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Guard Grace Townsend, Coach Courtney Banghart & center Maria Gakdeng after #UNC rolls by Coppin St.
Dec 8, 2024
Guard Grace Townsend, Coach Courtney Banghart & center Maria Gakdeng after #UNC rolls by Coppin St.
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0:00
well whenever you're in yeah you know
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it's always good when everyone on the
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roster has a plus a positive plus uh
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minus contribution means when they're in
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they made uh good things happen um and
0:11
created an advantage uh a lot of good
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things to see on the offensive end I
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know that they'll be that'll be talked
0:15
about um defensively a lot of good
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things too we forced them into making
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tough shots they did at times but you
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know you've got 27% from the field and
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21% from three you know they're doing
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their job there um there's always going
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to be things to correct we're kind of in
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the middle here getting ready to the
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Grind of exams and things like that um
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just fun to have a moment of of fun with
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these guys that're getting better as we
0:37
go the uh three-point shooting I mean
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several games now with double digit uh
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points double digit three-pointers then
0:46
there the the part of it is they could
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key on Plexi last year but they can't do
0:51
it this year because there's so many how
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does that open up things for everybody
0:55
yeah I mean it's obviously really
0:56
helping Maria that she plays in a little
0:57
bit less of a crowd um but really as the
1:00
ball moves which I put a lot of emphasis
1:02
in for our lead guard Play It's the ball
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moves that we're able to attack close
1:05
outs which give open shots right and
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I've been saying it all along it's the
1:07
team that can shoot um over you know
1:10
when when they have great great shots
1:12
these guys generated really great shots
1:13
we can stretch the floor at multiple
1:14
positions um most of the time we have uh
1:17
four legitimate three-point shooting
1:19
threats in the game um and they're
1:21
really starting to figure out how to
1:22
find each other it's fun to
1:24
watch versus Kentucky it was he driv in
1:28
pain tonight behind the arc that to
1:30
switch it up and shoot well from all
1:31
over the court um what doors do it open
1:34
for your team yeah that's a that's a
1:35
good question because yeah exactly we
1:37
have to play to be a really really good
1:39
team which is the step this program
1:40
wants to take uh to being great is we
1:42
have to play a variety of ways and we
1:44
know that right we feel like we're built
1:46
that way um but in terms of having to
1:49
utilize the interior and the paint and
1:51
one opponent and then the next night
1:52
when they tried to Sag um and try to
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take away the interior we have to be
1:56
able to move the ball east to west and
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and take open shots right and and
2:00
thought Grace did a really good job
2:01
finding her Lanes um you know because we
2:04
were able to space the floor um so yeah
2:06
you've got to win a variety of ways um
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and this team proved to do that back
2:10
toback which is great we got a big week
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coming
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up U Marie can you talk about the the
2:15
impact of so many three-point Shooters
2:18
on your ability to get open inside and
2:21
also the height Advantage you had today
2:23
yeah of course um yeah having
2:24
three-point Shooters really opens opens
2:25
up the floor and now that Liz is a
2:27
three-point shooter um we don't as much
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help off of and there's not as much
2:31
doubling so I can get to um my baskets
2:34
really easily um so shout out to them um
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I think it really helps as well with um
2:39
passing back out um them being able to
2:41
hit those threes is really good for us
2:44
feels like if you play more minutes you
2:45
could have really p on the points but uh
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yeah good balance
2:51
M has three point shooting been an
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emphasis on
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practice more than usual right we just
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we recruited it right um and and so that
3:00
was part of it is it has been every bit
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of our Focus for Alyssa every bit of it
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you know that was a a lot of time spent
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on her shot in the spring and in the
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summer um you guys all see Alyssa every
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day every game day we get to see her
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every day you know she deserves uh the
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progress she's made there um we brought
3:17
in um Grace because we knew that when we
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space the floor she'll be able to be
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really dangerous in the paint area um as
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well and then but yeah I mean we if we
3:26
we certainly do drills this year that if
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we done last year we would never have
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been able to finish them right um we get
3:31
through them pretty quickly now um but
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part of that as you know a lot of The
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rosters new and those are the guys that
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can shoot it back on OB last year team
3:38
saged on Big Time and they can't do that
3:41
this year that that's going to open up
3:43
uh driving lanes for her I'm sure for
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sure yeah and it just I mean it's hard
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to recreate your shot when you're an
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First Team all ACC performer right I
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mean it just says a lot to who she is
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that she she knew that her staying um
3:56
and really adding that layer to her game
3:58
would be important it's easy to say that
4:00
and then to go to the beach it's easy to
4:01
say that and then to um take two days
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off right that kid didn't take any days
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off and and um really let let us break
4:07
her shot down from you know from
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literally from where the ball sits in
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her hands um and so for every shot she's
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made she's taken 10,000 other ones you
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know to prepare for this opportunity um
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and so she's easy to re root for um she
4:22
knew that that Maria's we think one of
4:23
the best post players in the game at any
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at any at any age um and so we wanted to
4:27
give her more space uh we knew that that
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Grace would be able to find Shooters and
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and as well find her own finishes which
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I thought she did a good job tonight
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doing um you know that it it helps our
4:38
team a lot Grace Happ been talk to you
4:40
since you transferred last summer uh
4:43
how's the transition going and and how
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do you like the way this offense is is
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becoming pretty pretty no yes I the
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transition has been very smooth I think
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a big part of it's like I'm not the only
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new person here so being able to
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communicate with the coaches with all
4:58
the players that have been here and new
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players have really we've been able to
5:01
jaw together and communicate better but
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also in terms of being able to know what
5:06
I came here to do like coach bankart
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said find the gaps for other people but
5:09
also open lanes for myself so definitely
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still growing and I'm really enjoying
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the transition so far had a really nice
5:16
twisting where did that come from um I
5:19
don't know CB might have to get prop for
5:21
that one for me getting back on the back
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side of that one but you you're one of
5:26
the elements that that are giving uh
5:28
coach bangart tremend the step in the
5:30
back court what what kind of weapon is
5:32
that for the team to have that many
5:34
people I think bringing in as many
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guards as we have we're able to like you
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said like the back court is our weapon
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but also we're able to push the pace
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play with more guards even if we play
5:43
small we're able to compete at every
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position so I think sometimes we play
5:47
small but also having such a deep
5:48
backward that we have we can attack we
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have multiple ball handlers people that
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can take shots create shots and uh
5:53
create shots for other
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people yeah and the experience right
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Grace has played a lot of basketball in
5:59
college and I think she's spending some
6:00
time adjusting and and we're helping her
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remember that she's here for a very very
6:05
we we you know she was the one we
6:06
targeted um and so her experience is
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going to really prove valuable as we get
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into the ACC season and kind of knowing
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what it's like to have to show up night
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after night um you know so which is
6:16
great we knew we that Maran company
6:17
needed some other guys that have a lot
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of experience because you're going to
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have a lot of young guys so her and Trey
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are are critical as we get into the ACC
6:24
season now and then you had the foul
6:27
quirks in the last game where you had
6:29
free throw in the first three a bu of
6:31
them and then Alyssa gets five of the 11
6:36
fouls against you yeah it's really weird
6:39
yeah you know the first one the last one
6:40
I do think that she kind of she should
6:42
have used a she should have bounced it
6:44
down or she should have used a Euro or
6:46
um but you know I say this all the time
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I'm not going to worry about Alysa you
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know she'll figure it out she's a a
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veteran and you know if she's going to
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foul out of a game like this we'll live
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with it um because it's never from a
6:56
lack of effort um so I don't even
6:58
remember them I I remember when she got
6:59
her four the bench told me she had four
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and I was like you kidding me and she
7:03
said yeah I said well maybe she'll get
7:04
her fifth sure enough she
7:07
did what's your what's your big takea
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away from this
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game you know I I think these guys are
7:13
getting more comfortable offensively I
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know we've proven we can defend um
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especially as we um really lock into the
7:19
opponent um but I think offensively you
7:22
know for Grace to play so well we needed
7:24
that right for Blanca to get key minutes
7:25
we needed that you know but just the way
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that they're they're now playing more
7:28
comfortably that they're growing on the
7:30
offensive end I know a lot of being
7:32
talked about our defense and it should
7:33
be it's a really good defensive team
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right and they're committed to that side
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but um you have to be able to score and
7:38
March to win right and and um I feel
7:40
like we're we're getting better
7:41
offensively game to game um there
7:44
certainly you know I actually took notes
7:46
well the game was happening you know
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because I think there's still some other
7:49
things that we can do um and and they'll
7:51
be ready to help us out and grow which I
7:53
which I love about this team what are
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those things you still need to do well
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you have to see on the floor you have to
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see it in live time you have to see it
7:58
in live time
8:00
okay any other
8:03
questions great thanks everyone else