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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 7, 2014Andrew CalderDiamond DeShieldsAllisha GrayGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA North Carolina – 73 ASSOCIATE COACH ANDREW CALDER: Again, as always, thank Coach Hatchell, gave me a nice little pep talk today about playing Maryland. I wish the best to Maryland in the NCAA playoffs. Again, they're very talented and very well coached. Best of luck, especially to Alyssa Thomas, she's an outstanding player. I thought we did a very good job of shrinking the floor tonight, to not give her as many driving holes as she normally gets, and still be able to rotate back out to the 3‑point shooters. Outstanding job by Carolina on the defensive end. Offensively we did some more things today. Again, you see the talent of Diamond DeShields going in the post and taking advantage of her outstanding skills also in the post. She's not showed a lot of that this year, but she showed a variety of moves tonight. And Allisha Gray hitting another double‑double is very big for this team. Especially the foul shots, we were 16 for 20 from the free throw line. I thought that was very important. We were very poised down the end, and we just made great plays. Allisha's block on Alyssa Thomas at 33 seconds or somewhere in there, I thought was outstanding. The tip of the shot, anyway. But great job on Carolina's part. Great effort. Great intensity and effort. Q. Coach, was there much consideration at all after Allisha got hurt last night, was that an issue going into the game? And I want to ask Allisha how she felt. ASSOCIATE COACH ANDREW CALDER: No, she was tough. They told me there was a great chance she was going to play today. She's a tough, tough young lady, very mentally tough. And we expected her to play tonight. ALLISHA GRAY: It was nothing major. I'm fine. Q. Could you just speak as to how excited you are about playing Duke in this venue tomorrow? ASSOCIATE COACH ANDREW CALDER: I think I mispronounced Alyssa, my fault. No. 25, Thomas, we know who she was. I apologize. Playing Duke, again, and we've said this before, very talented and very well coached. And we look forward to the next game for a chance for us to showcase our players' skills and a chance to improve. And that's what we're looking for every game, just a chance to improve. We play at 7:30 and the men play at 9:00. How about that? Q. What was going through your mind when Brittany Rountree stepped up to the line in the last seconds, she hadn't shot one shot all game before that? ASSOCIATE COACH ANDREW CALDER: We were very comfortable. We thought Diamond would still get open, even though they had two people on her. But Allisha did a great job finding Brittany. Latifah went down towards the baseline and came back, and Brittany slid to the corner, and Allisha did a great job finding her. We're very confident in Brittany, especially on foul shots at the end of the game because she kind of owns that basket down there. I think she made like six threes as a freshman down there, a high school record, I guess with seven in the whole game on that end of the floor. She's comfortable in the Greensboro Coliseum. We planned for them to shoot a 3 when Brittany went to the line. Q. Seemed like you and Alyssa Thomas had good back and forth in the second half. How would you evaluate how it went? DIAMOND DeSHIELDS: My thoughts were just to stay strong. Alyssa, she's an extremely powerful player. For me that was a challenge and that was one of the hardest challenges I think I faced all season. I commend her on that and all the hard work she's put it in season. She's a great player. So for me, I just had to step up to the challenge as a freshman you're guarding an ACC player, it was a challenge for me, but I was ready for it. And although she did, obviously, have a great game, I tried my hardest. That's all I could say about that. Q. You seemed to start off a little slow, you seemed frustrated at the beginning. How were you able to improve your confidence through the course of the game? ALLISHA GRAY: It was basically my defense. Once I get a couple stops on defense then my offense develops. I really don't worry about ‑‑ because I know my team will score, I just focus on defense and just play my role and shoot when I'm open. ASSOCIATE COACH ANDREW CALDER: I said put her back in, she's ready. Let me say the great job that Xylina did when we got the jump ball at the end not allowing Thomas to go left, and then fumbled the ball and then we got the jump ball. Xylina's defense was outstanding on that play. Q. Diamond, obviously a tough night for Allisha last night, missed the whole second half, sit it out, then for her to come back with a double‑double tonight, what do you think of her performance? DIAMOND DeSHIELDS: I'm extremely proud of her. I know before the game started, all day, basically, we've just been talking to each other, we're going to get buckets tonight, and trying to motivate each other. I know she was down last night, had to sit out. And so I tried to say, I got you, I got you. So today it was just all about confidence for her. And I think I did a good job of getting her ready. Like I said, all day we were just talking about the game, all day, all day. She did a great job. I'm extremely proud of her. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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