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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 6, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

THE MODERATOR: We've got head coach, Jolette Law, and players Lacey Simpson and Jenna Smith.
If you'd like to start with a opening statement.
COACH JOLETTE LAW: I think my team played a great total-team game. They stuck with the game plan. And we executed our defense and our rebounding for the difference in this game.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student athletes.

Q. Jenna, can you talk about how strong you guys came out in the first half? Just the energy you guys had and making that statement, coming out?
JENNA SMITH: When we had our meeting before the game, Coach told us to come out with a swagger. Knowing that we lost at home, it was 1-1, so we knew we had to come out big, we knew we wanted to play Ohio, and we knew we wanted to go further in the Big Ten.
It's mostly for our seniors. We wanted to send them off with a bang. A lot of them don't -- didn't play in the Big Ten. We know we want to play like it's our last every single game. So we know we need to come out with a lot of energy and dictate.

Q. Being the focal point of the offense, can you talk a little bit about what it meant for you tonight to have some offense from Lacey and Becca and Chelsea and all those people?
JENNA SMITH: I know Lacey and all of my teammates will give offense. If I'm doubled, they know they need to get open for me or shoot or penetrate to get me open or to get somebody open.
We're having a full-out -- we're actually communicating now and we're playing better team ball. So it's a better offense.

Q. Jenna, with the intensity on the Big Ten Player of the Year award, did you feel some extra added intensity coming into this game to prove a point?
JENNA SMITH: It wasn't to prove a point, but it was just I was thinking another game. Coach was talking to me about it. I brushed it off. It will be exciting to play Ohio State tomorrow. But I'm happy for her. But it was just another game for me. I didn't think take it bitter. It was just I had to come out and play today.

Q. What did you think of your defensive effort, held them to 25 percent in the first half.
LACEY SIMPSON: We discussed it. We had to come out low on D. Box them up. We were pretty fired up for this game. We knew we had to come out with a big defensive effort, as well as our offense. We were pretty fired up for it.

Q. You've pulled within four and I think three points twice at the end of the first half. Did you guys talk at halftime just about containing them and not letting them get a little bit of a run, or did you feel that your first half was so strong that you could just take that momentum and build on it in the second?
JENNA SMITH: We wasn't worried. Just keep boxing out. Keep doing what we do. We weren't worried at all about it.

Q. Lacey, how much encouragement do you guys take from the success you've had against Ohio State this year? Does it mean anything going into tomorrow's game?
LACEY SIMPSON: I wouldn't say -- we beat Ohio State. I wouldn't look at it like the biggest game ever. We're just looking at them as another opponent.
Going to go in tomorrow and play like another opponent and play like we did today. Bring the moments from today's game into tomorrow's game.

Q. Coach Law, what are you going to do to turn your team around in less than 24 hours and get them to play another emotional yet physical game?
COACH JOLETTE LAW: First of all, we're going to go get a nice dinner and going to watch film. There will probably be ice baths. They don't like the ice baths, but get them in ice baths and get them refocused.
Because right now this is another opportunity. We paid to play another 40, and these young ladies, they'll be rested and focused. And we'll be ready for tomorrow.
We're just going to go back to the ranch and do what we do. Get dinner, focus in on Ohio, our next opponent, watch film, and just really it's going to come down to what we do.
It's all about the small things. All season long. It's always come down to the small things, and I think my team is starting to address them now.

Q. Can you address the defensive?
COACH JOLETTE LAW: Chelsea did a great job and I want to give my team -- I applaud them because even when she got stuck on screens, there were times my post players were stepping up to help her. I've seen Jolene run through double screens, post and other guards were bumping her.
It was a total team effort but Chelsea did a great job. I think her height slowed her down a little bit. And I give it to my team. My team helped her out a lot.

Q. Jenna, you only played 30 minutes. Did it feel like a light workout compared to --
JENNA SMITH: Yeah, in the locker room, Coach was like, 30 minutes? Isn't that your season lowest? I was like, yeah. Keep it going. I was so happy to see all my other teammates play, so yeah.

Q. A couple of 3s, I think you only made six all season, were you just feeling it or was it just available, going along with it?
JENNA SMITH: Well, Coach always tells me at the post always try to beat me to a block, pop out and shoot 3. So I was kind of wide open. So everybody was like, Shoot it, so I shot it and it went in.
So my team is always like, You need to shoot more. Because I always shoot with them in practice and I'll try and mimic Laurie -- shooting, which is a horrible idea. But I always try and I'll shoot if I'm wide open.
THE MODERATOR: No more questions for student athletes. I'll let you ladies go.

Q. Coach, I don't know if you can really answer this yet because your season's not over. But are you reasonably happy with the progress that you made in your first season at Illinois from where you were your first practice to today?
COACH JOLETTE LAW: I say it every day, I thank God for the experience. This was a great experience, a learning experience for me. The most important thing I can say is the growth in my team. We're closer. We're learning.
Our record doesn't indicate how far we've come. And I'm so proud of these young ladies right now. And I am truly grateful and truly blessed to be a part of this institution and to be a part of this team, be their coach. Because in the beginning change is always different. I had to change and adjust and they had to change and adjust to me and a new philosophy.
It takes time. And anything worth having, it's like a process. We went through the process and now hopefully we can continue to carry the momentum.

Q. Will you take that same performance tomorrow at 6:00?
COACH JOLETTE LAW: From the performance from tonight? Oh definitely. I want my kids to even take it to another level. They're focused. Sometimes now I don't have to go to the huddle or when I go into adjustments in the halftime I'll make adjustments. They're like, Okay, Coach, we understand. How many rounds do we get? They're focused.
And sometimes you know you don't want to see the losses. You don't want to see Ls, but this year those close games, you know, I just know and I feel in my heart that we're going to benefit from those losses. Even in this game tomorrow. I'm going to pump my kids up and let them know that we had with Ohio State and we held them to 43 points. We made history with that.
We beat them on our home court. So we should just continue to do what we do and do it well and on any given day. Any team can win. I'm just going to do the best I can to prepare them. Motivate them and hopefully they'll come out and play the way they did tonight.

Q. I know that you guys take pride in your defense, top scoring defense of the Big Ten. But the whole Wisconsin, something like 26 percent shooting I think it was in the second half. You take a certain amount of pride in that?
COACH JOLETTE LAW: Oh, definitely. I'm defense-oriented. When I see my young ladies start to buy into defense, repeating some of the things I was saying earlier on, that they didn't like the word dictate, dominate. You know, Oh, Coach we're going to dictate and dominate on defense.
When I hear them saying it, it's encouraging. When you hold a good team like Wisconsin to 25 percent in the second half, that's definitely encouraging knowing that when you go in to face Ohio State, all these other great teams in this league, it's encouraging to know that my team, they believe it, are buying into it and are actually applying it to that.

Q. Coach, were you more cognizant of subbing especially early in the game today or not?
COACH JOLETTE LAW: Definitely. As of late, I'm saying even before the last couple of games, I've been watching Erin McCarthy in practice the last few weeks and she's been really, really given a lot -- you know, working hard against Jenna, working hard against Audrey. And it wasn't to just put her in just because.
I knew and I told them before, It's nine strong. If we're going to go four games in a row, every person here must come in and play significant minutes.
And she came in and she was just like, Oh, my God, I gotta go in high and rebound. And right now it's just more. You'll see her tomorrow. You'll see Chelsea Buher tomorrow, and definitely for us to go on and play four back-to-back games, we have to rely on nine strong.

Q. I have a question about preparing for the Big Ten tournament. Do you scout all your teams before you even came down here or are you guys going to be up like late tonight trying to break down some of the things that Ohio State has done in the last couple of games? Or have you already done that?
COACH JOLETTE LAW: No. Every day I watch, my staff and I, we watch them all the time every day. We try to simulate different things. Our kids don't know it now, but just changing different drills to simulate, you know, Ohio State, how we're going to handle it. Instead of just bombarding them with all these patterns. Because in less than 24 hours you gotta get ready.
They're prepared. We just try to focus on the things that we needed, some of small things we need to address, i.e., rebounding, because this last game Wisconsin had 21 points on offense and rebound against us. And they outrebounded us tonight. We addressed that.
We'll run a couple more intense rebounding drills. We outrebounded them tonight. With Ohio State it's going to be the same; they rebound the ball extremely well. They push the ball up the floor. So just try to simulate different drills to simulate the opponents that we might play.
But as far as going back to the hotel and watching films, of course. I didn't sleep but two hours last night. And that's pretty much the norm for me.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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