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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 11, 2008Kelsey GriffinDanielle PageConnie YoriKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI THE MODERATOR: Coach Yori has joined us up here and we would like to let you make a few opening comments. COACH YORI: Well, it's the story of the season. In the Big 12, you look at what happened today, 11 and 12 win against 5 and 6. Not a surprise to anyone because of the competition level in this league and, how great this league is. And I thought Kansas played very, very hard. I thought they executed very well. They got some transition baskets, they looked to attack us in transition particularly early. I thought we were a little bit on our heels early when they were attacking us, and they got some easy baskets. I thought we did a better job as the game got going of taking that away, but we dug ourselves in a hole and we tried to battle back a couple times, and basically ran out of time. Credit to their players, I thought they did a really good job of making extra passes. You look at the fact that they had 20 assists, they turned it over a bit, but they did a nice job of finding the extra person within the course of their offense, and, you know, on our end we did some things right. We missed a lot of easy shots, but in order to win at this level, you've got to cash in on those, and we probably missed six or eight point-blank shots right at the rim, and that could have changed the complex of the game. You've got to make those. Today was not our day to make those, for whatever reason. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the athletes? Q. Danielle, maybe you don't remember this segment of the game, but I think you guys were within 6 and got a turnover, and they got the ball to you for one of those point blank shots and you couldn't get it to go down. And then Kansas takes off on that run where they get it out to 17. Does that kinda -- is that how this game feels to you, just if you break it down, you know, the frustration of that possession, and then what happened after it? DANIELLE PAGE: Um, I guess I don't really specifically remember that possession. I remember missing a lot of point-blank layups, but, yeah, the game was frustrating. We just weren't doing enough little things right on both ends, I think. If we could have cleaned it up, executed better offensively, taken away a couple of looks on defense, we would have come out with a win. Q. Did this bring about anxiety for the next few days while you wait to see what happens? Or are you still feeling comfortable about it? KELSEY GRIFFIN: Well, I don't know if it's anxiety raising. I think we went into this hoping to improve our seeding and you don't know, it's up to them to decide. So nothing is for sure, but we've got to get back in the gym and work on some things. And whatever ends up happening, we will be prepared for it. Q. How hard is it to feel as good as you guys did to finish the season with Iowa State and Colorado, and then come in here and, obviously like Connie said, having 11 and 12 seeds win and obviously being on the other end of it? How hard is it to go back to Lincoln? DANIELLE PAGE: Well, it is hard, but you have to credit Kansas, they played a great game. They did a lot of things right. They did more things right than we did, and that's what basketball games usually come down to. To go back to Lincoln, if anything, I hope our team can use it as motivation that we are a great basketball team. And if we do clean up and play like we know how to play and like we can play, we should take confidence, if anything, from this loss, in that we're maybe a much better basketball team than we showed. Kansas played a great game, made us do things we didn't want to do necessarily, but we can use that going into the tournament and hopefully use that in the games to come. Q. In the first half, you guys had trouble on offense. Was it you guys or was it something Kansas was doing to bother you? KELSEY GRIFFIN: I think it was a combination of both. Kansas executed well on defense today, and they took away some of the looks that we were trying to get. They were playing us tough in the post, really being physical down there on us. But, you know, it was also -- it was us. We were missing a lot of easy shots that we normally make and should have made today. I think if we would have made those shots, it would have been a different game. Q. Would you two say that in the realm of 12 games, this was more physical? About average? DANIELLE PAGE: It was about average, and we go out in the Big 12 playing hard and you expect to get -- maybe that's why some of those didn't drop, because we were expecting to get bumped and we didn't. But, no, it was about normal. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the coach. Q. Connie, I thought they made you guys work hard offensively. Were they working off the same kinds of things as when you saw them previously in the regular season, or did they start somewhere else? COACH YORI: Kansas is a very good defensive team. I'm not so sure they aren't one of the best in our league, and when you look at what they -- their pressure is good. They've got big guards, reasonably big guards that can provide a challenge. They work hard on the low block, they're going to turn you over some because of their pressure. You know, we just -- we were coming off two games where we weren't very pressured, and all of the sudden, you know, you play a team that's going to pressure you and you've got to make that adjustment. I think Kansas really throughout the year is one of the hardest teams in our league to score against. I think they're very, very sound, and I think they've gotten better as the year has gone by. Their rotation is better, they don't make as many mistakes in the rotation, and they are hard to score on. And you look at what they've given up, and I thought going into this game it would be a difficult game for us to score, and obviously it was, particularly in the first half. Q. Looking just kind of at the fact that there was no lead change and no tied score after 0-0, what's that do to the psyche in a game -- in a game so close when you just don't get over the hump? COACH YORI: In the psyche of the game? I'm not sure what you're getting at. Q. When you can't get over that barrier and there is no lead change in the game -- COACH YORI: Well, yeah, and our team has been a team of runs all year. This game was very, very much the same, very indicative of the way we play. You know, you may think, why isn't she calling a time out? What's going on? And we'll bounce back and make a 6-0 run, and that's the style that we play. And we've been like that. Our kids actually, I think, are really good at playing from behind. We've been that way all year. We don't want to play from behind, but when we have, we've actually played pretty well. So I thought our team was still competent, even though we got down big, that we had time to get back in the game. And obviously we did, and we kept saying, hey, we can get back in this game. And our players responded and that's the mentality that our kids have. And we've had a number of games this year that we've won when we've been down by double digits. I didn't feel like there was any point in the game where, hey, we can't win that game. Now, of course, when it got to whatever it was in the second half, 17, you've got to be a little bit worried, but I felt like we could still win if he just put together some good basketball. Q. How did you feel about your team's energy, though, to come out -- I know you don't want to take away what Kansas did, but it seemed like they were always getting to things? COACH YORI: I would agree. I thought they got the loose balls tonight. You can say, hey, they shoot 53% and we shoot 33%, well, there is a reason that happens. And they've got -- you know, number 1, they got to more loose balls. I thought until the latter part of the game when we made a push -- that's credit to Kansas, but also I'm not -- you know, there was times where I thought we needed to get on the floor, but at the same time I -- I thought we played on our heels more than anything. I thought we just kinda played -- when they started transitioning early in the game, I don't think we responded very well to that until midway through the first half did we finally get back in transition. But Kansas definitely was sharp. They were focused and they executed well. THE MODERATOR: Coach, best of luck in the postseason. End of FastScripts |
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