PAC-12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 3, 2021

Mark Trakh

USC Trojans

Postgame Press Conference

USC 71, Arizona State 65

MARK TRAKH: Again, I was proud of the way the kids bounced back, especially in light of our difficult last two weeks. Arizona State has got a really good team and a gritty bunch, and they beat Arizona a few days ago.

I thought it was a good game. Both sides played well. We had a good first half. Arizona State had a good second half. It was just a well-played game, and luckily we were up by six or seven points. I was proud of the kids. I was proud of the way the kids played. I've got the two Jordans with me right now, and both Jordans played very well. Jordan Sanders and Jordyn Jenkins did a nice job, and I was proud of the entire team.

Q. Just what did Endyia Rogers bring to this game tonight?

MARK TRAKH: She got us going. She handled a lot of pressure and she got us going and played at a really good tempo, made shots early, and then I think she found her teammates. She found Alyson Miura, she found Jordan Sanders, did a nice job penetrating and kicking.

I liked her overall point guard play. I liked how she did shot shots and got her teammates involved, and we need that moving forward. As we get all thee kids back and mature as a team, we need really good point guard play that gets the ball to other people. I mean, she's going to get hers, but she's learning now that she can really trust people like Jordyn Jenkins and Jordan Sanders and Alyson Miura, and that's what we need.

We need that trust that we had today, and I think that's where she really excelled today in that she got the ball to our shooters.

Q. You guys lost a tough game to UCLA; what did you talk to the young ladies about in regards to having a positive attitude and moving forward and putting that game behind?

MARK TRAKH: Well, you know, it's difficult. Like you look at all the teams. Because of this COVID situation there's been ups and downs and things happening. Our kids, this hasn't been easy. I can speak for my team, and I'm pretty sure a lot of coaches feel this way, but this hasn't been easy.

Kids test every morning. We test like eight times a week and they're isolated and they haven't seen their families in a long time. It wears on you. It really does wear on you.

I think they regrouped. They regrouped and they want it to end well. They came to the Pac-12 tournament. It was a competitive game; both sides played hard. But I was really proud after those three games in a row that they came back and they played.

We've got a good ballclub and we've got a good ballclub moving forward, so I'm really happy that they came and played and played so hard and played so well tonight.

Q. Jordyn Jenkins tonight, the 16 points were her career high, eight of ten from the floor. How has she grown over the course of the year and what impressed you about the way she played today?

MARK TRAKH: Well, the thing about Jordyn, is you've got to understand, she was out for a year with an ACL and she only came back, January what? Jordyn just came back to practice in late December and wasn't able to play until January, a couple weeks in January. Jordyn is going to be good. She's just going to get better and better and better. She's only a freshman, has got four more years after this, and I think she's going to get better.

We'll get to work with her individually, work on her moves, have her move out a little to where she can shoot the three. We are really excited about what Jordyn Jenkins is doing right now. She had 14 against UCLA too, one of our few bright spots in that UCLA game. I'm excited about her. I think she's going to be a heck of a player here.

Q. Obviously excellent offensive performance tonight, shooting 65 percent. What improvement did you see in the offense since the past couple games?

MARK TRAKH: I felt that we shared the ball and I felt my point guard got it into some kids' hands that could really shoot the ball, and she did. I don't know how many assists Endyia got, but she got it in the hands of some kids that could really shoot the ball, and they did what they do well, that's what -- we took good shots. We set up our teammates for good shots, be shared the ball, we passed the ball, we went to different areas on the floor, went to Jordan Sanders for a while, we went to Jordyn Jenkins for a while, went to Endyia for a while, went to Alyson Miura for a while. No. I thought it was really good.

Q. How did the team's chemistry and energy shape today's win?

MARK TRAKH: A lot. You know, chemistry, it's hard during the COVID time to really get good chemistry, because again, it's hard on the kids being isolated so much. Little problems become big problems because they're so tired and everything else. The chemistry was really good tonight, and moving forward and moving into next year, we've got to work on really good team chemistry.

We talked, and COVID kept us from doing our team bonding activities that we usually do in the fall. We're going to be able to do that next year. We're going to be able to bring people in, and they were missing all that. We're spending all our time trying to get them through, talking to them, everything else.

But, you know, chemistry is going to be an important factor moving forward, and we've got to work on building great team chemistry, and I think this game was a great step in a direction, like I said, especially in lieu of our last two weeks.