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BIG EAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2013Jose FernandezAndrell SmithAndrea SmithHARTFORD, CONNECTICUT Notre Dame: 75 THE MODERATOR: Joining us is USF head Coach, Jose Fernandez, while we wait for the guards, Andrea Smith and Andrell Smith. Coach? COACH FERNANDEZ: I told our kids in the locker room that I thought there were two stretches, from the 7 minute media and the 3 minute media and five or six possessions in the second half in a 3‑minute span that we want from a close game to 8, 9, and that's what hurt. It's disappointing for our guys, because I thought our effort on both ends of the floor was really good. Definitely shot the ball better than yesterday, so that was a plus. Gives us an opportunity‑‑ you know, when you got three guards that can score, I think we can play with anybody in the country, and when Akila McDonald got into foul trouble it was tough, she teed off on the glass. It's also hard to defend from the free‑throw line. Our free‑throw line defense was bad. They shot 35 free‑throws, that's tough to defend. So what's up, guys? Q. Jose, except for Baylor and UConn, south Florida played Notre Dame better than anyone this year, and I'm wondering about the personnel, the dynamics that led to that? COACH FERNANDEZ: If you watch our‑‑ some teams will watch and we do some things differently defensively with their perimeter guys, on switch and stuff and having our‑‑ we went with our five who played like a goalie and we didn't guard one of their guys for a lot of time and I think when you got three perimeter guys that can switch on a lot of stuff and keep things in front, you can play well. I think, too, you know this team winning yesterday and with, what, six, seven minutes to go it's a 2‑point game, the NCAA Committee and everybody in the country was watching this game. I think we showed that this team belongs in the NCAA Tournament and I think these guys did that today. Q. Coach, two questions. First, talk about the Smith and Smith Law Firm and how well they played tonight, they had 45 combined and keeping you in the game in the second half, just a tremendous job. Second part, last time playing in this conference, what it means to you, the relationships you've built and that aspect? COACH FERNANDEZ: First, I think these guys are successful because of how much work they have put in. I've been doing this a long time, high school, junior college, Division II, Division I, they are up there as probably the hardest‑working guys I've ever coached. They're the first ones in the gym, the last ones to leave. The amount of time they put in outside the 20 hours we're allowed with them is unbelievable. So a lot of their success is how hard they work and I was happy that Andrell had such a great game because I think she had been struggling offensively. But to ask her to guard an All‑American for forty minutes and to play well offensively that was a great performance. And Andrea has had a lot of accolades in her career, she was one of three kids first‑team and Nation Junior College Player of the Year, WBCA, and she is‑‑ second part of your question, it's tough. The decisions that are made now by the league got nothing to do with women's basketball, I think they're all football related and TV revenue related. You are going to miss the relationships that you've built with the coaches in the league but I still have my boy, Geno, still together. Got to move forward and, you know, the league that we're going to be in, we will continue to move forward and grow the game. We will be fine. Q. Coach, Natalie Achonwa went for 20/20, why was she such a big problem for you guys to guard tonight? COACH FERNANDEZ: Well, I mean, she is a tough match‑up for us, I think we're‑‑ I think early we did a good job with her. There were a lot of small‑to‑big screens that were set and we didn't do a good job defending that but I thought when McDonald was not in we struggled with that. Q. Ladies, a bit of a delicate question but I needed to ask you this. Coach was mentioning when UConn plays Notre Dame it always comes up, the free‑throw disparity, they take more free‑throws than anyone in the country.  I'm wondering competitively when you play them do you anticipate that's the case and if you do, how difficult is it to get your mind straight that you're going to have to beat them on the floor and they may have 20 more free‑throws than you? ANDRELL SMITH: Going into the game we don't think about that, we try to attack and be aggressive. That's a strength of theirs, getting to the free‑throw line and they do a great job of that but we don't anticipate that before we go into the game. Q. You sort of carried the team in the second half, I think you combined for 15 of the first 17 points, you had to try to get back, you were down 8 and went on a 15‑something run to take the lead. ANDREA SMITH: We wanted to attack. Our teammates build off us so if we get 'em going they're going to come along and they push us as well as we push them so we wanted to get out and attack and that's what we did. Q. Ladies, I have a question for you. I wanted to ask you about the dynamics of playing together for so long, how much you enjoy playing? You're so much fun to watch because you always seem to know where the other is going to be. ANDRELL SMITH: Its really fun playing with this girl right here, it means everything to me. She is my best friend on and off the court and she makes me better as a player, as a competitor and as a person. It means everything to have her out there and I'm upset that we're leaving the Big East, but we're looking forward to doing bigger things. ANDREA SMITH: She is also my best friend and she makes is easy to play the game of basketball and she knows when I'm about to hang my head, and I don't need to hang my head, so she is right there in my ear. I love this coach, but she is always there for me, and she has made the game of basketball fun. Q. Ladies, when you're playing in a pro UConn crowd, obviously they wanted to see Notre Dame lose, how important was it to have the crowd behind you the way they were? ANDRELL SMITH: It was very important. It was momentum, we had felt good to have people there cheering for us because it's hard to have Tampa fans come so far up here, you know what I mean, but it felt good to have people behind our back, but we knew why they were cheering for us, we weren't going to question it, you know, we loved and that was the good thing about it, that was okay for us. We enjoyed it, we really did! Q. (Away from mic.) ANDREA SMITH: I could show you my number! THE MODERATOR: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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