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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 1, 2012Kevin BorsethCourtney BoylanRachel ShefferKate ThompsonINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Michigan – 68 THE MODERATOR: We're joined now by Michigan head coach Kevin Borseth, as well as players Courtney Boylan, Rachel Sheffer, and Kate Thompson. Coach, if you'd like to start with a few opening comments? COACH BORSETH: A great win. Illinois has a great team. I thought our kids came out ready to play from the start. The first half determined for us, kind of set the tone for the game. I think everything else followed. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes? Q. Courtney, you were about to burst out in smiles there with one minute left in the first half. You had win No.20 for you guys. What does it mean for you? COURTNEY BOYLAN: Oh, it's huge. Not just win No.20, but win No. 1 in the Big Ten Tournament. That's what's most important right now. That's what we're most focused on for now. It's awesome. Great team win. Q. I think you picked up your second foul pretty early and had to sit a lot in the first half. What does it feel like to sit on the bench when your team is obviouslycoming apart and still held their own in the first half? COURTNEY BOYLAN: Yeah, they did a wonderful job when I came out. Like you said, I picked up two fouls early. But seems like every game someone new steps up. So I wasn't even worried. I just cheered my team on, and they did great. Q. Rachel, Coach mentioned the first half set the tone. What do you think you guys did really well in the first half to enable you to do that and how did you maintain it? RACHEL SHEFFER: I think we just attacked the block and the lane, and Karisma got in foul trouble and just helped us out, just having her presence off the court really got us going, because she's a great player. And I think just going at them and not relying on the 3 really helped us. Q. Rachel, they didn't shoot particularly well in the first half. Is that their shooting or your defense? RACHEL SHEFFER: I mean, I'm not really sure. But, I mean, we did play hard. They missed shots. It happens. But we did play well together on defense. Q. Kate, after what happened last year here, you lost the first round and then things went really awry after that. How much was that on your minds coming into this game, just to get past this game and get the 20th win and to have an opportunity to do more? KATE THOMPSON: I mean, we're just taking every game one at a time. And like this was a big win for us. And like Courtney said, first game in the Big Ten Tournament, it feels good to have this win. Q. Kate, you obviously came off the bench, I don't know the final stats, you scored 14 or 15. Talk about what that bench‑‑ what it feels to come off the bench and do that for Michigan. KATE THOMPSON: Just knowing my teammates have confidence in me. The whole bench, when we come off, like our whole bench was really productive this game. Q. About the bench, when it helps? COURTNEY BOYLAN: It's great. We have supreme confidence in our bench, especially Kate. We know when she comes in she'll knock down a 3 get a stop on defense. They've been doing that for us all year, so no different this game. Q. Courtney, when she comes off the bench, are you looking for her specifically, like 3 points? COURTNEY BOYLAN: I wouldn't say specifically looking for her. I mean, yes, she's a wonderful shooter, so we're going to find her whenever we can. But our offense is by committee. And so we all have a little piece of the puzzle, and some nights is our night, some nights it isn't, but we do everything by committee. Q. In the paint they outrebounded, and Coach always says rebounding isn't always the final step, but were you getting kind of frustrated down there when they're getting the second‑ and third‑chance opportunities? RACHEL SHEFFER: Yes, it's frustrating. But credit to them. They crashed the boards really hard. That's what kept them in the game. They scored most of their points on offensive rebounds, second and third tries, and credit goes to them for crashing the boards. We just know we have to step it up for tomorrow. Q. They didn't shoot particularly well. Were you relieved the second and third opportunities not going in? RACHEL SHEFFER: It was just the flow of the game, just gotta stay focused on that and go on what they're doing and what they're not and just capitalize on that. Q. Courtney, Kate mentioned one game at a time. The next game at a time is going to be Ohio State. You guys have had very good success against them the last two years. What do you have to do to play a third game against them? COURTNEY BOYLAN: I guess I don't know yet. I guess we'll find that out today. But you're right recently we have had success against them. We beat them earlier in the year, so you know they're going to come out extremely hard. And we're going to be prepared for that. But we'll get ready for Ohio State today. Q. How do you guys‑‑ obviously you guys played in November straight games, so how well prepared are you for these straight two games? COURTNEY BOYLAN: We played‑‑ you mean, just for the tournament style? Q. Yes. COURTNEY BOYLAN: We played a tournament over Thanksgiving, Paradise Jam, three games over three days. We had a lot of success there, so I think we can do the same thing here. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach. Q. Going back to the one game at a time, but after last year, how large was it just to get this one out of the way? COACH BORSETH: You know what, last year we beat Illinois twice during the year. We beat them the last game of the year and then turned around three days later and played them again. And they played extremely well, with a lot of confidence when the game started. And to get this one under your belt is good. And I thought our kids were ready for that. I don't know if it was in the back of their mind, but it's there. In fact, Illinois has played so well in this tournament, the last two years, you know that looms on you as well. So I thought our kids focused on us. That was the biggest thing. We didn't ever talk about that. We just focused on us. Q. I know that you don't like to talk about the refs, but you and‑‑ both coaches seemed to be‑‑ you know, like foul calls? COACH BORSETH: Everybody wants more. As coaches we're never happy. I don't think any coach really sits down and tells you he's happy with everything. We're trying to do everything to help our team win. Our officials in this league are extremely‑‑ they're confident. They're good. Their integrity is high. Everything about our conference officials is very good. You go back during the course of the game, you think it's a foul. You go look at the videotape, and it wasn't. You thought it was a travel, you go back to the videotape, and it wasn't. As a coach, you're trying to find everything during the course of the game to help you. You're also trying to help and remind them. But they do a fantastic job. Q. Was there a difference in the rebounding effort in the first half and second? First half they were missing very badly, so they get long rebounds. In the second half they were getting‑‑ fighting for rebounds? COACH BORSETH: I'll tell you what, you go back on videotapes and you look, and when you're blocking out a bigger kid who is leaning against you and pushing underneath, makes a whole lot of difference. There's a lot of contact on defense. Karisma Penn is a great athlete. And Adrienne GodBold. That's where the rebounds came from, those two kids. They just jumped right over, moved us out of the way, jumped in and grabbed them. Very hard to deal with. Kendra Seto came in, inserted Kendra because we felt she could rebound. Sure enough, Kenny gets in, pulls two rebounds down right off the bat. Always an area of concern. I think it's always an area of concern because Penn and GodBold, they're good athletes and they've got a nose for the ball. Q. Kendra and obviously Jenny Ryan, two big defensive players in the second half, how did they step it up and try to keep Illinois off‑‑ COACH BORSETH: Kenny got two rebounds immediately. Immediately Kenny got two rebounds. Lobbed a couple in late and Jenny knocked it out of their hands. Those two kids have that ability. It's a game of chess in and out offense and defense. I think every coach does that. We try to utilize that as much as we could. Q. What does reaching 20 wins mean? Obviously winning one in the tournament's important, but the number 20? COACH BORSETH: That's something you always shoot for. I think that's‑‑ I don't know that is the number, I don't know that is the magic number, it's not, but it's a good number. Better than 19. Better than 18 which we had last year. But the big win, the first win in this tournament for us is just absolutely huge to put us on the right track. Get our confidence back. Q. Coach, you've got Ohio State. You've beat them three straight times. What's the difference? What stands out in those games? What's made the difference that you've been able to win those three games? COACH BORSETH: That was then; this is now. Scouting reports tell them a lot and tell us a lot, obviously. And the second half of that game was a lot closer than met the eye. They battled right back to within like two or three points and down the stretch we were able to hit a couple of baskets here and there to secure a win. But they're a great team. They're well coached. They've got two players that are All First‑Team Big Ten. They're a handful for anybody that has to play them. We have a great deal of respect for them, and we'll have to come with our best effort in this game. Q. You seem to methodically feed the post. Did you spot a weakness there throughout the game? COACH BORSETH: No. I don't know. I always felt it was a little easier to get closer to the basket and shoot it than from the outside. You've got to get some form of penetration, dribble it in there or pass it in there. Those are your two choices. People play behind you in the post, generally sagged off. They don't give you much of a choice to dribble in there because they're all packed in the paint. So you've got to throw it at them. So that was the option that they give us. So we just took advantage of that. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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