NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL 1 SEMIFINAL - UCLA VS SOUTH CAROLINA

March 25, 2023

Cori Close

Camryn Brown

Charisma Osborne

Bon Secours Wellness Arena

UCLA Bruins

Sweet 16 Postgame Media Conference

South Carolina 59, UCLA 43

CORI CLOSE: You know, compliment to South Carolina. Their defense was really impressive. It was the lowest point total that anyone had held them to in a half in the first half, and we couldn't even take advantage of that because we were struggling so much offensively. We couldn't sort of see that and take advantage of that.

But credit to them. They're just so impressive from a defensive standpoint and rebounding standpoint. Compliment to them and the way that they played.

This is always just so hard. It's like my least favorite day of the year, and it's because I love these seniors, because I love our team, and you just don't want the journey to end with them.

I think about how they set the tone for our program, and at the beginning of the year they talked about the culture they were going to create, and it didn't matter that we were unranked, didn't matter that we had nine new players, that they were going to make sure we had great chemistry, we were going to have a growth mindset and we were going to invest in each other.

And that is exactly the standard that they set, and that's the standard that they held. We didn't play our best game tonight, but I'm not going to let that take away the journey that these seniors led us through and the growth and the team that they grew into.

Q. Charisma, what was different about this outing against them than the way you played them back in November?

CHARISMA OSBORNE: I think they just got a lot of shots that they wanted in the paint. Yeah, I think their post players just did a really good job of getting to their spots, and they got so many offensive rebounds, looking at the stats.

We didn't limit them as much as we really wanted to.

Q. Cam, Coach Cori was talking about the struggles on offense. What did you think about the way you guys were operating on offense early?

CAMRYN BROWN: I felt like we were -- I feel like everything was rough. We couldn't get on the same page. We were a little frantic out there. We were just trying to figure out what would work for us, and I don't think we ever really got a rhythm together as a team for us to get the shots that we knew we wanted to take.

So that's kind of how it felt out there.

Q. Do you think the length of South Carolina bothered you a little bit today?

CAMRYN BROWN: I really think their physicality, them guarding us and blowing up the screens, something we haven't played in a while, and I don't think we responded quick enough to it and figured it out quick enough.

I think credit to them, their physicality on defense I think really bothered us because we couldn't get into a flow of how we really wanted to run our offense.

Q. This matchup garnered almost 13,000 spectators. For the players, what was that atmosphere like playing today, and how did it affect your game plan?

CHARISMA OSBORNE: It sucks that it was mostly their fans. But no, it's cool. I think it's cool to play in these environments and have so many people come out and watch women's basketball. Yeah, it was pretty cool just seeing how many people were coming and just supporting, and I'm sure there's a lot of people watching on TV, as well.

Q. Charisma, when Cam mentions the franticness on offense, what do you credit that to?

CHARISMA OSBORNE: I don't know, I think it was just really loud. We were trying to figure out exactly what we were running, trying to figure out how exactly they were guarding us. But it just took too long to try to figure that out, and I think we just needed to do a better job of being on the same page overall.

Q. I'm wondering when you're trying to match up with South Carolina from a defensive perspective, obviously it looked like you guys really wanted to stay as compact as possible in the lane. Is it harder to play for 40 minutes with the level of discipline that you need to stay in your zone or stay with your man when you're playing a team like South Carolina, or is it just a matter of we have to just continue to fight and try to see if we can get some stops, string some stops together to maybe turn that into some offense?

CHARISMA OSBORNE: I think it's both. You have to get stops. Have to stop the other team. But also they have really great players. So it is hard playing against them for 40 minutes and having to be so physical. Obviously they have great length and they're super tall and big.

I think it's both; you have to keep fighting and just know that it's going to be hard and know you have to be disciplined on certain things.

Q. What has your UCLA tenure meant to you? What has this program meant to you in the last four years?

CAMRYN BROWN: Honestly, it meant the world to me. I came out of high school not playing my last two years of high school basketball because of two torn ACLs. So for me to even look back and say I had a college career, I'm really grateful for it. I wouldn't have been able to do that without this program taking a chance on me, believing in me and sticking by me.

These four years wouldn't have been nothing without the person right here to my left. One of my best friends in the world in college playing basketball. My time here has been amazing. Had some ups, had some downs, but looking back on this entire experience, I'm just super grateful.

CHARISMA OSBORNE: Yeah, I think Cam said it best. I've really just enjoyed these past four years. It's been amazing having Cam and Coach Cori by my side. And it hasn't always been super easy, but it's definitely worth it.

I've just had the best time here with everyone who's impacted me and stuff like that, and on the court it's just been so fun playing in Pauley Pavilion, playing in LA in front of my friends and family. Yeah, I'm just super grateful for the experience.

Q. Tonight was the lowest scoring output in nine years, but you also held South Carolina to the second lowest of the season. When the shots weren't falling, what other areas of the game did you focus on?

CAMRYN BROWN: I think we just kept going back to defense and rebounding. That's something we knew we had to really hone in on this entire game to give us the best shot of winning. So we were like, okay, shots aren't going in, but we can defend, we can rebound. And that's, I think, what we were trying to keep going back to each time.

Q. Cori mentioned that you had set a tone at the beginning of the year; how did you see the end? It sounds like you knew what you were about to do. How did you see the end, and what does it feel like to be sitting where you are right now?

CHARISMA OSBORNE: It doesn't feel good, honestly. Obviously we wanted to keep going further in the tournament. But I think just all of the vets, all of the seniors really set the tone in how this season would go, especially with how last season went. So I'm just super proud of everyone for the way they bought into the culture here and the way that everyone has just carried themselves and just put the team first.

CAMRYN BROWN: Agree with Charisma. I think the end for us, we were hoping there was going to be trophies and confetti, but sitting here now, just super proud of the team, super proud of our leadership, our seniors, because we set the standard, we showed the standard, we showed the way.

Then shout-out to all the freshmen, all the new people that came in and followed and bought into our entire system, our entire team, our entire program, and I think that's what got us here today. So super proud.

Q. When Emily took a hard fall in the third quarter, it appeared that Dawn Staley had taken a time-out. Can you speak to your relationship, what that shows about her class?

CORI CLOSE: Well, that's exactly what it showed, is her class and her global view of the game and what was most important in that moment. She did call that time-out only because of Emily being down, and I just -- right after the play, I just turned to her and I just said, Thank you, Dawn, and she acknowledged.

I mean, I think these kind of moments in games, they reveal people's character, and I think it just revealed a layer of her character, of what she deems most important, and that's always the kids.

Q. What do you attribute some of that offensive franticness to, especially early in the first half?

CORI CLOSE: Yeah, I think we really -- it's one of those things that you're like -- ultimately, I'm responsible. I thought we really were prepared about how they were going to pressure us, and we actually wanted to spread them out even more and create ball reversals so that we had space to attack.

We talked a lot about how we set new screens.

I mean, it's one of those things that it's going to inform both me as their leader as well as them in terms of how we prepare in the off-season.

But we didn't do much of anything that we had planned on at the beginning in terms of how we wanted to create ball reversal and get downhill on attacks. And we were really standing and watching, and our movement away from the ball wasn't creating anything easier once people touched the ball.

I think we're going to -- it's going to be a hard film to really study and break down and figure out how in our preparation we could have connected the dots better. Credit to South Carolina and their defense, but we really didn't execute what we said we were going to do on the offensive end of the floor.

Q. Was this team kind of confident heading into this game because of the performance that you had against them?

CORI CLOSE: Yeah, yeah, we were confident.

Q. Were you surprised when early on things didn't go their way? Was something South Carolina doing different than what you saw back in November?

CORI CLOSE: No, it wasn't different. I think the thing that led to our early success in the first quarter at their place was our attack mentality, and that's all we kept talking about was you have to be the aggressors. They are obviously a phenomenal -- maybe one of the best defense and rebounding teams in the last decade.

If you allow them to play the way that they want to play and never use it against them, you're going to create a long night, and that's exactly what we did.

In contrast, that isn't how we played. Honestly, in most pressurized games like this, we have played with great poise this year.

I think you have to go to your -- I am a big believer that when you get in those situations that you sink to the level of your training. As the leader, I have to go back to how do I raise the level of our training so that when the most pressurized moments come, we have a chance to perform at a higher level.

Ultimately I take responsibility for that, but that definitely caught me off guard because that isn't the characteristic of the team throughout the year.

Q. Entering the season coming off a WNIT semifinal loss, unranked, so many new faces, how would you characterize the trajectory of the season?

CORI CLOSE: Well, I mean, I think I'll be able to see it a little bit clearer when I'm able to sort of pause and look back and really analyze and self-reflect. But I think that you look at -- I'll remember this team by one word: Growth.

When you guys were asking the seniors about their pride and what they have, you think about it, I think we were ranked eighth or ninth in the country Charisma's freshman year and the NCAA Tournament gets canceled, and then the second year we're in the bubble and we weren't allowed to have -- so many things going on.

Then last year we had so many injuries and had such a difficult season that way, and so when I think about their persevering leadership, to stay true to what they wanted to grow into and become, especially with all the new faces this year, that's what I'm most proud of their leadership is their stick-to-itiveness.

They have led through the hardest four years of basketball. I think other people would say the same around the country. We're not the only ones in that. But that's really what makes me proud.

So when we start the year unranked coming off of a disappointing year last year and to watch them say no, we are going to hold the standard, we are going to have great chemistry, we are going to have great work ethic and we are going to make sure that takes place, and to be player led from that perspective -- and Gina Conti wasn't up here, but her nickname is The General. I didn't want it to end for her tonight. She's been so loyal and so invested in what we've done in a short period of time.

And then I look at Brynn Masikewich and what she's persevered through. She had three years of not being able to play, and this was her first year.

I think that's the disappointing part is that we couldn't keep it going for them. But on the other hand, I'm just so proud because they were the leaders through maybe the most difficult time in UCLA basketball history.

Q. I was curious, the chase-down block that Kamilla got, what's going through your mind --

CORI CLOSE: She got one of them in November, too. I was like, oh, brother. I just think she's -- I mean, they're a great team. Credit to them; they've got two of those, right? Two of them for sure, and maybe one other one that was called a foul.

But I think that shows tremendous heart on their part. We're ahead of the defense. It's very rare that someone chases that down behind and gets a clean block, and that takes effort, and it takes commitment.

Credit them for that. Obviously if we're not able to convert on those, obviously I think it adds to the pressure our team is feeling offensively, and it adds to the -- like if we can't convert that, how are we going to fix the other things.

I definitely could see that. Even as a coach, if I'm being candid, I'm saying, that's tough. That's tough to respond to.

But I also have to give credit to them that they were able to make those defensive plays and we were not.

I think that's the reality of these situations. You have these big moments, and you have to be able to make plays that are under your control, and they made more of them than we did.

Q. What does the decompression process look like for you now?

CORI CLOSE: It takes me a little bit. I think that I always want to be -- I want to set the tone and the example of how I want them to respond, and it's a balance of I just want to honor these seniors.

And then at the same time I want to be a really good teacher and leader of this program and really dig into the uncomfortable parts, what got exposed in us today, so that we can respond in a way that informs every aspect of our off-season.

Every little thing is going to be a response to what this test revealed in us. I'm going to have to do the hard work first, and I've got to really hold the mirror up first so that I can set the example for the younger ones doing the same.

We obviously have a very bright future. We were the youngest team in the entire field of 68. So there's a lot to look forward to.

Right now that's not my focus, but in the next days and weeks, that will be my responsibility as a leader is to dig in and really prepare us in such a way that this experience changes us and pushes us forward in a way that we look back and go, oh, that game -- as Tony Bennett would quote, that game, if we handle the adversity correctly, can maybe buy us a ticket to a place we would not have gone otherwise.

The other thing I will always say about this team, and it's been our phrase all year long, and it's one thing to have a phrase or a motivational, it's another thing to live it: Sometimes you, sometimes me, always us. And I will always be grateful to this group that it was always us.

Q. You've had a long coaching career, seen a lot of teams. Where does South Carolina's team stack up to throughout your entire career teams you've watched?

CORI CLOSE: Well, defensively and rebounding-wise they may be the best if not one of the best. I think their strength of identity and knowing exactly who they are and exactly how they need to play and their consistency in it, even when they don't get rewarded. We held them to 25 points, and it just -- but then they scored 25 points in the third quarter. It wasn't doing something new and different; it was getting better at who they are.

I would definitely say from a defensive and rebounding standpoint, having someone get 48 percent of their offensive misses, I mean, you go back a long time and there's not many teams that have done that and done it back-to-back years.

Especially from a defensive rebounding, one of the best.

I appreciate and also want to thank all of you. It's so important. What a great crowd and atmosphere, and I don't want it to go unnoticed or unappreciated that we see the game, a 30 percent growth I think in TV ratings, attendance, two sellouts in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

All the things that are leading into the growth of our game do not happen without the coverage, without the exposure, without you telling the stories of our great players and the town of Greenville, from hosting a great event.

It was very, very important that these two regionals were successful in this new format, and it wouldn't happen without all of you, so thank you so much for helping us grow our game.