University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes - Louisville 75, Carolina 66
February 16, 2015 | Women's Basketball
North Carolina Head Coach Sylvia Hatchell
(Opening Statement)
“I feel like I'm preaching; coaching 40 years, I've never been to a press conference that has a podium like this. I thought we should have won the game. Rebounding was a major difference; halftime, they had us by one, but for the game it ended up 47-33. The second, they outrebounded us 24-11, which was major. Allisha fouling out was a major difference. They scored 26 points from the foul line and we scored 12. If you look at the numbers, those are the factors. They shot 30, we shot 14 on the foul line, and then rebounding was a major difference. I thought we should have won the game. We just have to go back and keep working hard and get ready for Wake Forest on Thursday night.”
(On splitting decisions against two top-10 teams this week and approaching end of regular season)
“I thought we played well in the first half, getting in foul trouble hurt us some. The second half, the rebounding we didn't battle as hard as we needed to, and they got to the foul line way too much in the second half; way too much. So you know, those are differences, and when you play at home, that's sort of a tendency that happens when you play at home. You just have to expect that, but you have to do things to make up for it. I thought Allisha (Gray) getting that fifth foul was crucial. Again, for us, the rebounding was a major factor and the foul line. We are good enough to beat them. Maybe we will play them in the ACC tournament. We will keep working, and we have proved that we can play with a lot of people and we have beaten a lot of ranked teams this year. It hurts us with Selina being out but I hardly ever mention that because I'm not going to make excuses for it. But we have kids going in there battling hard and we will just keep preparing for every game.”
(On Stephanie Mavunga's growth since arriving on campus)
“Stephanie is tough; she is the only one who had decent rebounds tonight. She had 10 (rebounds) and 14 (points). We didn't get it to her enough. I wanted to get it to inside to her even more, but Stephanie is tough in there; she just needs some help. She needs some other people in there to help with the rebounding. I want to get it to her more often because when we usually get it to Stephanie, she can either score or throws it out and finds somebody that is open. Stephanie, for being a sophomore, I think she is without a doubt one of the most talented inside players in the country.”
(On Louisville freshman Mariya Moore)
“She's pretty tough. She had a lot of points especially, even at halftime, she had a lot of points. She was really tough in there and got to the foul line a lot too. She is definitely their best player without a doubt.”
(On having Louisville in the ACC and having games like this against Louisville)
“Well, if you look at the ACC and the other conferences, there isn't another conference that can come close to comparing to the ACC. We played four big Pac 12 teams. We lost to Oregon State; that's the only one that we lost to. We beat Stanford, Oregon, UCLA. You just look at all the other conferences and there's not another one there. Some of the other conferences will have two or three really good teams but the ACC I think has 8-10 teams that should be in the NCAA; because if they weren't in our conference and in another conference, they would probably be top four or five without a doubt. If you are top four or five in the ACC, you are a Final Four team. I think the committee is smart enough to where they will see that.”
North Carolina sophomore forward Stephanie Mavunga
(On how disappointing the loss is after having a double-digit lead in the first half)
“It's really frustrating actually. We played so well the first half and are capable of beating a team like Louisville. We were really just clicking in the first half, and then second half got drilled on the boards by 13 and that was really a factor in the game plus foul trouble. I feel like the refs let us play a lot in the first half and then, all of a sudden, it was a different ball game in the second half. I'm not saying that we lost because, 'Oh yeah, the refs lost the game,' but I'm saying that is a big factor in the game. You can't really play as aggressive as you want too when you have two or thre fouls in the second half and that quickly happened with Brittany (Rountree), Allisha (Gray), and I got fouls really quick. In the first half, that was N'Dea (Bryant) and Danielle (Butts) and that plays a big role in the game, because then you have to substitute differently. It is really frustrating because we had such a big lead and we were really playing with them and clicking and then, all of a sudden, it's a whole different ballgame, and you have to try to quickly adjust to whatever is happening now.”
(On being able to catch in the post in the first half and then being guarded so tightly in the second)
“When people allow me to catch it, that's a whole different thing. Now, if I get the ball, it's a whole different ballgame because, when I get the ball, my coaches say that there's nobody in the country that can stop me once I get the ball, so it's just a matter of getting the ball. My biggest thing to work on is just getting the ball. When I get double teamed, it's much different to score. It's a much different look and is more difficult. Yes, I can score against two people, but it's much more difficult. That's when I'll start trying to get assists. I got three of those really quick in the first half because I was really seeing where my teammates were going. I think I do much better with single coverage. I think I can be a real threat if I'm single covered.”
(On playing high school basketball one-and-a-half hours away and being this close to home)
“It's great because I put 35 people down today to come watch me play today, so that's great. I'm going to see them in a second here and that is just amazing. Of course, at the same time, it's not as sweet as it would have been because I'm not really satisfied going out there saying, 'Thanks you all came to the game,' and at the same time, I'm thinking about this loss. I'm just a competitive player. I'm competitive no matter what it is – academics, maybe a little pickup game, games like this especially. So this really hits me. Last time I came to the KFC Yum! Center, not so good. That's when I tore something up in my knee, so it's much better leaving injury free, but both times I left with a loss, so that's not so hot.”
(Talk about the communication between you and your brothers. How much do you guys communicate throughout the season?)
“Those guys are my rocks, they are my best friends. My little brother really wanted to be here but he can't stay in the car too long, he's a little jittery. He's right there ESPN2 an hour before the game. We really communicate every single day, I talk to my little brother all the time, I talk to my big brother all the time even though we are on different time zones and we are on three different levels, high school, professional, and college. It is really hard for my parents to try to watch all the games, my mom has traveled overseas many times. My mom comes out to North Carolina and she also goes to my little brothers games, so swinging back and forth and then my dad does the same thing too. I mean we are just a really tight nit family, and those guys always have my back no matter what.”
(On the strategy of trying to limit Louisville from getting interior points)
“I feel like we stuck more to what we did in practice. We really stuck well to that in the first half. We were really fronting the post and making sure it didn't get in there. I think as the game wore on, we started letting the post get the ball inside; not only actual post players, but players like Sara Hammond, and that's how she started scoring her points. I think that also really hurt us, just like you were asking me, once you let a player catch the ball down there, it is really much easier to score down on the block then it is out there on a 15 footer or further. I think that was a big factor also.”
(On the atmosphere and the crowd in the KFC Yum! Center)
“I love noise and I love crowds; that's my thing and I've always lived for that. I love it when people cheer for the other team. It just fuels you. I love playing at Duke. I love playing here; this was probably one of the most fun games I've had. Just having them cheer against you, especially when you score, and you're like ok and they kind of silence down. Silencing the crowd is probably the greatest feeling in basketball.”
(On what she can improve upon over the next couple of years)
“Oh, there is a lot that I can do. I really need to be working on patience. If I could see where the double team is coming from, it might be just as easy as being single covered. If I could just see where it is coming from, then I can knock out one of the players and turn that into a single covered game. I really need to work on building a jump shot, because standing around the basket doesn't always help. And bring out a defender that is slower than me that can really help. So, working on a jump shot, whether it is a 15 footer or the 3, and I really need to work on my ballhandling and really just defense when I switch off on guards. I really need to just work on staying low, because I feel like in high school I could get away with that because I was so tall and maybe quicker than a lot of the other post players.”
