Utah - 71, Arizona State - 60
NATASHA ADAIR: I'll just tell you what I just told the team. I saw our team fight today from start to finish. And you take one possession here or there, it could change the course of the game.
But it speaks to our growth. It speaks to their fight, their competitiveness. I have two sophomores sitting next to me, so you're always going to hear from me the positive. You're always going to know that there's a better outlook moving forward, and that's what they just heard.
This is the hard part at the end of the season when you have to say goodbye to your seniors. But what we created, what we're creating is something special. This is a group that grew. This is a group that will continue to grow.
And we can walk out of that game with our heads up because we competed for 40 minutes. It was not the outcome that we wanted obviously, but there were bright spots, and there have been bright spots all season.
This is just the tough part at the end of the game when you didn't get the outcome that you wanted.
Q. Coach, other than the competitive spirit that you talked about, what else did you like from what you saw from your team today? Just really what have you liked in terms of their growth over the back half of the season?
NATASHA ADAIR: I thought we came out and set the tone defensively. I thought our defense was spot on. I thought our rotations were where they needed to be.
I thought you saw poise and confidence on the offensive end. I mean, the game was neck and neck throughout the whole game. There was a couple of possessions, especially going into halftime, where the momentum shifted a little bit. But I just loved how our players -- I mean, there was a chemistry out there that you could see.
I thought we executed. I thought we got the looks that we wanted. I thought we took away some of their options. Right? It's a layup or a 3.
Obviously Pili is Pili. She really had a presence inside. The plan was to trap her. The plan was to not let her turn, make her throw it back out. In moments the rotations were late, but what I really loved was that we honed into what we were supposed to do, and we made it a game.
Q. Coach, you guys walked in today wearing shirts that said "our moment," and that seemed to be your guys' theme coming into the tournament. What does that phrase mean for your team, and how do you contextualize it as you're looking to continue building this program even with the loss?
NATASHA ADAIR: Well, "our moment," I think it speaks to who we are. I don't know if you heard us coming in, but it was the energy that we had. We talked about how we were one. And we competed, and we were there for each other.
That's our team. You know, win, lose, or draw, we're still a team, and we're still together. And "our moment" means our culture, our chemistry and what's building. Our moment doesn't mean just for today. It's who we are and what we're creating.
And this is going to build to an even better moment and a better outlook. But our moment just stands for who we are as one.
Q. Jalyn obviously not a whole lot of time to reflect yet, but coming from Louisville and getting the opportunity to compete in a conference like the Pac-12 this year and to be able to showcase your skills and be able to be one of the elite scorers in conference, what do you feel ASU provided you to enable you to take your game to new heights?
JALYN BROWN: I think ASU provided me with opportunity. Last year I played in seven games, maybe not even a minute in any of the games. So for me it was just coming to a program where I knew that I was going to be able to just excel.
I was going to have coaches who believed in me. I was going to have people surrounding me who genuinely loved and cared for me. I feel like that's all I needed to be able to the player that I am. I can put the ball in the basket, but I feel like what surrounds me is most important for me to be the player that I am today.
Q. Coach, in your game against USC and games like Washington State, in your press conferences you mentioned something about -- you mentioned fighting through all four quarters. What was the difference between those games and what you saw from your team today?
NATASHA ADAIR: Well, we didn't have those single-digital quarters, right? And we talked about that, and the players knew that.
Every quarter, it was literally a possession or two. You make your free-throws. They went on a five-, six-point swing. You take that away. It's right there.
But what I loved was every quarter we put ourselves in a position to win. And it was really emphasizing on no single-digital quarters. I thought we played four quarters today.
Q. I'm just wondering, towards the latter part of the third quarter you were down by two points. Tray had to go out for a little while. Pili kind of got going. And then they threw a 50-footer in. Then suddenly --
NATASHA ADAIR: It's March, right?
Q. Suddenly you're down by nine. That combination of things, how much of a momentum swing was that to have to then try to get that back in the fourth quarter?
NATASHA ADAIR: Well, everything matters at this point in the game. It's a momentum shift, but, again, our players know that the game is just a game of runs. I don't think that that dejected them.
Obviously it kind of lets the air out of the room, if you will, but they didn't drop their heads. That was the one thing that we even just talked about. Regardless what was happening, there was still this cohesion, there's still fight, focus. But any time there's a swing in a one-, two-possession game, everything matters.
Q. Lynne Roberts was just in here talking about her challenges as a coach early on having to build a program and how she has kind of gone through a similar situation as you know your program is going through right now. Have you been able to take some advice from either her or other coaches around this great conference and the elite conference to help you see the vision of what you are trying to build and kind of use their pieces of advice to piece together the puzzle you are trying to put together?
NATASHA ADAIR: Not really. I haven't really talked to them about just the process. I know last year I would say they reached out more. This year obviously you can see the growth.
But I think for me this is my fourth rebuild. So I have done it several times. And I know what it looks like. And it doesn't happen overnight, as much as we wish that it does. But you have to see the growth and the players have to see the growth, and you have to celebrate everything.
If you look at where we were the first time we played them and you look at our team now, it's night and day. So we celebrate the small victories throughout. For a very young team, I'm excited about the experience that they've gained against the best players in the country. And you can continue to build on that.
But I will say a year ago Scott Rueck, he was one that, Coach, I've been there. Kelly Graves, Coach, I've been there. Tara checked in all the time, just how are you doing? More than giving advice on how to build a program; it was more just about you as a person. How are you, Coach?
I would say that's just the community in our league. That's the integrity of the coaches in our league. And I think that's the sad part of just seeing everything disbursed. But the one thing that I will say is you have colleagues and friends for life.
Q. For either of the players, your coach has obviously talked a lot about what you guys are building here. I just wanted to know what excites you about the future of Arizona State basketball?
TRAYANNA CRISP: I would just say, like I said, the coaches really believe in us. And I feel like that's something that every player wishes for. To have them believe in you, it helps you believe in yourself, which also helps you be confident. I think confidence all around for the whole team will help us a lot. So I'm just excited to see everybody just build together.
JALYN BROWN: We have a young team, and I think sometimes people mistake us for being a little older than we are. But in terms of us having young people, every day you just see somebody getting better -- Mallory Miller, Sandra -- it's kind of crazy from when we first got them to where they are now, like the growth that they had.
I think that we're getting to trust each other more. We're getting to understand each other more. We're getting to understand where people like the ball. We're getting to understand where your shot is. So I feel like with that we're going to be pretty good.
I'm just genuinely looking forward to all of the growth and us as individuals and just with that constant courage that our coaches instill in us, I genuinely think that we're going to get better every day.
Q. Coach, you touched on it a little bit earlier, but you've only been in this conference for two years. As someone who has been in the game of women's basketball so long and knowing what this conference means to college women's basketball, how do you feel having to be a part of -- having to have gotten the opportunity to be a part of it, even if only for two seasons?
NATASHA ADAIR: I think just having the opportunity, this is what I wanted. As a coach, when you say you can coach in the best league in the country alongside Hall of Fame coaches, the best coaches in the country, in your profession you want to be at the elite level. And this is elite.
When we obviously found out that it was going to disburse, obviously that's a pit in my stomach no matter how long I've been in it. But I think what I just touched on, the relationships, you don't lose them. Coaches are already talking -- hey, are we going to do a home-and-home? Can we get a single game? Because we know that we don't want to lose just the integrity of the game, the competitiveness, the stage that we play on.
Two years in it is a dream come true. And I'll hold onto the experiences, the growth, the learning, the relationships. But proud and honored to say I've coached in the Pac-12.
Q. I was going to say to either of you two players, as sophomores you've had to mature very quickly. You've had to grow up very quickly, a part of this team. Looking towards the future and looking towards the group, how do you feel that quickness that you have had to mature will help you in years to come?
JALYN BROWN: I just think that every day we're literally playing against the best people in the country. For me I was already in a pretty good league, and I really don't think that that league has anything on this league just based off of the competitiveness, everybody's IQ in this league.
For me I just learned. I feel like the more experience I have, the more I'll be able to help and contribute to my team. I think sometimes games come down to experience. So just me being prepared to come in next year swinging, I'm ready. Yeah, that's probably what I would say.
Q. So, Jalyn, you were voted on by the media All Pac-12. I'm interested how you feel to just come from playing a few minutes to making an All Pac-12 team and knowing there's another All Pac-12 player returning to join you, which we've talked about before, but just, again, looking ahead, how much -- I don't know how excited you are about that, and just I guess this can be considered the beginning of Ty coming back right now, right, going into next season.
JALYN BROWN: Me personally I put God first in everything that I do, and I wouldn't be where I am today without him. I think that he instilled confidence in me. He instilled power in me because at the end of the day, I'm not going to say my head was in the right place last year going through everything that I had to go through. So to just know that he had me the whole way is a big blessing.
I feel like I put the work in for it. When you put the work into something and you see the results, you are, like, you deserve it. You worked for it. Just being able to do what I did with the help of my teammates, my coaches, it's honestly just a blessing. I love doing what I do, so...
NATASHA ADAIR: Before we finish, I want to thank each and every one of you all. You've covered our team, and I'm grateful for the stories that you tell. You get to highlight some amazing players. You get to echo the sentiments that we have about our growth and what we're doing. So just these last two years you've captured all of the stories beautifully, and I would be remiss if I didn't say thank you to each and every one of you all. Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports