ALBANY, N.Y. — Y'all got enough content yet? If not, here's a little more from some of South Carolina's players in the locker room today as the Gamecocks prepare to take on Oregon State tomorrow with a trip to the Final Four at stake.
Kamilla Cardoso:
On Oregon State's leads post threat, Raegan Beers:
"She's a great player. She works really hard for the post-ups. She's good on both ends of the floor, so we've just got to go out there, play our defense and try to front her."
On her being a little undersized:
"We'll try to get the post-ups, to seal her, to do whatever we need to do to score the ball."
On getting up and down the floor against a slower team:
"Rim running is always a part of the game plan. It doesn't matter who we're playing, we're always trying to rim run and get easy buckets."
On if pressure even crosses the mind for this team:
"We don't feel pressured. We just know we've got to stay poised, stay calm, take it one game at a time, go out there and play basketball and have fun."
Raven Johnson:
On Oregon State slowing down opponents:
"It could be a good thing and a bad thing. Teams that like to slow things down and run the shot clock down, they can kind of pick you apart because we like to go fast. It makes you move a lot on defsense. You can't really do what you want to do. WHen you play fast you like to play fast teams because they go at your pace, but when you play slow you have to be more disciplined and fundamental. I think they do very well at slowing the game down and running the shot clock."
On her not letting South Carolina lose yesterday:
"I just want to win. I don't want to feel the feeling that I felt from last year. I just know that feeling hurt, so I don't want to go though that again."
On her confidence:
"I think it starts with reps. The more reps you put in, the more work you put in, that comes with confidence. WHen they tell you what you put in is what you get out, I actually believe that. When you put in reps you get more confidence. It's just a routine, that's how I look at it. It feels like a routine"
On how much the Iowa game last year inspired her:
"I think that was the best thing that ever happened to me. Things happen for a reason, and they just told me to get in the gym and work on my weakness. I think it was the best thing that ever happened to me."
On how many 3-pointers she shoots a day:
"Now I shoot like 200 shots with Winston [Gandy]. All the guards. I think Winston was a great addition to this team, because they day we don't want to shoot he always makes sure we shoot. He says those days are the ones that matter, the days we don't want to shoot."
On if she would've had the confidence to make the 3-pointer she made yesterday last season:
"No. I would've never shot the ball last season. I would've never shot it."
Owhere the confidence comes from:
"This team, they uplift you no matter what. No matter if you're doing bad, if you're doing good, they uplift you. ANd then I also think it's Coach Staley."
MiLaysia Fulwiley:
On Oregon State slowing teams down:
"I love when my speed is used as an advantage, and I think this will be an advantage. THey're very slow, so we're going to get the ball and push. We do that a lot, we do that against every team. We've just got to execute our game plan, and if we do that we should be very good."
On Raven's work ethic:
"She's the last one in the gym. They don't play with her. We get our extra work in and we leave, but she stays, and that's every day. She's telling the truth. I think it's way more than 200, she can't calculate. She gets a lot of shots, a lot of reps every day. We all get a lot of shots in, but Raven, she stays. She's the last one, like an hour later she' still in the gym. I'm just proud of her. SHe shot 100 percent last night from the 3-point line, 3-for-3. I'm just proud that all her hard work is paying off."
On what it's like watching someone that driven, and the Caitlin Clark wave-of in the Final Four last year:
"It's just exciting. Raven can shoot, I played AAU with her. When Caitlin Clark did that I was like, 'Raven, if you don't shoot the ball...' I know Raven can shoot, she knows she can shoot. She got a little sad, when people troll you and bully you on the internet that can pull you down, so we just needed to make sure we letter her know who she is and who she is as a player and just to keep going. You're going to get hate and all, but she just needed to do a good job staying confident, and she did that this year. If you watch Raven you know she can shoot, so I don't understand why that even happened."
And a quick one from Tessa Johnson on Oregon State:
"It's just another game. Playing another game, that excites me. If we win we get one more game, we get to the Final Four. It's Oregon State and we have to scout them and stay disciplined, very disciplined. They're a great team, good shooters."
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