BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 9, 2024

Brenda Frese

Shyanne Sellers

Brinae Alexander

Faith Masonius

Target Center

Maryland Terrapins

Postgame Press Conference

Nebraska - 78, Maryland - 68

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon. We'll start the Maryland press conference with opening statement from Coach Frese.

Go ahead, Coach.

BRENDA FRESE: We're obviously disappointed to not be playing tomorrow with the success that we've had in this tournament the last ten years.

Proud of this group for how they've come into this tournament with their dog mentality. We really felt like if we kind of kept their big three at bay, that we had a great shot. But you had the Jaz-fest with Jaz, who came out knocking down those threes, 30 points. The other two I thought we were able to control, but I thought she was the difference in that first half and the eight threes that they made.

Love how we played the last three days. We fought, and we battled both ends of the floor. We have a locker room full of a lot of competitors that have fought and stuck through a lot of adversity this season. You see that they're built for March, and we're ready to take on the next tournament.

Q. Shy, or any of the three of you all, you guys worked so hard to kind of get right back in it after they extended it in that first quarter. What was the challenge, or what did you need to do a little bit more to kind of get over that hump? You guys closed the gap and were right there, but it seemed like you just couldn't make that last little push to kind of get over the edge.

SHYANNE SELLERS: I just thought we were right there, like you said. I thought we just didn't make a shot when we needed to push over that hump.

I feel like, if we would have grabbed that lead, we probably would have never looked back. We missed a lot of wide open shots that are usually uncharacteristic of us. I feel like we were right there.

THE MODERATOR: Brinae or Faith, do you want to answer that question?

BRINAE ALEXANDER: I think Shy pretty much covered it.

Q. I just want to know from you guys' perspective, shooting obviously determines so much of the game and a lot of it just like variance, it just depends on how you shoot. Shy, you just said you missed a bunch that you normally make. Is it frustrating at all? What's the feeling when Jaz is making shots from the logo? It's kind of hard to play defense on that? What do you anticipate with that?

SHYANNE SELLERS: I just think we've got to find ways to make easier shots, get to the rim. We settled for a lot of outside shots and not attacking their smaller guards, plain and simple. That's pretty much it.

Q. Coach Frese just mentioned the dog mentality, and that's been somewhat of a theme for you guys through this Big Ten tournament. How would you define that, and also how do you think having that mentality will come in handy when it comes to March Madness?

FAITH MASONIUS: I think for us the dog mentality is all about not letting any other team beat you except yourself. Sometimes that's all Coach B would say to us this whole tournament is nobody can beat us except ourselves.

It's really about just coming in and being resilient, going hard, don't let anyone in front of you stop you, leaving it all on the floor. And I think heading into March, March Madness, it's just going to lead us the whole way through.

I'm very confident in this team, and I'm very excited to see what we can do with that dog mentality. I think we really took it to heart.

Q. Brinae, I'm just curious what did you see from their defense the way they were guarding you today? Nebraska's coach just said they wanted to stay in your pocket, knew you had been shooting pretty hot throughout the tournament and throughout the year. What did you see from their defense? I don't think you had your first three attempt until, I think, midway in the third quarter.

BRINAE ALEXANDER: I think they were face guarding me. They were very worried about me. They were jamming me coming off screens, jamming me pretty hard. That's really it. They were face guarding me. They knew that, if I got threes off, it would open up the floor for us, but they were just face guarding me.

Q. Faith, in terms of the post defense today, Alexis just talked that you guys were switching 1 through 5 it felt like and then kind of fronting the post. Was that the defensive game plan you guys had? And also, how much do you think that kind of opened up the perimeter shot but also limited them inside, which you guys did a good job of?

FAITH MASONIUS: Yeah, she's a great post. Our defense, we switch everything. Everyone knows that. It's really just a defense that we play all together. So if a guard gets on a post, we just do our thing. We front them and try to get on a white line.

They are a smart team, and they have a lot of great shooters, so having those shooters on skip pass also makes it difficult to have our defense obviously and protect and helping in the paint.

So I think they were really smart when it came to skipping the ball and trying to get the ball inside. We did the best we could.

Q. I wanted to ask the same thing about Nae. How did you try to counter the way they were guarding her to kind of get her some more looks? She hit those two in a row, but otherwise they kind of did a good job of taking her away today.

BRENDA FRESE: It was a nice move. They went to a box and one, and that made her really work and face guard her. We tried to get her to become a screener to try to work through that, any time you see that face guard or a box and one.

Honestly I thought, when you look at the box, having five players in double figures, I thought we'd have a really successful game. To hold their other two with Markowski and Potts under their average was massive. Jaz Shelley, she was the X factor that as a fifth year and determined this game ultimately.

Q. Coach, you guys really did well defensively, I thought, in the second half. In the first obviously they made some shots. Was there anything that changed between the halves that you saw, or was it just a couple threes that they might have missed versus make? Just explain to me the defensive change.

BRENDA FRESE: One thing, just to clear up, we fronted all season. We front the post, great white line help. They did a great job of skipping the ball. It's a really hard matchup when you talk about their inside-outside presence.

Once Jaz started really going off, I mean, the basket got bigger for everyone. Coley to go 2 for 2. Some of those players off the bench haven't shown that in the past. Their day, their game, give credit where credit is due. They were able to sustain it.