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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT


March 8, 2014


Andrew Calder

Diamond DeShields

Stephanie Mavunga


GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA

Duke – 66
North Carolina ‑ 61


ASSOCIATE COACH ANDREW CALDER:  Congratulations to Duke.  On this night they were better than us.  They are well coached and have good talent, very good talent.
We made some mistakes down in the end we'd like to be able to replay, but you don't get to do that, so we'll learn from that and we'll drive on.  I thought overall in the game we gave good effort.  I do not like the fact that they out‑rebounded us, and I thought that was the difference in the game.

Q.  Coach, the 10‑second rule is new, and maybe I don't understand the rule.  But did you feel the officials missed a 10‑second call at the end?
ASSOCIATE COACH ANDREW CALDER:  I do not think so.  But it could have happened, but I do not think so.  But we'll look at it.

Q.  Coach, what were some of the mistakes at the end that you were talking about earlier?
ASSOCIATE COACH ANDREW CALDER:  Well, I thought we had a chance to make a couple of ‑‑ we missed some shots.  We didn't miss the shots on purpose.  I thought we had a chance.  We didn't make a bad pass on purpose.  I thought at that point you've got to be very careful with the basketball.  And I thought we were a little bit wild with the basketball at that time.  I thought we turned down a couple of shots and then we took a couple of tough shots.  And we have to learn the difference between a good shot and a tough shot.
Diamond shooting the 3 at the end, we were down 2.  I said to her, Take the shot.  That's the bottom line.  She's won us a lot of basketball games.  And in the end she's going to have the basketball in her hands.  She can shoot it or pass it, but she's going to have the basketball in her hands.  That's my loyalty to her, because she can make great plays.  She's a great player.  She's an All‑American basketball player.

Q.  Obviously somebody had to lose this game, unfortunately.  The 40 minutes of basketball between the two teams, can you remember many games that were played better than that?
ASSOCIATE COACH ANDREW CALDER:  I don't know.  We had some at Duke when we came back, down like 16 at half or something, made a couple 3s and came back.  I'm not sure there.
I'm sure for the fans that was a great basketball game to watch.  A great game.  Unfortunately for the Tar Heels it didn't turn out like we liked.  But congratulations to Duke, and best of luck tomorrow night against Notre Dame.

Q.  Two questions, can you give us an update on the status of Danielle Butts, and related to her, how much did you miss her energy plays and her hustle?  It seemed that you were trying to dig down deep to get someone to replicate what she brings in the game and weren't quite able to do it from your bench.
ASSOCIATE COACH ANDREW CALDER:  No question, I understand what you're saying.  And people can talk about numerous things.  They can talk about you played three days, they played two days, etcetera.  We are young, they're older.  No, there are no excuses.  We have players that come off the bench that have talent.
Did we miss her?  Yes, she's a high energy player, and played outstanding last night.  No excuses.  It's not just about basketball.  It's about life, too.  And we don't have excuses.  We would love for her to play.

Q.  I guess back to the first question, what's the nature of her injury?  Does it seem to be serious or is it unclear at this moment?
ASSOCIATE COACH ANDREW CALDER:  It's unclear to me.  They thought they may have to take her to the emergency room at that time, but they did not.  So I'm not exactly sure from there.

Q.  What sort of challenge did Haley and Elizabeth present to you guys on the boards?
STEPHANIE MAVUNGA:  They're tough rebounders and they know how to get in there.  And I remember after the last game, their coach wasn't really happy we out‑rebounded them the first few two games.  I'm sure she got on them.  They did a good job of getting in there and shoving us out of there, whether it was legal or illegal.

Q.  Ladies, either one of you or one after the other, did you see a different Duke team on the floor today than you did just last week?
DIAMOND DeSHIELDS:  No, I didn't.  It was a different North Carolina team as far as rebounding went.  We didn't crash the boards like we should have.  Duke does a lot of things well and honestly, they did them well the past two times we played them.  But I just feel like we outplayed them the last two times and this time they ended up doing it better than us.
I didn't really see a different team.  They were probably more energized.  But other than that, I don't think so.

Q.  Diamond, you guys have had some ups and downs this year.  You played very well and had some disappointments.  Going into the NCAA tournament, what do you think you need to focus on most to have a run in the tournament?
DIAMOND DeSHIELDS:  Well, first, we've got to get our heads up.  We've got to move fast, and we've got to have heart, and as far as the game goes, we've got to crash the boards better.  I think we've just got to play hard.  We've got to understand that we can play with anybody, and that should carry over each and every game, and we'll be all right.

Q.  Can you take us through that sequence, I'm sure it happened fast, but what do you recall about it?
STEPHANIE MAVUNGA:  Like you said, I got the offensive rebound, and I've been getting offensive rebounds in the back, and just didn't fall that time.  I pump faked it.  And maybe I shouldn't have pump faked it.  And I went up and then Ka'lia Johnson got the rebound.
The whole time I had my hand on the ball, so my hand was already on the ball, and me and Ka'lia were tied up, and the ref decided to go with the foul.  So respect his call.

Q.  Did you think that last 3 was going in?
DIAMOND DeSHIELDS:  Yes, I thought it was going in.  I wanted it.  I wanted the ball.  Actually, I knew it was going in.  It came in and came out.  So I was very confident in my shot when I took that one.  But, you know, things happen.  I'm all right with it, I'll just work harder and be ready for the next game.

Q.  Xylina McDaniel always seems to be a rhythm player, that when she gets into a groove it carries over to the rest of the game.  In this game she got in early foul trouble.  In the past that seemed to upset her rhythm.  Do you think that's going to happen in this game, because she was a big factor in your prior wins over Duke, and she wasn't really a factor today?
ASSOCIATE COACH ANDREW CALDER:  They didn't give her the same open looks they did the other games either.  They gave her some wide open 3s in the other two games and she knocked them down.  I thought they shrunk the zone a little more when she got the ball in the high post, and didn't allow her an opportunity to drive the way she likes to drive from the high post.

Q.  Maybe a difficult question, you've seen Duke three times, Notre Dame once, how do you see tomorrow's championship match‑up?
ASSOCIATE COACH ANDREW CALDER:  Duke, as I said, is very talented and well coached, and Notre Dame is the same.  What Notre Dame brings to the league is what Connecticut did for Notre Dame.  Connecticut taught Notre Dame you've got to execute.  You've got to be able to score.
And this is a league that's been more defensive dominated, athletic and defensive dominated.  And Notre Dame brings to the game precision, excellent precision on the offensive end, and good position defense.  And they're going to make everybody in the league have to step it up to play with Notre Dame because of the precision they bring on the offensive end.  I think the league will start to change.  I thought Brenda Frese changed the league a little bit with her offensive Maryland team in the past.
I think it will be ‑‑ it's hard to say.  Notre Dame is very good.  Duke is very good.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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