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BIG EAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 4, 2012Skylar DigginsMuffet McGrawDevereaux PetersHARTFORD, CONNECTICUT Notre Dame 69 COACH MCGRAW: I think historically when a team plays a game, they're a little bit more game ready. I think we kind of were trying to get back into game mode, so I thought we played much better in the second half, and really to end the first half, as well. I thought we did a really nice job. I was pleased with the defense on Martin. She had a phenomenal year, just a great player. So I was really happy with the way we were able to guard her and did a much better job on the post than we did at our place. Overall pleased with the defense, and offensively I thought we did some good things, as well. Q. Devereaux, can you talk a little bit about the rebounding tonight? You guys had quite an advantage, especially on the offensive boards. DEVEREAUX PETERS: A lot of focus lately has been on me crashing the boards and they're sending two, three people at me to try to box me out. The guards have been crashing a lot more and it's giving us a lot of second chance opportunities, so they've been doing a good job of getting in there, as well. Q. Devereaux, can you just address the defense in general, six blocked shots. Do you think that was the key to this game? COACH MCGRAW: Last time we played them, they got 70 points and we were really upset about the way we played and defended them that game. They're a great three‑point shooting team so we knew we had to try to guard them on the three‑point line for sure and keep them off the boards as much as possible. They have a great rebounder in Harry, so we really wanted to step up our D and show them how much we've improved since then. Q. Skylar, is it nice you guys get another shot at West Virginia? SKYLAR DIGGINS: I think it's good to have the advantage in a tournament where there's so many good teams, any team can beat you. But definitely we'll come out with a chip on our shoulder. I think we play better with a chip on our shoulder. And it's good to have a second chance because they beat us at home and it gives us another opportunity to advance into the championship. Q. Can you talk about the beginning of the second half, that 10‑0 run that you guys had? SKYLAR DIGGINS: Just trying to get off to a better start in the second half than we did in the first. Coach talked to us at halftime and I think we came out and executed better in the second half. Q. Skylar, can you talk a little bit about the defense that perhaps Novosel and Mallory played on Anna Martin and exactly what was the game plan going in? SKYLAR DIGGINS: When you have a good guard such as Anna Martin who's a great shooter who you can put on the floor and who has a nice pull‑up, as well, you have to be ready for her to come off a lot of screens, and she moves. She's constantly moving without the ball, and I thought Brittany and Allie did a great job of tag teaming, chasing her off the screens and tag teaming and talking. I thought the team did a good job of trying to figure out where she was every possession because when you have a player like that you have to find her first. Brittany and Allie have been great defensive players, but I think they do a great job giving each other breaks and being able to play good defense on anybody's best player. Q. Devereaux, can you elaborate a little bit more about the shot blocking and just about how you're able to do it and not get into foul trouble? DEVEREAUX PETERS: I know a few of them I let my teammates get between me and the person on offense. I knew for sure they weren't going to call a foul. I think I'm being smarter about which ones is a block and which ones to go straight up and make them shoot over me. Q. Devereaux and Skylar, what are your lasting memories of the loss to West Virginia, and sometimes match‑ups are the case, but what did you come out of that game thinking about? DEVEREAUX PETERS: They had a bunch of lay‑ups, and Dunning and Bussie were getting a lot of points on me, and I was fouling a lot. It was reminiscent of last year or the year before that. They were scoring a lot of points in the post and we weren't doing our job, so that definitely has to change for tomorrow. SKYLAR DIGGINS: I think we didn't do a good job of playing team defense like we've been doing. We've got to get down there and help. I missed a lot of free throws that game, crucial shots and crucial missed lay‑ups. We lost by two, and when you lose by two, any mistake is the reason why you lost. But it's a good opportunity for us tomorrow to come in and get some revenge. It's going to be a good game. They're a physical team, and we have to come out with a better start than we did tonight. Q. Muffet, what does separate Brittany Mallory as a one‑on‑one defender? What is it about her that gives her those assignments? MUFFET McGRAW: Well, she's got an incredible attitude of determination and pride. She really, really takes a lot of pride. She wants to guard the other team's best player. She's got great feet. She really has very quick feet and really good hands, so I think that you look at her, and we hear it all the time on the TV game. You look at her and she doesn't look athletic, but she has so much of the internal fight in her, and she just is kind of fearless and relentless. She's going to get through the screen. She's just not going to quit on it and that's her biggest contribution, to defend the other team's best player, and really she did a good job of everybody she guarded this year. Q. How much more of a fire is Devereaux playing with the second half of the season? MUFFET McGRAW: I think that she's always played with a lot of passion. I think that she suddenly had success, and when she had the first game when she got to 15 or 16 rebounds I think she decided that she could do that again. It gave her the confidence to do it again, and now she's seeing her scoring opportunities, which she didn't see as much last year. She stood around a little bit last year and now she's going to the glass, and we're seeing the numbers she's putting up on the stat sheet. Q. Can you talk about the opening minutes of the second half, just what adjustments specifically you guys made to get that run? MUFFET McGRAW: Well, you know, we actually kind of reiterated the game plan. We really wanted to keep them off the three‑point line. They started the game 3 for 3 I think from the three‑point line. We really were not matching up as well in transition. I thought we did a pretty good job with a little bit of pressure with Dev up on the ball. We talked about us kind of settling in a little bit offensively and how we were going to help a little bit more defensively and switch a little bit more on the screens. Q. Brittany played good defense on Anna, but it seemed you threw everyone but the kitchen sink at her. Everyone took a turn. How important was it to limit her opportunities after the last time? MUFFET McGRAW: Yeah, that was the key to the game. We obviously had to find her all the time. We didn't really switch the match‑ups as much as it happened in transition. I think we did a really good job of finding her, and if Brit wasn't the first one there, somebody else found her, and then we were able to rest Brit a little bit, and when she was out we were able to use Natalie Novosel and Kaila Turner. I think everybody did guard her a little, and to get a fresher defender on her was a little bit more effective. Q. Muffet, did the last loss to West Virginia give you an opportunity to reinforce or teach some things that maybe you might not have had if you had won every game in the conference? MUFFET McGRAW: You know, I think you can learn some lessons when you win. I like those a little better. But you heard their response when asked about the game. They immediately looked at themselves, and I think that accountability is something that we really like, and that's why we've been successful, because they can look at themselves and say if I would have done this, we could have won the game. So I think it was a good time for us to kind of reflect and look at how important each possession is that you have to play each possession as if it's the last. We did a really good job of that all year long. I think that we never looked at the score, we just played the game, and in that game we didn't. So I think it was a good‑‑ if you can have a good loss, because we did learn quite a bit from it, so in that way, if it propels us on, then it was a good thing. Q. Can you talk for one second for the team, what was the psychological effect of walking in there and putting on the white uniforms for the first time in the Big East tournament as the No.1 seed? MUFFET McGRAW: You know, we didn't really think about it because we would have been the higher seed today anyway. Maybe it'll mean more if we get to the final. Q. Can you talk about the rebounding and that 23‑4 edge in second chance points? MUFFET McGRAW: Yeah, Dev was always over the boards. She did a really good job. I thought we could have done a little better job rebounding from the guard spot. Brittany Mallory and Natalie Novosel and the guards could have chipped in a little bit more. But overall I think they just really rely on Devereaux, and when she's not in the game we've got to be able to find out who's going to rebound for us. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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