NCAA Women's Regional Semifinals and Finals: Bridgeport Saturday, March 25, 2017 Bridgeport, Connecticut Q. Ruthy and Oti, it seemed like it was sort of a Kelly Graves team effort to slow down Bri Jones. If you could take me through what the mindset was going in, Oti Geldon how you go about doing that, and when you knew it was working the way it ultimately did. : Yeah, she's an amazing player. We Ruthy Hebard definitely scout her a lot, how to guard her, how to try to stop her. I think we just focused on getting low and trying to force out of the paint, which was definitely Oregon tough, but I think we did a pretty good job of it.

Oregon - 77, Maryland - 63 Q. Sabrina and Ruthy, can you talk about how you guys have evolved in your freshman year? Do you KELLY GRAVES: I just want to congratulate Coach think you're at a point now where -- obviously the Frese and her team. I'll tell you, I have had zero sleep team is playing its best -- that you've gotten over over the last four days, and a lot of it is just because whatever freshman things you might have had, and I've been watching film of them. They're so impressive, has that helped during the tournament? and she's got a great team, and they had an awesome RUTHY HEBARD: Like Coach always says, we're not season. freshmen anymore, we're 30, 35 games in. So I think once we step on the court, we're all just ball players. It Also, obviously very happy that we're moving on. I doesn't matter grade you're in, how young you are, so I continue to be amazed at this team. You know, just the think we just go on the court every day wanting to win, fact that over the last five days we went cross-country and we try our best. twice, had final exams, played a great team -- three great teams in this tournament. And you know, they SABRINA IONESCU: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I continue to show poise down the stretch, and I'll tell mean, 30-plus games in, we're not freshmen anymore. you, it's just impressive to watch. We continue to get Especially now, this late in the tournament, we've just better and better as a team. We're excited got to come out every game and work hard and try and to move on, regardless of who we play next. get as many wins as we can.

Q. Sabrina, how were you guys able to control the Q. Coach Frese talked about how this team, the tempo of this game and keep them well under their Oregon team, reminds her of her own National normal scoring average? Championship team in 2006, as you guys start SABRINA IONESCU: Well, we just buckled down on mostly underclassmen. What has it been like defense, and we got back in transition and tried to stop playing in the tournament and that experience and their easy transition buckets. But we did what we do having this type of run? offensively. We got it side-top-side, pounded it down SABRINA IONESCU: I mean, we're blessed. We're low to the bigs and did what we usually do. blessed to be in this position, and I think we're just excited about everything. No one's been here. None Q. Oti, obviously you've had one of your biggest of our kids have ever experienced anything like that. games of your college career here on this level. So I think we're just excited to be able to advance and What does it feel like, and what was your mentality play another day and see where that takes us. coming into this game when Mallory picked up her fourth foul? RUTHY HEBARD: Yeah, it's an amazing feeling to be OTI GELDON: It felt great. Coming off the bench, I just here, and I think every day we just go out and work had to make sure I did whatever I needed to do for the hard and try to win the game so we can get another team, which was defense and rebounding, so I just had game. to make sure I kept doing that. OTI GELDON: Yeah, piggy-backing off what they said,

Rev #2 by #166 at 2017-03-25 18:43:00 GMT page 1 of 5 it's really exciting. We just need to make sure we stay issue for you when it comes to that and making focused and continue to do what we're doing those series of threes in the first half of this game. offensively and defensively. Here you are for the first time; how comfortable is it? How much does this fit and how much is it you Q. This question is for Sabrina: You were hitting as a player now? your shots. You were clearly hitting clutch threes, SABRINA IONESCU: Yeah, basketball is basketball but also No. 10, Lexi Bando, she was seeming to regardless of really what stage you're on, and I hold have like an issue missing the three. But you guys these kids accountable, preseason and now. I want never quit on her or gave up on her, and she everyone to try their best, exceed all the expectations answered and responded later in the second half. that people have for us, especially as freshmen. So I Did you say anything to her or did you guys just -- think that just builds into the leadership that I have for it was just kind of a rhythm thing, we're going to this team, and I think our coaches do a really good job keep coming to you until you get on fire? on setting a vision for us, and we're trying to achieve SABRINA IONESCU: I definitely said a few things to everything that we set out to achieve. her. Sorry, just saying. But she's the best shooter in America, so we all hold her to a high standard, and I Q. If UConn manages to beat UCLA, you're going to definitely hold her to a high standard. I told her before face UConn. It's going to be the potential for one the game, if she stops shooting, she's being selfish. of the greatest upsets in history to cap off this run. She needs to let that ball fly, and I told her she needed Have you allowed yourself to think about it in those to quicken her shot up a little bit. I think she was taking terms? too much time to get it up and thinking about, you SABRINA IONESCU: I mean, regardless what team is know, she wanted this to go in. So I told her just going to win tonight, we're going to be prepared. So quicken her shot up and just let it fly, and she did. whatever is going to happen, when that ball goes in the air is going to happen, but I know that we're not going Q. said they don't know any better, to go down easy. We're going to give every team a that they should be nervous at this time because fight. We're going to play our hardest, and if that you have such a young team. What do you think means we upset the No. 1 team in the country, then about that? She has that experience with having a that's what's going to happen. really young team go all the way to the Final Four. Do you know any better? Are you at all nervous Q. Sabrina, how eager were you to face Destiny, about the fact that you're now in the Elite 8, one obviously one of the top-rated point guards in your step away from the Final Four? class, and based on the numbers you outplayed RUTHY HEBARD: I don't think so. I think Coach said it her. Was that even more satisfying as a part of the before the game that it's just another game. We're just win? on a bigger stage, but it's still the same game. We're SABRINA IONESCU: No, not at all. It was my team all comfortable playing, and I think we're just going to versus her team, it wasn't me versus her. The take it game by game and keep doing what we do. numbers and all that doesn't matter to me. I think I was just excited that our team withstood their run and we SABRINA IONESCU: Yeah, I don't think we're really withstood what they had to offer and got the win. nervous. We have nothing to lose. It's kind of fun to see. We all laugh and giggle and just are really excited Q. Ladies, can you talk a little bit about some of the to be here and enjoy this opportunity that we have. So aspects of the Oregon game that you'd like to see I think we continue to enjoy this opportunity and work maybe tighten up or really hit strides a little sooner hard and good things will come to us. for the next game as you advance in the tournament? OTI GELDON: I think the Pac-12 prepared us well for SABRINA IONESCU: I think we need to take care of this tournament. Maryland was definitely a really good the ball a little more. We got a little bit careless with it team, but we've played Stanford and UCLA and teams there in the second half, so I think we just need to take like that, so I think we were prepared for them when we care of the ball, continue to move it side-top-side. We'll came into this game today. hit shots. We do that pretty well. We keep pounding it in down low to our great post players, we'll hit the mid- Q. Sabrina, you spoke yesterday about saying you range shots. I think if we continue to do what we're didn't know what to expect come March, this being doing, we'll be fine come Monday. your first time in. But here you are running this team, talking to Lexi through her shooting RUTHY HEBARD: Like she said, take care of the ball, problems. You're going to coach the 3-on-3 team making sure you hit every rebound and definitely get a coming down. Obviously leadership is not an fight up there in the air, and I think with that, we'll

Rev #2 by #166 at 2017-03-25 18:43:00 GMT page 2 of 5 definitely be ready. give their teammates a lot of confidence knowing that, hey, tonight we're going to have the best player on the OTI GELDON: If we continue to do well on defense and floor, and all those things are so valuable. transition, stopping them in transition, I think we'll continue to do well. And then you add to that all the things she can do on the court, a diverse range of talents. It's not just the Q. Sabrina, on the flipside of you guys playing so shooting, it's the penetration, it's her elite vision that loose and care-free, when you are in control of the she has, especially in transition, her ability to scrap out game whether it's against Duke or tonight against rebounds for a 5'10" slow kid. You know, she's the Maryland, can you feel the other team kind of whole package. She truly is. crumbling under the weight of expectations and getting tight? Q. Kelly, two-part question. Maryland came in SABRINA IONESCU: I don't think a lot of teams are averaging 90 points a game, best scoring offense really prepared for us to come out how we did, and the in the country. You hold them to a season low 63. atmosphere was great. It was loud, and I don't think What was working? they were really prepared for what we had to offer that KELLY GRAVES: Well, that was the key to the game. I late. But no, we're just excited. We get the ball to the think we did a few things well. Number one, early on, people that need to have the ball in their hands that we just tried to go to 2-2-1, just a little tempo press to late in the game, and we do what we do. slow them down. I think, number two, we didn't turn the ball over a lot, so they weren't able to get out and Q. You had mentioned yesterday that these guys get easy baskets in transition. Thirdly, I thought we probably don't realize what they're doing at this shot a decent percentage, especially in the second point; can you just address the poise and that half. We shot the ball really well, and we played the whole aspect of this? Are they playing with house game at our tempo. money at this point? Are you surprised at how loose they are and what they're doing? Offensively we wanted to, like Sabrina likes to say, KELLY GRAVES: Yeah, you just said all of it, really. I side-top-side. We kept moving the basketball and think it's all in the attitude. I think they are playing making them defend. You know, we just -- really, I loose. They're a loose team, so it's not like we're -- we thought defensively and tempo-wise, we played about try to make them that way. as good a game as we can play, because to beat them you've got to lessen the number of possessions. They just continue to show great poise, and I think Oti had a great response to a question. I think the Pac-12 Q. We had talked the other day about trying to has really prepared us for this moment. Whoever we counteract Maryland's experience. You hold play in this next game is going to be like our 11th game Shatori 6 for 18 in shooting, Bri missed a bunch of against a team on the 1, 2, or 3 seed line. And we've lay-ups. What were you able to do to frustrate played three or four against 4 seeds. them? KELLY GRAVES: Well, you know, we're big. We're So we've played against a lot of really good teams. taller than the average team, so that helps. Even We've played them tough. We've won a few. So I think though we committed some fouls that I wish we our kids, the more you win these close games and wouldn't have, and we'll talk about that in the day in these big games, they start to believe. Like they said, between, we can match teams' size and make it they really don't have a lot to lose. difficult for them to shoot over us.

Q. Coach, most people get one 40-year-old I thought inside, playing them to a one-rebound freshman point guard in a generation and you had difference was key. They've been crushing people on Vandersloot. Talk about what it's like to have the boards, and we did a good job there. They didn't somebody like Sabrina. She acts so much older kill us on second-chance points. And I think lastly, they than she is as a freshman, the way she takes didn't make a three. And if you can make these guys responsibility for things and the way that she shoot twos, you've got a chance. seems to conduct herself and take care of business. Q. Just to jump off that point, not just the fact that KELLY GRAVES: No doubt. Good comparison. Her they had no made threes, but they only attempted and Courtney share a lot of the same traits that have six. What were you doing schematically to chase nothing to do with skills on the basketball court. them off the line? They're great leaders. They're hard workers. They KELLY GRAVES: Well, that's just what we were doing. have a competitive spirit that defines them. I think they We were trying to chase them off the line. You can't

Rev #2 by #166 at 2017-03-25 18:43:00 GMT page 3 of 5 leave No. 12, and I thought with Walker-Kimbrough, we and I thought Maite Cazorla tonight was tremendous. did just a really good job of getting over the top of She rarely gets the attention she deserves, but she had screens. I thought consistently, defensively, our team an excellent game, excellent floor game. Didn't come did a great job of staying focused. You know, out I don't think, and just solid at the point. sometimes you might go under a ball screen and that gives her license to take that shot. We consistently I think that's just kind of how we play. We share the went over the top, and they really played it well. ball, and I think we play the right way.

I think it's just kind of a focus thing. And again, they Q. What is it about Oti that you think she's raised didn't get a lot of opportunity in transition, which is her level on the biggest stage to help you guys where they get it. Slocum and Walker-Kimbrough, they advance? do a good job of probing and pushing the ball in KELLY GRAVES: Well, she's fearless, won a couple of transition. That's when they get those kick-out threes, State championships in high school. She gives us an and we just didn't allow a lot of that tonight. energy that others don't, and let's face it, we got in some foul trouble inside, so she had to play a little bit. Q. You guys have been a pretty good transition But I completely trust her. She's so versatile and defensive team all year, but you actually are 236th attacks the rebounds with abandon. You know, and her in the country in terms of the half court. That's the confidence, you can see, her confidence is just rising whole season, though. Is there a dramatic game in, game out. difference in how well you played defensively in the half court? What is responsible for this run in Q. You guys have shot the three well all year. What large part? were you able to do, especially second half, to KELLY GRAVES: No doubt. That's the area we've open things up for yourself inside? improved the most from day one. I don't know if you KELLY GRAVES: Well, I think they may have pressed a have any game left, but if you'd played us early in the little bit. They started to pick us up full court, put some season, you'd have been an All-American. We couldn't pressure on us. That spreads out the defense, and we guard anybody, and we've gotten better and better and were able to reverse the ball quickly and find that better, and I think that's where our team has shown the shooter in the corner. They switched a little bit more to most growth. Your defense is what's tested in the a zone in the second half, and again, tried to trap ball tournament, and we've passed it three times, those screens, and when you do that on us, we have elite tests. passers, Maite Cazorla and Sabrina are great passers, so they'll find Bando over there. They know where Q. What was the locker room like? Obviously Mark she's at. Campbell's birthday and he's now got that winner stays shirt going, you guys got the mojo in the Q. You talked about experience. Your players locker room. talked about experience. Would you say that was KELLY GRAVES: I gave them double trouble tonight. I the answer, because it seemed like you had an did the same thing. It was pretty euphoric. It was answer for every time Maryland shot a switch, pretty euphoric. We had a lot of fun, and I'm just whether they went to full court, whether they went excited that they're excited. I'm wet all over the place to zone, whether they double-teamed a player. You here, but it's really worth it. There's nothing sweeter guys always had an answer. than victory. And the second question is do you think that gives you an advantage against a top-ranked team like a Q. You had five players that went into double digits. UConn or a UCLA or whoever wins today? Just talk about the distribution of the ball on offense. KELLY GRAVES: Well, you know, the experience thing KELLY GRAVES: I thought offensively we were on now, the point is kind of moot because we have three point tonight. We had a few too many turnovers, as games of experience now in this tournament, like I they already talked about, but I thought we had long, said, plus a tough, tough Pac-12 schedule. drawn-out possessions. I thought in that stretch in the third quarter we started to separate a little bit. They Yeah, I think in our league, if you knew our league, were switching up their defenses, and we were able to there's different teams, different styles. We've got the hit Lexi Bando a couple times in that corner, and those teams that slow it down and really focus on defense. are big lifts. You know, she can get three at a time, it We've got the athletic teams that like to push tempo just makes us a lot tougher to guard because we've got and pressure-defend. So we've kind of seen it all at Ruthy inside that demands some attention. We have this point, and now it's just a matter of our players Sabrina, who can just do a lot with the ball in her hand, executing, playing smart, and we have really smart

Rev #2 by #166 at 2017-03-25 18:43:00 GMT page 4 of 5 players, and it helps to have two elite play makers in see me uptight. I'm not going to overplay the next Maite and Sabrina who have excelled on an opponent's hand, just like we didn't overplay this one. I international level. just think that's what you've got to do. I think kids like the consistency. If you build every team up and they I think we're prepared going in, and my staff does an can't play, you start to lose credibility. I think awesome job. I'm blessed with the best assistant consistency has always been the best medicine. coaches in the world who prepare these guys for game situations. Plus we let them know that we've had success as a lower digit so that they can believe in their coach a little Q. No matter what happens in this game that's bit. You know, you kind of play on any advantage that being played right now, you're going to have a you can have. But listen, I've never scored a basket in chance to make some history, either by being the the NCAA Tournament. It's all about the players. It lowest seed to ever make it to the Final Four or a truly is. chance to have the type of upset victory over UConn that no one has ever done. No one has ever stopped a streak that long. Have you given yourself a chance to think about that in these moments afterwards, and do you think a team like this, a team on a roll, and a team that doesn't have enough experience to necessarily know what they're doing is the best position to do it? KELLY GRAVES: I don't know. I don't know. You know, we obviously haven't been in this situation. These guys haven't. It's going to take -- either UCLA or UConn, it doesn't matter. It's going to take our absolute best performance of the year to move on. And quite frankly, I haven't really even thought about it yet. I'm kind of taking this win in. Just happy for my team. I truly am. I'm proud of them and just happy for them. I mean, they've worked really hard, and I know, so has Maryland, so has everybody else has worked hard, but this is a really special group, and they're showing that right now.

Yeah, I'll enjoy it. Talk to me tomorrow. I might have a different answer for you.

Q. One other person that doesn't seem to get enough credit around here is you. You are now the first person to take two double-seeded teams to the Elite 8 in the history of the tournament. Let's talk for a second about you and what you're doing to get these teams prepared and why this doesn't seem to be a problem for you. KELLY GRAVES: Well, I wouldn't say it's not a problem. I mean, you know, I don't know. I think I just have -- I'm able to compartmentalize. I'm able to put things in perspective. I don't really ever get too high or too low, try to keep the kids focused. The one thing I have been able to do over the years, I think this is my ninth or tenth win as a double-digit seed. I think it's just throw out the seeds, who cares, we're a good team. We are a good basketball team, we're in the field, we're a good team. And I always say a good team with nothing to lose is a dangerous team.

I think our kids just can play loose because they don't

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