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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 5, 2010Jodie HowellFahkara MaloneSharon VersypINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Wisconsin – 73 THE MODERATOR: And we will begin by opening comments from Coach Versyp. COACH VERSYP: I think Wisconsin obviously is one of the top three or four teams in the Big Ten. They've showed that they can defend. They can score. For them to get in the NCAA and Lisa to be Coach of the Year, I think it's just fantastic. She's just an amazing job with the group and we wish them the best of luck obviously. As for us, we didn't have it. They had it all and we haven't had it. And obviously we'll miss our three seniors dearly. And obviously I have two of them with me tonight. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes, please. Q. FahKara, why were they so successful getting on top of you so early? FAHKARA MALONE: Well, they just get it knocking down open shots and we were giving them open shots. We didn't disrupt their offense early or late in the game. They were getting whatever they wanted. So that is the biggest thing about them jumping on us early. Q. FahKara, they talked a lot about trying to slow you guys down in transition. Did you feel like they were able to do a pretty good job of slowing down you guys on the break a little bit, and then you had trouble getting them in the half court? FAHKARA MALONE: It's not hard to stop transition if you're getting all the rebounds. And that's what they did. They controlled the rebounding the ball so we couldn't push it as much as we wanted to. The few times we did push it we were successful. But we didn't do it enough. Q. Your program has won so much, and it's hard to say good-bye. How much do you hope you still play? I guess there's a chance you could still play in the WNIT? FAHKARA MALONE: I mean, as seniors we don't want it to be over. WNIT or anything, it's about going home, basically. We want to keep playing with this group as long as we possibly can. Q. Jodi, Purdue's had such a history in this building, and you've had it, too. Is there any point in this game where you guys thought there was an opportunity to get back in the game? JODI HOWELL: You think that throughout the game. You never give up. You keep fighting for it, and I think we went on a couple of runs there. But in the end we just gave up too much too early and they just picked us apart on defense. Q. The fact that they shot so well just put a lot of pressure on you guys when you were on offense. Every time they go down, they take their 3s? JODI HOWELL: Yeah, I mean, looking at the stat shot they shot 52 percent from the field and 48 percent for the second half. We just didn't hit our shots. And sometimes that's how the ball bounces. But nothing we can do about it now. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. Questions for Coach. Q. The fact that they were able to get in the lane, how much did that hurt you, hurt defensively? COACH VERSYP: They got in the lane. They got down low. They just knocked down shots. I mean, they're playing great basketball. That's what you want to be doing right now. I watched some of the games earlier. People weren't knocking down shots. And Wisconsin's in a rhythm. They're confident. All the players can put it on the floor and shoot. Obviously, when you hit shots early, it's just contagious. But they were able to get inside/outside. And obviously anytime a team gets to the paint, it's going to hurt you. Q. This would be an improper way to send these seniors out, and how much are you looking forward to perhaps getting a chance to continue playing this year? COACH VERSYP: You know, I discussed in the locker room about the tradition and the pride of Purdue, and that these three have been a part of something very special, two Big Ten tournament championships, two Elite Eights. We've done some great things with them. You want to continue to play if you can. I think it's good for them. And whether it's an NIT or not, if it can be, then you always can still have one team standing. Even though it's not the NCAA, I think it's a great tournament if you can get in there. And because of our youth, I think it's very important. Q. Just how difficult was it to try and mount any kind of comeback getting behind like that, considering they were able to hit pretty much anything out there that they took, whenever you guys would pull it within 14 or 15? COACH VERSYP: I mean, it's difficult. In tournament, it's very hard to get in a hole and try to pull it back. I think you saw that earlier, I think, with the Michigan/Northwestern game. Michigan came out was just lights out. They end up losing by 13 or 15. It's difficult. But our kids kept trying. They kept -- they never gave up. Those are the big signs. But we couldn't put the ball in the basket. That's been our problem all year. And we don't have certain people shooting the basketball well. We're always going to struggle. We've got to get our legs back, hopefully, and see what happens in about eight days. Q. I guess just kind of the way that Wisconsin rebounded in the first half and then you guys kind of made a comeback in the second half, felt like you guys won the second half, regardless of the score; is that a fair statement? COACH VERSYP: Yeah, but we pretty much didn't do much in the first half. So at this stage you can't worry about winning halves. You've got to worry about winning the game. You've got to play a good 36 minutes. You can't just have one half or the other half. Again, I think their experience was huge. I think they stepped up and they've got some seniors and some great juniors. And I think they stepped up and nailed shots and they've been in tournament before. And they did some really good things. Q. Do you think the youth showed at all in the first half when they came out and jumped off to a 15-2 run? COACH VERSYP: No. We just didn't knock down shots. I mean, they were knocking down shots. We didn't get the ball to fall early, and I think that's been our story all year. So it wasn't any different today. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. End of FastScripts |
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