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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 2, 2012Jim FosterTayler HillSamantha PrahalisINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Ohio State – 57 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Ohio State head coach Jim Foster, as well as student‑athletes Samantha Prahalis and Tayler Hill. Coach, would you like to start with an opening statement or straight to questions? COACH FOSTER: Questions. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Sam, before this game you talked about getting everybody involved was important. Do you feel like you did that with the way Kalpana and Darryce and some other people played? SAMANTHA PRAHALIS: Yes, I think especially in the second half there was a time Tay hit a couple of big shots Darryce and K.P. had a couple of big shots for us. So at times I think our post players held us up a little bit. So I think we've got to keep that up. Q. Tayler, in the first half, you didn't get many looks in the first half, but you came alive in the second half. Was it you were just taking what they were giving you? TAYLER HILL: Yeah. I think it just cameup ball reversals. We reversed the ball a couple times, and then (indiscernible) was ball watching and I got a couple of looks. In transition I think I got some looks too. Q. It got hairy at the end, Tayler. What let them get back into it, do you think? TAYLER HILL: I think shooting the ball quick, and then we wasn't transitioning to the 3‑point line. We was kind of running back to the lane, a little confused on defense, and they got a couple 3s. So I think that hurt us for a couple minutes, but then we got it back together. Q. Sam, did you expect this to be such a low‑scoring game? SAMANTHA PRAHALIS: I don't know. Michigan kind of likes to grind it out a little bit. So that's the kind of game it turned into. So we just had to grind it out. Q. You did‑‑ I don't even know when you knew, when you broke the Big Ten assist record. Does that mean anything at this stage of the season? SAMANTHA PRAHALIS: I mean, it's cool, but it will probably‑‑ it's really cool, but it will mean a lot more after everything's done. I'm just focused on the next game. TAYLER HILL: It's a great accomplishment. Q. Sam, what did they do to make it a grind‑out kind of game? SAMANTHA PRAHALIS: They packed the lane a little bit. I would say that they packed the lane a little bit and they made us play a little bit half court offense. Q. This is a season low‑‑ well, this ties the season‑low points for you guys, and you still won. What does that mean to you guys, that you can score a season low and still win? SAMANTHA PRAHALIS: It's a good thing because we can score high and win hopefully and low, so to know that we can grind it out or we can get up and go up and down with people, it's good to have both. It means we're getting better in half court, moving the ball pretty well. Q. Tayler, you scored 16 of your 19points in the second half, seemed like once the buckets started falling for you they started falling for your teammates. How did it feel to personally see your team get back into it and take the lead and carry it through the rest of the game? TAYLER HILL: I guess it's a good feeling. I think we got some stops and got key rebounds so that helped us transition, and I think they got us going for everybody. They started playing us on the guard. So Ryce and K.P. got layups down there. I think the stops and rebounds we got this game helped us transition to offense and helped us get easy buckets. Q. You'll get either Iowa or Nebraska in the next game. From this game, what do you need to do better to advance to the next game? SAMANTHA PRAHALIS: I think we need to keep our rebounding up. I gotta take care of the ball a little bit more and just keep moving it. Just be us. We don't care who we get, we just want to play well. Q. In the second half you guys attack on transition a lot. I know you were already halfway down the court wide open for an easy layup. Was that something that you were trying to do coming out of the locker room? SAMANTHA PRAHALIS: Yeah, well, we got to get stops and rebounds for us to do that, and I thought we did a pretty well job, our posts did, even our guards rebounded pretty well and we were able to get a couple runouts. Q. In the second half Michigan went on a 10‑0 run, what do you do offensively trying to stop that and maybe score points? SAMANTHA PRAHALIS: Move the ball. That's really it. Attack them when we can and move the ball. But if they're going on a 10‑0 run, the bigger thing is defense, because they're going on a 10‑0 run. So we need to focus a little bit more and get out to the 3‑point line. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach. Q. You've been talking lately about getting the posts engaged. And it seemed like that that not only happened but it also kind of probably saved you in this game. COACH FOSTER: It's a reality of the ability to win all types of games. You have to involve all your players, and we just have this habit sometimes of taking quick shots. And when we do that, we're very easy to guard. And when we engage our post players and don't do it, we're very difficult to guard. And we got it figured out and took care of our business, and I thought our defense was terrific tonight. Q. What makes Michigan's defense difficult to score on? COACH FOSTER: I think the tempo of their offense has a lot to do with their defense. They want the score level. They want to eat the clock on both ends of the floor. And you have to be patient. And you have to grind. They want it to be a grind game. And you've got to be willing to get your hands dirty. Q. Late in this game, basically your defense actually‑‑ your defense won the game. But you got two All‑Defensive players on your team. Each of them had a steal in the last minute. What kind of an advantage is that for you guys to have that kind of‑‑ COACH FOSTER: It's only an advantage if you take advantage of it. I mean, you have to have a mentality to be a good defensive player and to know when you're guarding your own, when you can help. I thought we did a pretty good job of staying within the framework of our individual responsibilities except for a five‑minute blip. We had a couple of young kids out there for the first time. And a learning experience for them. They'll be better at it tomorrow. Q. And I think it's been almost two years now that you guys have beaten Michigan. Especially in the tournament, what does that mean to finally beat them especially in a game like this? COACH FOSTER: It doesn't matter who you play today. Like winning today is important, because we paid for a hotel room tonight. I mean, we want to stay. We want to play tomorrow. We want to take care of our business on a daily basis. And it doesn't matter who it is. When you get in these tournaments, you can't put too much emphasis on the game today, because the objective is to get to play tomorrow. If you get two up or two‑‑ I think we know we lost to Michigan. I think you could tell by the attitude that we brought on the floor defensively that we weren't going to allow it to happen. And scored enough points to take care of our business. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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