Post Game Quotes: Toledo
3/19/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
On the decision to press…
We practiced it a little bit. It was kind of a collective effort, I guess, at halftime. I was a little bit worried. They slice their point guard up and through the middle, usually, in extended situations. I was a little bit concerned about our second tier not being able to handle that kid. Then, that meant that Taryn (McCutcheon) didn't guard her or Shay (Colley) didn't guard her sometimes because of the press, she wouldn't always get matched up, so I was a little worried about mismatches. I felt like it got us going a little bit. It slowed them down enough to just keep them out of the flow, I guess.
On how well the press worked…
I mean, maybe. I'm not sure. She'll answer that. I think it helped us mentally a little bit. It was self-inflicted. I mean, again, that's a team we scrimmaged on October 31, Halloween, and beat them by 35 at their place and it wasn't even a contest. They just played really well. Give Toledo credit. They're a mid-major team that wants to beat a BCS school on their own floor, and I thought they brought a lot more energy than we did for sure. We're a team that I think is young in a lot of areas and in other ways, and haven't always been consistent. We were able to get into our bench a little bit, besides Taryn who played more than 29 minutes. Everybody was getting some minutes. So, hopefully that bodes well as we turn around and get on a flight, I think to South Dakota.
On the halftime challenge…
It's not being rude, but we'd rather be in a different tournament. Obviously, that's what you play for, and I think we had our opportunities. You know, the injury bug really took a toll on us for about six games and we couldn't really get back where we wanted to. Then to go to the Big Ten Tournament, losing four overtimes. It just felt like we couldn't get over it. I think some people think, you know, I was a mid-major coach and we were in the post-season. I'm like, 'OK, great.' If it's not the NCAA tournament, then you're playing for other things. For us, we have different expectations a little bit. We appreciate the opportunity to survive and advance and play in the WNIT. For my team, it's like a mental challenge. They want to be in the NCAA tournament. You should be. That's what you come here for. I think for us, I think it's kind of been a little bit of a struggle to get their mindset and that's a little bit of the leadership piece. I think that some teams that have great leadership and back it up with consistent play are usually the ones that have success. Not all the time, there's crazy things that happen in post-season. I just think that this team has got to learn a little bit that consistency is what matters and leadership is what matters.
On this game being a message…
I don't know. I guess I'm upset because we've scrimmaged that team on their home floor and kind of blew them out the first time. So to make it this close, I don't know. I mean, I think there's things that have been a challenge for us at times all year long. That consistency piece has been one of them. It doesn't matter if it's post-play. We get great post-play when Jenna (Allen)'s scoring the ball and playing well. Then, the next game she's not aggressive and gets her shot blocked. The consistency, I think, sometimes with our players needs to come up and some of that is more aggressiveness and doing your work early. I think we've had some really good practices. The last few days, quite honestly, we've had some good practices, so I think that's been good.
On the explanation at the end…
They put more time on the clock. He just said that he timed it, that it was a timing error, so they put more time on the clock. They said it was .7, but they couldn't (determine) so they put it at .5, and .4 you need to get a shot off, so that's what they explained to me. I don't know. I didn't see it. I thought they inbounded it, took a dribble and started to go, so I kind of thought it was a done deal so I think they must have one official that's an expert timer, so he got on top of that in a hurry.