PAC-12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 8, 2024

Scott Rueck

Talia von Oelhoffen

Raegan Beers

Oregon State Beavers

Postgame Press Conference

Stanford - 66, Oregon State - 57

SCOTT RUECK: I was just super proud of this team today. I thought we fought like crazy. Obviously they got themselves very well-prepared. Such a great start. And just continued to weather the game and just kept fighting and fighting until the very end.

So I just love them, and I'm just grateful for each one of them and the opportunity to be their coach. It's literally a dream team, and so I couldn't be more proud of them.

Q. You guys start off that first quarter, 24 points, shooting I believe it was 61 percent from the field. The rest of the way the offense kind of slows down. What do you attribute that to?

SCOTT RUECK: They turned the magnets off. They flipped them to Stanford I think from that point forward. It seemed kind of evident to me.

They're a really good defensive team. I thought the game was very physical. It was even physical on the release of the ball sometimes. And what can you do?

I just thought we really battled. We kept working. I thought we moved the ball well. We got some good looks. They just didn't go.

Q. Want to touch a little more on that. It was about an eight-minute stretch from the middle of the second quarter to the third quarter. What do you think really happened in that stretch? Was it you guys just weren't making shots? Was it Stanford's defense? How does it happen that long of a stretch of a game?

SCOTT RUECK: It's basketball. We're 4-for-19 in the second quarter. It was hard to establish anything at the rim. And we're two teams that take away the rim for the most part. We're both trying anyway.

So I thought they were disruptive, and I thought they did a nice job on the perimeter as well, closing. I think one of the keys in the game, it was tough for us to get to screens in this game, and therefore we were contested in most things. So just had a tough time finding anything easy in that stretch.

Q. Raegan, what were you getting early that you weren't getting later?

RAEGAN BEERS: Coach Scott obviously touched on it a little bit, but they're good at taking away the rim. Brink just won defensive player of the year, I believe. And Kiki is great down there, too.

And they did a better job taking it away and when we were kicking it out we just weren't hitting shots like we normally would. But I thought we kept (indiscernible) to the X. Coach was emphasizing that. We kept attacking. We were never scared. Dom showed that. Dom was going at the rim today. And we're excited to carry that over into March Madness.

Q. Talia, at the beginning of the year nobody would have predicted that this is where you would be today, even though this is a hard loss. You're a leader on that team. What happened? How did you all come to this point where you're heading into the tournament the way you are?

TALIA VON OELHOFFEN: We're feeling good. Obviously tough loss, but we have so much belief in each other and in this team, and we battled through adversity. And we love each other and we have fun playing and that's what's gotten us to this point. So we're excited to keep it going through March.

Q. Scott and Raegan, where do you feel the confidence level is at with this team right now, just coming off the last few weeks, even given the result tonight going into the rest of March?

RAEGAN BEERS: I feel you've see it grow especially these past couple of weeks as we're nearing the end of the Pac-12. Everybody just rising, making shots. Obviously we didn't shoot as good as we wanted to tonight, but these most recent games we've been shooting well and we've been attacking the rim and hitting tough shots.

Talia has been doing a fantastic job of leading our team and hitting shots from the top and showing us what that looks like to play at this level and compete at this level night in and night out. Just continuing to do that is going to be important these next couple of weeks.

SCOTT RUECK: I feel as though we're tested. We're ready. I think we've seen everything. And this group of teams does that to you, and the fact that we played the toughest schedule you could imagine within our conference this year has tested us.

So we know we have production throughout our roster. Everybody has had a role, a significant role. Everybody can rise. We are a great defensive team. We rebound. And we're really difficult to stop offensively. And those are just the facts, and we know that.

And the fact that, to go along with that, just the cohesiveness that the group has. We love to prepare. That's a sign of a great team. They love film. They ask great questions. They love to scout. And if you have all of those things, you should be very confident. And I think this team should be and I think they are.

Q. Talia, you guys go up -- you're up 16 pretty early in the second quarter. Whether Scott communicated to you or you guys just knew that they were probably going to weather that and come back at you.

TALIA VON OELHOFFEN: Yeah, I think, obviously they're a great team. So our mentality is always stay intense going into the locker room. We're telling each other, keep your foot on the gas; can't let up because great team, great coach. We knew they were going to make adjustments. We just had to be ready for it. So we definitely knew not to get comfortable.

Q. Scott, one of the strengths of this team has been the depth. Was it a gut feel today to pretty much go with six players?

SCOTT RUECK: Yeah. I mean, yes.

Q. Talia, what do you tell your teammates after a loss like this and heading forward obviously into the March Madness tournament to keep your guys' spirits up and make sure this doesn't get to you?

TALIA VON OELHOFFEN: I think just that. Just keep our heads up. What we've done so far this year has been amazing. It all stems from a belief in each other and just loving each other and having fun competing and doing what we're doing.

So this one got away from us, but nothing to hang our heads about. And we're battle tested and we're ready for March. So we're right back to work.

Q. You kind of alluded to this being battle tested. Stanford's got a really veteran team, a lot of juniors and seniors on that roster. Did you feel young today? Do you think it's a good thing to have to go through even though you don't like the result?

SCOTT RUECK: No, no. I don't think you need to lose ever. We're ready to win a game like this. I don't think we can put too much on this game today. I'm not giving it a whole lot of weight. I love the way we competed. It is what it is.

Q. Can you just talk a little bit about what they were able to do to kind of get Jump going there from the second quarter on? And then do you think that the overtimes yesterday had any impact just on energy level, or was there a fatigue factor as this game went on?

SCOTT RUECK: Maybe. Maybe. I don't know. It doesn't matter. If you let Jump go to her left, she's really tough. And that's what she loves to do. And they do a good job of getting her in those scenarios. And so sometimes it's unlucky, you get an out-of-bounds call, and that means they're running this to her and that means she's going to get to her left.

You can't cheat it because then it turns into a 3 instead of a 2. Hannah hasn't shot the ball extremely well all year, but veteran players tend to have a knack, when it matters most, to rise, and she did that today, I thought.

So, yeah, she worked really hard getting free. It's not easy to do from our team, so you've got to give her credit for that. Not just that, but making the shots and several of them were contested.

Q. Raegan, I couldn't help but notice the giant ice pack on your leg. Are you feeling okay? Hard to not notice. At what point did you get hit in that area? Was it knee to knee?

RAEGAN BEERS: I'm okay. It's preventive. We're deep into the season, making sure I'm ready a week and a half when we go into March. So thank you.