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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT


March 7, 2020


Vic Schaefer

Rickea Jackson

Jordan Danberry

Yemiyah Morris


Greenville, South Carolina

Mississippi State 77, Kentucky 59

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Mississippi State.

We'll open with a statement from Coach Schaefer.

VIC SCHAEFER: First of all, just so proud of my team tonight. I just thought we were really competitive and tough tonight. We showed tremendous toughness. I thought the game would come down to that. We weren't tough in the first meeting. It's something that we've really tried to talk about a lot. We've talked about it more than we've been it.

I thought tonight after a really bad first quarter, we got 20-13, 20-12, 25-12. Really locked down defensively. I know y'all thought Rhyne was going to have a hundred. She had the first seven. She was beating us seven to two to start the game.

Jo showed tremendous toughness and resilience tonight. Got her out maybe two times before I put her back in. Hemingway, my freshman, came in and did a really good job of shadowing her a little bit. But I just thought Jo was great. I thought the rest of our team did a nice job of taking away space for her. You can't let that kid operate in space. She's tremendous. She's a heck of a player.

I thought our entire team did a wonderful job of really carrying out our game plan and handling her. It's not a one-person job. Jo certainly had a lot to do with it. I thought the rest of us were really engaged in what we were trying to do defensively as a team. 59 points is a good job defensively.

I thought this kid right here by far had the best game of her career. She plays 25 minutes, has a double-double, 11 and 10, and five blocked shots. Probably altered two or three more. I just thought she was really a big key to our success tonight. Came off the bench. Jessika wasn't having a very good night. I thought Yemiyah was special. I thought her teammates saw how special she was, and they really were engaged and energized by that.

So again, we beat a really good Kentucky team. I think they're going to be a tough matchup in the NCAA tournament. It's nice to be able to have another opportunity, this will be five years in a row, the fourth time we'll have to play South Carolina here at home tomorrow.

We're going to have a lot of people in the same, similar colors tomorrow in the arena. They'll be in their I believe it's garnet and we'll be in our maroon. The arena ought to look similar. Should be a great atmosphere for women's college basketball.

I'm proud to be a part of it. Proud of our players, our student-athletes. Again, I thought they were tremendous tonight. Really, really had a competitive spirit about them.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Yemiyah, what did it mean to you to get into the game with your team struggling a little bit?
YEMIYAH MORRIS: It meant a lot because, I mean, I've been working really hard all year. Like the coaches always say, just like prepare and wait for your time to come. That's what I've been doing.

I just let it all fall and it came into place. So it means a lot to me that I could help my team get the win.

Q. Jo, you had a very tough assignment with the SEC Player of the Year. She got 26 points. After the first quarter, y'all really limited her touches. What was your thoughts on how you did going up against a player that's bigger, more physical?
JORDAN DANBERRY: Yeah, you know, Rhyne is a great player. She's SEC Player of the Year for a reason. The assignment was definitely tough. My teammates, like Coach said, did a good job of helping me out, limiting her space.

I really just wanted to deny her the ball a lot. If she didn't get the ball, she couldn't make plays really. I really was just trying to stay at the line, make her be a passer, play her for her right hand.

Q. Rickea, you were feeling it, 29 points. I could see in your reactions. What are your thoughts on the way you played?
RICKEA JACKSON: My thoughts on the way I played is I played my game. Let it come to me, let my teammates find me in open spots, and I just made the shots.

Q. Rickea, second straight night you really picked it up in the second half. Does it take you a while to heat up in order to get going?
RICKEA JACKSON: From previous games, you can definitely see that it always takes us the second half to get going. I feel like we played a pretty steady first half, though, today, more than usual. I feel like we did good in both halves today.

Q. Jo, given tomorrow's opponent, how important will it be to not do what you have done in the first quarter, get off to a hotter start?
JORDAN DANBERRY: It's going to be important to come out, punch first, be focused. They're the No. 1 team in the nation. We know we have to go out there and play our game from the jump. We can't let them get a lead on us.

Q. Rickea, you played on plenty of big stages. How comfortable are you in this? Is it second nature at this point?
RICKEA JACKSON: I would say I think about it, but at the same time it is second nature. I don't want to deny my opponent because they're the No. 1 team in the country. We just got to play our game and we're good.

Q. Rickea, we talked about Rhyne a little bit. When there's players on the other side, you'll see them tomorrow who have been talked about nationally, when you're going up against players like that, does it motivate you to have a game like you had tonight?
RICKEA JACKSON: It definitely motivates me to play my game. I don't really get rowdy just by a name. Just trust my teammates, trust myself, make shots, play good defense.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies, for your time. We'll see you tomorrow.

We'll continue with questions for Coach Schaefer.

Q. You're not scared to go with any lineup. You saw something in the post to put Yemiyah in the ball game. What were you seeing that you thought she was going to be effective?
VIC SCHAEFER: I just thought Jessika was struggling. For whatever reason, Jessika hadn't struggled much this year. She's had a tremendous sophomore year. But when Jessika had that offensive foul, just kind of ran over one of their players, I just thought we need to try something else. We need to be engaged and really mentally into what we're doing. Running over people at the time, I thought it was a bad mistake.

Yemiyah is getting better. Johnnie has really done a good job. That's the thing with junior college players, y'all, it just takes a while. Yemiyah, it has taken some time with her. Man, tonight, y'all, she was the big difference. She was a difference player tonight.

I thought our kids gave her the ball in positions where she could score easy. I thought she battled for rebounds. Those five blocked shots, that's what you want out of a 6'6" kid down there with a 7-foot wingspan. That's what Teaira has given us over the past few years. You can get somebody down there, that allows you to do some things that we like to do defensively.

I thought defensively tonight, y'all, we were really special. We held them to 20% in the fourth quarter, 31% in the third. Again, that is a heck of a basketball team. Matthew's got him a heck of a team. They took us to the woodshed the first time we played them.

Rhyne is the Player of the Year for a reason. It takes a really special effort by some really competitive kids to go out there and do what they did tonight. I couldn't be more proud of them.

Q. Outside of Rickea and Yemiyah, another big night from Aliyah. When she's playing the way she is, how much does that change the offensive output and trajectory of what you can do on that side of the ball?
VIC SCHAEFER: I think it gives us another weapon out there. She's shooting the ball at an astronomical number. In the last five games we've got like eight kids, y'all, shooting over 50%. It's an unbelievable stat. I can honestly say I can't remember having a team like that offensively.

Now, early in that first rotation she missed two block outs, gave up two offensive board stick-backs. She had I think deer in the headlights, to be honest with you.

After I got her out and we had a conversation, I thought her next rotation she was more focused on both ends, not just one end. She had the one hiccup, ripped at half court, they went and laid it in. Other than that, I thought her next rotation was really, really good.

She's had that this year where her first rotation might not be good, but the next one, third or fourth one, she finally settles in.

Aliyah, what she provides our team with an extra scoring punch out there on the perimeter is really, really special. When you load her up there with Jo and even Andy on the wing, if you have Jo at point, it gives you three scorers, then you have Rickea who is obviously playing well.

Q. The conversation about freshmen this year in the league has been dominated by the South Carolina kids. Do you think Rickea notices that? Is she motivated by that? Does she care at all about that?
VIC SCHAEFER: I think they know it. I'm not sure how much they care about it. I mean, I think she made the comment after we played them the first time, somebody is going to put a number by somebody's name, okay? It's kind of like what I tell my staff all the time in recruiting. Again, those kids have had a tremendous year and they've lived up to their billing. There's no question about it, they have a really talented group of freshmen over there.

But I like my freshmen, too. They're pretty talented. I'm certainly not trading 'em.

Q. What kind of confidence does it give you going into tomorrow that she has 48 in the last six quarters?
VIC SCHAEFER: I've got confidence. Again, we're on like a 16-, 18-hour turnaround. We lose an hour tonight. Who planned this deal? It's concerning for me. I told my kids we probably aren't going to take our shootaround tomorrow because it's at 7:30. We won't get to the hotel and be close to being in bed by 11:30 by the time you lose your hour. My kids know I hate that. We never pass up a shootaround.

I got to figure out what's best. We've had back-to-back games. Rickea went 38 tonight, Jo went 35. At some point you got to try to maybe find 'em a little time. We've played 'em before. It's been a while. But we've played 'em before.

Q. After the first meeting between y'all and Kentucky, you were mentioning the fact you thought they were more physical and tougher than y'all. You didn't like that. How did you assess that after the first quarter?
VIC SCHAEFER: Again, about the first quarter, we probably got out-toughed a little bit. I thought Yemiyah and Jordan, once they settled in and provided what they did defensively, I just thought we were much better.

I thought Myah has three assists on turnovers, played pretty good defense. We didn't let somebody else get us tonight like we did the first time.

Roper hurt us, Wyatt hurt us a little bit, and of course Patterson really hurt us. Patterson tonight had 13. We just did a much better job on everybody else. Again, understanding Rhyne is a tremendous player. Like you said, she's Player of the Year for the reason. She's probably going to get hers. You just have to make sure everybody else doesn't beat you.

Q. First quarter today was pretty similar to yesterday. Pretty simple question, maybe the answer is more complex. What would you pinpoint as to why your team is coming out slow in the first quarter?
VIC SCHAEFER: I have no idea (laughter). I feel like y'all have watched me all year. I'm pretty in tune with my team. I have a pretty good understanding of who's playing well, practicing well. You guys have talked about how many different lineups I've had. It's always seemed to work out.

These slow starts in the first quarter, I think it has a lot to do with them trying to feel their way. Yesterday I thought our intensity on ball pressure was not very good. Our philosophy, as you know, if you're soft on the ball, there's a good chance everybody behind the ball is going to be soft, too. If you got somebody up there being a dog on the ball, and I'm playing behind the ball, I'm going, Myah is pretty tough on the ball, Jordan is getting after it, I think I'll get up the line here, take this pass away, do my job.

I think that's a big key in what we're doing. I think once we settled in, Jo got that first foul, I know what she was thinking. It happened to her at Kentucky. She got two quick ones. We struggle when Jo and Myah struggle. If both of those kids struggle in a ball game, it's hard for us to win. That's why I got her out tonight and tried to calm her down a little bit, talk to her. I got her out one more time and she was ready to go. I thought she really settled in.

Again, I really think also we're still young. I think we're just kind of feeling our way early and trying to settle down. I thought Aliyah had deer in the headlights a little bit early. Once she settled in, she was really good.

Q. Back to the freshmen. The last time you and South Carolina played in this setting, it was experience. Tomorrow we can see five of the country's top freshmen on the floor at the same time. Does that say something about the ACC, the way high schools are producing players more? What does that say where this game is going to?
VIC SCHAEFER: I think it says a lot about everything you just said. In the SEC we've got, number one, great staffs that recruit. I think Dawn would tell you she recruits to a fit. We recruit to a fit. I think the fact that we have all these good young players playing in this game tomorrow, playing in this conference, I've always said this is a nightmare of a league. You have the best players in the country in this league. You're going to have a bunch of young ones tomorrow playing.

But I think they're the way they are because of what's going on across the country. The time and money that's being spent on young female basketball players, whether it's high school coaches, AAU coaches, parents investing in their daughters. I just think it's at an all-time paramount high that parents are investing in their daughters. It's tremendous. It doesn't happen unless you have moms and dads that want that for their kids. In a lot of cases they may have more than just one, yet they find the time and they spend the money.

Aliyah Matharu's mom used to get up in the morning, drive to the park in the dark, turn her lights on so Aliyah can get shots. Who does that? I tell you who does it, Brenda does it for her daughter that she loves and cares about deeply. There's probably more stories like that across the country. That's just a tremendous story for that kid.

That's just one of the many reasons why an Aliyah Matharu is here, playing at the level she plays at as a freshman. I think it's tremendous.

Again, I think it's the investment. Just like in women's athletics and women's basketball, the universities that are investing in it are seeing the return. If you don't invest in it, you're not going to get a return. It's just like anything in life, in business.

I think that's the next piece is that more and more universities, more and more athletic departments are seeing the benefit of having a great women's basketball program, and they're investing.

Q. Yesterday you mentioned the pressure that you felt for the fans to make it to Sunday. Now that you've done it, does that pressure feel any less or more going back again?
VIC SCHAEFER: I went out and ran my miles today. I ran five down at the creek. All the way down, all the way back, it's littered with literally hundreds of people that are in maroon and white. You walk through the lobby, you go into breakfast and get coffee. It's just so many people around.

Look, I know my fans. I got three of the biggest farmers in the delta here. Really, I know who they are and what their work ethic is. I know the pride they take in the job that they have.

There's hundreds of people like that that are here. Yet they're spending their time, their money and their interest in our program. So, yeah, I feel a tremendous responsibility to the people like that. I mean, to me, I don't want them to go home disappointed, unhappy, early, whatever you want to call it.

I'm proud of the fact we're in the game tomorrow. They'll be excited tonight. They'll have a good dinner tonight and be excited and talk about it. They'll come back tomorrow and it will be a tremendous atmosphere tomorrow for women's basketball. I'm proud to be a part of that.

I'm so proud of my fans. I mean, it's unlike most places. I know Dawn feels the same way about South Carolina. It's really special, really special. Don't think that doesn't go unappreciated by me or our players or my staff. We absolutely appreciate it and we do feel a responsibility to them.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

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