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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 9, 2011Hillary CarlsonJoe LegerskiAubrey VandiverLAS VEGAS, NEVADA New Mexico – 67 THE MODERATOR: We're ready to begin with the University of Wyoming. Coach, we'll start with your general comments on tonight's game. COACH LEGERSKI: You have to give New Mexico a great deal of credit. I thought they capitalized on their opportunities tonight. You take a look at the numbers with 14 second-chance points for New Mexico, 5 for Wyoming, then 20 points for New Mexico off turnovers and 9 for Wyoming. When I take a look at the stats there it really became apparent that they ended up making extra plays. Also we started standing around and expecting the two players to my left to make it all happen, in Hillary and Aubrey. They've been there all year for us. But as I always mention to the team, they need help. But yet tonight we just wanted these two seniors to try to carry us. They did the best they could. But once again, I give New Mexico credit for capitalizing on every second-chance opportunity that was made available by them. THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions for the student-athletes. Q. Hillary, it seemed like they kind of got out on you in the second half, you would chip away. But what did they do early in the second half to get a run on you and build the lead? HILLARY CARLSON: I think they had a lot of momentum (tearing up). They had a lot of momentum and confidence going into the second half. I think we kind of made our little runs and, you know, got into, I don't know, six or seven points. But we just couldn't, you know, make a good enough run to get right up there with them. We would get stops and score, but then they would make another run. It was just really hard to, you know, match the runs that they made. Q. Aubrey, there was like a technical foul and a timeout. You guys seemed to turn it up a notch the last five minutes of the game. What changed? AUBREY VANDIVER: Well, we just came out with more energy, I guess. We got out. We eliminated them on the boards. They didn't get second opportunities during that run. On the offensive end, we were able to get movement and get some good looks. Q. Hillary, it seemed to me in the first two games against these guys you shot the ball really well. Doesn't seem like that's happened in this building. Is it something about the place or just luck? HILLARY CARLSON: I'm not sure. I know we're usually a really good shooting team. I don't know if we just weren't focused or we were rushing our shots. I don't know. They weren't falling for us. New Mexico kind of got on a roll and, you know, was starting to make theirs in the second half. Q. Aubrey, when you got to that point, you were down three, you had the ball, crowd behind you. Did you feel like maybe it was in the cards at that point? AUBREY VANDIVER: Well, I don't know if it was in the cards. We felt like because we had cut it, if we could just get a basket right there and cut it to one, we had all the momentum for us. I think at that point we were feeling pretty confident if we could just continue to push, we had a really good shot. To their credit, they pushed back and extended the lead once again. THE MODERATOR: We'll dismiss the student-athletes at this time and continue with questions for Coach Legerski. Q. Joe, when you got off to the slow start offensively, you're still hanging in there. Did you think it could be kind of a rough night shooting the ball so you had to dig and claw? Did you kind of see this game turning into that way? COACH LEGERSKI: You know, we have some tough nights shooting the basketball, but yet that's who we are. We have to be able to step up. You take a look at the numbers. Even 60% from the free-throw line. We just have to be better than that this time of year. That's the part that's difficult. But for the most part this group stepped up. They made a lot of plays. Yet tonight, when it was right down to it, I thought we passed up a couple shots when we were making our run. I think the kids started wanting to really make sure who had the ball and who was going to shoot the ball rather than just playing how we were to get back into the basketball game. But, you know, it's definitely very difficult just to count on these two seniors to be able to try to carry the load each and every night. As I said, I give New Mexico so much credit. They had four players in double-digits. They were attacking you. When you look at the numbers, you can see what kind of game this was tonight. It was very physical. It was a possession-by-possession basketball game. I thought both teams really did a good job defensively making it tough, and the numbers prove out that when it comes to shooting percentages. Q. Never like to make the game about a call or official. That was a game changer in the final minute on Aubrey. What did you see on this play? COACH LEGERSKI: I assume you're talking about the drive to the basket. It's not about one call. It never is one way or the other. Player's playing hard, somebody going to the basket. It's either going to be a block or a charge. Didn't go our way. Move on. That's the biggest thing. But I never worry about a call here, a call there. Q. UNM attempted three more free throws than you. What were they doing that drew more fouls? COACH LEGERSKI: I thought they were really aggressive. They were aggressive getting to the basket. They put a lot of pressure on you. They have tremendous quickness. Between Taylor, Patterson and Best, that puts a tremendous amount of pressure on you when they can put the ball on the floor and get to the basket. We tried to do the best not to foul, just try to be able to try to stay in front of people. That was the difficult task tonight with our perimeter game. Q. How tough is it to see this group with four senior starters have a similar outcome as it was last year? COACH LEGERSKI: Well, you know, it's always interesting. So much is placed upon the tournament. I take a look at things and try to figure out, would I rather be 8-22 coming in here or 22-8? We got to find ways. One of the things that I talk about is that New Mexico has developed a tradition to win at the tournament. You do that with good players. They've been able to do that. So for us, we're still trying to accomplish that. We've been able to take it in steps, try to get competitive, try to win at home, try to find ways to win on the road throughout the conference season. This is another big step that Wyoming is still trying to find. New Mexico does an excellent job with that. They win throughout the year and they win in this tournament. Q. Where do you go from here? You have some time off till the weekend. We think you'll make the post-season. Where do you go from this point? COACH LEGERSKI: Right now we take some time off. We'll meet back together on Monday. You know, it's a situation where this team's done enough to put them in a post-season. For me personally, I'll be out recruiting. So it's a situation to get out of here right away, just continue to try to improve this program. We're losing some very good players, there's no doubt about that. We need to keep striving to improve and really take a look at what some other programs in our league are accomplishing and how they're getting it done and continue to build. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. COACH LEGERSKI: Thank you, everybody. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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