BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 6, 2025

Natasha Adair

Tyi Skinner

Jalyn Brown

T-Mobile Center

Arizona State Sun Devils

Postgame Press Conference

Iowa State 96, Arizona State 88

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

NATASHA ADAIR: Sorry that we are a little delayed. Commissioner stopped us in the hall, and he chatted it up with Tyi and Ice. I can say I have been a part of a lot of different conferences, but for the Commissioner to come to the locker room to greet the student-athletes is first class. So I just wanted to start with that.

We talked about finishing on empty, and I thought our group did. We talked about controlling the controllables, and we left everything on the floor. I mean, it was two-, three-possession game, and I just thought every player that toughed the floor showed up today.

I told our players it was not obviously the outcome that we wanted, but to finish the fourth with 29 points, you know, when you go through the stats, and we pretty much led in every category except one. That one we really don't have a lot of control over.

But it wasn't for lack of fight or lack of toughness, and we played to the final buzzer.

Q. You guys were outscored 28-17 in the first quarter. I think it was after Brown hit her third three-pointer, you were visibly frustrated when you called the timeout. What were you trying to get your team to do defensively that you felt they weren't doing when she we want on her run?

NATASHA ADAIR: We had to contest the three. The goal was we know it's either a three or a layup. We remember playing them last time and what they shot from three.

So that was the game plan right out of the gate. So the frustration was not giving them those looks. When we called the timeout, we did a phenomenal job after, after that first quarter. But starting the game, we needed to make sure we contested those threes and run them off the three-point line.

Q. Defensively with her, she ended up with more than 40 points. On the defensive match-up, was there ever a thought of trying to switch and have someone other than Hanna guard her?

NATASHA ADAIR: Oh, we did. Did you see it? We had Hanna guard her, we had Ice guard her, we had Heavenly Greer guard her, we had Kennedy Basham guard her. Take your pick.

I will give her her just due. She had a heck of a game. At this level there are elite players on the floor. I look at our stats, and we had four players in double figures, almost five. I'm never going to shy away from a player who had a phenomenal night. But, yes, we had more than one person guard her.

Q. Coach, like you look at the second quarter, you look at the third quarter, close quarters, the fourth was your guys'. The first after she hit those threes, after Brown hit those threes, it seemed to get away. What did those shots do for the momentum?

NATASHA ADAIR: Anytime you are on defense and flying around and you close out, and depending on 3 seconds left on the clock, it lets the air out of the room. But this time of year, it's next play.

We made adjustments. So when I look at that, that happened, but then you look at the second quarter, the third quarter, the fourth quarter, you can't spot any team, especially Bill Fennelly does a phenomenal job. They're a really good team, and they shoot the ball extremely well from three. So the plan was to not let them.

But, again, am I excited that that happened? No. But we made an adjustment, and the team responded.

Q. Tyi, when you checked out of the game at the very end, you and Coach A shared an embrace. You've battled through a lot to be here. You played a long, pretty successful season. What does the future hold for you, and what were the emotions like at the end of this game?

TYI SKINNER: I don't know, I was just grateful. I don't know what the future holds for me. God got that in His hands. So I just trust in the process.

Yeah, no, I don't know. The emotions, I mean, I'm never too sad, I'm always going to play basketball in the future, whether I go pro or stay in college, I have another year of eligibility.

So I'm not too worried about too much. Coach got me, my family got me, God got me. And I gave everything I got to ASU. And wherever I'm at, I'm always trying to give my all on the court. I don't have no regrets when it come to basketball, and not too sad, I can keep playing in the future.

Q. Jalyn, tough way to end the season, but what do you take from how you've played alongside Tyi this year, the first time you guys have shared the court together?

JALYN BROWN: Like Tyi said, it's just a blessing. I never take basketball I don't want to say too seriously, but it's basketball, you know? You want to enjoy it. You want to live in the moment.

Being here at ASU, I met so many amazing people, and our seniors are the sweetest people you'll ever meet. Be able to play with them, it's really fun. I learned a lot along the way. We have all learned a lot along the way. But just to continue to thrive and push through all of the adversity that we face, as long as we're doing it together, I'm on any ride.

Q. Coach, I know this wasn't the outcome you wanted. What positives do you take going into next season?

NATASHA ADAIR: So many. We competed. And with a team that pretty much lost three to four starters throughout the season, this team never quit. It was next woman up. We got to see so many bright spots.

We were in there talking about Heavenly Greer stepped up. We talked about Hanna Miller, who hadn't played pretty much all season until the tournament, had a big tournament for us. Adison Novosel is a senior, but she stepped up.

I guess for me, it's about how we grew together. We couldn't have predicted the adversity that we were going to face. We can show them how to respond and how to deal with it, right? That's a growth moment.

So right now I'm not thinking about next year, right? I want to enjoy this time with this group. And there were so many take-aways. They're in the record books. Jalyn got her 1,000th point at ASU. Tyi got her 1,000th point at ASU. Tyi is in the record books. There are so many firsts for this group. We will highlight those and celebrate the contributions and then figure out what's next.

Q. Jalyn, the outside shot wasn't falling for you early like it did last night. Mentally, how did that affect your early shot?

JALYN BROWN: Shooters going to keep shooting. Amen? Basketball, it's a bunch of highs and lows, but if I had clocked out of the game early because I missed a couple of shots, we wouldn't have been as close as we were to winning. For me, I mean, I see the shots go in all the time, so I miss a couple I'm like it's okay we gonna make the next one in and my teammates encouraged me the entire time to stay positive, and to do what I do, so that's what I decided to do in the second half coming into the game.

Q. Another season that didn't go your way. You had a lot of injuries, but getting to the Big 12 Tournament, winning the first round and being able to put up a fight against Iowa State, how did it feel? Your reflections on the year and being part of leading ASU into this new era in the Big 12?

TYI SKINNER: Grateful but never satisfied. I think it was the first time in six years. It's good to do it in our first year. Hopefully it will give us momentum going into next year. Just grateful but never satisfied.

JALYN BROWN: I think we have work to do. With the NCAA and how everybody is just moving, you don't even know how things are going to end up next year. So you have to continue to thrive in what you have and believe in each other, because all you really have is the person next to you when you are on the court.

Q. There were a lot of fouls called. How much harder does it make it to play good, quality defense when the whistle is like that?

TYI SKINNER: Extremely hard. You're playing the whole game -- I know no basketball player wants the refs to get too involved. You want to leave it up to the players. So just playing against that -- it's my first time out of the five years being in college to foul out. So even 40 free throws to 18, but it's nothing you can really control. That's above us, but it is hard to play when the refs are so much involved in every possession, every play.

JALYN BROWN: It's kinda scary. You don't want to touch nobody, you don't wanna breathe on anybody too hard, but I will say I think our team did a good job of adjusting. We had a couple of people foul out, but the people that came in were ready. You kinda just gotta do what you gotta do in the moment, and I think they did.

NATASHA ADAIR: They said it all.

Q. You were so effective playing zone yesterday against a team that struggled from the outside. The first quarter they shot pretty well, but was there ever an idea of to play zone?

NATASHA ADAIR: Not a chance. Not a chance.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you so much.

NATASHA ADAIR: Thank you all.