NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - NORTH CAROLINA VS OHIO STATE

March 20, 2023

Courtney Banghart

Alyssa Ustby

Kennedy Todd-Williams

Deja Kelly

Value City Arena

North Carolina Tar Heels

Media Conference

Ohio State - 71, North Carolina - 69

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, it's the beauty of March and it's the brutality of March. The worst thing to do is to walk into a locker room and know their heart hurts and tell 'em it's over. It's just the worst, as you can imagine. It's also, when you know your product and who they were out there, you're also proud of 'em. So it's that weird mix. I asked them to be what they have been all year, which is a group of fighters. I asked them to be locked down defensively. I asked them to make shots, make plays, be stars. We asked them to be hard to beat. We thought those things would get us to a Sweet 16.

They did all of those things, right? But you got to be so good to win in March, so good, and we just were not quite good enough. We had a few too many careless turnovers, we won't like some of our fouls, we won't like some of our missed layups. They won't either. It's a possession game, on the road, all the things. So we just weren't quite good enough.

Credit to Ohio State. They had to beat a really good team, and they did, and they get to continue only. So credit to them. They're as happy as we are sad. That's just how March goes. So I would be nowhere without these three for all the obvious reasons and also all the not so obvious reasons, how they stuck by each other, they stick by me, they believe in our program and what they have meant to us. So they should really be the ones that are talking.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Alyssa, when Deja goes out, you guys started activating scoring. What was going on in your mind and what was working for you guys?

ALYSSA USTBY: There's one thing we say before every game is that we got each other's backs. So when Deja went out, we huddled together, like, guys we got this, we're doing it for Deja and we're doing it for all of us to give us the best chance to win.

KENNEDY TODD-WILLIAMS: Yeah, I would definitely say we just fought with the younger guys in there too. They definitely like locked in. I thought that was a big moment for us because both Deja and Eva had went down, and I thought that was a really big moment and a key turnaround for us.

Q. Can you tell us something about, you ran into a screen and just fell awkwardly. Tell me about that and the emotions of going back to the dressing room and coming back and seeing what score is?

DEJA KELLY: Yeah, I ran into the screen, went down. As soon as I went down and they were taking me back, the only thought in my mind was what's the score, what's the time, and what do I need to do to get back on the floor.

So I was back there in the hallway with our doctor trying to figure that out. When I came back and saw the score, I knew that they had my back too when I went down. So they held it down, for sure, and I was excited to get back out there.

Q. What was the injury?

DEJA KELLY: We won't call it an injury yet, but a knee.

Q. Did you think you might not be able to get back in there?

DEJA KELLY: You know, it was up to the doctor, but I wasn't going to go down without a fight. So, really, I wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Q. Obviously injuries were a big factor all season. You're down two starters at the end. This seems to typify the way the season went.

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, my mother's always called me a happy idiot, and I think she's right. There's an element of happy idiotness in me, which is I just don't worry about that in the moment. So Deja out, she means a lot to our program, but look who we do have. Yeah, it is a microcosm, so it's easy to talk about, that we've had a lot of adversity, right, we've had in, out. We haven't practiced as a whole group much.

But it's also just as easy to talk about the resolve that the others have shown. It's hard to be the guy out. It's also really hard to be the guy that's leaned on. So I don't know how many miles or minutes Toddie in particular and Deja have logged this season, but more than they should, right, because they needed it.

So where there's a bad thing, which is what a bummer it was to lose two significant contributors most of the year, name who they are, whoever, and also in this game, but it's worse to not have guys behind them who can have their back.

Q. Coming out of halftime it looked like you were consoling her. I guess it was an emotional locker room at halftime?

DEJA KELLY: Yeah, she just cares, she cares so much, and she just wants to be good for us, good for the team, and contribute in any way that she can. Especially being the fifth-year senior where this could possibly be her last game, she just -- emotions are high.

But I was just talking to her up and reminding her how much we need her and how no matter how her shots were going and no matter how the game was going, just that we had her back just like she's had ours all year.

Q. The last play, obviously a long pass, you thought could you get it inside. How did that happen? How did that go?

COURTNEY BANGHART: That, right? We brought someone to the ball, brought Deja to the ball, so we knew that would draw a crowd. We liked the matchup of Alyssa on 1, which is what they came out in, is that matchup. So with 1.8 seconds left and you saw how the game was being called, right, we weren't expecting that to be helpful. So we were trying to get her at the rim.

When you're in a possession game, you have an opportunity to lose 'em just as much as you have to win 'em, and we won one here and we lost one here.

Q. Back-and-forth game, kind of a physical game, but you guys get it to a tied score. What's the mentality going through each of you guys' minds? And you guys are juniors, so I know you got another year, but you're not thinking like that, but when it's tied up, what are you thinking at that point?

ALYSSA USTBY: We're thinking one possession at a time. When we're on defense, we're all talking to each other the whole time, saying, we need a stop, we need a stop, and then when we get on offense, we're trying our best to work together to construct a good look to give us the best chance we can.

So it's always just about the present moment. So whichever end of the ball we're on that's the one that we're locked in and focused on, and I thought as a collective our group did really well on focusing on the task at hand and buying into our assignments.

KENNEDY TODD-WILLIAMS: Especially with the younger guys in that situation, I think me and Alyssa were really just saying, like, it's all right, like, we're good, like, with the younger guys, having that experience, one possession at a time, like she said, and we just keep going. It doesn't stop just because they score a point. We got to go down on offense, get a stop, all that.

Q. (No microphone.)

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, these guys have been with me since I got here. They were the first phone calls I made. They're proving me right, right? They're proving me right, not just because of their talent, but because of their fortitude, as you saw today. They're competitive as hell, so it's not always easy. But they work through it. In college athletics, there's so much volatility, there's so much inconsistency now. That's a choice. You can choose that. We have chosen to have more stability where we can and develop our guys and trust 'em and whatnot.

So everyone does it differently. There's no right or wrong way. It's through the draft or through the portal or however you want to do it. But these guys have a ton of experience and that's partly why their hearts are so heavy is that they had to rely on a lot of young guys today because we -- that -- we were out, we had a lot of minutes, etcetera. But these guys have proven me right. I know there's been a lot about written about them as a group and there should be. They're all that's right as competitors and people. What they're wearing on the front of their jersey matters to 'em. That can get lost sometimes in college athletics and it just is not lost on them. That's why in these games when I kept saying each possession, like, just keep at it, just keep at it, just keep at it. That's who these guys are. They just keep at it. So these guys should have their story and those stories should be told and retold and retold and we'll see what they can continue to do together.

DEJA KELLY: One thing I'll say about our group, our core is just our like mindset. I think that's something that's kind of brought us along and brought us together throughout the whole season and throughout the three years that we've been here. We've set goals, just really our class together, we set goals for ourselves for the things that we wanted to accomplish while we were here at North Carolina. Coming up short, obviously it hurts all of us I think the most. Just because we know that the conversations we've had, the hard work that we've put in together. I think that's why it means so much is because we've been through all of it literally together. And personally I wouldn't want to go through it with anyone else. I'm going to get emotional, but, yeah, it just hurts. But, again, I think our group is really special. And we're not done, but we'll sit on this one for a little bit, but, yeah, I wouldn't take anyone else.

Q. Deja just talked about this core and there's so much roster turnover in college basketball now days. But it seems like it's going to be another off-season where you're kind of going to return pretty much the same kind of core group. How exciting is that?

COURTNEY BANGHART: It's obviously good for college basketball when good players stay together. Continuity on that for their games and their development. But I think also the thing is this is a group that has gotten better. As you think about where they were when they first came and where they are now, I mean, statistically, from a statistical standpoint, they have really improved. So as you think about you're going to give me, what is it March, April, May, June, July, August, September, give me six months with these guys to get 'em better? I like that. I think these guys, they're really gym hungry. They have got to do some work on their bodies to get healthy and ready to go. But, yeah, I'm excited because I know they will get better. Like this -- they're just an ever evolving -- that's partly what the story needs to be is how just better these guys have gotten. They're not just resting on their laurels of being good. So I just look forward to growing Toddy's game and growing Alyssa's game and growing Deja's game in a way that they're sitting up here talking about other things than being almost there.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you very much.