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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: LOUISVILLEMarch 18, 2017Jim FosterJasmine JoynerChelsey ShumpertQueen AlfordLouisville, Kentucky Louisville - 82, Chattanooga - 62 THE MODERATOR: Coach, an opening statement, and then questions for the student-athletes. COACH FOSTER: Tough game. Questions. Q. Jim, it felt like every time you threw a punch, whether it be late first half, early third quarter, they responded. COACH FOSTER: Yeah, that's what very good teams do. We have to have a score-stop mentality. I thought we had a lot of good looks, but their mentality to come right back at us, you've got to fight that. You've got to fight that. A score and a stop is not how you play the game. Not score, let them score, score, let them score. Especially when you've got to cut it to four. Just pull your shorts up and work that much harder on defense. Q. This is for the players. If each of you will comment on the question that was asked to Coach Foster. Every time y'all made a run, you got it to four, and they'd punch back at you. Is there anything that they'd do or anything that y'all wouldn't do? Why could they always answer? Jasmine, Chelsea then Queen? JASMINE JOYNER: Just like Coach said, they're a very good team, a very athletic team. Sometimes it was our mistakes that would make them get a good look or a good score. So like Coach said, that's what good teams do. CHELSEY SHUMPERT: Yeah, I definitely agree, that's what good teams do, and they just completed it. They had the all-around game. QUEEN ALFORD: I think it goes back to simple basketball, you know? We made simple mistakes that they capitalized off of, and those are the mistakes you can't make against big teams like this. Q. Chelsey, I'll ask you, because you were one of the primary ball handlers against Louisville's pressure. Did you feel like once you were able to get the ball across half court, you felt pretty good about the shots you were able to get? Because you were getting open shots when you all were beating the press. CHELSEY SHUMPERT: Yeah, I think we got good shots. Sometimes threes don't fall all the time, so you have to work around that somehow, someway. So throughout the game, I thought we got pretty good shots. Q. Louisville shot 61% for the game, and it seemed they were able to get the ball where they wanted. Was it their athleticism, their quickness, being maybe a little bigger than you? If players would address that. It just seems they were able to get the ball where they wanted, when they wanted. JASMINE JOYNER: Like I just said, they were more athletic, quick, and they were just a very good team. CHELSEY SHUMPERT: Yeah, they're a talented team, like she said, basically. QUEEN ALFORD: And, again, I think they just capitalized off of our mistakes. If somebody didn't close out, they went around us. If they couldn't get open, they found a gap. That's what good players do. That's what pretty good teams do. Q. Queen, how much more difficult is it to have to go through this loss as opposed to the loss you had last year in Lexington's Regional? QUEEN ALFORD: I mean, it's very difficult because you're almost there, but you're never there, you know? I mean, every time we go through this, it breaks my heart. But every time I try to take the positive out of it, try to take every positive thing that I can that can make me a better person and a better player. That's what you have to do when you have stuff like this, when stuff like this happens. Q. What is the positive you take from here that you took from last year that could have helped you now? QUEEN ALFORD: I think last year I was tentative, so I said this year there is nothing to be scared of. They're just like us. That is something that I harped on. That's something that wore on me and in my heart. Q. Asia Durr obviously was getting a lot of shots inside and outside. Did you guys have a specific game plan to defend her, and if so, how was she able to kind of get around that? CHELSEY SHUMPERT: Asia's just a really good player. She just knows how to get to spots, no matter how you play her. If you go under screens, she knows how to step back. If you go over, she knows how to drive and kick. She's just a really good player. That's what good players do, and I wouldn't expect nothing less from her. QUEEN ALFORD: For me, I think she's a pretty good player, too, but she was a better player tonight, because they did a wonderful job finding her and making sure she got the ball. Q. Jasmine, Chelsey, kind of the same question that was asked of Queen about taking a positive away or relating a loss in a tournament game. Again, how do you balance that, and can you now? JASMINE JOYNER: Well, last year I got in foul trouble; this year I didn't. So I felt like that was very good. And I felt like the tough schedule that the team played this year is going to make them tougher next year. They've got a big group of freshmen coming in, but these girls are going to make them tough, going to make them better. Like I said, I can't wait to see what next year's going to bring them. But Lakelyn, she experienced her first NCAA game, and Coach Foster has to tell her you've got to change your speed. I feel like she's going to get in the gym. So once she keeps continuing that beautiful shot and now she changes speed, she's going to be unstoppable. Q. This is for Queen and Jasmine. You both are seniors. What do you see in your future, and what do you tell the players here that you're leaving behind as they go and look forward to next year? JASMINE JOYNER: My future, only God can tell me. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know. I'm going to put it in God's hands. And I'm going to keep encouraging the girls. Like I just said, they're going to have a good team. I mean, it's going to be five new girls coming in, but we've still got Chelsey, we've still got Lakelyn, Ary, Kei. Going to have a big senior group like we had this year. So like I said, they won't be new to playing any tough teams like they did this year. So, I mean, nothing but the best. Go out there and give it your all. But you never know when it's your last game. QUEEN ALFORD: For me, I'm giving everything to God as well. I don't know what my future will hold. But as far as the message that I would give the team is never get content. Because when you get content, something is just taken away from you. Whether you're high, whether you're low, whether you're this caliber type of player, or whether you're doing this, never get content. Because at any time, at any point, it could be taken away. Q. Jim, the first time you played them, I know you got beat up here. It seemed like the first time, y'all had seven blocks against them the first time. I think you had one girl that had six. Today you only had one block. Was it anything that they did or anything that you didn't do to offset that? COACH FOSTER: Well, we played them a little bit differently. Our issue was -- dilemma was the three. I think they got us from the back side in the lane. I don't think they were playing three bigs at that time. I think they were playing three guards. And I think that's a big difference relative to who we are. I think we match up better with guards, obviously. So their change in the lineup, I think, was productive relative to the amount of paint points they took. Q. Jim, they say (indiscernible) money makes no money. You guys put quite a bit of threes, you had some good looks, but just couldn't get them knocked down, but yet you kept trying. Was there any thought of backing away from shooting those threes and perhaps getting the shots closer in the first quarter? COACH FOSTER: Well, you are who you are. We'll keep working, but mid-range shots aren't nearly as productive, and we did get to the line a little bit when we did put the ball on the floor. As Jas alluded to, I think we've got a freshman, we've got a couple kids, changing speeds, changing tempo is a big deal as you evolve and become a better player. And I think that's something that you'll see players working on in the gym. I think that will help make them a little more successful if not a lot more successful. Q. Jim, you've had a message. On previous tournament losses I know toughness was a message, I believe, for a while. Is there a message you want to leave with today? COACH FOSTER: Get better. Your opportunity to get better is between now and the first time you get together next year. That's how you do it. We do have a very talented class coming in. We'll have -- our best success has been when we have three point guards on the floor, and we'll have that opportunity next year as we've got a couple of really good ones coming in. We've got some good ones already in the program. So that will make us better. We're going to have an overseas opportunity or over-border opportunity next summer. I think that will help us with this group. The rules allow freshmen, once they've started school, and they'll start in July, to participate in that and partake in it. So I like our youngsters, and I like some of these players coming in a lot. As Lakelyn showed this year, a freshman can come in and have an impact right away and be an essential part of who you are right away. And I think the competition in the gym is going to be a lot of fun. Q. Talk a little bit about you guys kept getting close, but it was the transition that they ran on you guys and the interior passing. Was there any answer to that? COACH FOSTER: If you have one, let me know. Transition, yeah. We made the adjustment there. But, again the anticipation of sliding out to the perimeter and cheating in the direction of the perimeter and giving them opportunities closer to the basket, if you make that mistake five or six times in the game and they take advantage of it five or six times, you need to adjust to things like that. I thought we lost the integrity of what we did defensively probably in about 10 to 15 possessions. We didn't need to. It wasn't something they were doing. It was something we were doing. That needs to be tightened up for sure. Q. Coach, you're in this thing leading 8 to 5. They go on a 15-0 run. What were they doing to y'all after you addressed that run? COACH FOSTER: All of the above. Just what I talked about. Scoring in the seam, scoring around the basket, in-paint points. You look at the stat sheet, it tells you all you need to know. Q. You said yesterday, Coach, being aware of Louisville as a team that has a couple star players and a lot of role players. Jazmine Jones was a really big deal for them tonight. Had she been on your radar before? COACH FOSTER: Role players evolve in a lot of different ways during the course of a game and what starts to happen in a game. That's why they are role players. If you look at Durr's numbers across the board, and then you look at Moore, okay, Moore made a decision. She took three shots, but she had ten assists. An immature player might be upset that they only have three shots and try to force and take advantage of opportunities. She made an adjustment in how she was playing, and obviously she must like the Jones kid because I'm sure she had several finishes on passes from Moore. The so her decision to pass the ball, I think, to be a playmaker, made a big difference. Q. What are you saying to your seniors? It's time for them to move on. How proud are you of them? COACH FOSTER: I spoke seniors afterwards. They know how I feel. Q. Anything you want to share with us in terms of what you shared with them or what you said to them? COACH FOSTER: No. Q. How hard is it going to be to see them leave you? COACH FOSTER: Well, they're good kids. I give Queen all the credit in the world. We made a change late in the season, had her come off the bench, and she wasn't a big person. She could have been a pouter. But she was sort of an energy for us. Jas has had to do yeoman's work for four years. We're not a big team, and she has to do a lot of extra things. Moses plays real hard, real hard, and does good things. And Sydney had a job to do, and she did a very good job of doing it. When we needed her, she was there. But I'm not going to tell you what I told them. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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