ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 3, 2023

Megan Gebbia

Jewel Spear

Elise Williams

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Postgame Press Conference

Louisville 74, Wake Forest 48

MEGAN GEBBIA: Yeah, I think this was a difficult third game for us in the sense of not having a chance to prepare. Even though we've seen them once, it was a while ago, and they have been playing extremely well since that time.

You know, the pressure obviously caused us problems, and if I were Jeff, I'd pressure us too, since we didn't have a point guard on the floor.

I just have to give a lot of credit to Elise because she's played three games out of position, still scoring, still trying to orchestrate everything, and laying it out on the line at that position. That's not an easy thing to do. I think I appreciate all that she's given us this season, and having to do a lot for us. I just want to make sure I said that.

And obviously Jewel means a lot to the program. She's the type of kid that always has belief and is always positive and wants to build Wake Forest women's basketball.

When you have two players like this, I'll take it against anyone. I just want to say, kudos to them.

Q. Is it fair to say that today's 18-ish point deficit, even though you did cut it to 10 by the half, but it felt different than yesterday's deficit that you-all faced?

MEGAN GEBBIA: I don't know that it felt different. It was just a different team and a different style of play. You know, we talked about one of the hurdles to cut it to 10 by the half so we could work from there. And we didn't come out in the third quarter like we did yesterday, unfortunately. We started with a couple turnovers, and then they had made baskets. That's what felt differently to me was just what happened at the start of the third quarter.

Q. Coach, your offense asked for a lot of ball movement and player movement. I was wondering how you thought your team adapted to it and how it came together in this tournament.

MEGAN GEBBIA: I don't think we really adapted well throughout the entire game. I think we weren't able to hit cutters to the basket like we had been able to, and we didn't get the penetration later in the game, so we started setting ball screens.

I think these two here really tried to get to the rim. I think if we had finished some of those shots early, it might have changed kind of how the flow of the game went, but we didn't finish them.

It's important to kind of attack and score easily against teams, especially in the tournament, so they have to kind of restructure their defense. But, yeah, I never felt like it flowed like it should have.

Q. Coach, you faced a team with fresh legs. You've played two games already. Was that in any way a factor today, or was it simply the pressure that Louisville applied all game long?

MEGAN GEBBIA: I think it was the pressure. I don't want to blame the fact that it's our third game in a row. I just think -- you could see it in the fourth quarter. I think that's when it became evident to me that we were tired, that we ran out of gas at that point.

I talked to the bench a little bit about why this is, why we need a deeper bench that can contribute at both ends because they can we can sub these guys out and make it through on that third day.

Yeah, I just think it was more or less that. Then obviously they had a little bit longer rest, and obviously they could practice and prepare a little bit.

I just think for us, it's about gaining some more experience coming off the bench so we can sub. That's it.

Q. In the context of how the regular season ended, 0-5, and then what you did as a team here to fight to get to postseason play and kind of make a run and make a statement as a team, what do you think that says about this program going forward, kind of at the end of your first year here?

MEGAN GEBBIA: I mean, we're trying to turn around the culture and the winning ways of Wake Forest, and I think this is the first step. You have to be able to do it in postseason. Yeah, February didn't go like we wanted it to, but we felt like we learned some things from February and take it into March.

We still have some games to be played, hopefully in the WNIT, and we want to continue to grow and learn from those games so we come into next year much more experienced and much more prepared for the season.

Q. Coach, what has been your main takeaway from this first year at the helm of Wake? And obviously the season is not over hopefully, but what's the biggest lesson that you've learned being in this conference and with this program?

MEGAN GEBBIA: I mean, I think you just can't take anyone lightly. Not that I ever did, but it's really more evident. Jeff and I were talking about that before the game, like, you think you have a 10-point lead and that's something, and that's nothing.

So I think it's the competitive spirit of every player on every team is just different. The ability to put the ball in the basket, like that's a big one. We need to work where we're shooting the ball better from the field. I think that's one of the things we're going to be working on and different ways for us to put the ball in the basket.

We've grown a lot. You see the evolution of Demeara Hinds and even Elise, she played a lot as a freshman, started, but her offensive game is growing, along with Jewel's. We hopefully go into next year with a little bit more experience, a little bit more scoring so we can take some pressure off our defense because our defense has been keeping us in games.

Q. Elise and Jewel, three games in three days, obviously you ran the full gamut of emotions and played a wide variety of teams. What did you two learn about yourselves and about your teammates this week?

JEWEL SPEAR: I think the main thing we learned is, like Coach said, we've just got to put ourselves in a better position in the regular season. Playing three games back to back to back is hard, but like Coach said, it's not an excuse. We're competitors, and as long as we're teammates we're going to compete no matter what.

But the regular season matters. With motion offense you have to be in good shape, so going into the off-season we're going to be in great shape. It's physical. We're getting bumped and scratched, clawed, whatever, but it doesn't really matter. You just have to keep fighting through.

I think that will help us mentally going into the postseason, just knowing the offense now and knowing what to expect, it will help us be more prepared next year, as well.

ELISE WILLIAMS: Same thing. We go out every game ready to play competitive, but it is tough playing teams like Louisville who do press the entire game. So I do think that played a part in our fatigue later on in the game and things like that.

But pretty much piggy-backing off what Jewel said, we're just trying to get better postseason so we don't have to worry about fatigue and things like that next year.

Q. Jewel, why is it important for you to build this at Wake specifically?

JEWEL SPEAR: Yeah, Wake believed in me coming out of high school. Not a lot of other programs did. I wasn't really highly recruited or ranked, per se. But Wake believed in me, and I believe in it.

I feel like I really want to make a difference in the program as long as Elise and the others, my other teammates in the locker room, and you saw a little glimpse of it throughout this tournament. I don't think a lot of people had faith in Wake Forest coming in, thinking we were going to beat Florida State coming back from that deficit, but we believed. And when you have teammates and coaches that believe in you and other people, it makes it a joy to play with them.

Q. Jewel, what was the level of frustration brought on by the Louisville defense in terms of you wanting to get into the rhythm you needed to help your team?

JEWEL SPEAR: Yeah, Louisville's defense is very good, very aggressive. Mykasa Robinson is a very good defender, so credit to her. They're very physical, just trying to get me out of rhythm, bumps while I was cutting through the lane. My teammates were trying to set me screens, and that's just me needing to set up my cuts a little bit better and learning from that.

But they had great defense, and they got us today, so credit to them.

Q. I know you guys are hopefully looking ahead to the WNIT to close the season, but looking ahead to next year with your second year with Coach Gebbia leading the program, what's next for Wake Forest?

ELISE WILLIAMS: Some banners in the gym. Simple.

JEWEL SPEAR: Piggy-backing off of that, just growing, taking it game by game in the nonconference and growing in the conference game. We lost a lot of games by, like Coach said, one or two points and that hurt us. So just taking every game serious. You can't wait until the very end to try and make a run. You have to take every game serious. And, yeah, to get banners, you just have to win games, so take it game by game and put it together.