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PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 9, 2013Brittany BoydLayshia ClarendonLindsay GottliebSEATTLE, WASHINGTON UCLA – 70 THE MODERATOR: We've got Cal Golden Bears. Coach Lindsay Gottlieb, Brittany Boyd, and Layshia Clarendon. Coach, an opening statement? COACH GOTTLIEB: Thanks, you guys, for being here. Obviously, we wanted to be playing in tomorrow's championship, but I credit UCLA. They're a terrific team. They're in the top 15 for a reason, and I thought they brought all their strengths to forefront tonight. They came out ready, and they were really good. I'm proud of how our team fought back in the second half. I thought there was no quit in us. I thought we did a lot of things better in the second half. But hole was just a little bit too deep, especially against a team as good as UCLA. But I credit their players and their coaching staff who did a great job, and we have to use this to help us, and we will. I'm confident in the leadership our team and players and staff that we have. The only option is to look forward to the next tournament that we're thrilled to be able to say that we're going to be in, and we'll use this to help us. Q. You guys have stayed in the moment all year. Was there anything about today that you think had to do with looking ahead? COACH GOTTLIEB: Obviously, that's going to come to my mind first to think about that, but I don't think so. I thought that our players were focused and walked through last night in shootarounds. So didn't seem that way to me. But I do think one thing we'll talk about is, hey, we can never feel comfortable. We played really well against USC, and there should be a confidence level from playing well. But I think this will help us to say at any moment, whatever team's in front of us, we have to be really sharp. We could face a team like UCLA and second round of the NCAA Tournament if we make it past the first round or we could face someone in a round after that. So I think it will help us to kind of make sure and keep us on edge that we're never comfortable. But I don't think there was an issue of looking ahead. Q. Kind of along that line, how do you think a loss like this could affect your tournament seeding? COACH GOTTLIEB: I think what the Pac‑12 has wanted all along are really good teams. So when we beat one another, it looks like a great win. This should be a great win for UCLA and help their resume. For us, it doesn't hurt you. I look across conference today, Maryland lost to UNC and Tennessee lost to Texas A&M, and it's same kind of differential. I think our body of work is pretty good that I think we could have help ourselves in this tournament had we won it maybe we could have gotten a 1 seed. But I hope this kind of keeps us where we would be otherwise. Q. Layshia, given season that your team has had, and have you foreseen anything like this happening with your team? The way you played? LAYSHIA CLARENDON: No, I don't think we ever think we're going to miss that many shots. My coaches say every shot I take they think is going in, which gives me a lot of confidence. But like she said, we were well prepared. They just gave us those first punches in first half, and you can't give a top 15 team a 21‑point lead on you. It's hard to come back. They're too good. Q. Coach, you were able to win against UCLA both home and away. What were they doing differently tonight that seemed to upset your shooting ability? COACH GOTTLIEB: Yeah, they came out in a straight zone. You know, and I knew, obviously, that we had play really well down there and they didn't play any zone. So I thought one adjustment they could make was to go zone. So I think we face more zone than any team in the country. But I think they went zone, and we missed our first couple shots. And I think that was an issue for us. Then the way that we miss shots, the long rebounds let them get out in transition, and that was just disastrous. So I think the difference was missing early shots and them converting those to lay‑ups. We couldn't get into a rhythm where we get stops. Q. What was your sense of what was going on the glass? In terms of rebounding, do you feel like you guys got beat there? COACH GOTTLIEB: I thought early on we had a tough time getting interior touches, which meant long shots were long rebounds and our posts weren't as much of a factor on the offensive glass. We do. Sometimes we shoot really well, and sometimes we clean up misses on the glass, and it was a little bit of both evils were there, because we were missing shots and not getting rebounds. More so than what they were doing, it was a factor for us not scoring. They're a great rebounding team as well. So the 13 offensive rebounds for them is a problem. I think we end up with more second chance points, but we don't want to be five ahead of somebody. We want to be 25 ahead of somebody. So sure, it was a factor in the game. But if we're a top two or three rebounding in the country, then UCLA's four or five. So I don't think it's a shock. We just didn't get the job done as well as we wanted to. But I loved our players' resolve in the second half. We came out a lot more aggressive. Gen had probably combined for ten, and most of those came in the second half. Q. Brittany, from your perspective on the point, how difficult or what problems did UCLA's zone present you as you were kind of looking for your teammates inside? BRITTANY BOYD: In the posts they were getting post touches and getting the feel of the game. Yeah, in zone, the zone kind of cures our energy and skills our transition because we were a transition team. So by them making shots, it was hard for us to push the ball. So we got the ball down court, set up, and it was really hard. That's where we get most of our points is in transition. Q. Layshia, what was the what was the mindset at halftime? What were you thinking in the locker room at halftime? LAYSHIA CLARENDON: We can win this. We're going to win this. This team never stops believing for one second, and that we're fighters. That we didn't come this far. We didn't come back 17 against Oregon stated, beat USC in overtime, go play Duke, all of these games without fighting now. I think there were 3 minutes left, out of bounds, we're not passing. It's character. We've got to keep fighting, and we never let people change who we are. We're always going to fight and bring energy. We're always going to stay true to our colors. Q. Lindsay, clearly missing shots in first half didn't help, but it seemed like offensively UCLA just did what they wanted in the first half. Were you surprise by what they were trying to do or anything like that? COACH GOTTLIEB: I mean I think we couldn't get ‑‑ they were scoring in transition so much. I looked at the sheet at halftime, and it said 2 or 4 fast breakpoints. It didn't feel that way, because we never could get set‑up. We knew that they've been wanting to play through the paint recently, especially with Thea being out, even more so. We know they like to cut behind it. So our themes were protect the paint and pressure the ball. And we just never got done in the first half. Again, I thought they push the ball well. It poses problems when they can have three or four different people pushing ball up the floor. They will have Markel or Nyingifa push it up, and it bothered our transition defense. And I thought we let them kind of cut behind us a little bit, and get more interior play than what we want them to. So we weren't surprised that that's what they're looking to do. But I thought we had a hard time getting stops we wanted because we were letting them go in transition a little bit. And they just played well. Q. Layshia, what do you think the team is going to do in responding to what happened? LAYSHIA CLARENDON: When we're sitting in the locker room and we're all kind of, you know sad and on ourselves and we look back, and we have three losses on the entire year. So we're like if this doesn't ruin our season in any way at all. We talked about it being more of a wake‑up call. If anything, it will make us more hungry for tournament. And we wanted it, of course, but we didn't get it. So now it will be how we respond. With this team we'll take a few days off. Prepare well for tournament, and then it's kind of all or nothing. So I think it will affect us for the positive, for sure. Q. Lindsay, was there anything wrong with Gennifer in this game? She seemed to be lacking some of the zip that she has orderly was that a funk of how UCLA played? COACH GOTTLIEB: Like Brittany said, I think their focus was on shutting down our inside game with their zone, and it's a long zone. Usually Brittany can passes and make slices to those posts. I think it was way they were playing. And we don't necessarily have major athletic advantages like we do over UCLA. She never got going offensively. But the team struggled to get going offensively, and that was everybody. Q. This is for players: In the zone they attacked the paint pretty well. In the first half, perimeter shots weren't falling for you. Both of you got turned up a notch in the second half from arc. Could you talk about the cold shooting, a bad night? Or was doing something that frustrated you? LAYSHIA CLARENDON: I think it's hard for us to get in our rhythm. Lot of shots we take in our zone offense. Skip it, get wide open threes. I think for me, everything was contested, creating something on the pull‑up. Then the law of averages. Something's going to go in. They started to go under ball screens and switched off a little bit. So started a couple shots down. BRITTANY BOYD: Yeah, for me giving shots, I don't feel like they were bad shots, but for myself, going into paint, finding open lane and making lay‑up, it was so packed in, and there was nowhere I could drive or ditch to nobody. So I just credit their defense. Their defense was the key to this game. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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