NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - COLORADO VS CREIGHTON

March 18, 2022

Jaylyn Sherrod

Mya Hollingshed

JR Payne

Colorado Buffaloes

Media Conference

Creighton - 84, Colorado - 74

THE MODERATOR: We will start with opening comments from Coach Payne, then we'll go right into questions for the student-athletes first.

JR PAYNE: I just would like to start with just how proud I am of our ball club, not just today, but every day. We have an incredible group of young women that represent our program on our campus and our community and across the nation and just an incredible way. They're remarkable.

Our effort was fantastic tonight. I think our lack of depth really hurt us. With Tameiya out and Sila coming off of injury, I think that in the end wore us down, and that was difficult to overcome.

I thought we played good basketball tonight, just two really good teams. Creighton is a great team, and the things that they're great at sort of in some ways, sort of the couple things that we're not so great at. So we knew it would be a tough matchup, but proud of our ball club, as I am all the time.

Q. For both of you, I know you guys were not satisfied just being here, but now that it is over, have you been able to take any moments here in the last half hour or so to kind of reflect on it was a really good season despite this?

MYA HOLLINGSHED: Yeah, Coach talked about it post-game. Overall, we have to look at the things we've been able to accomplish, things we've been able to achieve throughout the season, and be grateful for being put in this position. It sucks. You never want to lose, making it this far. But as she said, there's only one team in the country that will win at the end of their season.

It's just something we have to think about and just cherish each moment that we've had.

JAYLYN SHERROD: Yeah, it's just been a great season overall. I'm really proud of this ball club. I'm really proud of our seniors, how they showed up every day because they've been here for so long. So finally -- like we didn't get the outcome we wanted, but to finally see the work pay off, they're just passing the torch to carry next year. Yeah, I'm just really proud of this ball club.

Q. Jaylyn, not the result you want, but a career high 27 points for you. Was there some urgency for you to put the team on your back today?

JAYLYN SHERROD: Not really, not at all. I just came out and played my game in all honesty. Mya talked to me before the game. The coaches talked to me before the game to just enjoy the moment, so that's just what I did.

Q. Mya, it seemed like you guys frustrated them early in the game, got out to a big lead, and midway through the second quarter, they started to figure out your defense a little bit and get their offense going. Did you see that shift a little bit where about mid-second quarter on, they were able to run their offense?

MYA HOLLINGSHED: I don't think it was things they figured out. For the most part, a few of us were in foul trouble, so that kind of put us at a deficit. That kind of talked about the depth we lacked during that stretch.

Just overall, I think our second quarter was just a bad quarter for us. We weren't executing offensively. We weren't executing defensively. I think it all just kind of bundled up together, and that's when they got on their run, and they were able to exploit different things that they were able to find throughout their offense that we weren't able to pick up because we didn't have help side or we just didn't have the necessary help. Yeah, I think that was part of it.

Q. It seemed like you guys had kind of everything going right for you in the paint and then nothing right for you going behind the three line. What else did you -- what things were going right for you, and what did you see going well for you?

JAYLYN SHERROD: Yeah, I think, again, paint touches were pretty much, they couldn't stop us in the paint, whether it was attacking or feeding the post. So I think we just kind of took too long to, I guess, kind of force feed the paint and look at the paint.

I mean, we've been working on shooting all week, so I think a lot of us came out and just took pride in hitting shots that just didn't fall for us today. But at the same time, I don't think like -- we have some good shooters on our team, and we have faith in our players. It just was the way the game went. We just couldn't hit outside shots. Not to say we weren't open, but we just couldn't hit them.

Q. Mya, now that it is over, have you been able to digest it at all that this was the final game for you?

MYA HOLLINGSHED: A little bit. It kind of sucks that this is the last game, but I'm very proud of my team and the things we've been able to do, especially proud of Peanut Sila, Aubrey, who hasn't been able to play but just been a presence in the locker room and talk to us and say things from her perspective of being on the bench instead of in the game, and we take that to heart.

I love what we've been able to do. I love the heart that we've had since July honestly and just the fight and will to do something that we said we were going to do and we actually did it. So you can't be more happy than that.

Q. Jaylyn, you're a junior, so you can come back next year. You're missing some really important seniors, but how big of a deal is this for those of you coming back to experience this and be around this group and maybe take some of that into next year and show some of these younger guys, or younger girls, what it's like to get to this level?

JAYLYN SHERROD: Yeah, like I said, I think the seniors set a foundation this season and set a standard that it's not -- just trying to get back and learn. We're going to have a pretty young group next year. So I'm just excited, and I'm really thankful that our seniors came in, did the work, showed people how to grind it out and stick to the plan because I know they've been here for so long when it wasn't looking good.

Yeah, I'm just really thankful that our seniors were able to set a foundation and set a standard that this program can continue to push forward.

Q. Just kind of going off of them a little bit, as we talked before this, you were worried about this because they're so different from anyone you've ever seen. You said it's not a great matchup. When you watched that, how frustrating was it to see Creighton do things that your team didn't match up well with them and it was hard to stop?

JR PAYNE: Yeah, I think we guarded pretty effectively, all things considered. If we're really good at 98 percent of things defensively, the 2 percent that Creighton lives in, I mean, they live in that 2 percent. So we knew immediately that it would be a really tough matchup for us because like I said, we're good at a lot of things. What they do is not a strength of ours this season.

So I'm actually very proud of how we guarded. We had people doing things that they've never been asked to do defensively, and we did it actually pretty effectively. Again, I thought our depth hurt us down the stretch. They started getting us on cuts and things. We guarded the three-point line pretty effectively. Then they start curling to the basket, and we just didn't guard that as well as we needed to.

Yeah, it was a tough matchup, but you live and learn and move on.

Q. Can you just bring us into the locker room after the game and the message you said to them and kind of what the overall vibe was.

JR PAYNE: Mya touched on it a little bit, but just we're not defined by one game even though the outcome of this game was very disappointing and we wanted to win and believed we could win and wanted a chance to play Sunday and continue to keep going.

Our backs were up against the wall in must-win situations for six weeks, and we continued to answer the bell every single time. That's very difficult to do when you think about everything that these young ladies are working through, being full-time students, just crushing it in the classroom. I mean, it's a lot. It's very difficult. So for them to have continued to answer the bell over and over and over again was pretty incredible, and I was very proud of them for that.

Q. Coach, I know there was still a second half, and you guys started in the second half very well. That 9-0 stretch in the last 1:28 of the first half seemed to really change the vibe, especially for them. I mean, you go from potentially leading the first half to down five. How much do you think that changed things, maybe the tone, at least for them?

JR PAYNE: I thought their second quarter and our second quarter, I thought they were really good and we were not so good. We had foul trouble, and they hit some big shots like they do, they're so good, offensively, and they give up a three, pretty uncontested three to their best shooter at the buzzer, that is heartbreaking, but our response was really good.

To be able to have that happen down the stretch but then regroup at halftime and come out aggressively and have a good third quarter like we did, I thought that was -- as I'm talking about answering the bell, I thought our team continued to do that.

Q. You had that great third quarter, 10 of 12 shooting, but they still increased their lead because they played a really good third quarter as well. They talked yesterday, they're so comfortable in this building because they've been here several times. Do you think that made a difference today?

JR PAYNE: I don't know. They're two really good teams. I thought they played -- I mean, they played really well, and that's what they do. So I don't know. I mean, I don't know. I can't really answer that. If we'd have played at home, we would have felt more comfortable. This is not a home game for them. They've been in this building more than we have, but that's no excuse for why they won.

Q. Can you walk us through that flagrant at the end of the game and kind of what was discussed there? And how, if at all, that may have changed anything towards the end of the fourth quarter?

JR PAYNE: Yeah, I definitely think it had an impact on the game to get two free throws and the ball back is very much a momentum changer. If you know Kindyll Wetta, you know she wouldn't harm a spider walking across the floor. So it was just a trap. I think it was incidental contact, her hand hit her face, but anything above the shoulders is going to be -- I don't even think it was intentional -- I think it was intentional, not flagrant, I don't know.

Kindyll would never try to hit someone. So it was no big deal to me. I was just disappointed that they got the free throws and the ball back.

Q. We just talked about Mya and summing up her career. What can you put into words about Mya right now?

JR PAYNE: Mya's meant so much to this program, both on the court and off the court. She's come. She's earned a college degree. She's excelled in our community.

She's a very strong, capable, confident woman that is going to have a great professional career. I'm very proud of her for everything she's accomplished. That also includes Peanut, Sila, Aubrey, who are our other seniors. All four of those young ladies have a huge impact on our program.

Their impact will be felt years from now. Freshmen will come to Colorado, and they will know about those four, their work ethic and their loyalty and their dedication to making something special happen at CU. So for that, I'm very proud of all of them.