BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 5, 2025

Natasha Adair

Tyi Skinner

Jalyn Brown

T-Mobile Center

Arizona State Sun Devils

Postgame Press Conference

Arizona State - 82, Cincinnati - 75

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Arizona State, Natasha Adair, student-athletes Tyi Skinner and Jalyn Brown. Coach?

NATASHA ADAIR: What a win. We have been talking all year about putting it all together. And we also talked about tonight was a new season. What did we learn from the old season, bringing it into this.

We said what is it going to look like when all players are clicking on all cylinders and we do it together? Well, I think we showed you. Everyone stepped up. It was a team effort, and we survive and advance. We get to play another day, same time tomorrow. So really proud of our group.

Q. You mentioned all year about trying to put together a full 40 minutes. Tonight it felt like you guys did that. How great does that feel?

NATASHA ADAIR: Feels great.

TYI SKINNER: It feels great to put that together and win the game and win strong. It felt good.

JALYN BROWN: I think we wanted to see it happen. When it happens, it's completely different. And when everybody is a part of it is what makes it even better. These numbers are crazy, we've got 10, 26, 10, 15, 20, 27. So to see it come to fruition with everybody, it was amazing.

Q. Tonight was the first night all year you guys shot 50/40 splits from the field. What felt good about the offense today and jumpers?

TYI SKINNER: Oh, yeah, the Wilson ball today. It was good. The court is good. They did a great job setting up the court. The rooms was good, the basketball was good. It's all good, in my opinion.

NATASHA ADAIR: If you know Tyi, it's ball about the ball. She loves the Wilson ball.

I will just say we worked together. It's an offense that they know, but I thought we shared the ball. We gave up the good shot for the great shot.

I thought we were really good defensively. And I think our defense was what really predicated how we were going to score offensively. We scored in the half-court, in transition. They were shot ready.

I just thought everything clicked. But I was really proud of how we dictated the tempo defensively.

Q. You guys did a great job with Jillian last time you guys played her until that fourth quarter. This time you kept her pretty limited the entire game. What was the strategy against her?

NATASHA ADAIR: The zone for sure and then double-teaming her, right? Making it hard for her. I thought our execution on our traps were on point. We wanted to arrive on the catch. We didn't want to let her turn.

And we put her on the free-throw line last time. She shot 21 free throws. We were very intentional about being straight up, making her take a tough two. She is a phenomenal player, but she is going to score, and I think the execution defensively to either get the ball out of her hands or, when she caught it, make it hard for her to score, we did that tonight.

Q. Jalyn, it looked like you were doing everything you wanted to do out there. What were you seeing on your end?

JALYN BROWN: I think this year I've been guarded on so many different ways, like every game I'm coming into the game thinking I wonder how they're going to guard me this time. As long as I have space, I'm good.

I had my 1,000 career point tonight. My teammates looked out for me, fed me the ball where I needed the ball, and it worked out in our favor today.

Q. Overall, Tyi, the ball was moving a lot better than it has in other games this season. How does that feel for you guys when you see all your teammates getting involved and everyone playing well?

TYI SKINNER: It always feels good, everybody touching the ball and getting good looks. It's a great feeling. Everybody wants to be a part of it.

JALYN BROWN: I think when your teammates get involved, everybody is hyped up and everybody is willing to go that extra mile. Just to see all my teammates do that today, we had some people do extraordinary things, and it was really nice to see it happen all together.

Q. The entire team shot amazing. Coach, what do you think the defense gave you guys that led to 50% from the field?

NATASHA ADAIR: Well, we talked about, for one, playing in space, right? We were playing off ball screens, scoring in transition. So I think it was multiple ways. Then second-chance opportunities. We were crashing the offensive glass.

But I thought they were going to draw to Tyi, and they're going to draw to the Ice, and I thought they did a phenomenal job making that extra pass, finding their teammates, the post players inside, Nevaeh, Kennedy Basham went inside and out. So just locating the open player. But we got 'em in space. And when we were in space, like you said, anything was able to happen.

Q. Big win tonight for you all, came in as underdogs. How do you carry this over into tomorrow night's game against Iowa State? Last time the two teams played, I believe you lost by 7. But the aggressiveness that you all showed tonight, I think you all hit six three-pointers together, aggressive to the basket, how do you channel that to carry over to tomorrow night?

NATASHA ADAIR: I think the first thing is they have to scout for us, too. We will be prepared for them. And they go inside/out. We have to contest the three ball, something that we know and something we have been working on all season.

I think us coming off this game and so many people contributing, that's a confidence booster. We will go tonight, we will watch some film. We will get prepared. But for them it's either three or it's inside. Audi Crooks in itself is a game plan, and you're not going to stop her. But we'll have a strategy against her. We have to limit them from three. If we run them off the three-point line, make it hard for them, we're hard to guard in transition, and they have to game plan for us as well.

I think coming off this game gives us a ton of confidence going into tomorrow night.

Q. Coach, Cincinnati, they were tough in the fourth quarter, cut it to 3. What were you telling your ladies after that timeout?

NATASHA ADAIR: Calm down. It's a game of runs. No team wants to lose. It's survive and advance. I think the timeout was for us to calm down, take a deep breath and finish it on defense.

They were shooting the three ball really well. So we had to make sure they didn't get the threes, and where we were shading, we were leaving three-pointers open. We had to make sure the defense rotations were there. And then on offense, not take quick shots. The clock was in our favor. When we got the stop and got it on the offensive end, it was open the floor, slow it down, and use the clock. And we made free throws down the stretch to win the game.

Q. Just more along the lines of the free throws. You guys all season have shot amazing from the line. How much is that something you work on and take to -- try to perfect?

NATASHA ADAIR: I will let you guys answer, do we work on free throws?

JALYN BROWN: Yes, we work on them all the time, and we have practices where we have to make 50 free throws before we leave. I think it's about concentration and knowing yourself. A free throw is not something -- it's not like you're shooting off the dribble or have to do a catch-and-shoot, it's more like a routine and everybody sticks to their routine.

TYI SKINNER: You've got to practice it and work on it and it shows.

Q. Jalyn, congrats on your 1,000 points.

JALYN BROWN: Thank you.

Q. What does it mean for you to do that in this tournament set?

JALYN BROWN: It's a blessing, honestly, my teammates were encouraging me before the game, some of them knew how much I needed before I did. Just to have that support was motivation, and I'm going to do whatever I need to do to help my team succeed in this league and in this conference.

Q. Coach, congratulations on your win.

NATASHA ADAIR: Thank you.

Q. I saw Tyi Skinner bringing the team together and calming them down. What makes her special as a leader?

NATASHA ADAIR: How much time do I have, right? Well, she is a leader and she is a winner, right? I think having the ball in her hands, being the point guard for our team, they rally around her, right? And Tyi has been in this moment, she is old hit now, five years in the game.

Anytime you have a winner, you rally around her. She calms everyone down. She leads when she is out on the court. And when she huddled them up, it was just: Calm down. We've been here, now let's finish.

That was one of the things I heard her say, is "winning time. Let's finish."

Q. Tyi, Jalyn wasn't the only one that had a milestone today. You tied the single season three-point record for ASU today.

TYI SKINNER: Thank you.

Q. How does it feel, how far you've come in a Sun Devil uniform and the fact that your name is going to go in the Sun Devil history books?

TYI SKINNER: It is a blessing. I'm grateful for the opportunity. I feel like since I got here the Sun Devils and ASU done nothing but support us and put us in a position to be successful off the court, preparing us for games, our facilities, just everything, everybody that we have behind us.

So I'm grateful, and I did it with my teammates and my coaching staff and everybody, really, so just grateful.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you so much.