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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 15, 2013Caroline DurbinYvonne SanchezKhadijah ShumpertLAS VEGAS, NEVADA San Diego State – 67 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by New Mexico. Coach, some comments on today's game. COACH SANCHEZ: Sure. I'd like to congratulate SanDiego State and Coach Burns not only for tonight's game obviously, but for an outstanding season. She represents our league very well. She'll represent our league very well in the NCAA tournament. Her team is exceptional. They show you what championship teams do.  That's a very good team. We had to play our best. They took us out of a lot of what we wanted to do. I just wanted to congratulate them. That being said, I'm really proud of our kids. They battled till the end. It's tough. You start off 12‑0. They continue to battle and continue to fight. That's what I expect from them and that's what they do. I'm proud of my seniors, those four kids. They're not kids anymore, but they've represented our program and our university with class, with integrity. They're ambassadors to our program. They will not be forgotten. It's one of those things, tough game for us, but we'll get better. We'll work in the off‑season and hopefully we'll be back here and maybe the next game. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Talk about that 12‑0 run and how hard it was to come right out of the gates and have them dictate so early on. CAROLINE DURBIN: Yeah, they're really good at jumping on you early. I think they did the same thing against Nevada yesterday. They did it by getting out and running. They have everyone sprinting the floor as hard as they can. That's tough to guard. And they find each other really well. KHADIJAH SHUMPERT: I also would agree. I think it was really hard for us because it kind of caught us by surprise when they came out and they just went on a 12‑0 run, but... Q. Did they show anything different for you this third time or the same as the first two games? CAROLINE DURBIN: Pretty much the same thing. Pressure defense. Very good defense. They help well. They guard the drive, as well. I mean, their defense is pretty phenomenal. Offensively they ran pretty much the same things as well as just getting out in transition. They're really good at that. KHADIJAH SHUMPERT: The only thing that I would say was different than last time we played them was they hedged really high on ball screens. That was a tough transition for us. Q. As a senior, talk a little bit about this season, but also the whole career. CAROLINE DURBIN: It's not what I expected, the coaching change and everything. But I've really loved having Coach Sanchez. She really gave me a lot of opportunities. So I'll always be grateful for that. That's about it. (Tearing up). Q. Can you talk about the senior class that's leaving, those still on the team? KHADIJAH SHUMPERT: Coming in as a freshman, our senior class definitely personally helped me a lot, taught me a lot of things. It's going to be really hard losing Caroline, Jourdan, Chin and Jayme. When I go out there, I want to play like Jourdan, do something like Caroline. It's going to be really hard for me next year not to have them around. Q. Caroline, can you talk about the transition between coaches. Seemed like you as the seniors were really leaned on by the staff to help with that transition. CAROLINE DURBIN: Yeah, last year especially those seniors, we relied on them a lot. They kind of showed us the way, how to lead this year's team. They were a great example for us. We had a much different team this year, a lot more depth. But, again, I think those seniors last year showed us kind of how to lead, get everyone onboard, do what Coach wanted, all the staff wanted us to do. Q. Talk about the foundation that you have been able to build under Coach Sanchez, what you have to do next year to take it a little further. KHADIJAH SHUMPERT: I definitely think this year has been a really good year foundation‑wise with the freshmen that came in, who we still have for next year. I think next year it's gonna be really tough obviously without our seniors, but I think we have something to build off of, for sure. THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions for Coach Sanchez. Q. Getting back to the start of the game, the 12‑0. Was the way they did it surprising in any way? COACH SANCHEZ: No, not really. That's the biggest thing we said, is they can't get loose early. They're notorious for doing that. They jumped on us right away. We were tentative on offense. We backed down a little bit, were on our heels. Those are the things we talked about. That's what championship teams do, not necessarily on offense, they started it with their defense. That's what they're known to do. It's very good, a very daunting defense that they have. They guard you. They defend. They deny. When we got on our heels a little bit, then they started their transition. We know they were capable of it. We wanted to prevent it early and we didn't. Q. The size obviously was apparent. They were out‑rebounding, points all coming on layups early on. Can you talk about their size advantage. COACH SANCHEZ: Well, we just didn't box out. The first play of the game was very indicative. The big kid shoots, misses, we don't box her out, she gets her own rebound and puts it back again. They do have a little bit of a size advantage with a big kid. You got to get back to fundamentals and boxing out. That's what hurt us early, in my opinion. We didn't box out the first shooter. They go back and they're so good. Even the guards are good at getting their own rebounds because they pursue the ball like crazy. If you look at the rebounding total, 32‑38, we had 15 O‑boards, they had 11. I think we battled, and I'm proud of our kids for that. But you look at what they did to us on our offensive end, their defensive end. We had to earn everything. We were played on our heels. For a team like that, you can't do it. Q. Seemed like you were able to slow them down when you were able to hold them into the halfcourt offense. Was that not something you had tried to do at the beginning? COACH SANCHEZ: Well, we did want to make it a halfcourt game. What sparks transition is turnovers, which you can't give. We only had 13 turnovers. That's not bad against a team like that. Shots that aren't really within the flow of your offense. If you don't take good shots, you turn the ball over, that will spark a transition. That's what happened in that run. We didn't take good shots early, and it led to some of their transition baskets. When we got in a flow, in our halfcourt sets, started running some things, we did it well. We cut it to 12 at one point in the first half. Our runs were few and far between, then they turned up their defense. Q. Talking about the turnovers, that's one of the things you talked about all season long, that contributed to a lot of the losses. Is it a positive sign that you were able to hold down the turnovers against a team like SanDiego State today? COACH SANCHEZ: Yeah, I think so. I really do. We've had 29 turnovers against them. So they're a very good defensive team. 13 turnovers. You look at our stat line, except for the field goal attempts and total, 11 for 54. Not 54, but that 11 should be a halftime total. We were 11 for the game. So, again, you have to credit SanDiego State and their defense and their schemes. It's nothing that you don't know. But once you still get into it, it's easier said than done. Play with poise. Play with heart. I think our kids did that. But we had to attack the basket early and take it at 'em. And we just didn't do that. Q. Can you talk about your offense. You couldn't hit anything really. Why do you think it was? COACH SANCHEZ: It was because of their defense (laughter). I mean, I can't say it enough. They took us out of everything that we wanted to do. Their defense is terrific. We were on our heels a little bit in the first part. They went on a 12‑0 run. We got drives to the basket, but we looked at the defense instead of the rim. Again, you got to credit SanDiego State. It's what they do, and we know what they do. But it's easier said than done, you know, to go out there and trying to find a little bit of a bend in the armor. We did it in some spurts, but it wasn't enough, and it was few and far between. Q. SanDiego State, I think their RPI today is 47. May fall after this game even though they won. In the latest bracketology from ESPN, they're a 12 seed. That would indicate if they don't win tomorrow, there's a chance they may not get an at‑large berth. Can you comment on that, whether or not they deserve an at‑large berth? COACH SANCHEZ: If you don't get SanDiego State in at this point, it would be an absolute travesty. It would be completely unfair to them. Their body of work speaks for itself. They ran through the league. It's not their fault that their RPI drops when they play teams of a lesser RPI. They're a very good basketball team. They will prove it once they get to the tournament. If by chance they don't win the championship, then I think our league should get two in. That would just be ridiculous. I can't fathom a fact that SanDiego State is not in right now, regardless of what happens tomorrow. They deserve it. Their program deserves it. Their staff deserves it. I know I've seen stranger things happen in my 24 years of coaching, but that would not be the right thing to do. Q. Looking forward, how do you replace the senior leadership? What are some of the building blocks you have that are coming back, coming into the program with the incoming freshmen? COACH SANCHEZ: It's a good foundation that both classes, last year's class and this year's class, have left us. Do you replace a Caroline Durbin? Probably not for a while. But it starts in the off‑season. You can't get better individually during the season. That's when your team progresses. It starts in the off‑season when we get to working individuals. We're limited in time constraints what they can do. They've got to come in and do the extra work. And this group will. The group that's coming back will do that. We have Khadijah Shumpert coming back, Jordyn Peacock, Bryce Owens, Sara Halasz, Deeva Vaughn. I'm going to forget some people, but we've got a very good core foundation. Ebony Walker, a transfer from Texas Tech will be eligible next year in the post. Whitney Johnson is a freshman really that will be back. With the incoming players and our freshmen, we're pretty excited about what we're building. The standard again is set until somebody knocks SanDiego State off. That's the bar and that's the standard. That's the level that we want to get to. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. COACH SANCHEZ: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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