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

March 19, 2023

Kara Lawson

Celeste Taylor

Reigan Richardson

Cameron Indoor Stadium

Duke Blue Devils

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon. Joining us from Duke University is Reigan Richardson and Celeste Taylor. They will tip off against Colorado tomorrow evening at 9:00 p.m.

Q. This is for Reigan. How would you describe the process that Coach Lawson has gone through in terms of meshing with the amount of transfers and people that started in other places before coming here? How would you describe how she's been able to kind of mesh you guys together into a cohesive unit?

REIGAN RICHARDSON: Just trusting each other. She mixes up the teams all the time in practice, so we're able to just play with each other and learn each other's, like, game dynamic and stuff. So I guess that helps a lot.

Then us just like being together off the court also helps as well.

Q. As a followup, was there a point this season where you were like the light switch flipped on, like this is clicking now?

REIGAN RICHARDSON: Since summer we've all been -- we've been starting clicking. Like I said before, not even on the court stuff. We hang out all the time off the court. So I guess that helps with our team dynamic as well.

Q. After last night's win -- you guys haven't lost back-to-back games all season, and it seems like Coach Lawson's message has been to stay focused game by game and not look too big picture. How has that message really helped you guys, especially in March, where there can be a lot of outside noise about looking big picture through the whole tournament, and just staying focused game by game?

CELESTE TAYLOR: Even throughout the season, the record we had, we weren't looking too far ahead at the next opponent. It was just the game we had up next right then and there in front of us. Regardless of the wins or losses, we just try to stay focused on who we have next.

We don't want to lose two times in a row. We don't want to lose in the first place. So just having to bounce back and learn from the previous loss or even the previous win. We just try to stay focused on who's right in front of us.

THE MODERATOR: Reigan, do you have anything to add?

REIGAN RICHARDSON: Celeste probably said it all.

Q. You all just went off offensively last night. It had been a while since you've scored in the 80s. I know you turned your defense into offense, but give me for both of you guys a few keys as to why you think you were able to score the ball so well last night.

REIGAN RICHARDSON: Through the time that we had, we kind of just focused on us, and we worked on our offense, just making sure we had the right reads, making sure that we can push it in transition. That's something that we do best at. So I feel like that probably helped us going into last night's game.

CELESTE TAYLOR: Like Reigan said, it kind of helped us just get back into our flow. We had a rough time scoring, I think a lot because we weren't executing and we weren't making shots. We got great looks. Especially in our last two games, we got great looks, but against Virginia Tech we weren't hitting shots.

So I think just coming into the gym and working on game shots and making them game-like, I think we've done a pretty good job of realizing it's March and we have nothing to lose, but we just want to go in there and we want to compete and we want to win. So we know it's crunch time, and I think everybody is really locked in and just focusing on their shots.

We all have confidence in each other. We've seen each other. Everybody goes off in practice. It's anybody's practice any day. So just to know that you have players like that on your team, we know we can produce offensively, we know that.

So we just had a hard time the past few games, but yesterday I think it showed, and it showed that we're clicking and that it's our time.

Q. For Celeste, if you can take me back to 2021 at Texas when you guys made the run to the Elite Eight, are there any parallels with that team and this team that you see? Like just in terms of character and the way you approach the game, was there any kind of similarities that maybe you feel like this team has that kind of a run capability -- is capable of that kind of a run?

CELESTE TAYLOR: I think it's completely a mindset. I think going into it you have to just be ready. You have to be ready at all times.

I mean, I wouldn't say the styles of play are similar, but you have to be aggressive. You have to want to win. You have to want to compete.

And I think when it goes down the line to the last player on the bench wanting to win and doing anything they can for the team in order to help us win, I think that's probably the biggest parallel I would say is just that mindset, and that want to win, and that want to fight.

Q. There aren't many programs that can press 40 minutes like you guys do. I know you're laughing because it's not easy, but you guys make it look easy. I know you both come from Texas and Georgia, right? So you've seen other college programs. What is different about Duke in terms of your strength and conditioning where you're able to press like that for 40 minutes, never let up, and it doesn't really feel like you lose gas at any point?

CELESTE TAYLOR: I think the biggest thing would be our rest and recovery in this program. I think that's definitely what separates us. And then our depth. I mean, you put anyone out on that floor, and they're going to compete, and they're going to pick up whoever needs to pick up the ball, they're going to pick up 40 feet.

So I definitely think it's the team we have here with the trainers and everybody. Coach Kara does a great job of listening to how our bodies feel. I think, when you have a coach like that who's willing to listen to -- today we don't feel like we have our legs today, so we'll take an easier practice. It will be shorter, but it will still be very intense.

So when you have a coach like that who listens to how you feel as a player, it definitely helps to be ready to be in those games and be ready to press for 40 minutes.

REIGAN RICHARDSON: Going along with what C.T. said, rest and recovery is also important, but everybody on that team also has the grit and determination to just be the best that we can be. We all compete in practice, and that kind of helps us as well.

Like Celeste said, we all just want to be together and play hard and just be that -- we have that depth, as she said. So that depth kind of helps us as well.

Q. I just want to follow up on the earlier question about the offense. How good did it feel with the balls just going in the basket so much last night? Do you feel like now you can -- maybe there was a thought that you couldn't compete well in a high-scoring game. Does that kind of put that behind you a little bit?

CELESTE TAYLOR: I wouldn't say that we ever felt like we couldn't compete because we don't go into the games thinking that we're not going to score, but it definitely felt good to see the ball go in the basket.

Like I said, I have so much confidence in my teammates, like sometimes I don't even want to go in there and rebound because I feel like the shot's going in. Whether it's somebody's having a bad shooting night, I just feel like that one shot is going to be the shot to go in. I mean, obviously, I try to crash but...

Yeah, we just have so much confidence in each other, I've never felt like we're going to go into the game and we're not going to score enough points to beat the other team. That's just never the objective. Obviously, defensively we know we're going to get stops here and there.

REIGAN RICHARDSON: It was awesome seeing the ball go in. Obviously, it boosted our confidence with that. Just watching everybody else, it motivates us to get ours too.

Q. I just want to ask about Colorado. I don't know how much you were able to watch because you were getting ready for your own game. They looked really good yesterday, hit 13 threes. They seemed to feel at home in your own gym. So that's interesting. Just tell me your initial thoughts on Colorado and the challenge they present.

REIGAN RICHARDSON: Up to this point, we've been focused on Iona. So we haven't really got to see much of Colorado just yet, but we'll be prepared for that for sure.

CELESTE TAYLOR: We just started our scout on them literally right before we got down here, so it's kind of new to us. But they run a lot of actions that we've guarded before, so it's all about us executing.

The coaches were up all night getting us ready for it, so just listening to them and what they have planned for us to do as far as the scout goes. But then we have to go out there, and we have to execute offensively and defensively. Everybody is going to be tired because they're giving it their all, so we've just got to see who pushes through.

I'm very excited. They're a really good team. They shot it really well from the three yesterday. It's all about what we can do. I'm really excited to see, and I think it's going to be a good one.

Q. Kind of piggy-backing off of Colorado, they called this a shooter's gym because of the depth perception, the intimacy of it, the lighting even. Would you guys characterize it that way? Is that something that's a thing? I had never really heard of it referred to as shooter's gym before.

REIGAN RICHARDSON: I haven't heard that either (laughter). Yeah, I'm not sure about that one.

CELESTE TAYLOR: I mean, I enjoy shooting in Cameron. I had a pretty good shooting night yesterday. I mean, we come in here and we practice, I mean, we practice in it a lot. So for us -- I'm going to always say any gym is a shooter's gym when you're a shooter.

It's great when we're hitting shots in Cameron, the atmosphere and everything along with it. So I'll say it's a shooter's gym for sure.

THE MODERATOR: Joining us for Duke University is Head Coach Kara Lawson. She will tip off against Colorado tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m.

We'll open to questions for Coach Lawson.

Q. Yesterday you held one of the best percentage three-point shooting teams in the country to 2 for 10 from behind the arc last night. Colorado hit 13 threes, their highest all season. What's going to be the keys to stopping them from behind the arc and also generating those turnovers and fast break points that you guys did last night?

KARA LAWSON: I think we have to be disciplined within our scheme, I think that is always the most important thing no matter who we play, have a great understanding of personnel and of being able to impact what they do.

I think this is true of any offense, but you have to be able to disrupt on some level. Disruption can occur in a variety of ways. It can occur from pressure. It can occur from the actual scheme. It can occur from just being in the right place at the right time and them being consistent with that possession after possession.

That's the challenge when you play a really good team. They're really good. I mean, they can score, and they can guard. They've got size, and they've got really good quickness and athleticism. I mean, they're complete.

So it's really going to be about how consistent we can be in our defensive discipline possession after possession, after possession, and try to make things difficult knowing that they have a number of players that can make hard shots.

I think for us you just don't want anything open. You know, we say a lot like no open layups, no open threes. It's really easy to say. It's so hard to do. You try to play a game and not give up an open layup or open three. It's really hard to do. We want to try to do it. That's our goal, one of our goals.

They're going to present a lot of problems because they have players that are really good at making layups and threes.

Q. What's been your kind of philosophy and approach to transfers? I imagine when you played there was still -- I mean, not a taboo, but it was still a very careful thing. Do you feel like is just fit personality-wise, character-wise more important than what the stats may have shown they've done elsewhere?

KARA LAWSON: I don't have a philosophy on anything (laughter). I think -- so when we got here, we were one of the worst teams in the league in the ACC, and we needed to increase the level of talent that we had within the program.

And our first spring -- all of this is moving. It changes. If you work or cover college sports now, like it's changing all the time. So it's not -- since I got the job, it has just changed completely because I got the job in middle of 2020.

In my first year on the job, immediate eligibility was passed -- I might be saying that wrong. I'm not too good on the legislation, but it was allowed. I can't remember what was first and what was second. But right around that same time, everybody playing got a COVID year. Well, that completely changed the landscape, right? Because now all of a sudden people can leave and have immediate eligibility, and now all of a sudden, four classes of players get a fifth year.

So I think we're all trying to navigate and figure out where can we create an advantage for our program and where can we maintain our identity and our culture of what we're trying to build but also remain competitive in a landscape that is changing.

So for us each year, we look at our roster. Self-evaluation is really important in this landscape. What do you have? You have to know what you have, and you have to know that about yourself very, very well, like what do I have in my locker room? And then once you know what you have, you can then go figure out what you need.

A lot of people are like, oh, I'm going to go get what I need, but they don't even analyze what they have. You have to know what you have first, and then that informs what you need. So we just do that as a staff. It's not just me, it's our whole staff. How can we keep growing as a program?

If that means signing a high school player, which I think we have a top-five class coming in in 2023. It's not like we've ignored the high school ranks. I think our class in 2022 was a top-ten class. So the first class we sign is a top-ten class. The second class we sign is a top-five class. Hopefully, we can get a higher class in the top-five in the next class.

But we are very much so recruiting hard in the high school ranks because there's a lot of talented players out there. And then as far as the transfers go, again, you evaluate what you have and what you need.

So I can't say I have an overall philosophy. I guess that's probably it, and then each year it changes. So what we needed after our first year was an influx of just talent overall. What we needed last year was a little more targeted because we knew what we had in the locker room and we knew we needed to add some things.

We obviously felt like we needed to add size coming into this season when we looked at what we had last year. So we were able to be targeted in our approach and go after size in bringing in Kennedy and Taya and Mia to our group.

So that's kind of -- I can't go into every individual decision or we'd be here forever, but that's what we look at. At the end of this year, we'll look at what we have. And if we feel like there's something -- you might not always need something. It might be just what you need is one more year together of continuity. You don't always need something. I'm not you saying always need something.

But if you evaluate you do need something, then you pursue that hard. I pursue things hard if it's something I need. You know, if it's something you need -- not something you want. Think about it. If it's something you need versus something you want, your pursuit is way different. When I need something, I go after it, and that's what we've done.

Q. Kind of piggy-backing off of that, did you envision when you became a college coach that you would want a team that would press 40 minutes and apply that kind of defensive pressure full court, or did you look at your roster in the portal and apply that? Is that something you feel that Duke continues to do throughout your time here in terms of pressing for most of the game?

KARA LAWSON: I had no idea what my team would look like when I became a coach. I had no thought of we're going to do this and we're going to do that and that's going to be our identity.

If you pin me down, I would probably say this team plays nothing like I envisioned a team would play because I like offense a lot (laughter), believe it or not. You may watch us play some games and not think I like offense, but I do. That's how I was as a player. I would jack a three on a two-on-one fast break, and Coach Summitt would get mad at me, but it went in so I would smile at her. I like that part of the game.

But as much as I like offense, I like winning more. You have to decide what you like more, what's most important to you. I think you have to -- again, it goes back to the self-evaluation. I think every year you have to look at what you have, have a good understanding of the players and then what their strengths are, and then try to put them in a position to succeed.

What is going to help us win the most games? If that's a style that's maybe a little different than I envisioned before I was sitting in this seat, okay, I'm willing to do that because winning is the most important thing. I say that a lot. People probably get tired of me. Like the most important thing is to win.

Players, the most important thing is to impact winning. The most important thing when you walk off that court is did you win or did you lose? Not how you played. Not did you have a highlight? So for us in this group this year, I feel like as a staff -- you guys know this. It's so much bigger than me. My staff is unbelievable. So they're more the architects than me in terms of the daily work with the players to teach them how to play.

Then as that goes, I think this group, these players bought into the system this year. And I think as a coaching staff we have found a style that fits this group well. I don't know perfectly, I'm not going to say that, but really well. And that has combined for a lot of wins. I think 20 -- how many wins did we have? 26 wins now?

26 wins. That's a great year so far to be able to have that. So I think we've kind of hit our mark a little bit here.

Q. You and Colorado are playing some of the same similar numbers, similar stats if you look at the numbers. How do you approach playing a team that kind of matches up with you like that?

KARA LAWSON: Like I said before, they're an excellent team. And how we play is we have to be very sharp in our execution. There's no way around. Like you just can't have too many plays on each end where you're making mistakes because they capitalize on them.

And that's what happens when you play good teams. I mean, you can get into scheme and style and numbers and all this stuff, but at the end of the day, the team that makes the fewest mistakes will win. That's how it works in big games. So we have to find a way to not make as many mistakes and to be able to pressure, if we can, in certain moments of the game. That's kind of what it is.

I mean, I don't really -- I mean, I pay attention to numbers. I'm not saying I don't. I do. But if you pay attention to numbers against them, then they made twice as many threes than they normally do, right? So if you pay attention to numbers, you're going to say, oh, well, the numbers didn't say that, but you're losing, you're going home. Like you can't be just all caught up in numbers. You have to play the game and play the possession and then adjust as the game's going on.

Maybe they're coming in, you're playing a team, and they're not particularly good in this area, but in that game they are. Well, you've got to adjust and figure it out. You can't say, well, the numbers say they're going to start missing, okay, wait for that. You've got to play.

Our players know that. They know that they've got to play, and they've got to play well. You should have to play well. This is a game to go to the Sweet 16. This is a severe cut. This might be the most severe cut in the tournament when you think about it. Like going from 32 to 16. Like there's not any pretenders in the Sweet 16.

So you've got to earn it, and it's going to be a back-and-forth game. It's going to be down to the end. That's what it should be for something as important as a chance to play in the Sweet 16.

Q. Kind of going back to the transfers who came in, you have a few who made the Elite Eight back in 2021 with their respective teams. How much has that experience maybe helped, even though this group together hasn't done it yet? Did you see any of that, especially with the way you guys came out focused last night? Have you seen any of that kind of payoff with the preparation for these games?

KARA LAWSON: I mean, those players -- who has been to the Elite Eight? Oh, Celeste, J.O. and E, yeah. Those players, I don't know that it's -- maybe they talked in the locker room. You'd have to ask them. I just, since they've been here, they're very confident in themselves and what they can do. They're some of our greatest competitors.

So I can't say that has come from they've been deep in the tournament or that's just kind of who they are, but they're very confident in what they can do. They've obviously -- there is something to be said for experience in moments like this. So I think with Celeste and E and J.O., they just -- like there's nothing new about this for them.

Sure, I think there's some benefit of that for our roster. How much that filters over to the rest of the group, I can't say that for sure, but I have a good idea of what they're going to bring tomorrow, and that's nice as a coach when you have a good sense of what your players are going to do in a big spot.