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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 5, 2014Erik JohnsonKatie ZenevitchGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA Virginia – 74 COACH ERIK JOHNSON: This was quite a year for us. We started out with a lot of promise coming off of a really good performance here in Greensboro a year ago, and returned with really good players, certainly like the player to my left, Katie. And we really had a roller coaster of a year. We had a seven‑game winning streak. We had some really good wins, but we weren't deep enough to deal with some of the injuries and the things we had to deal with. Tonight playing without Kristen Doherty was tough. Katie Zenevitch has been a great senior leader, but we're not at a point yet where we're quite deep enough, talented enough, big enough, to withstand some of those things. Kristen, by the way, is okay, she was too sick actually to even come on the trip. But like I said, I'm so proud of the foundation that Katie and Kristen have built in terms of just really, really caring about this program.  She just mentioned in the locker room about loving basketball again, finding that passion. At a place like Boston College, we're going to win games because we have smart kids who believe and who care, and are playing for something bigger than themselves. To be able to have those young players here, Katie's passion and her love for what we're doing and also pushing them for what the future is going to be, I thought was really, really inspirational. Q. Did you think when Kristen first went down with the flu that she would be able to play for this week? For those of us who haven't seen her play, where did her absence affect you most? COACH ERIK JOHNSON: What's interesting about Kristen is the media at media day called her the Swiss Army knife because she's got an attachment for everything. She's a little bit of everything. She's our best defender. She's a great rebounder, and leading assist maker and leading scorer. From a leadership standpoint, so much more falls on Katie's shoulders. Nicole Boudreau stepped up in great ways. Kelly Hughes stepped up in great ways. But look, when you're not really deep, it sort of bumps everybody up the ladder once. Now somebody else is guarding the best player, our shooters had to attack more themselves rather instead of being there and being the recipients of some of the great passes that Kristen does. We beat Virginia without Kristen, believe it or not, when we played them earlier the season. We got down 15, had a great comeback. These guys always believe. And like I said, the woman sitting to my left has everything to do with that. She works so hard and poured her sweat, blood, and tears into this program. She's inspired her team to be able to play even beyond their capabilities at times. We just didn't have enough tonight. Q. Did you think last week that she would be able to play? COACH ERIK JOHNSON: Katie will tell you, it's been a roller coaster through the whole thing. She's had to deal with concussions, a back injury, and an infection she got pretty sick from. Some of those symptoms have crossed each other up. It's been day‑to‑day. But you know what, I think these guys do a great job of coming into practice every single day and being ready, hey, who do we got. Nicole Boudreau has a bad back, she doesn't practice sometimes. Katie actually missed senior night, believe it or not, it's the only game she missed since I've been coaching her. But the team adjusted. We went out and battled with Maryland and got Katie back in the lineup and she came to battle again. Q. Coach, you obviously were trying to get that run, but Virginia was matching. When you're trying to get to that point Virginia was matching it. What were you telling to your team to keep pressing on during the second half? COACH ERIK JOHNSON: We went back to our last conference game was at Georgia Tech, a similar thing happened, where we were getting some good offense going and we were scoring, getting in transition. We couldn't get the stops when we needed the stops. I thought our coverages were good, our communication was solid. When they really wanted to go one‑on‑one, they made some big shots. We had a couple of over‑helps, we gave up some 3s, and obviously they hit big ones. A lot of it has to do with Virginia, they did a great job. When you want to win a game at that level you need to be able to score and get the stops. And we couldn't get the stops when we needed them. Q. You talked about making the stops. Was that one back breaking, at the end of the shot clock, Kelsey Wolfe banks from the 3 at the top of the key that sprung them ahead, was that kind of a back breaker for you, because you had that possession? COACH ERIK JOHNSON: There were a few of them. The 3 that Franklin hit at the end of the half. She hit two in a row. We over‑helped a little bit off of her, gave her another look. We had just hit a 3 to cut it to 4. You're going into halftime with momentum, and now they hit a big one. You've got Wolfe's bank in 3 at the end. We've hit our share of those. That's part of basketball. We don't sweat that stuff. The mental approach of these guys is really good in that way. Q. What's your best memories of playing for BC in the ACC and what's next for you in basketball? KELSEY WOLFE: Best memories is just being with this group of girls every single day. They become your sisters. We're together 24/7. Being in the locker room, rooming with one another on away trips, even rooming at school with one another. These are memories that I'm going to have for the rest of my life and I'm so thankful for them. And the new coaching staff to come in and just to help me with personal things and just basketball. And finding passion and love in it has been awesome. And basketball, further basketball, we'll see, not a hundred percent sure yet. Q. They play a lot of four‑guard lineups. How big was this rebounding No. 37 to 24 that they were able to beat you on the boards like that? COACH ERIK JOHNSON: We're a four‑guard lineup, too. It's a match‑up where we're often giving up size, and they're often giving up size. It was a breath of relief for both coaches to say we've got four guards and they have four guards. Unfortunately, we out‑rebounded them and beat them at our place; they out‑rebounded us and beat us tonight. The game does come down to often that physical competition, who is going to grab the ball. There were a bunch of balls tonight that I felt like in live action I felt we could have grabbed. They hustled, they got to it. We'll certainly break down the film and helping the returners with ways we can get more of those rebounds. You have to give credit to Virginia, they went out and got it when they needed it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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