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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 7, 2008Van ChancellorSylvia FowlesErica WhiteNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE THE MODERATOR: Coach, if you could, give us a quick opening comment and then we'll take questions for the players, they can be excused and we'll come back to questions for you. COACH CHANCELLOR: First of all, I thought our team, understatement of the year, I thought we just played well. I thought our girls played the best that they played all year. I thought Mesha Williams was outstanding, I thought Kristen Morris was really good for us. It is a great win, and we're looking forward to playing the next game. It's been a long time since I've been here, and it feels good to be in the semifinals. First thing I did today is I went in the Fox TV room. I forgot where my dressing room was; I've been so used to doing that. Q. Erica, there was a stretch where it was maybe 18:12 and Sylvia was out in foul trouble and you I guess responded to that and really opened up a lead a lot. Talk about what you all did and kind of the mindset. ERICA WHITE: Well, this is a veteran group, and having Sylvia out of the game, we knew we had to step up because we were either going to play well at that time with her out or play really bad. We were able to respond, like Coach said, a lot of players on the bench stepped up. Mesha Williams came in and stepped up, and we were able to sustain without Sylvia for a little while. Q. I'm assuming most days you go against Mesha in practice. Talk about how you feel her game has progressed this year. Obviously she plays with more and more confidence. SYLVIA FOWLES: Mesha always plays with confidence when her name gets called. I think tonight she showed what she goes up against in practice. Tonight she was aggressive and she crashed the boards and got some points for us. Q. 20 points at the half you guys were up, 40-point win. How good of a W was this in the first round? You know you get a good head of steam going into the second round of semis? SYLVIA FOWLES: It was a good start, especially just because we played as a team, and just to get everybody and then get a feel of how this thing is going to be for this weekend, I think we got off to a good start. ERICA WHITE: I agree with Syl. We got off to a great start. Ole Miss was a great opponent because no matter what the lead is they're the type of team that won't give up. That was good for us because we knew we were going to have to compete for 40 minutes. I think it was Ole Miss having us play at our highest level to hang in there, so I give a lot of credit to their team. Q. Talk about the production from everybody on the squad. Everybody got in the scoring column today. How important is that, people come off the bench and knock some of that rust off so you have everyone contributing down the stretch? SYLVIA FOWLES: It was very important, especially when you've got your key players on the bench, me, Ashley, Erica ended up getting in foul trouble at the end. But just for those players to step up. We have faith in them because we see them every day in practice, but just for them to step up is big and play a big part in the offense. ERICA WHITE: It's really huge, especially this time of year, the postseason. For players to come off the bench and play well, that gives them a lot of confidence for this tournament and leading into the next tournament. Q. Sylvia, we saw some ice on your knee at the end. Is something going on? SYLVIA FOWLES: No, it's nothing to worry about. I'm just being cautious and making sure I get rested up for tomorrow. Q. I'd like you both to comment on Coach's pants. ERICA WHITE: I thought my Coach looked nice tonight (laughter). COACH CHANCELLOR: That will get you big minutes tomorrow, Erica. ERICA WHITE: I thought my Coach looked nice. Don't talk about my Coach. SYLVIA FOWLES: I know he didn't dress himself, his wife did (laughter). COACH CHANCELLOR: I know I'm styling. ERICA WHITE: You are, Coach. Top-notch. COACH CHANCELLOR: I might have been criticized behind my back a lot, but since I've been at LSU the only criticism I've had to my face is that I don't wear enough purple and gold so I'm trying to change that every day. Our fans are just -- oh, Lord. Q. I saw the bench and they looked like they were channeling some of the LSU football team. Were you guys trying to do that, get a little championship swagger going? SYLVIA FOWLES: Just anything we can get to get our team motivated and get them going, getting them pumped on the bench for us and get some energy on the floor, we're willing to do that, so we got them motivated by doing that. ERICA WHITE: We're definitely trying to play with our championship swagger. We can't lie, we stole that from the football team. They're the best team in the country. We're trying to win a championship just like them. Q. Was it part of you all's preparation to want to make a statement to the rest of the teams in the tournament by starting out impressively? ERICA WHITE: Well, you want to make a statement, but most importantly you want to come out and play well for your team, more importantly than what the other teams here think. You come out and play basketball, you get a game like this where you've been contributing, that helps us to play better basketball for tomorrow. That will help us for the championship game if we get to that point. It's more for us to just come out and play well, but if you make a statement in the process, then that's good, too. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, players. Questions for Coach? Q. Could you also make a comment about everyone on the team got in the scoring column. How important is that for everyone to get in, contribute down the stretch, that there was more productivity from everybody? COACH CHANCELLOR: It's important for two reasons. Number one, it lets those players that are going to play, that you may have to play in back to back games feel good about themselves, and number two, Sylvia Fowles, she has a double-double and plays 17 minutes. For her to play her 17 and Ashley Thomas to play 11 and win, I thought that was really big because we're saving their legs for tomorrow night. Q. How much different are the emotions playing against Ole Miss or maybe just more than physically, Renee Ladner? COACH CHANCELLOR: To play against my two former players and for the score to be like it is, is the only negative from my point of view. I hate to put a score up there like that for their sake because I wouldn't be there today for if it wasn't for Renee and Peg and players like that. It's about my former players, and I really feel for them today. Looked like to me they spent everything they could beating Mississippi State. Q. You had a 41-point lead with seven minutes left in the second half. You walked down to the end of the bench and told your ladies something, you guys started laughing, then they called a time-out. What did you tell them? COACH CHANCELLOR: We were just all laughing that Whitfield actually passed the ball. She's played at LSU, got three assists. Last time Whitfield passed the ball it seems like we were back in the -- I don't know, eight or nine years ago, and I just said, we were rolling if she was passing the ball, because once she gets in the game, she puts it up. That's all that was about. Q. I know you made an emphasis of trying to improve the offense this year, but you're playing such good defense. It's been a constant for this team. Coaches are always proud of their teams playing defense. Talk about what they do so well. COACH CHANCELLOR: Here's the whole deal: When I came to LSU, the one thing I was not going to do was change what we were -- what Coach Bob Stark and them had been doing defensively. They led the country, and any time I had ever watched them play, you just couldn't score on them when I was doing TV. When the other team had the ball, to make the decision, I would not tinker with that. I've actually let him run that a lot. And then on offense, I just wanted us to get in a freer mood to play, have fun, get a shot, shoot the ball. But our defense has been really constant for us all year, and I'm really proud of that. I'll tell you, y'all haven't asked me this question. I thought the game difference for us tonight, we met last Thursday and decided -- last Tuesday before we came here, that for us to move to another level, we would have to do four things different, and we all agreed that 80 percent of the things we needed to do was rebounding. I thought defensive rebounding tonight was better than it's been all year. Q. Your bench outscored the entire Ole Miss team. What does that say about the team three years in a row and the tournament coming up in the next few weeks? COACH CHANCELLOR: That says that I'm really excited about that because sometimes we have not played them enough, and to be able to play them and them to score 38 points was just unbelievable. I said it, I told them at the end, I told our seven players that come off the bench, that's the best you've played. I told the last five players that was the best they have played all year. I thought our last five players played outstanding, they didn't turn the ball over a lot, we were rebounding, we didn't foul a lot. So that's been good. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach. COACH CHANCELLOR: Hope y'all have a great day. End of FastScripts |
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