NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - PRINCETON VS UTAH

March 19, 2023

Carla Berube

Ellie Mitchell

Grace Stone

Jon M. Huntsman Center

Princeton Tigers

Media Conference

Utah 63, Princeton 56

CARLA BERUBE: Thanks to the University of Utah. It was a great weekend. Put together a really great bracket here, round here, first and second round. So thank you to everyone here because I know it's a lot to put on an NCAA Tournament.

We feel like we came up short of our goal but you know, I think we battled from minute one to minute 40, and I couldn't be prouder of my team and how hard we played. Some shots just didn't fall for us. They fouled a little bit too much. Utah is a very, very good team, very talented, hard to guard. Really great at every position. We had our work cut out for us. But I think we were right there.

And I just told my team that you know, I couldn't be prouder. I'm just so happy that I get to coach them every single day and when I put on my Princeton shirt every day and represent them, it's such a great gift.

So you know, this game doesn't define our season. We had an awesome, awesome ride and our five seniors have been just incredible. They have been sort of our nucleus, our glue, our everything and Grace is one of them, and left this program that really great place. They were sophomores when I got to Princeton and they have just been just amazing for me and my staff. I'll miss them just so much.

Q. You were able to get ten offensive rebounds tonight ands a team you were able to crash the glass and get those second chances. How important was that to stay close to Utah and have a chance to win at there the end?

ELLIE MITCHELL: I think it's a big thing for us. We always want to win the rebounding battle. I think we got those second chances, it kind of deflates the other team. We get great open looks, so that's always a big focus for us. Came up short today but it gets us those looks that we need.

Q. Throughout the game, it just struck me how much you guys kept pushing, never looked frustrated and I know you guys have done that all year. Curious whether the grit you showed today, is that something each of you comes into Princeton with or is that something you developed during your Princeton careers? Can you talk about that resilience that you showed a little bit?

GRACE STONE: I think I can speak for Ellie that the second this girl set foot on Princeton's campus, I think maybe when she was born, she was born with grit. That girl puts her body on the line every single day, every single practice, every game, and yeah, I think you have to have it a little bit and you have to learn it at this level and I think that our team buys in to that.

It's something that we always preached, that toughness wins basketball games. I think that this team is really good because we do the dirty work and we do the work nobody else wants to do. I'm really proud of us for that because it always keeps us in basketball games and you want to leave it all out on the floor and you don't want to have any regrets. I think that when you play with all of your heart, it's hard to have those.

ELLIE MITCHELL: Just going off that, I think it's a team standard we have. It's a 40-minute game and you're always in it until that last buzzer sounds. We all bought into it and we really feed off of each other. We're always going to fight no matter how the game is going.

Q. You know Alissa Pili was going to be tough but now that you got a chance to face her, how difficult was it to play against her, and what did she do that made it difficult on you guys?

ELLIE MITCHELL: Yeah, I mean, she's a great player. She definitely -- you always have to be working on her. It's not a one-man job. I think we did a great job helping each other out. I was on her a lot of the time, but my teammates were coming to help, coming to swarm, swarming to dig. It also opens up opportunities for the rest of their team which makes it tough.

I think Utah is a great team. I think we could beat them. But she's a great player. She played a great game today.

Q. You've talked about how this team came together after that 0-2 start, talk about the role the seniors played to get you to this point today?

CARLA BERUBE: They had a huge hand in that. You know, they all have different roles on this team, and they bought into what we needed from them. You know, two of them don't get a lot minutes but they are incredibly just important to us. You know, the same as Chen, everybody is just -- their roles, player one through player 16 have just been just so important for us and those five seniors have been the nucleus, our backbone, the players that I turn to when I need questions answered.

And we went down 0-2, we had a meeting and the first thing Lexi says is, "What can I do and how can I help?" That's just who they are. They are unselfish. They love their teammates. They love this program, and like I said, they have left it in a really great place and I couldn't be more proud of them, and thankful that I inherited them. They have just been so meaningful to me.

Q. Utah went up by 13 in the second quarter. What changed in your mind to allow you guys to hone in and change the game and make it a close game?

CARLA BERUBE: Yeah, the first quarter was tough and then parts of the second. I think we finally clicked a little bit better defensively toward the end of the second quarter, and started really helping each other out, helping inside, doing a better job of containing. I thought they were getting to the rim on us a lot.

But they are tough. When you shoot the three as well as they do, typically I know they didn't tonight but you really have to run them off the three-point line and hen they got to the rim or they dump off passes to Pili and Johnson.

You know, they just have so many threats out there. We just came together and defended a lot better from that point on in the second quarter throughout the rest of the game. There's some fouling that we did and put them on the line where they got a lot of points that way. It's just tough because we play aggressive defense and yeah, I think at times we were a second late on things. Huge credit to my players for battling, battling the whole time and never giving up. That's that toughness, the physical toughness, but the mental toughness that they show game-in and game-out. You saw it tonight and you saw it Friday night. That's who we are.

Q. Your players talked about the rebounding a little bit. I don't remember what the exact numbers were but the rebounding disparity was big early in the game but then in the third quarter it seem like something flipped and you guys really closed the rebounding gap. What do you think changed as far as you guys getting more rebounds late in the game when you weren't making that push?

CARLA BERUBE: We weren't making shots so we needed to get some second chance opportunities. We just said, we have to get after these. You know, they are a good transition team, so it's hard to send everybody on the offensive glass, but I think everybody was doing it because we needed those second chance opportunities.

Yeah, I mean, with we didn't get a lot of defensive rebounds because they made a lot of shots and got to the free throw line a lot and made their free throws. We definitely made a push. We talk about getting those second chance opportunities, and we took that to heart. Ellie is going to -- she's going to go after every single rebound she possibly, positive by can.

Q. I mean, it seemed like you guys were trying a couple different defensive options on Alissa Pili and a couple of the other post players from the second quarter to the third quarter. Can you talk about the different options you guys tried and what ended up being most successful for you?

CARLA BERUBE: Yeah, Ellie got into a little bit of foul trouble in the second quarter and I thought Parker Hill came in and gave us some really good minutes. There are times where we had to switch on her and it was tough to put our guards on her. Yeah, we were concerning doubles. Any time she put the ball on the floor, you know, trying to take away baseline, which she's really good at scoring. I thought Ellie did a really good job, frustrated her. But I think there were too many fouls.

But yeah, she's a full-team responsibility. It's not just on one player. I thought we did a pretty good job. They ended up scoring 63 but there was a lot of fouls in the end. They were in the 50s; if you said you're going to keep Utah in the 50s, do you feel good about your chances, yeah, I feel pretty good. But we shot 27, 28 percent, that's tough. You've got to make shots to win basketball games.

So I don't necessarily think it was our defense tonight. We just didn't make the shots that we've been making during the season, whether it's our legs were tired or, you know, just sometimes you don't come up with those shots.

Q. Yesterday you talked about kind of what your opinions were about neutral court. Now having experienced this game and how much of an impact the crowd seemed to have, any extra thoughts?

CARLA BERUBE: It was great. It was a great atmosphere for women's basketball. Yeah, I mean, if we could go to a neutral court and we could have a crowd like that, like, sure. But until we can figure that out and make that happen, I don't know, I think you're going to still have these games at the highest seed.

I don't think that was the reason why we lost the game. I think any great crowd, like, just energizes you. That's how you want to play. You want to play on a stage like this and in front of women's basketball fans. It's great for the game. I know it has not always been like that at Utah and I think Coach Roberts has done an amazing job to get this program where it is.

Yeah, I think good thing are happening at Princeton, too. Princeton Basketball is on the map and just want more and more women's basketball fans out there. The neutral court, what I say about it is not going to make a big difference. But I will say that it was really fun to be here and on this stage.