BRENDA FRESE: Yeah, good afternoon. Excited to be here. March Madness is all about survive and advance, we're grateful to have another day. One of the last 32 teams remaining.
Really proud of our poise and composure against a really good Norfolk State, a team that hadn't lost this year. I thought we were able to put a really complete 20 minute game there in the second half and kind of settle into our nerves and jitters.
But as you advance, every team gets better. Alabama, have a lot of respect for Coach Curry and her staff. Really well-coached, a friend; very experienced team.
They pride themselves on their grit, and their ability to shoot the threes is really, really lethal. It's a talented group. Three grad seniors; a lot of experience; four double figure scorers.
So it's going to take a complete 40 minute defensive effort game for us and playing the way that we know how to play.
Q. Coach, just wondering if you have an update on Saylor Poffenbarger's ankle? Doesn't seem to be at 100% since she played. Do you expect her to play more tomorrow?
BRENDA FRESE: No, she's cleared. She's not on a minute restrictions. You know, kind of more of her settling back in.
You know, like we're hopeful that she's going to be able to play a lot of minutes. They present a lot of problems with their four-guard lineup and we know the success she'd had in the SEC and having played in that league.
She's healthy and ready to go.
Q. Coach, when you played Alabama few years ago early in the tournament, I think it was their first time back in a while under the current coaching staff. Just wondering how much you've seen them grow as a program since then and what kind of challenges they'll present this time that maybe they weren't able to before?
BRENDA FRESE: From my end, I don't even recall that. I've had so many games under my belt. You know, I've had the utmost respect for Coach Curry since I was at Ball State and she was at Purdue. That's how far back we go.
She's always had her team ready to play. You know, they play at a really high level. They do things the right way. Her kids, you know, they're experienced and playing to get back home.
They'll have a lot of motivation.
Q. Kind of touched on it yesterday, but Allie had another strong day on the offensive end, similar to the Iowa State game last year. How big is her impact when things may not be going well on the offensive end for her to step up?
BRENDA FRESE: Yeah, Allie was huge last night. I can't say enough. I mean, that opens things up for us when we have that inside-outside game and they can't just focus in on one or two matchups.
When we have our perimeter game going and then that inside attack, with Allie, with Chris, with our bench, it's really impactful. So love -- like this is who Allie is and the confidence that we need her to play at.
Q. Hey, Coach, you just mentioned the bench. Mir McLean came of the bench yesterday. Big defensive effort. Is that the role you see her going forward, big lockdown defender, playing really good defense down the stretch?
BRENDA FRESE: Yeah, clearly athletically, defensively rebounding, she can score for us. But the job she did on Diamond yesterday, can't be said enough just how impactful she was for us.
We're going to need that against Alabama with their four-guard lineup. That's who she is. She is a high motor. Makes an impact as soon as she steps on the court.
Q. I'm just curious, is there specific advantages you're looking to press against them tomorrow? Are you emphasizing rebounding? I know you're always trying beat teams on the glass. Is there specific advantages you see you think you guys can press tomorrow?
BRENDA FRESE: I think at this point you are who you are and Alabama is who they are. Shooting the three and as well as the presence that they bring on both ends of the floor, they're a tough, gritty team.
From our end, yeah, when we are a connected unit defensively. There is a lot of things we can do on the glass. We've shown that all season long. Getting to the free-throw line has been big as well.
In these type of games it's who wins out. We know Alabama will shoot the three and we want to limit that, and they know we want to get on the glass and they're going to want to take that away from us.
So it's really which team can out-battle the other.
Q. Alabama is the of one the best three point shooting teams in the country. Michigan in the BigTen tournament, I think they hit 12 in the quarterfinal. What has to change from that game against Michigan tomorrow to limit Alabama with all those opportunities from three?
BRENDA FRESE: Yeah, we just have to be more connected. You know, I mean, we were out of rhythm in that game. Obviously foul trouble impacted that. Saylor's injury as well.
So you didn't have the continuity. We're in a better place now with the rest and getting everyone back to being healthy. It is, it's who can get who to the foul trouble. Cody (ph) was impacted last night for them, you know, for a big part of the game, but then came back and showed the presence that she was.
Same thing for us. We need to keep our players on the floor.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports