Everything ECU coach Kim McNeill said after losing to South Carolina

After a 95-44 loss to South Carolina, ECU women’s basketball coach Kim McNeill spoke to the media.

Here’s what she had to say:

OPENING STATEMENT

“Yeah, they’re not the number one team in the country for nothing. Just the pace that they play with, the physicality, unbelievable environment. As we pulled up, people were wrapped around trying to get in, almost two hours before the game. That, just, even though I know they weren’t here to see my team, it’s just inspirational to see what Dawn Staley and this women’s basketball program has done for the women’s game in general.”

“So to be able to come in here and play in front of all these screaming fans, whether or not they were screaming for us or not, this is what it’s all about. I played basketball back in the 90s, and the crowds weren’t like this. To see where women’s basketball has come, and I know it will continue to grow, and Dawn Staley has had a lot to do with this, those women out there on the floor have had a lot to do with this.”

“Just for us to play in a game like this, you know, obviously the outcome was nowhere near where I wanted it to be. I wanted my team to compete a little bit more than what they did. That was what we talked about the last two days. Just competing, diving on the floor for loose balls, winning the 50-50 balls, and I thought later in the second half we did that, but from the jump we didn’t. My belief is you learn a lesson from each situation, you find positives out of any situation, and I think my kids really saw the pace that they need to play at in order to compete, in order for us to compete to win another American (conference) championship.”

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On ECU’s post defense against Chloe Kitts

“She had been playing really well, a double-double I think with 19 and 12, something like that. So she was a focal point. We want to be physical, we’ve got some kids that have played in the SEC, so they should understand the physicality.”

“But we also emphasize that they’re really good at getting their own missed shots. I thought we did not do a good job of that. By human nature, it’s easy, the first thing you want to do when somebody takes a shot is turn and look at the basket. But with those kids, when they shoot, you’ve got to box them out, and we didn’t do that.”

“I thought our transition d was very, very bad. They didn’t even have to run any offense, and that was something else that we emphasized. That we have to sprint back and do a really good job in transition, but once again, that’s the pace. That’s gotta be our goal, to try to play at the pace that they play at.”

On what the differences were between last year’s matchup and this year’s matchup

“We defended a little bit better last year, but also that was a kind of new team last year. I don’t think people thought that after them losing everything they lost the year before, they’d win another national championship. So I think at that point, they were probably still trying to get to know each other. Now that group has played a year with each other. Their chemistry is much better, they probably understand their roles a lot better. They’re on a mission, they have a goal. Their goal is to win a national championship, and that’s the way they play.”

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On early game turnovers from ECU

“It was 50-50. Part them, they pressure you, they get up in you, they get in the passing lanes. They got big bodies all over the floor. But a lot of it was just self-imposed turnovers, just throwing the ball out of bounds, playing too fast, nervous.”

“Some of these kids have never played in front of this type of crowd before, but two years ago when we won the championship and we went down and played at Texas, it was a very similar crowd. And we had not had any experience in playing in that type of crowd. So every year, we’re going to schedule a big team like this to get us prepared.”

“Because our goal is to win an American championship every year, and we’ve been to the championship game two years in a row now. So when we win it and we go and have to play in a hostile environment like this, it’s not the first time we’ve seen it.”

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