Following an 82-54 loss to South Carolina, Vanderbilt head coach Shea Ralph spoke with the media about the game. Here is everything she had to say.

Opening statement

“Yeah, I felt like you know, there were portions of the game, especially in the first half, and a little bit in the third quarter, where we were battling. Our effort was there, and then it wasn’t. It felt like we looked a little bit out of sorts.

“On offense, we weren’t able to get anything in fast break. The ball wasn’t moving as crisp, crisply and cleanly as it normally does. So there’s some things we have to figure out. I mean, obviously, they’re a good team. I don’t think either of us played great today, but it’s disappointing to not take advantage of not their best game on our home court at the same time it’s senior night. And thought there were some bright spots today from some of our guys that are graduating.”

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How important have those five (seniors) been to your program over the past couple of years?

“Yeah, you know, save Leilani and Juice (Jane Nwaba) have just been here for a year, the other three have really made an impact in a positive way on the trajectory of the program and putting us in a place where, you know, we’re able to do some of the things that were only part of our vision when we got here.

“So, you know, you never want to want it’s a loss today, and it’s in it stinks because I thought we didn’t play well, but, but it’s also an opportunity to honor how far we’ve come, and to honor those guys that have gotten us here. So we’re going to take full advantage of that now after the game, and then we’ll get back to work when it’s time to get back to work.”

This is one of those punch-in-the-face moments, also leading towards the March Madness and everything. Do you feel like this is a wake-up call?

“I hope so. I think it needs to be, in a lot of ways, this is kind of when you want to be playing your best basketball. So I think that’s what’s maybe the most concerning about how we play today.

“But also, you know, we’re not that far removed from some of the better games that we played. We just showed a lot of toughness and grit in a road win over time when at Auburn. And I thought, you know that more looked like the team that I know. So we got to make sure that this last week of the season, we get back to who that is. And I think we’ll be able to do so quickly.”

Is Mikayla having a target on her back now a chance to grow her game with teams making her work on both ends of the court?

“Yeah, definitely. it’s always a chance for her to grow her game. She hasn’t been a secret for a long time, but I think there were times today where we were out of sorts. So it didn’t even look like, to me, a lot of times on offense, that we were connecting, you know, so for her, that’s going to be tough as a point guard.

“We got to make sure that everyone’s on the same page, that she’s getting the same opportunities that she’s gotten in so many of the games before, and she didn’t get those today. She just didn’t get them. And the ones that she tried to take were more difficult than they usually are, and you got to credit South Carolina’s defense, in that way they’re long and athletic, but I thought she still played hard and she still did a lot of really good things. We also shouldn’t need her to score 50 points for us to win. We got to be better than that. She’s done it in moments where we really needed it, but she also has to get a little bit of help.”

When you look at what Dawn (Staley) has built, what stands out, and is the gap closing?

“Yeah, I do feel like the gap is closing when we play our best. I mean in terms of the things that we’ve accomplished so far this year and where we’re going. I do feel that way.

“What’s impressive about what Dawn has done is that she literally built it from the ground up. You know,
it’s impressive that she did it while also coaching in the Olympics, that she’s been able to create a powerhouse in this day and age, especially as the landscape is changing. To sustain it is maybe the most impressive thing, because I know, having come from UCONN, how hard that is to do.

“So you see teams that have a good couple years and then don’t have a good couple years. She’s, you know, a national championship contender every year. And her kids get better. They look like they have fun, they have a really good culture, that’s not easy to do in this day and age. So what’s impressive about it? All of it. And then you know who she is, in terms of the representation as a woman, the things that she did as a player, now as a coach, the way she speaks up for our sport, that in and of itself, is very powerful.”

Are there lessons you can take from them, especially having done it in the SEC the way they have?

“Yeah, absolutely. She’s been one of the more vocal supporters in terms of always reaching out to me, especially the first couple of years, to show support and encouragement. But, yeah, She’s kind of laid out a blueprint. It’s inspiring. But I’m still a competitor, you know. I’m inspired by her, but I still want to beat her and I’d like to do that sooner than later.”

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I’d love if you could just sort of speak about that element of being a coach and outside of the game how you’re trying to lead this group of girls.

“I think most of the reason that I wanted to coach was because of the way that people had changed my life in terms of my coaches and mentors and guiders. I was a little bit of a s—head. I mean, it’s not really another way to say it. When I was younger, I was stubborn and selfish and all the things that get in your way when you’re a young kid and you’re trying to do trying to do something really cool and you’re trying to grow into a young woman who can be successful in any arena in life, you got to learn how to sacrifice. You got to learn how to be unselfish. You got to learn how to put people in teams and bigger visions before yourself. And so when I was younger, I had a lot of people do that for me, and I think it’s time for me to give back in terms of not only our game but for the young women that want to play and have the same goals that I had.

“I also want to show them that you can do that and still be a wife and a mom and you know, somebody in the community that’s a leader. You can do all the things, you can’t always do them at once and I’ve learned that myself here being where my feet are. But to me, it’s more important that my players know how much I care about them and love them, how much I want to set them up for success in the future, and how much I’m going to pour into them, whether or not they perform on the basketball court.

“If they can learn those things that I learned, and they have the talent that they have, then they’re going to explode with success in every arena of their life. And that’s that’s meaningful in terms of leadership. That’s meaningful when you can help guide kids through that and see them to the other side so that when they get to life, real life, because you all know, man, it’s unforgiving that they have a really big tool box of things they can use because you were able to help them.”

As tough as this season in conference play has been, how tough might it be heading to the tournament this year. It looks like all of you are locked in, but can anybody take it for granted at
this point?

“Never, never. You can’t take anything for granted in this sport, in this conference. You got to go out to win. We need to win, and we need to make sure that we position ourselves to do something really special in March.”

What needs to happen to get the rest of the team of going again on offense?

“We just have to move the ball. We have to play with confidence. Make sure we take opportunities. We looked a little bit overwhelmed at times today, like not sure what to do next. So I think part of that is just keeping it simple, to simplifying everything that we’re doing, making sure the ball changes sides of the floor, getting back to who we really are. You can’t overcomplicate it at this point.

“You know, I think just getting back out on the court and seeing the ball go through the net, and making sure that we know exactly where we need to be and what we need to be doing probably will help a lot, because there were large portions of the game today where I felt like that didn’t look like the case. So we just have to make sure that that we feel more comfortable and confident going into Thursday.”

How tough was it to Scout a team like South Carolina with the amount of talent on their roster?

“It was actually not that tough to scout them because Dawn really just sticks to who she is, like, they don’t really change much. You kind of know what you’re going to see. And to the point I just made, they’re pretty simple in terms of what they do, but it’s super effective.

“So I felt like we could have a lot of success defensively, but then you have to make sure that you convert that into really good offensive possessions. So we can’t get rebounds and then give it right back. We can’t get steals and then give it right back. We can’t take poor shots and then give them wide-open layups and transition threes. That’s just not the winning edge ever in basketball, but certainly not against South Carolina. So there were moments where it was like, we’re right there, and then we have a couple of really poor decisions, poor shots, just give the ball back to them, and then, you know, they opened it up by eight or 10 more.”

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What do you feel like your team can kind of take from these past two games to grow and get back to playing your best basketball?

“Well specifically, just this game, I would say even, even at our worst. I mean, we were still there. For a large portion of the first half, into the second half, the third quarter, we were right there.

“And we did not play well, neither did they, but we got to take full advantage of that. You know, we were right there having played one of our worst games of the year in terms of who we are and what we what we aspire to be. So all that being said, we still had an opportunity to be in a position to win the game. And so you kind of have to look at it that way, and then we have to see what say. ‘Well, what was our issue? What got in our way? Let’s confront that. Let’s get rid of it, let’s fix it, whatever, and let’s move on.’”

South Carolina is one of the few teams that play both sides of the floor. Do you feel like that is what caught your players by surprise?

“I don’t think we were caught by surprise. I mean, I don’t know that I would say that, that we were caught by surprise. I think they just took advantage of our mistakes and that wasn’t surprising, but it was disappointing because you can’t make mistakes like that against really good teams.

“The things that we did, I mean, was they were self-inflicted. Not a lot of offensive flow, turnovers, rebounding, not moving the ball crisply enough, not making free throws, not scoring one point in transition, and that sucks like that. You just can’t do that against good teams and think you’re going to win the game. So it wasn’t surprising, but it was disappointing that we weren’t able to capitalize more on the positive things we did so we could put ourselves in position to win.”

“I mean, there were a lot of cases of that, just rebounding and running turnover, you know, just even in the open court getting picked for a layup. That can’t happen at this level, you got to be better than that, you know. So to me, it was just that’s a lack of focus, and we just have to be a little bit more disciplined. And again, I’m going to keep saying it, but it’s true. We got to get back to who we are.”