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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS: BATON ROUGEMarch 23, 2014Christal CaldwellMike CareyAveree FieldsBria HolmesBATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA West Virginia – 76 MIKE CAREY: First of all, congratulations to Albany. They had a great season, didn't quit, played extremely hard. So give them all the congratulations you can. I thought the first half we moved the ball extremely well, attacked, moved the ball, swung the ball, found the open man, hit shots. In the second half we kind of just stood around. We didn't attack anymore, and they started attacking us, and we put them at the foul line. But in this type ‑‑ I always tell the players in all tournament settings that we normally don't play well the first game. There's no doubt we'll play better the next game and play harder for 40 minutes. We're looking forward to next game. We know LSU, great basketball team, and we're playing on their home court, so we know it's going to be a tough game. Q. Bria, talk about the run when their big girl goes out, you go on a 16‑2 run and you held them scoreless for almost six minutes. Was it more the defense or was it more just the attacking with the middle opening up? BRIA HOLMES: I felt like it was more of our defense, and us just getting out running and everybody looking for each other, just attacking the basket and just scoring. Q. Bria, just when they rolled the press out in the second half, what about just the nature of their press got you guys flustered? It seemed like they did a good job forcing you guys to make some mistakes. BRIA HOLMES: Well, I think it was mostly us just not focused or just letting them get us under pressure because we had worked on it in our scout. I think it was more of us and just not attacking it as much. Q. What was the key to neutralizing Richards? You got her in foul trouble pretty early and she could never get going. AVEREE FIELDS: We knew that she ran the floor well and I think that was kind of our focus just to get back into playing our defense, so I think when we play our defense we're a pretty good team, and that was our game plan for her, as well. Q. You guys talked about different elements that were involved in guarding, putting pressure on the guards and fronting and weak side help and all of that. Where do you think that the biggest problem was in her getting the ball and being able to be effective? AVEREE FIELDS: I think we did a pretty good job having ball pressure and even getting weak side but she had high over us, so sometimes the passes just got there whether we were in position or not. Overall I think we had a good game plan, but if the weak side wasn't there or if there was pressure on the ball, sometimes we would get there, but I think we did pretty well. Q. For any of the players, just talk about what you have to go through Tuesday and what you're up against playing the host team and playing‑‑ you're the 2 seed, they're the 7 seed. Just talk about that and having to play on the road. BRIA HOLMES: Well, I think this team is used to playing away in front of big crowds on someone else's home floor, and we usually tend to focus a lot more. Coach Carey tells us that when we're away or playing in front of a big crowd, we focus more than we do at home. If we just keep that pattern, I think we'll be fine on Tuesday. Q. Christal, I know you guys have talked throughout the season about maybe you enjoy the pressure of a closer game and certainly you let them back into it in this one, but what was the discussion in team huddles and timeouts that you made sure you came back and didn't let this get completely the other way around? CHRISTAL CALDWELL: Well, enjoying close games and this game I think is like completely different, but we just stuck it out and we came together in huddles and just said, listen, we can't let this one get away and they're not going to give up, which they didn't, so we just had to come together as a team and come out with a victory. Q. Christal and Averee, what was the mood like in the locker room afterward? Coach carry mentioned he's confident you guys will play better Tuesday night. CHRISTAL CALDWELL: I think that we were excited we got the win and we took care of business, but we definitely were like we won this game we've got to move on to the next one, so we're focused and we have a goal ahead of us and we can't let these teams stop us from getting there (that was Averee, all the unidentified players were). Q. Christal, how much is this a confidence builder for you shooting wise? You struggled a little bit in Oklahoma City with your shot. CHRISTAL CALDWELL: Well, I just tried not to think about it as much and just‑‑ if I hit the shot, okay, if I don't, then help my team in other ways. But it always feels good to make shots and just to be able to help your team. Q. Coach, talk about the run, their big girl goes to the bench. What were you able to take advantage of when you thought the game was going to be out of reach? What were the keys to that big run in the first half? MIKE CAREY: I thought we passed the ball extremely well, and we attacked. The question was asked here of the players, their press, was it that much better the second half than the first half, and absolutely it wasn't. We just started passing back and forth instead of attacking it. We got the lead, and we normally don't do that when we get a lead. We try to build on a lead. But we just started getting a little bit lazy with our passes, instead of attacking, throwing over the top and getting two on ones and that type of stuff. So I thought that was the thing. And then I thought we were passing well, we were hitting in the middle and we were passing the ball and we were hitting some shots. Defensively the second half I thought the adjustment we made, instead of fronting and stuff, we just tried to push their big girl off the block a little bit and stay in behind her. Q. You talked about the respect factor and all that coming into this one. Clearly any team can beat any team in the tournament. How do you use this one and say you can't overlook anybody, there won't be any 15 seeds from this point on? MIKE CAREY: Yeah, nothing against Albany, but we play like that, LSU will beat us. Let's just face it. We're going to have to play for 40 minutes. It's going to have to be a 40‑minute game and play hard for 40 minutes and concentrate and attack for 40 minutes and play defense for 40 minutes. It's going to be a tough game. We knew it was going to be. Give Albany, again, a lot of respect. They didn't give. They come out the second half and took it right to us. We can't let LSU do that to us. They have some big bodies, also, and have some people that can score and drive it and that type of stuff. We're going to have to play a lot better. Q. That said, do you think this team is okay playing ugly at times, if you will? You will get the final numbers with Asya and her numbers and Bria struggling like she normally does from outside shooting and you still found a way to win. MIKE CAREY: Yeah, for you that followed us throughout the year, we played a lot of ugly games and still was able to win. You know, we really don't get caught up in pretty. I'd rather win ugly than lose pretty. You know, I think our team understands that. When we're not playing well, we still have to play defense. We still have to rebound, and we've got to shut‑‑ if we're not scoring, we can't let them score, so those things are big for us when we're not playing well. Q. You got Lanay in early today and it seemed like she battled pretty well. What did you think of her performance? MIKE CAREY: Well, she just felt she was our next best match‑up when Asya got in foul trouble because of her height and long arms and that. She was the next best match‑up. I thought until she got tired‑‑ when she was fresh in there, I thought she did a pretty good job. Q. Are you disappointed with the way you played today, or would you have been surprised if you had come out here and won by‑‑ gotten up by 22 in the first half and won by 44? MIKE CAREY: I mean, I think you all know me, I'm never satisfied. Am I happy with the way we played the second half? Absolutely not, because if we play that way against LSU we're going to get beat. You know, again, we have not played for two weeks. We got up by 20, 21, 22 points, and it just seems like we got in a little bit of foul trouble, and then I told them after the game, people coming off the bench, you've got to come in and give us a spark. We can't come in and lose a lead because we have somebody in foul trouble.  That's something we've done a pretty good job of all year. We'll be fine. I'm not worried about it. Did we play well, no, but Albany probably had a lot to do with that. Do we have to play better against LSU, absolutely. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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