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Postgame Quotes vs. No. 18 NC State
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Feb. 26, 2017
Head Coach Joanne Boyle
Opening Statement:
“Just obviously disappointed in the loss. [NC State head coach] Wes [Moore] has a veteran team and how they played tonight is how they’ve been playing all year. I don’t think we helped our cause by some of the things that happened tonight. It hurts for the loss and for the opportunity, but also for Bre’s [Breyana Mason] senior night. That’s not how we want to have her leave on our home court.”
On what was bogging down the offense tonight:
“I don’t know. I think [Moore] did a really good job. He was going to make us shoot outside. He wasn’t going to give us anything in the paint. I’m not going to question anything going on out there, but it was a physical game, and I think we didn’t finish well when we did get in the paint. We left a lot of bunnies on the rim. We didn’t really see other opportunities like the drive and the kicks that were there. I felt like we were just trying to put our head down and go to the basket, and not really see what was going on around us. I thought we could’ve done a better job with that. I think that defensively, they were one of the best teams that played us this year, just based on how they defended us. I think we just were overthinking it. We got ball-stripped when we drove and we had too many balls on the rim. I always say this, but we have to dig our heels in. When things aren’t going well for us offensively, we have to dig our heels in and we can’t give up any opportunities. I felt they ran on us in transition, they didn’t get matched up and free throw line box outs at the end of the game hurt us. We have to be able to clean that stuff up. We have to be more deliberate. It is time to go to war, ACC tournament, one and done. We have to change our mentality once we go in there.”
On her message to the team before the game regarding going into postseason:
“They know. We’ve talked about it throughout the year. Today was more about how great they’ve been with each other and how well they’ve treated each other and served each other. We’ve learned a lot this year and tonight was an opportunity to put it all together, to go out there and enjoy it and to go to war for each other and celebrate Bre. It was more about that. Talking about the tournament, we’ve done that before, so they know what’s out there for us. We’re a bubble team and we’ve got to be able to take care of business.”
On if this was a must-win for the NCAA tournament:
“I mean, we’ve had some really good wins. Obviously, the Florida State win and then when Virginia Tech was ranked. In my mind, we’ve only had our bad loss to Duke. Other than that, we’ve been very competitive, we’ve been in all the games, we have a good non-conference record, and we’re in a tough, tough, league. I think the committee always looks at how you finish and what other teams are doing, but I hope they can, like every coach will say, look at our body work, look at what conference we’re in, look at the teams we’ve played lately. We have to take care of business in the tournament too.
On how she feels about this team going into the tournament:
“I think it’s kind of what I said before – when you go to the tournament, you’re going to war. No team is coming in at this time and changing who they are. You’re not practicing the next day or day and a half. You are who you are. So before you talk about what you’re going to run, you have to know you’re about to go to war. What are you going to bring? Who do you want to be in there with? Who do you want to be in the trenches with and what are you going to do to stay in that tournament? It is one and done, so how long do you want to stay and what do you want to do? Before we talk about anything, it’s who are we going to be? How can we regroup after playing inconsistently these last two games? We need to be getting back to where we were growing and doing well as a team.”
Senior Guard Breyana Mason
On her senior night and heading into the ACC tournament:
“I have a lot of great memories here on this court and over my four years we’ve won more games here than we’ve lost. I keep that in the back of my mind. Going into the ACC tournament we just have to grind. This is a special team that I enjoy playing with and playing for, so we’re going to try our best to keep this thing going as long as we can.”
On the first three quarters of the game:
“It was a combination of defense and flow. I wasn’t trying to think too much about it being senior day. I was just trying to go through my normal routine. Things aren’t always going to go the way you want them to, but at the end I was able to get some buckets to fall.”
On potential fatigue going into the ACC tournament:
“Everybody at this point is probably feeling a little tired or fatigued, but you just have to grind it out and keep going. The great players and the great teams are going to be the ones who overcome it.”