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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS: IOWA CITYMarch 24, 2013Heather ButlerKevin McMillanJasmine NewsomeIOWA CITY, IOWA NOTRE DAME – 97 COACH McMILLAN: I thought that the game was ‑‑ and I don't know, I don't have the running total thing. In the first half, there was about four minutes to go maybe, I don't remember, it was about a 6‑point game and Notre Dame had to go to a triangle in two because they couldn't guard these guys. I thought that was a tremendous tribute to what these two are able to do. But you know, they are a great team, and we got killed on the glass. Rickiesha got hurt; just slaps you in the face because she's the only one that we had that could go in there and try to rebound with us. I think that we may have set an NCAA record on rebound margin. But it was‑‑ once we kind of lost control of what we were trying to do, couldn't get it back. And we talk all the time about three possessions is going to be a game, and the three possessions were when they had to go man because they couldn't guard these guys and went to a triangle.  And when we couldn't get back, it just kind of snowballed from there. But I thought that Notre Dame's quickness bothered us, I thought their size bothered us, and I thought that there was some problems that we couldn't simulate that we didn't have much of an answer for. Q. Can you talk about what a game like this means against Notre Dame? I think it was one point shy of an all‑time record for an opponent against Notre Dame. HEATHER BUTLER: Well, it definitely meant a lot, because coming in here, everybody is like, who is UT Martin, nobody knows who we are. And going against the No.1 seed team, you want to come out here and prove that, you know, we can play with Notre Dame, and we are just going to give it all we got and that we are a team with heart that plays hard. Coming out here, they are a very good basketball team, obviously, and I think what Coach said, we got destroyed on the glass, that's what killed us. But I think it definitely meant a lot and we definitely learned a lot from this experience. Q. What did you do going in after the first couple of minutes? The size seemed to affect you and then you adjusted. What did you do to adjust to improve? HEATHER BUTLER: Well I'm used to going against bigger guards, but bigger, athletic and quicker‑‑ COACH McMILLAN: Everybody is bigger than you. HEATHER BUTLER: As I said, I'm used to it (laughter). But obviously what I was doing wasn't working. And so I had to just tell myself, okay, relax, just take your time, go in there and if you have a shot, shoot it. And if not, kick it out. I finally relaxed. I was kind of like a little too tense in the beginning, all over the place, but finally I told myself, okay, if it's there, shoot it. Q. When you're banking in threes, do you feel like that you're on your game then as far as shooting? HEATHER BUTLER: Yeah, I mean, it feels good when the backboard helps you out a little bit. Like I said, I just shot it with confident and I mean, like I said, if the backboard helps you out, it is kind of a good shooting night. Q. Coach referenced about four minutes ago, you were down by seven, what happened in those last four minutes? JASMINE NEWSOME: We wasn't getting back like we normal lay was in the game but then they would take a shot and miss it and they would get the rebound and put it back in. That's mainly what happened. That's what I thought happened. Q. When you were banking those shots in, think the first one that went off glass, I don't know if you realized, but you gave like a Michael Jordan shrug and smiled; did you realize you were doing that at the time? HEATHER BUTLER: When I banked it in, yeah, kind of like: Hey, I mean, what can I say. I mean, like I thought it was completely off. I thought it was going to break off and go out‑of‑bounds but it didn't, so it kind of shocked me, so that was my reaction to it (smiling and shrugging shoulders). Q. You and Skylar are usually the top scorers in the game. How did it feel to keep her down around your level, because you were a low scorer in this game, too. JASMINE NEWSOME: I really didn't think about it that much. But going into it we were just saying keep her and No. 21 from scoring and make somebody else score, so that was our goal. I'm pretty proud that we did that but at the same time, we didn't rebound very well. Q. When one or the other of you is on, maybe is making a lot of shots, do you try to really work hard at setting the other one up? Were you really trying to get Heather the ball because she was knocking them down? JASMINE NEWSOME: Yeah, basically. Most of our plays are ran through one of us, and if one of us is on, that's who is going to get the ball the most. We usually feed off each other but today I was kind of slow and she was on. Q. Can you talk a little bit about what Heather did out there today against a team that's been pretty reputable on defense this season? COACH McMILLAN: Well, anybody that watched this game, Heather, I think we list her at 5‑5 or 5‑6. She's not; she's about 5‑4 or 5‑3, and what that young lady does is absolutely amazing. I was fortunate to get to coach her in high school. I was fortunate that she followed me to UT Martin and I'm fortunate every day I get to be around her. You said something about the banked shots going in. I don't know if she's banked one all season. But one of the things that I know is that when you do things right and you do them right and you do them right, things tend to happen good for you. And you know, you would think banking a shot, she's not on; and that when she banked the first one, I said, we are going to start throwing her the ball because she'll be mad at herself because she banked it and she'll start putting them in, and she did. You know, the challenge that she has every game, is amazing, and you know, Notre Dame is no different. The thing that I do know is that she sees that challenge all the time, and she kind of relishes in the opportunities. She's one of those rare kids that looks at situations and says: What can I do to be my best in whatever given situation I've gotten. And she got an opportunity to play against All‑Americans, and I would think‑‑ (looking down at stat sheet) I can't see, I apologize. I'm getting what happens at 45 years old. I would think, 37 points, pretty good day against a No.1 seed. You know, the thing about those two is that Jasmine is going to be the one that is the most he excited for her. So really, she put on a little show, and I wish we could have had some rebounding help to maybe change some of the outcome of some of those plays. Q. Was it strictly a height issue on Notre Dame's part as far as the rebounding is concerned, or were there some other factors that played into that? COACH McMILLAN: Well, I think the first thing was that Rickiesha sprained her ankle in the first six minutes of the game and she averages about 12‑‑ well, she's been averaging about 11 or 12 rebounds a game for us over the last ten games, and she's also our biggest kid in there that will disrupt the other team just because of her size. So when she went out, we were not a little worried, we were a lot worried. But what Notre Dame is, people don't give them enough credit for, they are long. You know, their wing span is a lot longer than their height. They are not a big team, but their arms are so long that they get to stuff that they are not supposed to get to, and they are so athletic that it's hard to keep people in front of you. And you're just talking about great basketball players that see things that you don't see and put you in situations where you have to help and where you have to help, and now they have a rebounding advantage and they are going to take advantage of that. It's a snowball. I'm disappointed that our kid didn't battle more on the boards. I would have expected more fouls on boxing out or more fouls going up for second shots or stuff like that. Would have expected it. But I didn't get it except for my little 5‑6 guard that comes in. So I'm a little disappointed in our post for not giving it more of a battle. But they are a great rebounding team and they have always been a great rebounding team because of their athleticism and they are so deceptive. They get to stuff that you don't think they will get to, what, eight alley‑oops in the game, that's pretty good. Q. You said yesterday inside was going to be a struggle but obviously you had faith in the guards, but could you have even imagined a game that Heather had today, 37 points like that? COACH McMILLAN: Well, I wouldn't have expected‑‑ I'm going to be mad at her because she missed three free throws. She could have had 40. We have to have that game from our two guards, we have to, because that's what we are built around. The matchup for us was a nightmare because there wasn't a player on the Notre Dame team that we thought we could take a lot of advantage from, and so I thought that Butler and Newsome were going to have to have monster games in order for us to be able to compete, and they did that. And somebody said it, I guess four minutes to go, it's a 6‑point game, and they went to a try anal and we missed four straight wide open shots that kids have to make, and they went down and scored. And I thought that that kind of turned the whole tied of the game. But you know, to think that those two guards could go out as a 16 seed and combine for 52 points and one of them get 37, you can't ask any more. What that says is that I need to fire my recruiting coach, whoever recruits rebounders, and we need to find somebody that can go get on the glass, and we have got to find some people that can make some more shots. You can't get into a 1‑16 matchup and expect much different, because of the way‑‑ the culture that we are in. And I thought that there were some things that needed to go differently that didn't. Some of my predictions were correct. It's just, you've got to play yourselves out of this game in the middle of the season, and that's what we didn't do this year. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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