University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes: UNC 62, Michigan State 53
March 26, 2014 | Women's Basketball
2014 NCAA Division I women's basketball championship
Carmichael Arena • Chapel Hill, N.C.
NORTH CAROLINA POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
Andrew Calder, North Carolina Associate Head Coach:
Opening statement
"Thank you again to Coach [Sylvia] Hatchell for helping us with the game plan today. She got on me pretty good about not pressing and running more the other night. So, we did a much better job today. I thought the first 30 minutes were just outstanding Carolina basketball. I know Coach Hatchell is extremely proud. The players were outstanding. Diamond's [DeShields] defense, All-American Diamond DeShields's defense on their point guard just took them out of everything. She had 12 defensive rebounds, which we're really impressed with. Allisha Gray got seven defensive rebounds. I just thought it was a Carolina performance that we're all very proud of and want to take to the next game. I want to say Michigan State battled us, and Coach Suzy Merchant is a very good coach. They're talented, and I wish them the best of luck in the future."
On the physicality of the game
"We knew that. We talked a lot about that. ACC, sometimes we have that rep of maybe being a soft league, and Big Ten is a physical league. We said we were going to show them how to play physical basketball tonight, and we did."
On how to stop Michigan State's offense
"Anytime you can have pressure on their point guard ... we thought they would play 21 [Klarissa Bell] at point guard. Diamond [DeShields] up there was unbelievable. Unbelievable. She [Bell] actually just moved to the wing and put the other girl [Jankoska] up there. It started their offense out further, and the pass out three or four feet further than they normally do. That made the pass longer to the post, which helped us in point defense down inside. So, we did a really good job starting with Diamond right up there at the top. I think everybody else feeds off that. If you've got great ball pressure up at the top, then everybody's going to feed off of that. Everybody's going to see that and they're going to pick up the pressure, and that's what we did."
On keeping Michigan State off balance on offense
"We did a good job of mixing our driving with our cutting game and ball screen game. I thought the point guards did a good job. I thought Ivory [Latta] had them adjusting to what they were doing defensively and what we thought we could take advantage of. They started out the second half with that triangle-and-two, and we scored six points right away. Then they went out of it when they called time out. I thought we did a really good job of finding the openings. I thought [Latifah] Coleman did a good job in helping with that. She did a great job pushing the basketball tonight. We got a lot of easy opportunities. We felt like it was going to be very difficult to score against their half court D because it's so contained, and we wanted to try to get as many easy scores as we could. I thought Coleman did a great job pushing the basketball."
Diamond DeShields, North Carolina Guard:
On what she took from the game against UT Martin
"It hurt my pride a little bit as an offensive threat being held to four points in a half. That's uncommon for me, and with what's at stake this season I knew I couldn't do that anymore. So, it did hurt my pride as a scorer. I just told myself that wasn't going to happen tonight. I took my time a little more in finding better shots. I know my first shot against UT Martin was a 3-pointer and I try not to do that in games. So tonight I know I shot like three mid-range jumpers before I even took a 3-point attempt. That was just something that I took upon myself to do."
On the nerves
"There were no nerves. I was fired up. I was extremely fired up for the game tonight. I had no nerves at all. I was at home with these fans who came out deep tonight and they were live too. I had no nerves at all. We had no nerves. We were comfortable with where we were at. We were very comfortable as soon as that ball got thrown into the air, and it showed."
On the physicality of the game
"Definitely, it was physical. That conference is known for being big and being strong and being physical. We knew that it was going to be a big part of the game and that's probably the reason I was crashing the boards the way that I was. I just knew that it was something that I had to do. Their physicality was a huge part of the game."
On the team's confidence after the win
"It definitely raises confidence amongst the team, but you can't let that get the best of you. We were confident against UT Martin and they came out and shocked us. So, you've got to be confident but you've also got to conscious of what's going on and what your goals are and what you're trying to accomplish. We've got to stay focused. This game is over with as far as I'm concerned. We're moving forward, we're going to Cali and we're just going to refocus."
Allisha Gray, North Carolina Guard:
On the youth of the team
"At this point, being a freshman is not an excuse. You've got to be smart as a player. It seems like we hadn't played in a while, so we just had to get the little spiderwebs off of us, the little cobwebs, all that stuff off."
On her game tonight
"I just went for the floor in the game. I think I kinda got on fire a little in the first half and the second half. I focus on playing defense but still I think I did a pretty good job throughout the whole game."
On the focus of the team
"It was basically stop the drive, stop the screen, because we know they're a pick-and-roll team, and basically had to box out because they have great offensive rebound players."
On the team's goals
"It's just a hard work ethic. Next year will be too late. We want it now. The goal is to get to Nashville, Final Four. We just want to work hard to get there."
MICHIGAN STATE POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
Suzy Merchant, Michigan State Head Coach:
Opening Statement
"Well, obviously disappointed. You know, we're a better team than we what we showed and give credit to North Carolina. I think they came out and really got into us and pressured us. But I thought we had some really good looks, I thought Becca [Mills] had some really good looks particularly early. She just didn't knock down what we needed to kind of get us going a little bit. I like the last 11 minutes - we held them to I think five points or something, we kind of helped get back defensively, at least doing some things. But you can't shoot 31 percent against anybody and anybody good. I would like to say, I think UT Martin poked a beehive there, and you know we got a swarming bunch of bees coming at us early and the biggest one in the bunch was Diamond DeShields. What an impressive freshman, she certainly deserves the National Freshman of the Year. I mean she was a one man wrecking crew in the first half and very, very special talent, tough to guard."
On the physicality of the game
"It was the most physical game I've been involved in in a long time. I mean, I can say that. And we play some really, really tough teams and just felt like off the ball and on the ball there was a lot of physicality and physical plays and very aggressive physicality and I just...there were times I thought we responded to it and we just can't overcome it when you get in those situations, and so that was what I will comment on and that's not how we've been practicing and preparing. Certain things you expect and sometimes it doesn't go your way. I felt like North Carolina was a better team today regardless but the physical play was something that I was disappointed in, but it's part of the deal I guess."
On Diamond DeShields's skillset compared to other players
"It's not even close. That kid is ...when she is what she was tonight you can't stop her. I mean her elevation on her jumper...I don't even think Madison Williams at 6'7, if she was one hundred percent healthy, could even get to that shot. It's impressive. We started the second half kind of with jump defense in the middle. We would stop her and then she crosses over in a trap then goes outside and her speed, her quickness, her elevation. When she decides to play, she's the best, one of the best and athletic and not that we don't have good players in the Big Ten, we really, really do. She's just unique, and that's why she is the National Freshman of the Year because she's just a notch above that. I mean her elevation in jump shot is as pretty as I've seen. It just changes the game and she can do so many things. And what I love about the kid is that she defends. You know she's hard to get around and to play against. She's long and athletic, she's a tough matchup on both ends of the floor...special talent."
Tori Jankoska, Michigan State Guard:
On narrowing the point differential at the end of the game
"Well, we knew we played a terrible first half and we knew that. We came into the second half thinking that we would come in and we needed to hit the open shots and make sure we we're moving the ball around and not turning the ball over as much. I guess it didn't happen; we kind of played the same as we did in the first half and for the first 14 minutes of the second half. "
On the effect of North Carolina's defense on her shot choice
"I don't think so, I think we handled the pressure a lot better in the second half, once we got open looks I think we were a little apprehensive about taking them because we did shoot so poorly in the first half. I think were apprehensive about shooting shots that we normally would shoot and we got inside a lot more, it was just really physical down there and tough to score."
Jasmine Hines, Michigan State Center:
On Diamond DeShields's impact on today's game
"Like Coach Merchant] said, she's a really great player, real aggressive. I think she kind of got into us a little bit and we turned the ball over in the first half and kind of lost our fight a little bit. But by the time we responded it was little too late I think. "
On North Carolina's ability to mentality disrupt Michigan State
"I would say that, I mean not necessarily. But I feel like their whole team is very intense and very aggressive. I think they got into us early and we were kind of on our heels a little bit, especially in the first half. But I thought in the second half we had a better response but I think their team is very aggressive. Coach [Merchant] told us that but I don't really think that we realized just how aggressive they were."
