University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Press Conferences: Ohio State 90, JMU 80
March 21, 2015 | Women's Basketball
2015 NCAADivision I women's basketball championship
First Round · Ohio State 90, James Madison 80
Carmichael Arena • Chapel Hill, N.C.
Saturday, March 21
POSTGAME QUOTES – Ohio State
Kevin McGuff, Head Coach
On (Kelsey) Mitchell getting in foul trouble.
“Well, it was unfortunate. She does so many special things for us when she's on the floor. I was just proud of the rest of the team, in particular Am (Alston). I think she showed a lot of leadership, and just keeping the team together and just continuing to play how we play.”
On Alston playing at the pace she wanted to play
“Am's (Alston) got great control of the ball, and she's got the strength and ball-handling ability to kind of go where she wants to go. And she may not get there as fast as when Kelsey (Mitchell) has the ball, but she's going to get where she's going to go. She made sure we executed. And that situation, when Kelsey's (Mitchell) in the game, we can really emphasize transition, and we can really emphasize kind of our dribble drive where we attack because she makes so many things happen. With her out of the game, I think we had to hang our hat on a little more execution and Am (Alston) made sure that happened.”
Ameryst Alston, Junior Guard
How they managed with (Kelsey) Mitchell going to the bench due to fouls
“We definitely need her on the floor. She got into a little foul trouble, so we had to come together as a team and pick her up. I think we responded well. I think we just came together and when she got back in, we got her the ball and she did what she does.”
Kelsey Mitchell, Freshman Guard
On how hard it was to watch from the bench
“I don't think it was hard at all. I think it was the best thing ever just to watch my teammates do what they're supposed to do, and Am (Ameryst Alston) do what she is supposed to do as a player and a teammate and even as a friend. She brought the team together and was a great leader for us tonight, and I'm proud of her for that.”
Alexa Hart, Freshman Forward
On how she handled Mitchell going to the bench due to fouls
“I just had to play defense, and just come together and keep playing.”
On how Ameryst led the team with Mitchell on the bench.
“She did very well. She was the leader on the floor while Kelsey was gone. “
James Madison
Kenny Brooks, James Madison Head Coach:
Opening Statement
“I want to say it's one of the more enjoyable seasons that we've had, and I told the kids to not hang their heads. I'm very proud of them. I'm very biased towards them. I thought they were a fantastic team. I thought they had a fantastic opportunity to come out here and win a basketball game. Tonight just wasn't our night. I thought that Ohio State played a little bit better than we did. We did some things that were uncharacteristic. We really never got the flow that we wanted. We scored a lot of points, but we didn't get the flow that we wanted. I thought Ohio State had a lot to do with that. They did a really good job of throwing us out of rhythm. We second-guessed ourselves a couple of times, which we weren't fluid in our offensive sets. We were fortunate—I think Precious [Hall] had a really good first half, and Ashley [Perez] stepped up and had a really good second half. We just didn't get the production that we would have liked from certain areas. But again, you played against a good basketball team that took us out of it. I think they're a fantastic team with some really talented players and are deep, obviously. I think they have an opportunity to make a run in this tournament. And I look forward to great things from them in the years to come. Those kids are young, and we knew we weren't going to be able to exploit their youth because they're so talented. But they came out and played well. Even in [Kelsey] Mitchell's absence when she was in foul trouble, I thought [Ameryst] Alston did a fantastic job of calming them down and running the show. They deserved it tonight, and my hat is off to them.”
On his team leaving the tournament earlier than expected
“I thought this team was definitely a Sweet 16-caliber team, and then you get to that point and who knows what happens. Our male counterparts have had some tremendous success in advancing deep into the tournament when people didn't think they could. I thought this team was built for that. A lot of it has to do with matchups. We came out here, and we're a 12-seed, for whatever reason, and you come out and you have to play a very, very talented Ohio State team who's probably playing as good as anyone right now, heading into the NCAA Tournament. I think they've won 12 out of their last 15. They start to understand what they were trying to do, where they were trying to get their points from, and it was very hard trying to take certain areas from them. So we're disappointed. By no means were we just happy to be here; we felt like we had a good draw that we could advance, but we knew we had to play well. We had to play very well, and we didn't play as well as we needed to play. So I'm disappointed. I thought we had a very good team, a fantastic year, and they were built to be able to advance in this tournament.”
Precious Hall, Junior Guard
On playing Ohio State
“I'd say they're very talented. I would say that they're a different team than we've played this year, compared to the teams we play in conference. They're very athletic. They had players that could score on both sides of the court. They're shooting threes and they're in the post, fast break. Very talented team.”
Ashley Perez, Junior Guard
On the difficulty of having Ohio State answer each shot
“It's frustrating, but we just kept fighting. We kind of gave them some easy stuff at times, and as coach said, we were uncharacteristic in some things, so we just couldn't get it.”
