ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 2, 2023

Courtney Banghart

Eva Hodgson

Deja Kelly

North Carolina Tar Heels

Postgame Press Conference

North Carolina 68, Clemson 58

COURTNEY BANGHART: What I want to start with is Greensboro, you guys have been really welcoming and kind and made us feel like we matter. It's been great, so we wanted to stay, and it's not something that I personally have been able to do since I've been here. We knew getting Clemson was going to be a gritty battle. We knew after playing so many games in a row against man-to-man we were going to see zone, which would require different adjustments.

We're finally healthy. I think we needed to get our feet settled here, and this time of the year, you just win one and move along.

We won one, and we're moving along thanks to these two and a couple others.

Q. Coach Banghart, your first ACC Tournament win, how does that feel for you?

COURTNEY BANGHART: I knew someone was going to bring that up, so I should have a better answer. It's remarkable in competitive athletics how each year is so unique. There's a part of me that remembers my journey and a part of me that really doesn't. Someone asked me my best memory I've had as a coach and I thought, all I thought about was this year.

It feels great to win with this group because at this time of year you're the one that has to go in the locker room and tell them we're going home. That's a terrible thing for a coach.

It feels great this time, and for the teams that I wasn't able to get through the first round, thanks for getting us this far that we could do this this time.

Q. How challenging is it to balance trying to keep people rested for the four-game run and trying to win because Deja was on the bench for five minutes and it was 17-5 Clemson.

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, you know, exactly. You try to manage the process of you have to win to advance, but you'd like to have as many guys can see the floor as possible for two reasons. One is a little bit of rest, but also so people see the floor so tomorrow is not the first time they're seeing the floor. For the most part we did a pretty good job of that. There are some guys who played high minutes, but they want to play every minute, all of them. That's the beauty of my job. All of them want to play every minute. This is not the time where we worry about are you tired, are you sore. We worry about the next one.

Deja played about 12 less minutes than she always does. Eva missed a month, so she has some more minutes left in her.

Q. Question for Eva, how good did it feel to have those three three-pointers go in in the first quarter?

EVA HODGSON: It felt great. I mean, naturally I'm a three-point shooter, and so in the past few games it's been a little off, but my teammates really found me, and I was hitting, and it felt great.

COURTNEY BANGHART: What did you call yourself?

EVA HODGSON: I'm a three-point shooter.

Q. You were out for a while and I think this is just your third game back since the injury. What have you been doing to get back in the flow of things, just the things you've been doing in the gym to get back in your shooting rhythm?

EVA HODGSON: Yeah, I've been in a lot with one of our assistant coaches, and whether it's before practice, after practice, even in shootaround and stuff, it's just getting gamelike reps and seeing the ball go in the net.

Q. Coach, you got 9 and 5 today from Destiny Adams in 19 minutes. It fells like every one of those games one of those sort of young guys on the bench is stepping up. How important was she today?

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, the worst thing about getting injured is you're having to play guys that maybe haven't had as much experience as others. The best part is you used them in valuable situations. Destiny has played in so many key situations this year for us this year, so we trust her. Her activity is really hard to prepare for. She's quicker to the glass now than she's been. That was kind of the last part of her game I thought that needed to get better.

But she makes us better. She brings an element of toughness to us that's helpful, gives us some depth. Even played her with Alyssa. We were kind of expecting to play one or the other, but we played her with Alyssa because she was doing the best job on the big, Inyang. I don't know how to say it -- that's what we've been saying. She's so big, and so to guard her, you just have to let her not touch it and Destiny is pretty good at that. Destiny 2.0 is greater than Destiny 1.0 for sure.

Q. Coach, obviously you have a familiar opponent tomorrow. It's been hours, I think, since you faced -- what are the challenges of facing a team six days from game to game? Are there challenges that come with that, and do you think this game being in the tournament will be any different?

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, the challenges are you just have another really good team, two really good teams who play with each other. That's probably the biggest challenge. I'm glad we've seen the floor. We got the 3 seed last year and that didn't really matter because I've learned quickly you either win the league or it doesn't matter. You're just kind of in the tournament.

The benefit as a coach is my prep is going to be -- they haven't played since the last time we played them, so tonight I'll sleep a little bit longer than I typically do in these type of events. I think we know them well. There's a familiarity of opponent that's helpful. We hadn't seen Clemson except for in January. Eva wasn't even playing. There's a little bit of, wait, who are they? And you kind of have to feel them out. I think for both teams, there's a heavy level of familiarity, I think, that helps. You guys play the game, but it certainly helps me. I've got a better sense of the flow of the game for sure.

Q. Deja, your thoughts on round 3?

DEJA KELLY: I'm ready. That's all I've got to say. Round 3, we're ready.

COURTNEY BANGHART: Round 5 for you, isn't it?

DEJA KELLY: Oh, yeah, round 5.

Q. For both of the players, it seemed to be contagious with the three-point shooting. Can you talk about the first half? Eva got it started and everybody just ran with it.

DEJA KELLY: Yeah, it's important for us as a team to find Eva on the floor to get her open shots and get her easier shots, especially when they're playing zone. That was really our emphasis in practice and prep. So I think I found her on the first one, so I got excited when I saw the ball go in the basket for her, and it was lights out since then. But yeah, Eva's shooting definitely helps us as an offensive team. She definitely spreads the floor, opens up the floor for us.

EVA HODGSON: I think even to go off that, too, once I'm able to shoot some and they see I'm shooting, then it gives confidence to others and there's this expectation like it's going in when you shoot it.

COURTNEY BANGHART: I'm so proud of you, Eva, and in your own words.

Q. You've been talking a lot that you're excited to be healthy. What's it like to see your whole team including Eva and Alyssa on this big stage rounding all the way back into form?

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, and as a coach you have options. Alyssa got in foul trouble, then we could go to the bench some, and Deja got in foul trouble, you could go to the bench some, a bench that you trust. So as a coach, when you go into these really tough contests, you want to have options, right, because Destiny might be a great matchup now, but maybe we need more length tomorrow.

You work so hard to recruit them, and then you spend all of your day managing them and limiting them and then when they're hurt it's such a buzz kill. So we're certainly glad to be, and it's the right time to be healthy. I'd like to be healthy all the time, but just gives me more options at a really important time in our season.

Q. In the first game you didn't have that inside us v outside Eva combination against Clemson. That was pretty useful today. Can you talk about that dynamic? Also, Alyssa, I think, played the first almost three quarters before coming out. She must be in really good shape after missing those games.

COURTNEY BANGHART: Yeah, I know you're a runner, too. I wouldn't run with her. I think she could give you a run for your money. The question was about what?

Oh, yeah, just the level of experience that they bring. We haven't had them -- Clemson made a lot of great adjustments. Last time we played them, they cut the court, so they didn't want us to have a reversal, so they really protected the paint in the middle and didn't want the ball through the middle. So we had a lot of corner threes and a lot of pass-pass backs and a lot of things; they totally shifted their game plan. So we had to make some adjustments at halftime because we were sort of expecting their openings to be in a similar way. So they defended instead, they really locked up on the perimeter and they wanted us to play through the high post, and Alyssa is so darned unselfish that she's looking to pass from there.

I give Clemson a lot of credit. They made us beat them a different way than we did the first time for sure.

Q. Deja, I know we were kind of joking after the Duke game about managing minutes, and you were saying you didn't know if you'd be able to rest at all. How grateful are you -- you guys are anticipating playing a couple games after this; just being able to rest 12 minutes today, what was that like?

DEJA KELLY: Well, it also was due to my four fouls, which is insane, so I kind of didn't have a choice. But yeah, it definitely felt good, especially we know that it's a long weekend, and obviously do what we can to make it through the weekend. Being able to sit 12 minutes, I mean, I don't know, it sounds good. It's probably the most I've sat all season really. So thanks, Coach.

Q. To go back to this game, Amari Robinson, 27 points today --

COURTNEY BANGHART: On the day that she comes out when she's going to use her COVID year. That's what I said in the handshake line. I said, you're killing me. I was like ready to say goodbye. I couldn't wait. Then she's coming back. Yeah.

Q. What makes her special?

COURTNEY BANGHART: Everything. She's really hard to guard. She's super joyful. She's a big, physical body. She's very comfortable in the mid range. She has all three levels to her game. She's not fazed. She can go 0 for 7 and she's still smiling down the court, and you're like, seriously? She rebounds. She's been playing forever. She's been in the league longer than me I feel like. She's got so much experience. So Amari is one of the better players in our league, and I was thinking I was going to say goodbye to her, but I'll see her again next year.