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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 1, 2017Amy WilliamsJessica ShepardHannah WhitishIndianapolis, Indiana Illinois - 79, Nebraska - 70 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the Cornhuskers, coach Amy Williams and student-athletes Hannah Whitish and Jessica Shepard. COACH WILLIAMS: Disappointing loss for our team here today. We certainly felt like with the two wins out of our last three here heading into the tournament that we had a little bit of momentum and we were going to be playing our best basketball. We didn't show that here today. So it's a disappointing loss for our team. It's a disappointing way for our seniors to end their careers. But something that we hope to be able to grow from moving forward as a program. Q. Jessica, what did Illinois do to try to keep you from having as many looks in the fourth quarter, what did you see defensively? JESSICA SHEPARD: I think they were just doubling down the whole game. But just later in the game, obviously we needed some 3-point shots. So I think that's why you didn't see the ball get inside necessarily as much. Q. (Question off mic)? HANNAH WHITISH: Like Jess said, they were doubling down in the post. You get it in to Jess and she's going to hit the wide-open. She does better out on the arc. And I think since we were knocking them down, we kept shooting with confidence throughout the game and that helped us. Q. (Question off mic). JESSICA SHEPARD: I think -- you know our goal was to be playing our best basketball down the stretch here. Today was definitely not our best game. But I think you have seen the progress of the fight that we have and just the will to win. And I think we've grown a lot as a team over the past since we played them the last time. Q. Amy, offensively what went wrong with you guys out there? COACH WILLIAMS: I mean, I think we kind of just got a little bit tight there and tense. We were pushing just a little bit and kind of waiting for the big play and it just really never came. I think we just weren't in sync there in that last five minutes of the game. Q. (Question off mic)? COACH WILLIAMS: I think that Illinois, it appeared they felt like, without Alex Wittinger, that they really needed to come in and double team inside. And Jessica has demanded that attention all season long. They were bringing double teams from the perimeter, with the guards kind of doubling. We've seen a lot of post-to-post doubles. We've seen a lot of different kinds defenses to pack things in and make life difficult inside for Jessica. And she draws a lot of attention. Today, she was drawing a lot of attention from perimeter double teams which left our shooters open and that's why we were able to knock down some open shots. Q. You mentioned obviously you guys had a couple of wins here near the end of the year. And you played well today. Wanted to win, needless to say. But what have you seen the last few weeks having you optimistic going into next year? COACH WILLIAMS: I think we've had some players that have started to just play with a lot more confidence and they're expecting things out of themselves that maybe we weren't early as we were kind of growing and trying to find ourselves. And so adding some balance scoring, when we've looked at the games that we've had success in down the stretch, we've had other people really stepping up and helping to contribute with the scoring and that's encouraging for us as we move forward. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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