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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 5, 2009Sharon Fanning-OtisTysheka GrimesAlexis RackNORTH LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS Mississippi State – 49 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Mississippi State, they won 49-39 over South Carolina, will play LSU tomorrow night in the quarter final round. We're joined by Coach Fanning, Alexis Rack and Tysheka Grimes. Coach? COACH FANNING: We dug a hole but we kept digging to get out of it. Initially I was concerned about our energy and our focus relative to execution, in terms of guarding, penetration and Black-outs, taking care of the basketball. And our shot selection. Very aggressively we got to them in one of our early time-outs and then we felt like we were playing better together and shots didn't fall. And at that point we said keep taking good shots, they will fall, but defensively that's how you have to get back in. We got some energy and once that first shot went down, we were on our way. Halftime we had offensive rebounds and we ended up outrebounding them. I'm concerned about the turnovers we had, because some of those were mistakes we did to ourselves. You have to take care of the basketball. We found a way to win, we have one game under our belt in terms of jitters. And you have a lot of players on the team that this is their first experience in an SEC tournament, and hopefully we learned from it, better learn, better learn, understand the execution, the importance of teamwork. The second half we said we felt like what could break -- really a lot of things, but just to get the ball in the paint. You have to defend and get the rebounds in order to run and get transition buckets. We need to get the ball in the paint, get to the free-throw line, we need to make 'em, but we did get there enough and made enough to come away with a big win so I'm very, very proud of that effort. Q. When South Carolina opened on that 18-0 run, what was going through your head? Was it like a nightmare? What was it like going through that? ALEXIS RACK: Just getting the stop and getting points up there. We were focussing on three stops. Clearly we didn't get enough stops, but as soon as we got the stop, we started focussing on the offensive and got our momentum going. TYSHEKA GRIMES: We just had to work hard, very hard to get our rhythm going and we just had to work hard on defense. Once our shots started falling then, you know -- our defense was there, then our shots started falling so they went hand-in-hand. Q. Alexis, when Coach was talking about turnovers, what do you guys need to do to correct that? ALEXIS RACK: Be smarter with the ball and more focused than we came in today, and just find the open, man. Don't hold the ball too long, just relax. I think we need to be stronger with the ball. Q. Coach, you guys are 2-0 against LSU, you guys are playing LSU tomorrow night, what's it feel like going into the game tomorrow night? COACH FANNING: After you've beaten a team, then hopefully you understand -- the first game with them from both standpoints was like us in the first half as far as not scoring and it was a defensive battle. But it's a new season. We found a way to win at their place. At our place we did better with execution, but they've grown as a team and we've grown as a team. Right now what we have to do is take the lessons that we've learned, and regardless of whether it's LSU, regardless of how many times you've played 'em, whether you've won or lost the game, you have to play your best basketball at this time of the year. You have to outwork your opponent, you have to have energy and focus and you want to have fun so you have to relax. And you have to play the game hard. With us, trying to be composed and trying to make better decisions with the basketball, correct some of these statistics, so as I've said, it's more inwardly, what do we do and how can we do that better. Regardless of your opponent, you have to adjust to what they do offensively and defensively, but I think it's a whole new season right now. Hopefully the success we've had this whole season carries over to tomorrow night. Q. Coach, what did you do on defense? You held Carolina in the second half, what switch do you make? COACH FANNING: We switched man-to-man match-up, and we tried to switch up, some. I thought we played harder on the basketball. There were a couple of possessions where they got the ball to the rim, but for the most part, we contested shots better, blocked shots, rebounded the ball better, did a better job containing them and didn't let 'em get to the free-throw line quite as much. They do a great job getting the ball to the rim, so we tried to switch defenses. And where they popped and overloaded, we had to match that, and I felt like our team played really hard and played better together. Q. Coach, what did you tell your players when it's 18-nothing, psychologically, tell 'em not to look at the scoreboard and just play? COACH FANNING: The first time we weren't guarding hard. You see a team getting layups, and we're not defending, this is on the ball, off the ball, period. We tried to make that point relative to playing -- whether it was man, no matter what we had to guard. After we got past that point, it seemed like they had regrouped and were playing better defensively -- we were playing better defensively. We had some stops, we had things that didn't go in, great looks, initially we weren't setting good screens, but you have to give credit to South Carolina and they played awfully hard. They changed their defense, they're good athletes, they're quick, so we just didn't get it done, period. But I felt like as we got going and gained confidence after one or two buckets and then was able to get a run going in the first half and made it a ballgame, I felt like we were relaxed, focused and had the confidence that we needed to play a lot better in the second half. I thought Alexis stepped up in the second half, maintained composure, she hadn't scored by halftime as much and didn't have the looks, but I thought they showed patience and maturity and I thought we showed toughness. Ty came off the bench early on and she wasn't under control. She went back in the basketball game, her toughness was apparent and her control was better. Whether it was defense, rebounding, big buckets, getting to the free-throw line, these two young ladies did that. In the second half, teammates fed off of that, Chanel gets a couple of blocks, we got transition buckets, this team is going to be good when it's a team, when it's everybody. It's not going to be one person, and we have to be able to see -- like Alexis said, you have to be seeing the open people and attack it, and I thought we did a much better job the second half. THE MODERATOR: I know it's late, thank you, ladies, for joining us. End of FastScripts |
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