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UNC's Alyssa Ustby, Courtney Banghart and Maria Gakdeng after loss to No. 3 Notre Dame. #UNC #ND
Jan 5, 2025
UNC's Alyssa Ustby, Courtney Banghart and Maria Gakdeng after loss to No. 3 Notre Dame. #UNC #ND
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0:00
open for questions yeah I mean first
0:02
it's it's uh good to think about how
0:04
many fans we had today given our
0:05
students aren't on campus and they're
0:07
the ones that really bring carel to life
0:09
for us so a shout out to our crowd for
0:11
really showing up um you know we played
0:13
a great college basketball game today
0:15
great team that we played against um and
0:17
they had to play great to beat us and
0:18
that's our goal right is to make sure
0:20
that you know if the other team has to
0:22
shoot 62% on 13 made threes to beat us
0:25
you know um then we we look forward to
0:27
the next time right um a lot of good
0:30
things you know a lot of inconsistencies
0:31
that were hard to manage that our guys
0:33
played through that really well um you
0:36
know and obviously that second quarter
0:38
you know wasn't our best we didn't stay
0:40
connected in certain certain areas
0:43
particularly on the offensive end um but
0:45
overall you know we're it's a it's a
0:47
benchmark right like we we're better
0:49
than we were against Yukon and and um
0:51
we'll be better the next time we have an
0:52
opportunity like this um as long as we
0:54
just keep committing to the process so
0:57
next up Thursday a good Duke team and
0:59
that's how it is in this league
1:02
you guys forced uh 21 turnovers I think
1:05
that's the second most nering was cough
1:07
it up this year we was kind of key
1:09
defensively for that you know really we
1:12
have really good defensive uh defensive
1:14
players a really good defensive package
1:16
um you know our posts are incredibly
1:18
mobile and they're smart right and so
1:20
when you come off all those screens you
1:22
know we we need help and and not too
1:24
much help not too little help um these
1:26
two did a great job on that end um you
1:29
know and it's a hard team to guard right
1:31
and so you know you again I think if you
1:34
had shown me that they were going to
1:35
have to hit 13 threes out of 21 attempts
1:37
to beat you I would have thought they
1:38
would have hammered us right and so uh
1:40
you know it's a good defensive team
1:41
playing a good offensive team and uh and
1:43
they got this one today on the
1:45
three-pointers you know Olivia miles
1:47
before her injury was not a great
1:48
three-point shooter this season she has
1:50
been is that something that that came up
1:52
in The Scouting kind of prepared for you
1:54
know hey she's a little bit of a
1:55
different player now because she's
1:57
confident in the three oh gosh their
1:59
team better way better than last year
2:00
you also add Leah Tu King who was one of
2:03
the best players in the league last year
2:04
she's just their fourth option she was
2:06
the first option elsewhere um and then
2:09
you know Carlin had a great has had you
2:10
know great two-year career so far at
2:12
Marquette so they've they're much better
2:14
but Olivia yeah when you're out injured
2:16
you have a lot of chance to work on
2:18
stable stationary things and shooting
2:19
for her was what she um had time and and
2:22
her body allowed her to do so it's added
2:24
a great Dimension to her game it'll be
2:25
it'll help her move up the draft board
2:27
for sure coach I know you're focused on
2:30
now but the future Tumi and gr can you
2:33
speak about them tonight you know yeah
2:35
you hope that they continue to progress
2:37
the way that they have so far um you
2:40
know Sierra missed a lot off injury and
2:42
is starting to kind of find her groove
2:43
and uh Laney's just totally locked in I
2:45
mean she's here all the time she's
2:47
really committed to the Scout she was on
2:49
an IV this morning you know um you know
2:51
these are kids that just are game time
2:53
they show up um you know but we don't
2:56
don't really talk too far in advance
2:58
because this is the year you know Maria
3:00
and Alyssa need everybody to be good now
3:02
um and so they gave us some good things
3:04
today and they gave us some things that
3:05
we have to continue to improve Maria can
3:07
you talk about how they defended you
3:08
coach obv said they wanted to be really
3:10
physical on you and it it was hard to
3:12
get you the ball you were effective when
3:14
you got it but but hard to get it yeah
3:17
very physical went uh down low they were
3:19
fing I think a little bit uh but the r
3:21
kind of missed those calls but
3:23
definitely when I got deep catches I was
3:24
able to finish knowing that I'm a pretty
3:26
efficient player so just going straight
3:28
up and knowing that they were going to
3:29
double me as well I'm going in so being
3:31
patient with the ball knowing that the
3:32
Double's coming in knowing where to pass
3:34
the ball when um I get
3:35
it she's a
3:38
problem Mar are you getting you I mean
3:41
the Florida game and this game um you
3:43
know I got the chance to be on the court
3:45
and take some photos so I can kind of
3:46
see how you are getting pushed around it
3:49
seems like it's a lot more recently are
3:51
you getting used to that physicality and
3:52
just like this is something I'm to deal
3:54
with sometimes they'll call it sometimes
3:55
they won't I've definitely gotten used
3:57
to it just being in this league for four
3:58
years it's it's always been phys always
4:00
been so moving um up from like going to
4:02
BC coming here it's always been the same
4:04
thing teams like Scout Me by being
4:07
physical making sure she doesn't get the
4:08
ball down low so I'm used to it at this
4:11
point coach between the fourth quarter
4:14
of the Yukon game and then the second
4:16
half of this game how close are you guys
4:17
from kind of breaking into that that
4:19
mold of being perennial power like Yukon
4:22
and and South Carolina how and I as
4:24
coach I the same question she kind of
4:26
said that feels like Carolina's already
4:28
there how far you think need to get over
4:30
that hump and is it is it one Lan or is
4:32
it something something else you know
4:34
every team's different what I really
4:36
appreciate about this team is they are
4:38
incredibly uh driven to make the uh make
4:42
some make the necessary improvements so
4:44
against Yukon we came out really flat
4:46
defensively and just got punched in the
4:48
face right and then we gathered
4:49
ourselves and we were fine right that
4:51
didn't happen um in this game so um we
4:54
started with sort of two themes one
4:55
theme after the game is disappointment
4:57
right it's a great opportunity that we
4:58
thought we were prepared for
5:00
and we thought we would be able to um be
5:02
on the be on the winning end of that one
5:03
and then the second emotion that are two
5:05
separate emotions but that's the way
5:06
life is in this league right is that um
5:09
we are better than we we were better
5:10
than we were last time right um when you
5:12
play these Elite top teams um you know
5:15
Yukon it was I think got up as high as
5:17
16 this never felt Out Of Reach it just
5:19
was like God we got to make one more
5:20
shot right or we gotta get one more stop
5:21
or we need to have one more kind of 5050
5:24
ball or call going the right direction
5:25
right um so um you know we we've beaten
5:29
top three teams before I'm not great at
5:32
Stats or records I don't really know
5:33
when or how or who um but you know this
5:36
particular team has continue to get
5:38
better and um that's what I care about
5:40
is this version of of our of this
5:42
particular team is better than it was a
5:43
month ago and I full faith they'll be
5:45
better a month from now well let's you
5:47
talk about half the team play coming out
5:49
at halftime you pulled within five what
5:51
was going right then when you when you
5:53
had that little Sur yeah I felt like we
5:55
could get on a little bit of a run when
5:58
we' get like Maria myself would get the
6:00
rebound and just push it up the floor so
6:02
our guards were able to leak out a
6:03
little bit so we could put a little more
6:05
pressure on their defense and we kind of
6:06
force them to scramble so that led to
6:08
some wide open shots and you know when
6:10
you have a night where you're not
6:11
shooting great from the three-point line
6:14
we want to make those shots as like as
6:16
open and in the flow of the offense as
6:18
possible so that gave us a lot of really
6:20
great looks and we had a lot of girls
6:21
that came um came up and knocked him
6:24
down which is really helpful obviously
6:26
and and then in turn on the defense end
6:28
we were getting stops and and that's
6:30
also something that's really huge in
6:31
order to get out
6:33
transition the crowd energy and
6:36
everything felt like it was marked
6:37
almost how does a game like this prepare
6:40
you for later on down the road when
6:42
you're playing G do a situation yeah
6:45
part of the reason I came here was to
6:46
play against really good teams in the um
6:48
non-conference and also in conference um
6:50
competing with them so I just love the
6:53
the energy that the fans bring um it
6:55
helps us stay fueled on the court it
6:57
keeps us going when we go on runs
6:59
especially when came out after halftime
7:01
and we went our on our run that helped
7:02
us you know gain some momentum according
7:05
to rebounding yeah blanked on either
7:07
side by 20 rebounds about either 28 what
7:11
did you think went wrong maybe on the
7:12
boards versus you know what you could
7:15
and what you could have done better yeah
7:16
I mean they had 16 second half second
7:18
chance points in the first half after
7:19
shooting what they were shooting and
7:21
then they only end up with 20 but that's
7:23
20 points on top of uh the way they were
7:25
shooting that's not good enough right um
7:28
defense then you look at their guard
7:29
yards and their number their defensive
7:31
rebounds right and you could say that
7:33
Maria and Alyssa are stealing the
7:34
rebounds or you could say um that
7:36
they're having to do all of it right and
7:37
there's two ways to look at it um and so
7:39
we need our perimeter players to to be
7:42
better rebounders we need them to pursue
7:43
better we need them to prioritize it we
7:46
I can I promise you we work on it um and
7:48
so yeah it that shift has to happen you
7:51
know for them to take as was asked
7:53
behind you for us to take another step
7:55
forward rebounding is one of those
7:56
statistics that matters it really is um
7:59
and so it's something we just have to
8:00
keep working on it we're not we've sort
8:02
of recruited to it we're bigger coming
8:03
in but um we're not we're not giant but
8:06
when you're looking across the way at at
8:08
hgo it's she's not giant either um they
8:10
allow her to play with so much
8:12
physicality because of her size it's
8:13
it's really jarring to get used to for
8:17
um coach then also just lot of players
8:19
perspective with Ela with you know pgo
8:21
or Olivia I mean both of them hitting
8:24
53s obviously not coming in best
8:26
three-point shooting team in the country
8:27
but like what was kind of the Scout on
8:29
that and then for list you could just
8:30
describe like how hard was it to just
8:33
guard both of them well they get their
8:35
threes they're not just dribbling it
8:36
down and shooting it they get their
8:37
threes out of out of because of how you
8:39
have to handle the ball screen um and if
8:41
you don't handle the ball screen you're
8:42
going to give up layups and any shooting
8:44
any shooter wants to see the ball go in
8:45
the basket um and so you really want to
8:47
take away layups and force them to I
8:49
think two years ago when they came here
8:50
they shot it Opposite you know I don't
8:52
know how many but they were below 30
8:54
from three probably below 20 I mean they
8:56
really didn't shoot it well um so you
8:58
know our our our game plan was to
9:00
they're a top 10 offense and we're a top
9:02
10 defense and it's go time right um
9:04
again if it's going to be really hard at
9:06
any level um to win when the other team
9:08
shoots 13 for 21 from three that's just
9:10
the way it
9:11
is yeah I would say just to add on to
9:13
that I think when you play a team that's
9:15
really well balanced in their scoring
9:17
front and just a lot of people can make
9:19
an impact that's where it's hard to like
9:22
keep track of like two players and make
9:24
sure that they're not going to hurt us
9:25
from three because you have so many
9:27
other responsibilities in the team
9:28
aspect terms of everybody rotating
9:30
rotate box outs and if they get an O
9:32
board then we're in a scramble and it's
9:33
a kick out three to one of those girls
9:35
and it's you can't like predetermined
9:37
that that's going to happen so you have
9:38
to do the like first steps right so that
9:41
means getting that defensive rebound so
9:42
they don't even have that opportunity so
9:44
there are some nuances there that we can
9:46
definitely sharpen up and we'll be we'll
9:48
be better moving forward I think it was
9:49
Carlin's what second three on the year
9:52
that's that kind of
9:53
day the Courtney the other team that
9:56
scored 70 on your Georgia teag you you
9:58
said that you didn't think there was a
9:59
lot of Def defensive laps is it was just
10:01
a good team playing well uh is that your
10:04
assessment for today or yeah I think
10:05
they were six on basing out of bounds
10:07
that I can count to right now um that we
10:09
didn't do a good job I thought we gave
10:10
up a lot at the line and we gave up 13
10:12
at the line uh because we didn't step in
10:13
and take a charge but again I think when
10:15
you're to keep a team to 76 points that
10:18
made 13 threes it's just guys we can
10:20
write all we want about our defense our
10:22
defense is pretty darn good right and um
10:25
you know there's there's two sides of
10:26
the ball and we said that in our Scout
10:28
and we knew that to beat good teams
10:29
great teams you have to be great on both
10:31
sides of the ball um and our offense
10:32
came up a little bit short today I don't
10:34
think I'll hate a lot of the looks we
10:35
took more shots usually if you take more
10:37
shots that's a good stat right and if
10:39
you have fewer turnovers those are good
10:40
stats right so if you look at the stat
10:41
sheet a lot of stat nerds here that are
10:43
going to have some questions about this
10:44
one right but then when you look at the
10:46
three-point shooting you sort of say oh
10:48
that makes sense now I'm not going to
10:49
get you in trouble oh thanks but I do
10:51
want to ask about the referee a little
10:53
challenging so what do you say to your
10:55
team I told them they played through um
10:58
inconsistent
10:59
in a way that um I'm sorry they had
11:03
to exactly what I
11:06
said but we will address
11:08
it up up the chain as we need to any
11:12
other
11:13
questions so you played in your
11:15
offal what something you always look
11:17
forward to what something you take away
11:20
from yeah I think the biggest thing that
11:22
we can take away from this game is that
11:24
we can compete with the best teams in
11:27
the country and so um obviously being
11:30
this close it really sucks because we
11:32
know that if we like this is this is the
11:34
time where all of us girls are like oh
11:35
what if we like just had one more box
11:37
out what if we did this one more thing
11:39
um but we just had to take a step back
11:42
and realize that we did play a solid
11:44
game obviously it wasn't enough to win
11:46
but we know that any team that's coming
11:48
in here or places that we go next like
11:51
we can compete with anybody and we can
11:53
be
11:54
anybody thanks to these two gez guys
11:57
that they fun to watch or what
12:00
all right thanks guys thanks guys
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