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BIG EAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 6, 2016Harry PerrettaSamantha WilkesChicago, Illinois Creighton - 57, Villanova - 48 HARRY PERRETTA: It was like 30 years ago when I used to watch Kathy Meehan shoot at St. John's. I was flashing back to the Big East Tournament at St. John's. No, I mean, I thought going into the game, I thought we could hold them somewhere in the 50s, but my problem is I don't know if we can get 50 in a game. We're a very poor offensive team, been like that all year. And I told the kids, I told them after the game, I said, for us to have finished second in the league, won 19 games shooting the ball 38 percent as a team is like -- it's not -- it's like changing water to wine. It's not rising from the dead, but it's water to wine. So in one aspect I can't really be disappointed in their performance throughout the year. I mean, obviously I wish we could shoot it better, but that's something that we just don't do very well. It is what it is. So I can't take away from what they've accomplished because like I said before -- I had somebody look up the stats. How many teams across the country shoot 38 percent as a team and have a winning record? I think it's only like 10 percent. So that aspect I really can't say anything harsh or negative about the performance because we just give a lot of effort but we just don't seem to make enough shots. Q. Samantha, you were in a zone this afternoon. Why was that? SAMANTHA WILKES: I mean, especially like when Caroline went out, I guess we had kind of a different dynamic with the team and realized that a lot of different people need to step up in order to win, especially against a team very similar to us like Creighton. I don't know. I guess I just kind of felt that you have to take the shots in order to make the shots. He always says that to us, too. You just have to take the opportunities one play at a time, and a lot of us tried to do that. As he said, we missed a lot of shots, but just game to game with Caroline out, I have to step up. Q. How was this group able to come together with Caroline's injury because you guys really have fought so hard and you won your last three regular season games? SAMANTHA WILKES: A lot of it has to do with everyone knowing the rules. That's a big thing with our team, especially everyone knowing what they're good at, knowing what they need to do, and especially with Adrianna Hahn been being able to step up and play the point guard position. I think it was a lot easier than we expected in some types of ways. Everyone still does what they do, and I guess the only thing we do ask is making those extra shots, like he said, having the person that you know is going to potentially drop 20 a game. I guess that's what we're missing right now. Q. You look at assist numbers today, you won't see -- they'll think maybe there was a lot of hero ball being played out there, but with Creighton's motion offense constantly getting the ball from side to side and driving off of it, how difficult was it to switch those screens, identify players, identify shooters and keep people in front of you today? SAMANTHA WILKES: I think Creighton's offense is very similar to ours in different ways, but they are very efficient with setting their screens and constantly moving the ball. At times I think that that's their biggest strength, just moving the ball quick and kind of getting the defense very confused. But I thought we did actually pretty decent on most of the screens, fighting over the screens, especially playing them twice previously, we got kind of used to that. But I really just thought that offense was our struggle today. I think we did what we needed to do on defense, and they made a lot of crazy shots. But overall we're pretty used to getting over the screens because that's like our offense, as well, so not that much of a transition. Q. I guess what's your take on the way you guys defended the motion, the movement, and it seemed like they got a lot of plays off their one-on-one dribble drives? HARRY PERRETTA: Yeah, that's what they're good at. The difference in this game today was they have more players that can make an individual play, especially when the shot clock is running down, because both teams actually play good defense for like the possession. But it's whoever can make enough individual plays, and when Caroline went out, this is one of the teams that we don't match up well against. I don't care about records. Records are totally irrelevant. You know what I'm saying? It's match-ups. And without a breakdown player like Caroline, it's difficult for us to break them down at the end of the shot clock like they did to us. So that's what they're good at. They wear you out, and that's what we're pretty good at, too, we wear you out by trying to guard our motion and then trying to dribble drive it at the end of the shot clock. Once Caroline went out, the burden became too much on Adrianna. If you noticed, I was telling our associate athletic director, Adrianna's stats have gone down each game since Caroline went out, because teams are keying on now so it's a little harder for her. But that's the difference in the game is their ability to make individual plays, I thought, at the end of the shot clock. Q. Coach, how valuable was it for Adrianna to take the reins and have this in her freshman year? HARRY PERRETTA: It's going to help us a lot next year, you know what I'm saying? She actually did better than I thought. I've got to be honest with you, I did not think -- look at our turnovers. We turned the ball over five times today, so that's with a freshman point guard, and Caroline leads the country in assist-to-turnover ratio. We've been turning it over only five or six times since they went out and that's the shocking part. I was really shocked we kept our turnovers as low as we have since she got hurt. But it's helping Adrianna in that she's getting valuable experience now, where before she was the off guard. She didn't have to handle the ball. Now she's got to handle it under duress, which she's good for. Always good to get your butt kicked a little bit when you're a freshman. Q. And you know you're taking this team to a postseason? HARRY PERRETTA: Yeah, that's what I'm hoping. I'm hoping we get somewhere. I'm hoping we did enough to get in the NCAA Tournament. If we don't, we'll get in the WNIT. She'll get to play some more games, which is good. It's good for our team for the future. Got to look at things from a realistic standpoint. You can't live in a fantasy world. Q. The rebounding today, I guess Creighton talks a lot about your program, that you won't beat yourself and kind of focus on making sure each possession counts. And today they really limited your second-chance opportunities by making sure -- limiting you to one shot at a time. Since you are aware that you struggle to shoot the ball consistently, how big of a factor was Creighton limiting your second-chance opportunities? HARRY PERRETTA: Oh, crucial. Because if you're not going to shoot it well and you can't get second shots, then you have zero chance to win because you can't score enough points. So I think them doing that and limiting anybody's second chance points is always important, but especially for us when you're shooting it that poorly. So I think they did a great job. The funny part is, we're like mirrors of each other the way that we play. So both teams play very similarly, but that was really important for them because we didn't get any easy baskets on offensive rebound put-back or something. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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