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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2008Gary BlairLa Toya MicheauxTakia StarksKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Texas A&M University. Coach Blair, can you make a short opening statement so we have an opportunity for questions? COACH BLAIR: One of the first keys on the board that I put, I said, "Harvard," and any of you know what I'm talking about, Harvard, 1998, we were out at Stanford and No. 1 got beat by a No. 16, just like No. 12 beat No. 5 last night. And I made sure our team was not going to underestimate a very good Missouri team. We were fired up, we were totally planned for them. We had to do an extra shoot-around last night, and go over the Missouri sets, but I liked the focus of my basketball team. We had good balance, Micheaux down there was solid as a rock, taking what the defense was going to give her. They were spending so much time guarding Starks and Gant that it was leaving her wide open. I think she showed a lot of people she can score as well as Gant. Starks is just a gamer on her end. She had some tough shots. The easier shots she missed; she hit all the tough shots, and she's going to be special for somebody in a couple of years. This league is loaded with great guards and I'm happy for the win. I thought we played very well. We had some lapses on defense in the second half, even though we held them to 39 points, but Coach Schaefer over there wants pressure, okay? And for us to win and keep winning, you have to have pressure on defense on every possession. You can screw up offense every now and then by missing a shot, but there is no excuse for defense not talking and not being there. He had 'em ready to play tonight. THE MODERATOR: Student athlete questions, please. Q. La Toya Micheaux, was this a good match-up for you or can you talk about what got you going offensively? LA TOYA MICHEAUX: First off, I want to give thanks for my teammates because it starts with them. Defense is what I am known for, and like coach said, we had to focus. And my first shot I hesitated, I was like, "okay, I'm going to shoot the ball," and it was just a flow. I let the game come to me. It wasn't trying to do something extraordinary; they were double teaming me down low. Gant would shoot the ball, the ball went inside, but I want to give back to my coaching staff and my teammates because we're a team and you can't do it without each other. Q. How much did you light up when you saw the Missouri score, Takia? TAKIA STARKS: I can't say that, it was a great game. It went down to the wire. I think OU played lax, and Missouri, that team, you've got nothing to lose. They put their hearts on the line, and they're a great team, credit Alyssa Hollins and her team, they're a great group of kids. Q. Regardless of who came out today, OU or Missouri, can you talk about the defense? TAKIA STARKS: Like Coach said, we have been playing well all season, and we're confident in our defense. And our defense has been dictating our game since February, and we came out tonight, no matter who we were going to play, OU or Missouri, on the defensive end. Making things happen was the key. Q. Ladies, can you talk about the start of the second half, it was only a 7-point game at halftime and you came out the second half with a double digit lead gained right away. What was the difference? TAKIA STARKS: Coach said the first 5 minutes of the game, either you can run out now or we can make it tough on ourselves. That brought us together and we came out there -- the wings were getting the ball and the post was getting the ball. And we say if they can't catch it, they can't score. I think our wings stepped up first and took out -- didn't let them make plays, and it just carried over for the whole second half. Q. Did you guys change your game plan, how you play personally, knowing how tired Johnson and Jones were after last night, working against Paris all night? TAKIA STARKS: Deny is deny; rebounding is rebounding, and it doesn't change. No matter who you play, you have to have that mentality. You might want to go into zone here and there, but our man-to-man is the same as the zone, you deny and you have to go out and help side defense and that's why we're -- that's how we are right now. It started in February, and we just keep going and keep going and it won't change. Q. La Toya, is this special playing here in Kansas City? I suppose you've heard stories from Larry. What have you heard about this place? LA TOYA MICHEAUX: I haven't spoken to him yet, and we used to live in Overland Park, and she told me he stayed here a year and a half before he got traded, and that was all that I know. I have pictures of him with the Kansas City Kings, but I don't know anymore, but hopefully I'll be here again and I can tell you. I'll ask him. Q. You lit it up the last two games here. Talk about the match-up with Iowa State. TAKIA STARKS: We matched up against them earlier this year, and we came out the victor, and we executed our game plan. And it's tournament time and they played great today. She is a nice player, has a step-back 3-point shot, and I would like to do that some day as good as her. And she has range, so if you're pressing, she can drive past you. And if you're laying off, she can shoot it deep. Credit her teammates, they get her the ball where she wants it and they were able to score. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. Question for coach? Q. Coach, it was a 7-point game at halftime, how important was it the way you all started the second half? COACH BLAIR: They were making us bleed the last 10 minutes to score on offense. If you remember their last three possessions before half was a banked in 3, Nicole Wilson didn't block out on a backside rebound and then on a inbounds play. We played great defense, and all of a sudden, I look up and we're only up by 7 because we gave up those three possessions. We didn't press because we had to save ourselves. We were going to press if we needed it, but our half-court defense is like a press because we extend it. B.G., Reado and T.K. gave us two steals and four easy points, and I think that was the key to the ballgame right there. We went from 7 to 11, and once you get double digits and you look up and you know it's the second half, that sort of makes you, as the opponents say, "Wow, it's going to be a long way up," because we scored those points off defense. And those were the first two easy baskets we had all ballgame, because they were doing a great job on us defensively on the perimeter in the first half. Q. Coach, how important -- you talk about three games in three days; you were able to play some of your bench a little more than normal. COACH BLAIR: I thought it was key, particularly for A'Quo, because of what she is going to have to do to dissect the zone that we will see tomorrow. I hope I can sit here and talk Bill into playing us man, but I don't think I will. They do a great job with their match-up zone, and Iowa State is just going to be a load for us. Just because of how they play, they play with so much emotion. But I want Bill and everybody to relax, they're in the tournament, so you're in, you played, you got two games. Texas, you're in the tournament, just relax. Everybody chill out, have a good time, let the seeds win! (Chuckles.) But I think I was -- Buchanan was able to give Micheaux a break because of what she's going to have to do in the next two ballgames, but Buchanan did a great job. And Sydney played under control, and that's the key for us, because she'll be running the show for us the next three years. I was happy to see Baker hit that 3, because you don't know how much confidence that builds up for those kids because they might not get the opportunity in the remaining ballgames we have. We were able to rest some kids and keep rotating in, and when you have six starters like we do, Morenike comes in and fill out whoever needs the rest. Q. Did you guys change anything, pick up the post normally more than you would have after halftime? COACH BLAIR: No, I cannot go in and play 94 feet of full court pressure defense the whole game. We hadn't done that all year. People think we do, but we don't. I've got to rest bodies. At the same time, it's not the turnovers that we're forcing, it's the atmosphere we're creating. We don't want that point guard to be comfortable. Unfortunately, Richbow came in at half with zero turnovers, and she did a good job. The key to the ballgame was what we did with their 3, 4 out of 16 for Hollins, 4 out of 11 for Johnson and then Jones. Paris place behind, we play in front, and they couldn't get the lob over to her, and our style of play worked a little bit better. I really believe that Missouri was just dead tired after that ballgame. That's why it was so important for us to get the lead early on them, before they started doing this David/Goliath stuff again. And the place would have erupted, because I'm sure Iowa State and every team in the north would have been pulling for them to keep on going. Q. Gary, UO gets knocked out of the way, Kansas State gets knocked out of the way. Can your path to the championship game be any easier? COACH BLAIR: Yeah, am I getting a forfeit tomorrow? I don't think so. Q. What do you think about how it goes on for you guys? COACH BLAIR: Remember, Iowa State kicked our butts here last year, okay? They beat me twice last year; cost me a good seed in the NCAA. We have trouble playing against him. That's how much I respect him. You talk about the decade coach of the year in the Big 12, it's Bill Fennelly for what he's done, not how many championships, but what he does, overachieve, overcome injuries, all that type of stuff. Folks, we've never been in a championship game in our life in the Big 12 tournament, and I don't think our men have been in one either. We're going into new ground that needs to be broken here, and when that happens, we'll start getting more people out of Texas to come up here and follow us like they do at Iowa State and some of these other places, and that's what I'm looking forward to. Brian, it's that bandwagon and getting on that wagon train and following us and the men in the Big 12 and the NCAA. This is the first time I've ever won a ballgame in Kansas City. I got beat in '98 in the Final Four, I got beat my first or second year here. This is the first win, so don't think it's been easy, all right? THE MODERATOR: Coach, congratulations. Thank you, Coach. End of FastScripts |
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