AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 9, 2025

Alex Simmons

Elauna Eaton

Dickies Arena

Memphis Tigers

Postgame Press Conference

East Carolina - 64, Memphis - 45

THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and get started with an opening statement from Coach and then take questions for the student-athletes.

ALEX SIMMONS: Obviously it was a rough game for Memphis women's basketball today. This season is kind of hard to define, but I feel like, you know, especially in the second half, we fought -- we played good basketball, and to be honest with you, in the second half, we probably played good enough to win. We struggled in the second quarter to score, but we kept fighting.

This team of seniors has been through a lot this year, whether it be injuries and changes and kind of having to see things from a different perspective throughout the year when they weren't prepared. I commend them. I respect them for continuing to fight, continuing to play hard.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I know today wasn't the best offensive game for the Memphis women's basketball team. You struggled from behind the arc and couldn't really get much going in the interior. What were some other things that you saw this game that the Tigers just kind of somewhat did not do well to pull out with the win?

ALEX SIMMONS: We started the game missing layups. When you look at missing threes and missing layups, usually the chippies are the ones that kind of get you going and get your momentum going. We started the -- I believe in the first half, we had 11 turnovers. You definitely can't start the game, start a half and finish the game with 20 turnovers. I felt like their press, we knew it was coming, but it still rattled us.

Then obviously, we just didn't shoot the ball well. We still got three more -- we only had three less field goal attempts than East Carolina. So when you look at that, it just wasn't our night on the offensive end.

Q. You led the way in points this game. What were some things that you were doing in the huddle to try to get the other girls going offensively? I know Tilly Boler kind of struggled tonight. What were some words of encouragement you were trying to give the team for scoring?

ELAUNA EATON: The most important thing is -- in the huddles for us was not offense. It was emphasizing the defense, and that was a credit to Coach Simmons.

As far as offense, we would always just tell each other, Just keep shooting because the ball can't go in the net if it doesn't go up. So it was a rough night, but our focus was not on offense, although it does seem like we got many stops.

Q. This was another game that Memphis turned the ball over a lot. Is that going to be a focus coming into next season? And if so, how do you plan to attack that issue?

ALEX SIMMONS: I think we have to become better basketball-IQ players. Being able to read defenses, seeing where traps are coming from, our rotations and ball movement, I think that's going to be huge for just our team in general. Tan Welch, hopefully Elauna Eaton, just being able to be high basketball-IQ players.

Q. Looking at the season as a whole, obviously the team struggled a lot with injuries. Is the plan to still schedule aggressively in the non-conference next season because of, you know, really, in my opinion, the only reason this team really struggled in the non-conference was because of all those injuries, so is that still the plan or are you going to change that at all?

ALEX SIMMONS: My philosophy on scheduling is pretty solid. I think you have to schedule, and you have to schedule competition. I think that's something that I've seen Coach Hardaway talk about on the men's side, and I would echo his sentiments that we have to schedule to become a multi-bid team league. I think our players, when you look at our non-conference, whether it be Tennessee, Louisville, anybody that we played, I think it was a ballgame, and I think if we had a couple more bodies, a couple more players in different situations, some of those results would change. So I'm pretty hardheaded when it comes to scheduling and competing, so as of today right now I don't plan on changing that.