North Carolina
UNC looks for answers after losing fourth-straight game
North Carolina women's basketball coach Courtney Banghart and guards Deja Kelly and Reniya Kelly speak to the media after the team's loss to Duke on Sunday.
All right, great college basketball game, great environment. Kudos to both uh Carolina and Duke for creating what is a really awesome environment um for women's basketball. It's just amazing how night after night people follow uh the game so energetically, people of all ages, all, all genders, all age, I mean, it's just awesome, so great environment. Um We weren't good enough, obviously had a chance to win it there. Um And then in uh in overtime, they made more plays than us and that, that seems to be the case. Uh So we gotta get better late. Um Or else this is a feeling we'll continue to feel question do the last but why should I not sure have to ask our guys the propensity to, I don't know what that word means. The propensity to build leads. I don't know what that word means. Giving, giving away what does the word mean? OK. Yeah. OK. Building leads and then giving them up and also having scoring graph, I think you had two scoring graphs of at least five minutes. What's the pattern there? Yeah, I mean, I think there's, there's an element of we're taking too many contested shots late in the game, not really having a guy that can get shots for other people to be honest at, at a high enough rate. And so we're, we're there that they can really queue on the ball and, and lock and load to it. So they send two to the ball and um, you know, we're having a tough time getting shots for other people late. Ok, play pretty well, but especially I think on, on your, um, it was tough to be honest, the environment was so hectic. So just trying to get used to the crowd, trying to listen to coach man was really hectic, but I mean, overall it's a great feeling to play out there with my teammates. So I really enjoyed the environment. So, um, you know, I think it just kind of didn't allow us to be as aggressive as we wanted to on the defensive end, um, early. Uh, so I think that's where they kind of got into the paint kind of diced us up a little bit. But, um, you know, it was fine after that first quarter. These are, um, yeah, four losses in a row. How do you, how was it you, I, yeah, I mean, the talk is, it's, it's BS, it's, it's enough, it's enough, it's time for it to be enough. It should have been enough the game ago and then the game before that and then the game before that. And, um, I think we just need more people with uh a different mentality, like a killer mentality. We can't just have one or two people and that's not just in the sense of scoring points, whatever, that's like a mentality that whatever is happening, I'm going to, I'm locked into what I need to do to help to help the team win and there is, there's too many ups and downs um and lack of that. So I think moving forward that has to shift as, as well as a bunch of other things. But, um, in a way, we just, we need more people to step up in that way. Why, you know, according, uh, could pain part on, you know, it slowing down. She said, uh, why did the face slow down in the fourth quarter after, you know, going out to, uh, that, uh, take? Yeah, I think it started with our stops. Um, I think we allowed them to, to dice this up and build without a doubt. Um, but is she opposed? Is she a guard? And she's kind of in between? So, you know, I think, you know, guard play is critical to this league. There's no doubt about it. And so they, they, you know, they have to, uh, posts have to finish and we probably got to get him a few more. Looks better, better looks. Um, you know, despite the loss, just, you know, being here on of this natural d there there a day is that, does that have any impact on you personally? Like growing up and being a young girl who we watched? Um, I sure, um, I think, you know, being able to play in front of the crowd they had and, um, obviously on, uh, girls and women's and Sports Day, I think that, um, you know, it's special, it's an honor, it's an honor to be able to be a part of this rivalry. But, um, yeah, yeah, for all three, what are the emotions going? You can very easily be on a three game win streak? You get a couple breaks in these three games. I mean, we've, the key is that ironically, you know, there's one league winner, you remember what happened here last time, you know, by beating them, they wasn't a co winner. So typically there's a, a one win league and then all it comes down to is tournaments, you know, it's amazing. Right. You can, you can look what Miami did, you know, they went to an elite eight last year. Right. And so, you know, there's a whole lot of basketball to be played and in the tournaments, both the AC C and the NC A tournament, you know, it's kind of a clean slate. So that's why it's like, you know, we just, but the thing is, is we're not going to get better at doing the same things. We've got to be able to play a little bit differently late. Um, and if we do, I think the, these, these results can change. Um, but, you know, they're, it, it, it matters because it's a big, because we want to win every game, we play every single one. Let's be clear. Right. Uh, but really when it comes down to it, it's, it's, you got to position yourself to get your best chance you got in the tournament, which comes down to match ups and you all know that, right? And so if you win this game, are we gonna win the league? I don't know if you lose this game, you're gonna win the league. I don't know. You know, but I do know that when the tournament hits, you have a clean slate. So if we're better by then that will give us a better chance to advance. Oh, oh, I do you wanna say, oh, I think the emotion is just pissed off. I think, you know, that there's no other way to it. I, um, you know, after the first loss, we were like, oh, we're good. It was a lot of the, um, kumbaya stuff and honestly, as a senior, I'm sick of that. So I think it's 44 losses and I think it, the, the mentality has to be, you're pissed off. We're not good right now. We, we can be, but we're not right now and, um, we just have to continuously get better. We gotta find other people's shots, but we need, we need those people to actually shoot it. We need to finish around the rim. We need to all, uh, defend rebound better. Um, you know, even our, I think our defense is pretty good. We got better. We got to scare the ball. We need to run more in transition. There's a long list of that. Um, but I think overall the emotion is pissed off, um, from me as a senior, from all, from all the players, I'm sure, but that's, that's how it needs to be down the line.