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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 8, 2013Tessa CichyJacki GulczynskiBobbie KelseyTiera StephenHOFFMAN ESTATES, ILLINOIS Purdue: 74 THE MODERATOR: We have Wisconsin joining us. Coach Kelsey, Tessa Cichy, Tiera Stephen and Jacki Gulczynski. Coach, opening thoughts? COACH KELSEY: I'm proud of my team, they played hard, we had some adversity on us the whole year. But I thought the kids stepped up and answered the call when they were called to play a lot of minutes. I know Tessa did and certainly others that were playing the whole year persevered; I know Tiera was tired at the end but they left it all on the court, and they can be proud of that. I told them don't cry, get mad. Come back better than you left and that will say how much you care and how much you want to be better, and I'm sure they will do that. We're proud of 'em. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student athletes? Q. Can you talk about how tired you were after playing forty minutes last night? TESSA CICHY: Yes, we all played forty minutes. I got winded there at the end, got a little banged up, and I came out for a few minutes but tried to fight through it. Q. Jacki with Cassie out how was the post play for you? JACKI GULCZYNSKI: I thought our guards did a great job of stepping up and having to guard Drey and all the big post players, and I thought we did a great job of helping and limit their post play. Q. Tessa, you started the last two games at the Big 10 Tournament. Can you talk about what it felt like to start, and the career high points and rebounds, how you did that? TESSA CICHY: We were shorthanded, like Coach Bobbie said, and I thought I needed to step up for Tiera and my teammates. Obviously this was our last game so I thought that was important. With the points and rebounds, I just did what I felt I needed to do, so I didn't even realize I had that many. I just kind of did what I tried to do all the time, worked hard and tried to get others open and if that gets me open, I guess I'm lucky. Q. Ladies, for any of you, you had such a nice showing in the tournament, what will you take away from this Big 10 Tournament? TIERA STEPHEN: Um, at the end of the day ‑‑ I don't even know ‑‑ I got nine teammates, I'm not sure, but one thing I will take away from this year, me being the senior, I'm the only one leaving, I'm proud of every single one of 'em, from the best, from Morgan to whoever didn't see the floor, the bench was more excited than we were on the court, and that's one thing, at the end of the day, I'm not sure if any team in the Big 10 can overlook us. They know we are going to fight. We lost to Nebraska by 2, Northwestern by 2, we're in every game, and maybe except for the first Penn State game, and we came back and beat them. So at the end of the day one thing I will take away is the heart and the fight my teammates have. Q. Tiera, can you talk about playing in the game, especially walking off the court with a minute and a half left? TIERA STEPHEN: It hasn't hit me yet, so I'm not sure how to answer that question but at the end of the day I'm blessed to have the opportunity to play for Wisconsin. It's been a long five years, I wouldn't trade my teammates or my coaches, I wouldn't trade this opportunity for nothing, it's a blessing, so, yes, I'm upset and sad in the career but like I said I'm blessed. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. Questions for Coach Kelsey? Q. Bobbie, could you tell with the players that they were running out of steam there late in the second half? COACH KELSEY: When you have big bodies on the other side, it's hard when you don't, with Cassie in there, some of the fouls that were called on her were questionable, to say the least. That's all I can say about that. She was out of the game and she felt bad about it, and a lot of pressure on Tiera and Tessa. Some players you can play around but no one can play the point like Tiera Stephen, and we don't have another 6‑4 Cassie sitting over there, so those two are really not expendable, so to speak. No one is, but you can fill in and help where you can, but Cassie is a big part of what we do and the tone was set from the jump ball and that's unfortunate that she had to experience that. But, again, she will use this as a motivation for her to come back and maybe average a double/double, she is capable of that, and she will have players around her that can help her, and take some of the pressure off. Q. What about Tessa starting these last two games, is she going to fit in there? COACH KELSEY: Tessa is a gamer, whether she starts, plays, or doesn't, you don't know. Some kids you can see in their faces but her and Morgan, you wouldn't know if they were having a good day or bad day, they have those personalities and Tessa is a "gamer". She is a tough, tough cookie. She will guard anybody. She just thinks she can, sometimes like that little train if you think you can, you can; you will make it up the mountain. Tessa, we have had to put her on Hooper, and Nebraska and these girls are 6 and 7 inches taller than this girl, but she will put her body in there, hustle and make plays and she is a coach's dream because she has a great attitude, she doesn't get down on herself, because she is a confident young lady, just very confident. Q. Can you talk about a very difficult season with only nine players since mid‑December, how that's kinda worn on the team but also finally talking about next year, the players you will have back and also adding. COACH KELSEY: This year was tough, and without the bodies you have to work with what you have. All year I have had to fool myself, too, into understanding that you can't worry about what you don't have you have to focus on what you do have. We did that and we tried to help the players do that, because the players can get down when they see people getting hurt, they're like, oh, no, what are we going to do? We are going to play our game. We are going to go out there and fight, and we are going to make adjustments as coaches, we will help you do what we need you to do, and you will be just fine, and you can see it manifested itself throughout this whole season, really, being without Taylor, and AnnMarie goes down, Michala Johnson, she is a transfer and can't play, and Nicole getting mono, but a lot of people have injuries. You can't get down, you have to pick yourself up and keep moving. Just those players I mentioned are coming back down, next year, Taylor, Michala and AnnMarie along with the freshman coming in. We're going to have some big bodies next year, bang people around and not get banged all the time. I'm looking for big things from these returners. You never know what freshmen are going to do; they're hit or miss. But I told them in the locker room, come back better than you left here, if you don't come back better that's telling me you don't love it enough. If you do, that tells me you love the game and you're going to come back better. Tiera did that, she came back aggressive. We need her to do that. I said, you can't "like" basketball, you got to "love" it. If you don't love it you're never going to get good at it. Q. Bobbie, the Big 10, what's it like to play in day in and day out, and then the national picture? COACH KELSEY: Big 10 is tough to play in, everybody is pretty skilled. You play a "tight" team every night, which helps us tremendously, because our league, it's about seven teams last year and I know we will probably get six or seven in this year, and that's a testament to the play, to the competitiveness of the league. On a national level I think we're up there with the other BCS conferences. I've been in a lot of these leagues, all but probably the Big 12; ACC, SEC, Pac 12 and now the Big 10, and every conference is different, but in a good way, different, and when these teams meet up, it's a battle. And I want Purdue and all the other teams in the NCAA to do well, because it's going to help our conference, considering all the realignment that's going on and all the shuffling that's going to go on. They are capable to represent the Big 10 and do well, and we need 'em to get past that first round. That will be very, very helpful, so no pressure, Purdue, Nebraska, Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State, go out there and get it done and I know they will. Q. Coach, what about your free‑throw shooting? I think it was a tournament record. COACH KELSEY: I hope so. That would be nice. Q. You had tired kids going to the line, hitting free‑throw after free‑throw. COACH KELSEY: Yeah, again, that goes to their‑‑ that's a credit to the kids, we work on pressure free‑throws, we will do some one and ones, so if you miss the first you got to run, you will make it because you don't want to run. Running is a good deterrent for a lot of things and some teams aren't good free‑throw shooting teams this team is. For whatever reason they don't get nervous, at least that's what I see. Yesterday you saw that, Morgan made 10 but we made 21 so some other folks hit free‑throws and as Tessa said, if you don't hit the two before Morgan gets to the line you don't win that game, and she has never been in that situation, but the girl is confident, Morgan is confident, Cassie thinks she can make 'em and Tiera steps up there and makes em. You have to make your free‑throws when it comes down to the wire, otherwise you're goin' home and somebody else is movin' on. They don't think about being tired, they just walk up there and make 'em. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach, appreciate it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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