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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 5, 2011Jim FosterTayler HillJantel LavenderINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Ohio State – 72 MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Jantel, did you put a little something extra in your cereal this morning? JANTEL LAVENDER: No. I just think my teammates saw me in good position and I just took my time and made my shot. It was just an inside joke with my team. They was making fun of me. Q. What did they say? JANTEL LAVENDER: They watched the after-game film of me, and I said took my time. I was kind of distracted by the crowd a little bit. I said that like -- they said 250 times, and I just said it again. So I just kind of thought of it. Q. Tayler, in a game like that, against a very good team, how much does it mean to have something like Jantel -- someone like Jantel inside that you know if you get the ball to her in the right position she's going to do something with it? TAYLER HILL: I don't think it's just this game; I think it's every game. I've been blessed to play with an All-American player, one of the best players in the world in women's college basketball. So having her presence down there takes so much off everybody else. She's just a big presence in the game offensively and defensively. She's a great player. It's not just against good teams, it's against medium teams or weak teams or however you want to classify it. Q. When they got to within a tie there late in the game you guys pulled away with a big run, and it seemed like you guys were having a lot fun. Has that been the biggest factor here down the stretch for you guys, is just having fun playing again? JANTEL LAVENDER: I definitely think that's a part of it, along with defense, of course. But this game, we tried to take that approach, just really just be within the game, have fun with it, play great defense and execute on offense. Q. Jantel, your battle with Lykendra Johnson seemed like it was very physical and even personal at times. The game in general looked very physical. Did it did feel that way on the court? JANTEL LAVENDER: Most definitely. That's why we had to really emphasize reversing the ball so I could get across the floor and get a deeper position on the block, because she was being so physical, they were fronting that one time. And, I don't know, it was just patience. And they got me the ball in great position, so it worked out. Q. Jantel, Michigan State's lost five times this year now, three of them have been to you. Do you think that's more of your team getting up for this game, or are you guys just a bad match-up for them? JANTEL LAVENDER: I think the times that we've played Michigan State our team has really understand who we are as a team and really played hard and, you know, took the roles that we were supposed to play in that game really personal, so it's just basically that once we started playing Michigan State, it was kind of towards the end of the season when we were peaking as a team. So I don't think it's necessarily we get up for them, it's just that our team has kind of turned the corner from where we were in the beginning of the season. Q. Jantel, piggybacking off that, we've seen you come here, what, three years, four years in a row, and you've dominated and you've played great and -- but could you speak to maybe how this has been different all the way around. And even though tonight might have seemed like an old Jantel, carry the team effort, it's been more about this team playing together this time around? JANTEL LAVENDER: Most definitely. It's definitely different because we're coming in here with a 5 seed and we're used to having a 1 seed. And I look at it as we're still playing three games in three days. And when we plan teams at this time, I think that everybody is playing pretty well. And that's the way we approached it. It's not any other -- it's not any different situation, except for that the number by our team is No. 5, and I think we're playing like the No. 1 seed right now. So as long as we came here to play and play as a team and play extremely hard and try to win this thing, it doesn't really matter what our seed was. And I think that our team really wants to win it, so we're playing like it. Q. Tayler, could you speak to the atmosphere of this game? The Michigan State crowd was loud; your crowd was very loud. What was it like I guess playing in this game? TAYLER HILL: I think whenever we played Michigan State there's always an atmosphere like that, so it was nothing new. I expected their fans to be loud and I knew our fans are always supportive and very loud. So, I mean, it's just an atmosphere that we're comfortable in. Every time we play them, it's always a nice sized crowd. Q. Tayler, you guys played Penn State in January and lost. You played Penn State in February and won. There was a huge turnaround at some point around February 1st. What do you expect to see from Penn State tomorrow? TAYLER HILL: I expect them to play hard. We beat them the last time, so I expect them to play with a lot of energy, a lost intensity. But they're not going to dictate the game. It's on us how we come out. The first time they beat us, it was because we didn't play any defense. It wasn't nothing special they did. It's just we decided to start playing defense. Q. Coach, can you talk about your composure when Michigan State came back and made their run, tied it up? Can you talk about your team's focus -- COACH FOSTER: Focus a little off track, but we quickly got it back. In tournament play, the games are officiated differently. What was a foul last night wasn't a foul tonight. You have to adjust, you have to figure it out and get out there and really get after it. And I just think defensively we're a much, much improved team and we're a much, much tougher team than we're given credit for. Q. Jantel, in a game like this when the shots are falling the way they're falling, just how much do you want the ball? Do you want it every time? JANTEL LAVENDER: I want it when I'm open. I want it off the screen and roll off the plays the way the play is supposed to go. It's not like I'm running down, though. It was just slowing tonight. So whether I screen and rolled or I got position early and sprinted the floor, got the deep position under the basket early, it didn't matter. I think we executed in every form tonight. Q. Jantel, you know that tied a career high for you? Did you know that? 37. JANTEL LAVENDER: No, I didn't. Q. Usually players don't know. You tell them, oh, you know this stat? No, I didn't know that. Could you speak to how you have good memories coming here and how your team obviously seems to enjoy -- your coach doesn't like playing tournament ball so much, but your team seemed to thrive here in the last couple years. JANTEL LAVENDER: I think the atmosphere is fun. It's fun to play the three games in three days. I think it shows toughness and I think our team is tough and we're starting to really play together and know that we are a great team, and I think this tournament is a good thing to have on our resumé to show that we have toughness going into the NCAA Tournament. And I don't know. It was just fun for me; I'm sure it's fun for everyone else. And I just like playing at Conseco Fieldhouse, so it's fun. Q. Tayler, speaking of toughness, I think free throws do a lot to kind of show that. You had seven, Jantel had seven, overall you guys shot 26 free throws. In a physical game like this, how much of an impact do you think it is to be able to get to the line that efficiently and convert so often? TAYLER HILL: Well, Coach Foster always says one way of showing toughness is getting to the free-throw line and knocking free throws down. So I think we're gonna get some of the calls and I think we just kept attacking and we made the ref blow the whistle the way we were attacking and the way Jantel was perking up. So I think it's tough that we stepped to the line and knocked our free throws down and kept attacking. I mean, we missed four free throws. MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. Questions for Coach Foster. Q. Coach, could you speak to how this team may be different in terms of not maybe just relying on her all the time even though today it looked like it? Does this team play more together? COACH FOSTER: She had 11 points last night. Q. I know. Do you think this team plays more together than maybe teams -- COACH FOSTER: I think it plays to whatever our strengths are and what the other team is trying to take away from us. When they take something away, they're giving you something. Last night they were giving us Brittany, trying to take away our approach game. Tonight they were spacing out and playing our post player one-on-one. Some teams double-team. I mean, there's -- and we're smart enough, patient enough to find the hole in what it is you're trying to do. Q. They came out on fire, 10-2 type of thing, and then you knew they were going to make a run in the second half. How did you like the way your kids responded to their emotions in the beginning of the game and their emotions -- COACH FOSTER: I think good teams aren't peak and valley. I think good teams don't get real high and don't get real low. And I think that's what we've become. So, you know, other teams, they might come and bring the energy right away and it doesn't affect us. The way we've been playing, we just sort of methodically go about our business and know if we execute and we do what we're supposed to do you need to bring more than emotion to play against us right now. Q. Coach, normally it's really hard to win a game when you get outrebounded. You guys were outrebounded by 11 but still managed to win by double figures. Can you talk about some of the areas that were really important in making that up? COACH FOSTER: Well, the quality of the second shot, if the other team is going to outrebound you and get putbacks, that can certainly have a negative impact on your defensive possession, because it's 50 percent possession. They miss the first shot, made the second. And then there are other teams that rebound sort of in a volley. They may get three or four, but if it's not being finished, then that's an 0-fer. And unless they're putting it back in the basket, that is not going to be to your disadvantage. So the numbers, sometimes there's a tendency for them to look dramatic like that's a pretty dramatic number, 25. But 32 percent is not a dramatic number. If they're putting that second shot in on a regular basis, then you're in big trouble. Q. Coach, you've talked before about how it was about getting them to share the ball and play better defense and work on team things to get this team going the way it is now. But in your own words maybe, what's the simple summation of how you got them to buy into all that after all the steps you guys went through earlier in the year? COACH FOSTER: I've said this before. The players, especially today's players, they play so many games, they don't maybe have a value that they should for games, for this AAU culture, you play a hundred games in the summer. So you've got to get that to be more -- and they don't go through these situations, they hadn't gone through it, so it's almost a learning experience. I've been doing this for 33 years. I've gone through this and my response to it is: Stay the course. Keep coaching, keep teaching. Make them accountable, hold them accountable, get themselves to hold each other accountable. And then you start to grow. And that's the only way you dig out of a hole. But that's the only way you dig out of a relationship that's gone in trouble. It's the only way you dig out of a problem at work. The only way you dig out of -- you work through it. When you have especially these highly recruited athletes, they're not used to this, they haven't experienced it. They don't know how to act. You have to teach them. You have to show them. Q. I was going to ask you something else, but these kids value these games now, don't they? Your kids are valuing these games. COACH FOSTER: Well, they better. Yeah, but we were sitting (indiscernible) and 6 in the lake. If we didn't start to value something really quickly, we'd be hosting -- sitting in the first two rows watching an NCAA Tournament. I know that was motivation for me. And we've figured it out. Q. Coach, a couple keys on beating Penn State tomorrow. What do you think they are? COACH FOSTER: Find Lucas. Bentley is absolutely terrific in the open floor. They've got a nice post game. The senior plays like a senior. They're a good team. They're a good team. We haven't seen a bad team in a while. And won't the rest of the year. MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach, and congratulations. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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