. She came here with it. She sees the game very well. She is able to deliver on time, on target passes to people and they can make shots out of it. It was good to see her as active as she was. She scored in double figures, she is a pivotal player for us on both ends. All year long, very stout defensively. Tonight, she definitely helped us on the glass and helped us scoring. I will take another one of those performances from her in a couple of days.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Coach Lawson?

Q. What if anything did you share with your team about your experience during your playing days? What was the difference from what you can recall in your first game at Tennessee, versus your first game here tonight?

KARA LAWSON: I don't think I shared too much about my experience. I don't even remember my first game. That is bad. Who did we play in my first tournament game? I don't remember. I don't. I didn't tell them I didn't remember. I don't remember who we played. I have no idea. Gosh, this is terrible. I don't know who we played. I did not talk about that, clearly, since I have no recollection of it. The thing I shared with them today, wasn't really about the tournament. It was more about just the experience of playing in games that you really want to win. You know? There is different motivations that different people have. What you chose to be motivated by is really an individual choice. I am not here to say that there is someone that is motivated by one thing that is bad. And someone is motivated by another thing that is good. As a competitor, you have to figure out what motivates you. What I shared with my team this morning was, in my experience, as a player, not necessarily in the tournament, just over time, the most sustainable source of motivation is proving people right. More so than proving people wrong. That is not to say proving people wrong isn't the right source of motivation, it is. People that believe in you, the people you play with, your family, your friends, there is a lot to prove them right about their belief in you. And what you can do. I found that as a competitor to be the most sustaining source of motivation. The one that was always there. Our group, we are focused on proving each other right. What we believe about us. I think that is a good place to be. That motivation, if you think about it, won't go away. You are always going to want to prove to the people that have helped you get where you are, that they made the right choice to be behind you. That is more of what I talked about with our team this morning. Nothing really specific about my Tournament experience. I try not to use it a lot, to be honest with you. Most of them. I mean, on the bench in the fourth quarter, Balo told me she was born in 2000. You know. She is one of my oldest. I just finished my freshman year. None of them were born before I played my first game, I don't think, in the tournament. They know I played. I don't think any of them watched me play before. So, they don't think like, well, I shouldn't say that. You have to ask them. I don't think they think of me as a player. They know I did play. I don't think it is something they think about a lot. They think of me more as a coach.

Q. Coach, you said you are forward thinking. Did you watch any of the Colorado game at all? I will ask you about this tomorrow, any initial thoughts?

KARA LAWSON: I did not. My assistants did. I did not see any of their game tonight.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Coach Lawson? Thank you, Coach.