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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 9, 2013Brittany ChambersDeb PattersonDALLAS, TEXAS Baylor – 79 THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by Kansas State. Coach, would you like to make some opening comments. COACH PATTERSON: Well, unfortunately for us we got off to such a slow start in the first half against a great basketball team and let them get rhythm and get on a roll. I thought our defense led to some passive play early in that game on the offensive end. It just took us forever to begin to feel even remotely comfortable offensively in that first half. Kind of like being in the middle of a buzz saw. Once we got down, as well as they were playing, it became a real climb for us to get ourselves back in this basketball game. I am proud of how we competed in the second half. I thought we continued to fight hard. Just didn't have enough play‑making today to be able to get the job done. But I'm proud of the fact that our team continued to battle as hard as they could, I thought. If not smart and not well every possession, we still fought hard. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Brittany. Q. I wanted to ask you about last time you played Baylor, Brittney Griner scored 50. You played her a completely different way this time. Is there any way to get around that presence? BRITTANY CHAMBERS: I think that for our team, it's a bit more of a struggle than most teams because our tallest player is 5'10". There's only so much you can do. She's a great player. I think the key for us is trying to be as physical as possible, trying to get her as far away from the basket as possible. It does obviously present a huge challenge for our teams that teams with a little more height would be able to guard her a little bit better or differently. Q. Can you talk about the first five or six minutes, what it was like on the court. It seemed like Baylor piled on. Pretty tough to come back from there. BRITTANY CHAMBERS: Yeah, coach said in the locker room they were on a mission. They turned it up a notch. We just played one week ago. From then it's a different team even. I think they see us all season. They have a goal and they're going to get there. You can tell all their players are dialed in. They came at us hard right away. Q. How about on the offensive end, you finished with nice numbers, but... BRITTANY CHAMBERS: I don't think we were playing very fast. A lot of standing around. We let them attack us in every aspect of the game and were very passive. Not taking open shots when we had them, but really didn't get a ton of open ones because we weren't creating them for ourselves. Just not being smart. Not playing how we did a week ago against them or even against Texas yesterday. Just looking a little sluggish, and that's going to hurt you, especially against a team like Baylor. THE MODERATOR: We'll let you return to the locker room and continue with questions for coach. Q. You were calling time‑outs like crazy in the first half. Is that kind of a helpless feeling when you have to use one after the another to stem the tide? COACH PATTERSON: Yeah, against a team like Baylor, it's almost like it was a dragster, a drag race. They just busted out so hard and so aggressive and so fast. We were just trying to stem the tide a little bit, hopefully make a couple adjustments quick so we didn't lose confidence and stay aggressive. It was a game in which you wished you had 10 time‑outs, if you could use five in each half, to break the tempo a little bit, especially early. They came out of the chute so hard. Q. On Monday you kept it close enough in the first half that you had the chance in the second half. It did seem like you were hitting some shots in the second half. Was it that early stumble that kept you out of it? COACH PATTERSON: Yeah, the first 20 minutes, I think it was like that perfect storm almost. We were out there in the middle of the ocean, and all of a sudden it was. It's like, Oh, my goodness. That really had us swamped under. But, again, I still felt, and I know our team felt like, we can be better, we can draw this game tighter. In spite of all the our efforts accordingly, it was just too much to overcome. So, yes, I think that initial burst, that strength they brought to the floor in the big sense of the overall game, was more than we could compensate for. But you certainly compete the second 20 as though you want to be in the basketball game. And there were elements of our game we improved statistically. We made improvements relative to us. We just didn't make improvements relative to the score itself in the end. Q. Brit talked about drawing Griner away from the basket. You weren't able to take advantage of that. That's just kind of the kids on the floor have to be able to spot it? COACH PATTERSON: Well, that was the difference today. When it came to making those basketball decisions, on the offensive end, exploiting any advantage that we might be able to create, we played a little bit hurried up. We didn't quite connect. We weren't quite at that basketball IQ peak that we needed to be in order to exploit. We played a little panicky. I think that was the initial onslaught, got us on our heels a little bit. We were definitely staggered. I feel like I'm using a lot of analogies. But it's like when you get hit with a really hard punch and you're trying to get yourself back. I felt like we played a lot of minutes the first half that way where we were trying to get our wits back about us. In order for us to be successful, we really have to be making quality plays together, using our basketball IQ, our spacing, and our decision making has to be on the button. Tonight it wasn't because they hit us with a really hard punch early. Q. You're used to playing this tournament pretty close to home. How is it traveling a little further south? COACH PATTERSON: Everyone has been extremely gracious, kind and professional. Our experience here has been a top‑drawer experience across the board. To me the emphasis is all about the energy of the tournament and the quality of the resources and facilities and the kindness of the people. It's been extraordinarily positive from our perspective. In spite of the score and the last 40 minutes, it's been a great experience for us here in Dallas. Q. Obviously the season probably ends here. COACH PATTERSON: No. I think we should definitely have seven teams in the NCAA tournament, without question. I think it would be a shame to the game if they don't take seven teams from the Big 12. So hopefully we will be playing in the WNIT, but... Q. Talk about the season with all the injuries, all the stuff, what do you take away from that season? COACH PATTERSON: Oh, we've had so many things to learn. I think there's been a lot more responsibility placed on players that wouldn't necessarily have been filling those roles young ‑ responsibility, not just playing time. I think we've learned a lot about what resilience and toughness is all about, what competing and working to find a way to win at this level is all about. The character of our young people was tested, and I think they learned a lot about the strength they have inside. So, you know, all seasons present challenges. This one had a few particulars for us. But I think there were all kinds of positives that in terms of individual growth for these young people, you know, they experienced because of the adversity. I hope it really inspires us to be a tougher, better basketball team a year from now as we go through the extreme adversity of losing Brittany Chambers and Mariah White, one of the top five players ever in the history of Kansas State is walking out the door. That is adversity, as well. Hopefully we'll adjust to that. THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much for your comments. COACH PATTERSON: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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