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#UNC's Indya Nivar, Courtney Banghart and Blanca Thomas after the Tar Heels' OT win over Duke
Jan 10, 2025
#UNC's Indya Nivar, Courtney Banghart and Blanca Thomas after the Tar Heels' OT win over Duke
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0:00
which one are you ready we'll start an
0:01
opening statement then open up for
0:02
questions oh Lord I don't have a whole
0:04
lot to start with I don't know what um
0:07
destiny Advance juice Network oh wait I
0:09
haven't even given my opening statement
0:10
yet no you're good juice um I will just
0:13
say real quickly there's obviously a lot
0:15
of people that are really suffering out
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in out in La I don't know what we can do
0:19
to help but except to say that we see
0:20
you and and and that's important I think
0:23
also I didn't even think of it these are
0:24
two North Carolina kids sitting right
0:25
next to me um it's kind of a fun fact um
0:30
be we're glad you're on our team and
0:32
you've continued to get better and
0:33
trusted the process um India you know
0:36
how I feel about you but I don't know
0:38
we're gonna be better next time out
0:39
aren't we bananas okay that's all I got
0:42
not very articulate but that I don't
0:43
know what I don't know how to talk about
0:45
that
0:47
actually go ahead Destiny V juice
0:50
Network after today's when um what are
0:53
your next steps in continuing your
0:54
success throughout the
0:56
season well we've been solid defensively
1:00
um all year um I thought we were solid
1:03
again tonight thank god um honestly I
1:07
don't know if it's emotions of the
1:08
Rivalry game I don't know if um maybe I
1:10
pushed them too hard in prep so they
1:12
were fatigued I'm not sure um we don't
1:14
turn the ball over 26 times a game
1:16
that's just not what we do um we shoot
1:18
it better um but I don't think we have
1:21
to retool I really don't I think we just
1:23
got to continue to progress this this
1:25
team is so fun to coach you guys it's
1:27
fun to watch him on game day it's really
1:29
fun to coach them because they just they
1:30
work in practice they're committed to
1:32
getting better so um we have a quick
1:34
turnaround obviously with another good
1:35
team coming in um and so I'll make sure
1:39
we we get them ready for the next
1:40
opponent kind of sticking back to kind
1:41
of what we do what what was what was it
1:44
that helped you defensively they had
1:45
season lows and field goal percentage
1:47
points assists I mean what did you do to
1:50
disrupt their offense I thought we were
1:52
really good at the point of the screen
1:53
our our post play with their hands on
1:55
the on the screens we switched the
1:56
coverages from switching to to hedging
1:59
um having in live time to do all of this
2:02
was pretty remarkable she was a great
2:03
rim protector I mean India and Lexi and
2:06
Alyssa are and R they're just so good
2:08
defensively right and then you add the
2:10
team uh mechanic in and um I don't know
2:14
if it was anything we did know their
2:15
actions I think we were walking through
2:17
it was funny today at shoot around we
2:18
were walking through their actions and
2:19
the managers were or our practice guy
2:21
whatever it was was going through it and
2:23
um you know at one point you know India
2:26
was on defense and she actually ran the
2:27
action before they even did she was like
2:29
oh this is what they do right so I think
2:31
we knew their stuff pretty good um I
2:33
give a lot of credit to just them for
2:35
concentrating but yeah that was thank
2:38
God we defended well Blanca um like
2:41
coach said you're a North Carolina kid U
2:43
what was it like playing in this game
2:45
and playing well in this game and
2:47
stepping up your number got call well
2:49
these last two days of practice have
2:51
been very challenging of course
2:52
preparing for such a big rivalry and
2:54
growing up a North Carolina kid I've
2:56
always known like how important this
2:58
game is in all sports so I just knew the
3:01
win would just mean so much more and I
3:02
just wanted to do it all for my
3:03
teammates and just for how hard I've
3:05
been working I feel like it was a
3:07
well-deserved win for our team what were
3:08
the emotions for you you haven't played
3:10
an ACC game this season and all of a
3:11
sudden you're dressed in the first
3:13
quarter I mean who going through your
3:16
mind oh you know um definitely a little
3:18
bit of nerves but I know that I'm here
3:20
for a reason and Coach bangard brought
3:22
me here to do what she knows I can do so
3:24
just going out there and being able to
3:25
give my all whether it's rebounding you
3:27
know defense scoring anything double
3:30
double oh well I didn't see that um but
3:33
yeah so I've just felt very confident in
3:35
myself because my coaches have allowed
3:37
me to do these things in practice and
3:39
just knowing that when it's my time it's
3:41
my time long when the final buzzer
3:43
sounded you were mobbed by everybody and
3:45
God came over and give you a two-handed
3:47
what does that mean for everybody to
3:48
just come around you in that moment it
3:50
means everything honestly this team has
3:52
been so special to me and the
3:54
relationships I've been able to build I
3:56
mean you can see how much we love each
3:57
other just from that moment like Ria
4:00
just jumped on top of me you know I
4:01
wasn't expecting all that but you know R
4:04
was in foul trouble of course so I just
4:05
wanted to step up for her because she's
4:07
the one who's making me better every day
4:08
in practice Duke was really able sorry
4:12
yeah I just said well said Duke was
4:14
really able to capitalize off of those
4:16
tour in the first half so how were you
4:17
guys able to um settle down coming out
4:20
of path time and how did that feel that
4:22
run you yeah these guys had to handle
4:24
pressure all night kind of full full
4:25
front pressure um I didn't like that
4:28
their our turnovers turned into point
4:29
point for them in the first half their
4:31
turnovers did not turn into points for
4:32
us right um and so that wasn't ideal so
4:36
that we would assume we would have taken
4:37
better care of the ball we did go on a
4:39
16 and0 run I mean we we did play better
4:41
offensively I thought India came in and
4:42
played with a lot of confidence in the
4:43
third quarter um obviously Blanca did
4:45
what she did um and then they kind of
4:48
chipped away we sort of got tentative
4:50
again and I don't know why right and I I
4:52
don't know yet if I'm going to kind of
4:54
try to unpack it or if I'm gonna just
4:55
let it go right because they were they
4:57
were a bit tentative hands were a little
4:59
a little bit messier than than they
5:01
needed to be now it was the first you
5:03
know it was the first time for a lot of
5:04
our guys playing in a rivalry game like
5:05
that the students were back
5:07
Hallelujah so when the students were
5:10
back I was so happy to see them it was
5:11
almost distracting I was just those are
5:12
my people um and so maybe that was the
5:14
first time I don't know I don't know why
5:15
we were so messy I I really don't
5:17
Courtney did this from your point of
5:19
view did this seem like the most
5:20
physical game that you guys have played
5:22
all year because it certainly looked
5:23
like
5:26
it I mean she's okay um list is I guess
5:30
going to be okay yeah it was pretty
5:31
physical I I'm trying to figure that
5:33
part out right it's so physical I
5:35
thought Sunday or Thursdays was really
5:37
or Sundays was really physical um and
5:40
you know toughness is important in these
5:42
ACC wins and I think that's another kind
5:44
of thing for us we just got to keep
5:45
building that collectively how do you
5:47
Scout that and how do you build that
5:49
when you see it toughness try to play
5:50
off two feet more because then you're
5:52
not absorbing contact you're creating
5:54
contact and on the defensive end be
5:56
early so you're not trailing and trust
5:58
your rotation on the singles like we
6:00
always say hit singles be in the right
6:02
spot and then in the right spot and then
6:03
in the right spot um but yeah the
6:06
physicality that's why what Blanca did
6:08
today was so special because the the
6:10
physicality she had to learn in live
6:12
time because we don't let our our
6:13
practice guys are actually really good
6:15
um and they're pretty physical as well
6:17
we asked them to be physical to prepare
6:18
for this game but um that's something
6:20
that I think the experienced guys are a
6:22
little bit more used to but um yeah it
6:24
was pretty physical game for sure coach
6:26
you were locked in at 1616 half time I I
6:29
yeah say that again said that she went
6:32
into problem solving mode during half
6:33
time what was your message was that
6:34
executed in the yeah I mean we we showed
6:37
clips of what we weren't doing on the
6:38
offensive end I thought Blanca was doing
6:40
a good job creating separation and we
6:41
just were a little tentative on making
6:43
the passes I thought that pass that
6:45
India made to Blanca over the top I mean
6:47
it was like we just we started to just
6:48
trust that when you create separation
6:50
against a team like this you're going to
6:52
have space right we were we were playing
6:54
we were allowing ourselves to play in a
6:56
crowd because we were half rolling or we
6:58
were our guard guard exchanges were at
7:00
at medium speed and you know so yeah we
7:03
were wasn't necessarily problem solving
7:05
it was more like whoa whoa whoa let's
7:06
get back to what we want to do and um
7:09
and uh didn't have a lot to say on the
7:11
defensive end with one quick tweak but
7:13
other than that it was mostly offensive
7:15
lessons to be taken from this game or
7:17
would you rather have a major from it
7:18
and move on to the
7:21
next oh I'm still I'm having decide if
7:23
I'm going to make you guys watch that
7:25
again um um so you know it's
7:30
it's another top 25 win it's another top
7:32
20 win at home a really good team with a
7:34
lot of physicality and toughness a lot
7:36
of emotion and a rivalry game coming off
7:38
of a loss that hurt our heart you know
7:40
um you
7:42
know that that matters that part matters
7:45
um the the Nuance of what ever happened
7:48
here I don't have a lot of answers for
7:50
that not a hammer no you're good
7:52
turnovers 26 you know it's there's a
7:56
difference between great defense and
7:57
like you know struggling a bit on the
7:58
offensive end you get into kind of like
8:00
that Rock fight in a game how do you
8:03
pull that out is there is it just got to
8:05
kind of put on the hard hat and go to
8:06
work what was that like I thought
8:08
defensively that's what these guys did
8:09
they literally I mean every time we
8:11
asked to go we wanted to go up the
8:12
middle we wanted to chase we wanted to
8:14
kind of keep doing that and these guys
8:15
did it to a t whereas against Notre Dame
8:17
we missed a few coverages right these
8:19
guys did that to a t um and I don't know
8:22
I mean I think you should ask that I
8:23
don't know why you guys are so tight I
8:25
don't know I really don't um but I
8:27
thought defensively you know a really
8:29
good team it's averaging 81 points a
8:31
game I know last year like neither team
8:33
could score we kind of like played in
8:34
the 40s I said to the TV before the game
8:37
like I'm so excited you're gonna get to
8:38
see a game not in the 40s against dud
8:40
and at halftime I was like oh my God we
8:42
have 16 points so do they um so I I
8:46
would never have guessed that but I'm
8:48
super glad that we beat a top 20 team at
8:50
home especially with Alissa struggling
8:52
with ball control and Maria out most of
8:53
the game it was a great win for them was
8:56
a feeling on the court during that 16
8:58
points uh run that you guys went you
9:01
made the big three-pointer after the
9:03
layup uh what what was the vibe on the
9:06
court during that stretch um just to get
9:09
it going we were playing we deserve to
9:11
score I feel like we put so much effort
9:13
in on that defensive end um yes and to
9:15
get rebounds we just started pushing the
9:17
ball in transition and that that got us
9:18
some easy looks and then we got in a
9:20
little flow in that third quarter um but
9:23
yeah it felt good I feel like we we
9:24
needed that and that's I feel like that
9:27
that's what separated um this game had
9:29
nine
9:30
rebounds speaking of rebounds you had
9:33
coach said you had n rebounds tonight
9:35
what was that like attacking up under
9:37
the you know from the last game our big
9:40
thing for the guards was for us to crash
9:42
and help The Bigs rebound because that
9:44
was our big thing against nor Dame we
9:45
weren't rebounding enough so I was
9:47
really focused on that coming into this
9:49
game and we knew they had some guards
9:51
that were really good at crashing so
9:53
every time they I said my man wasn't
9:54
going to get the ball so yeah did you
9:57
get hit in the nose or the mouth you
9:59
know it was real physical I don't even
10:01
remember um yeah it just happened
10:05
you yeah oh you're not wearing it
10:08
anymore no between Lexi D's
10:11
three-pointer the see like us we got
10:13
every re rebound down the stretch um the
10:16
free throw shooting ly Grant comes in
10:18
shoots four for four she goes two for
10:19
three so how how concerted was that
10:21
effort yeah your youngsters making free
10:23
throws in overtime I mean that's a
10:25
that's a good story um you know I think
10:28
yeah I I mean I
10:29
India's rebounding Alyssa's rebounding I
10:31
mean we and then we go and we miss two
10:33
free throws like it was one of those
10:34
games that I just I have to admit like
10:36
every third possession I was like really
10:39
like in my head I was like no way no way
10:42
no way um and then you just look at them
10:44
defend and I just smile and say well
10:47
we're going to get another chance we
10:48
live again you know um and so I I think
10:51
they've proven to themselves that if
10:52
they defend and rebound and play with
10:53
toughness we got a shot something that
10:55
you've seen on film with du this season
10:57
on the interior play I even mention this
10:58
to coach before where I felt like you
11:00
could attack The Bigs at all times and
11:02
it seemed like you were in the same play
11:03
over and over with the down screen which
11:05
freeze with the big on a mismatch and on
11:08
something you seen on
11:09
F Well we thought we had you know
11:11
they're aggressive at the point of the
11:12
ball screen so they put their they put
11:14
their big kind of north of it which
11:15
means they're in recovery mode and so we
11:17
really wanted Blanca and and um Maria to
11:20
establish their presence down low um and
11:23
you know I Maria's been so great it's
11:25
really hard to pick on her she's been so
11:26
great she's been she's been exactly more
11:29
than we needed and obviously preparing
11:31
her um and you can see how much better
11:33
Blanca's gotten dealing with Maria every
11:35
day so yeah we we thought the interior
11:36
was going to be really important they
11:38
switch a lot at the guard spot so they
11:40
they kind of it's hard to break that
11:41
line um and so you've got to go north
11:43
south and you can either do that off the
11:45
dribble which we did some or you can do
11:46
that off the pass I had to ask you about
11:48
one of The Oddities with all the
11:49
turnovers is Alissa got a triple double
11:52
that she probably didn't want no yeah I
11:54
mean 11 turnovers is is isn't isn't good
11:57
enough I mean it's not going to get the
11:58
job done um and so you know Alysa like
12:01
Maria's hard to pick on because she
12:02
still gets a double double and um you
12:04
know she's going to give you everything
12:05
she's got and um all that but yeah her
12:09
her ball control was
12:11
was I mean she hasn't lost to Duke at
12:13
home in her career I don't know why she
12:15
was so tant it was fascinating I I don't
12:16
know Courtney uh Lexi's three in
12:19
overtime to beat the shot clock where
12:21
does that crowd pop rank among the years
12:25
that you've been here I mean to have
12:27
especially because everyone was like oh
12:28
my God that's three whole points going
12:29
on the scoreboard at one time this is
12:31
amazing um that was part of it and yeah
12:34
it was just such a it was just huge and
12:38
you know those students they were here
12:39
so early it's the first thing Alyssa
12:41
said when she came in pregame she was
12:42
like coach the student section's full
12:44
because I've been on the students about
12:45
having they haven't been here because of
12:46
the break and all that um and our crowd
12:49
has been great car Michael's special you
12:51
know these guys have earned that people
12:53
are have a choice of where they want to
12:54
spend their time and they like watching
12:55
this team and so I think all the whole
12:58
crowd was like Hallelujah I mean it was
13:00
like a combination of a breath of fresh
13:02
air and like a yes all at once coach you
13:06
guys ended it overtime with 80 total
13:08
points and georia had 160 total points
13:11
after how do you kind of be
13:14
better we'll go with that I was gonna
13:16
say go from a game like this to maybe
13:20
more that's why I might not make him
13:22
watch it back I mean I really might not
13:24
that and as these guys know I live in
13:26
film I mean I I'll never get the hours
13:28
back and preparing for for Duke so thank
13:29
God it was a win um but I I just think I
13:33
don't might I really might not make them
13:35
watch it back I'll probably make you
13:36
watch back some of your good stuff
13:37
because I'm always on you um and you too
13:40
right but I don't think this is us I
13:43
hate to say it offensively we had four
13:45
turnovers in a game was that last game
13:46
or the game before last game two think
13:48
it two games ago twoes two games ago we
13:50
had four turnovers a program record and
13:51
then we go for 26 come on come
13:55
on yeah no so I agonizing will it be for
13:58
you to walk
14:00
I just told the staff I said I can't
14:02
promise I'm definitely not watching it
14:03
tonight I need to breathe through that
14:04
one um so yeah I might look at what they
14:07
send me and decide if that's
14:09
enough yeah that this one is just a
14:11
rivalry win that we take a top 20 win
14:13
that we'll take um and it's we can all
14:15
share that we've been a part of
14:16
something that doesn't usually happen
14:18
which is whatever Happened Here know
14:19
some teams like bury the tape they like
14:21
have a ceremonial buing of the tap well
14:23
not when you beat your rival that's true
14:25
nope not when you beat your rival and
14:26
when you've got um especially when you
14:28
had Young guys who had to help you do it
14:30
yeah no this one is a this is a win that
14:32
you earned and you guys should be really
14:33
proud of yourself I just would like you
14:34
to play the way that we play Laney
14:37
Grant's coolness at the line with those
14:40
huge hug the two of them they went five
14:42
for six or something together because
14:44
you went um you were two for three and
14:46
she was four for four I'm not good at
14:47
math that's nine eight for nine whatever
14:49
it is um she was great and Alyssa I
14:52
don't know hopefully she didn't break
14:53
her hand but it was
14:56
great any other questions is there any
14:59
other is there like a different I guess
15:01
approach sort of after this game because
15:03
this is the only AC opponent who played
15:05
twice this season so is is there value
15:08
in maybe watching this film for sure oh
15:10
yeah a second Rock fight oh for sure oh
15:13
yeah no no we'll watch it in a prep um
15:16
we have a lot of play when you play
15:17
people live you got a lot of play calls
15:19
these guys have eyed them um so it'll be
15:22
very helpful for both teams the next
15:23
time out um but I don't know how helpful
15:25
it'll be for Boston College right so um
15:27
but yeah it'll be very helpful they'll
15:29
how they defended this is a really good
15:31
defensive team I mean they're going to
15:32
play low we're going to play low um but
15:35
we've got a we just have to be better
15:37
and we will but I feel bad I'm like
15:39
raking on you guys you had a great win I
15:41
just I'm concerned about what's
15:43
happening on this paper great thanks
15:45
everyone
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