we welcome LSU representatives to the stage i've been asked to wave the opening statement so we'll open it up to questions for LSU student athletes remind you to raise your hand when you have a question we'll get a mic to you uh speak as close to the mic as you can and if you could direct questions to specific individuals that's really helpful questions do we have questions for student athletes right here alexa Philpu ESPN ana we heard on the broadcast that you broke your nose um what was the play that that happened on and how are you what made you want to go back in the game and give it all your your all out there i don't know who's lying and saying that I broke my nose my nose was bleeding but I'm tough and I'm going to go out there and compete with my teammates i'm going to try to do everything that I can so Uh question Jaden Smith KSU Sports question for Ana you played your last game in the purple and gold just curious on how would you reflect on your journey uh playing with this team um I would say honestly my first practice coming in here I was up for a challenge and um just seeing how much that I persevere but not only on the basketball floor but with my teammates i know that they have my back and I had a back far beyond LSU and I'm grateful for that because you don't get to experience teammates like that kendra Andrews ESPN FL you had a monster over here on your left I think yeah um you had a monster of a of a second half just what was your mindset coming out of of halftime and really trying to to will your team into this one back into this one just a mindset of perseverance um I didn't have a good second quarter i feel like I made the team go into a drought and so you know I just try to come back in the second half not force it just play within the system and try to make some stuff happen michael Cobbell WBRZTV for Ana and Fl just um how difficult did they make it inside obviously for you guys to get good looks some of the things that you were able to do early in this tournament you guys were unable to do today just what did their defense have to do with the amount of turnovers that you guys had offensively we'll start with Anise if you don't mind um I would say of course size you know you alter your shot a little bit um also I would say very physical you know we play physical teams but very physical on the inside i don't know i think I don't really think a lot of my turnovers I don't think they did nothing i think it was unforced it was on me i made bad decisions um I didn't pass it at the right time um I don't really think you know of course they got length and all of that but on my end I feel like it was just some unforced turnovers that weren't necessary more questions for student athletes reed Darcy with the advocate ben Roua I want to ask you guys about the season as a whole how do you think you'll remember it um what do you think the memories are that you'll take from it i guess we'll start with um Fe first I just I want to I just want to thank God like I feel like this season I went through so much and I really like overcame a lot you know what I'm saying and I feel like the number one thing is my relationship with God like it got so much better because that's who I ran to when stuff got hard and then when I went to God I was able to open up to my teammates i was open able to open up to coach Moi and I felt I became a better person and I became I really became a leader and um that's who I am at heart um and that's like I want to continue to be a better person so we we had success we we we made history but man you know I have sisters for life and God man he's so good like even in this moment of defeat like I'm still like "Thank you Jesus for the opportunity you know." So I think um it's a lot to be learned from this definitely going to sit back learn um but just gained so much perspective from this year it was beautiful ana Um I would just say honestly I'm just grateful for the opportunity a lot of people don't get the opportunity that I get and that I receive just to be able to come to LSU i feel like they help me not only mature on the basketball floor but as a person and Coach Moi thank you for everything seriously Michaela do you have thoughts i'm sorry um Coach Moi challenged me to be a better person to be a better player and she challenged me to be able to make it in the real world she keep it real with you she show you how it is and I'm honestly just grateful for that i said that I wanted to leave the pal and find my second family and I did that they've had my back through it all they've encouraged me throughout the process and I know that it was hard being away from your family and honestly experiencing a culture shock i had to grow up a lot and I put a lot on my shoulders to come out and do what I did every night nobody in the country did what I did every night nobody in the country have done what I did over the four years and I'm honestly just proud of myself for overcoming as much as I've overcame and being able to do it at the biggest level michaela um I think for me the biggest word is thankful um just thankful to be able to play with Anisa Marorrow for two years thankful to be able to play with Fl thankful to be coached by Coach Moi thankful to be on one of the biggest platforms that I could be on um for women's basketball and I think another word for me is um learning like I'm still learning um I'm only a sophomore so I've learned so much from Nie i've learned so much from Fl i've learned so much from Monty all the seniors and everything so I just continue to take those things learn and then hopefully when we come back again I'll have better better decisions and better knowledge of what to do in those certain times all right we'll thank LSU student athletes and dismiss them and when they've left the stage we'll open it to questions for coach questions for coach uh Michael Cobble WBRZTV we talked about it yesterday obviously trying to limit somebody else from going off but Jacquzz and or Jacqu Jz and Gardner just um above their average from behind the ark i know you were getting after the girls from those closeouts most of the game what did you see there let me say this first the saddest day of your life as a student athlete in basketball is when you take that jersey off your senior year and you never put it on again now some will go on and play pro ball but that's why niece is so emotional um that's a that's a tough pill to swallow when you're a senior and as I tell her only one program will be happy in another week just one will be happy and um Betts did not beat us we guarded her as tough as we could guard her we did not take advantage of Betts being off the floor in the second quarter and we allowed um perimeter threes and other people to step up but I will say as I said before they're not all about bets bets is just a safety valve down there when they get in trouble she can score it at will but I look at this stat sheet we outscored them four field goals now the foul line I think they went there almost 30 times to our 12 we outrebounded them i would have to go back and look at the shots we missed just wide open shots we knew going in the paint that there would be opportunity for her to alter shots and block shots but some of the shots we just missed we missed until I can go back and look at the film and see why we missed those um our defense on bets was as good as we could do our disciplined our discipline defensively cost us examples would be when the shot clock was winding down we are taught every day it's a hot situation and it's an automatic switch and we gave up several of those today wide openen shots um so I I it's a good game it was a good game tyler Harden with the Revly uh coach obviously Anise is emotional you know she thanked you just what was it like for you to coach her and see just her kind of historical career unfold you wish you had Ana every time you walked on a court every day because you knew what you were getting from her and her effort it didn't matter how banged up she was how hurt she felt um niece only knows how to play and that's hard and um she um she will take this loss extremely hard um because that's how she was raised and give me the niece and Marorrow of the world every day you heard the girls talk about it how will you view this this season and does it soften this blow to hear them talk about personal growth as opposed to basketball achievements as competitors nothing softens the blow that you're this close to another Final Four um but being old like I am and been around a while I've learned to keep perspective and um time will help me think about things through the course of the year on things that we did that were really amazing and um get in the portal right it's time to get in the portal this one leaves this one goes this one comes so next year we'll start this thing up again and see what kind of team you have and uh go to work jaden Smith KLSU Sports coach this is the second straight year you guys get eliminated in the Elite 8 just Yeah terrible or is that good terrible is it how many Final Fours you play in uh none so it's probably pretty good huh all right uh just curious how you would sum up the journey to the Elite 8 this year and how does it differ from last year different team different players uh role players from last year played bigger roles this year um transfers i had five in that locker room that had never been to a Sweet 16 never been to an Elite 8 and the amount of experience that they got will be valuable um yeah I mean I learned to celebrate every team I coach some have overachieved through the years some have gone just as far as I thought they could go and then some have underachieved um and that's the fun part of coaching when you retire you sit in that rocking chair and you think about all that but more importantly than any of that is listening to three allameans hurt and talk about things that they've learned that have nothing to do with basketball rece the advocate coach you mentioned the three All-Americans what what was it like to coach all of them at the same time having all three of them on the same team a blessing was a blessing um I never take them for granted um I just really value that that they chose to come to LSU and play in our program and through good times wins and bad times losses watch them own their team and own their play and get better and get better we have time for two more questions for coach yeah coach obviously just like any other year you have seniors that are going to graduate and obviously we only see a glimpse of what you guys have been through just this season what does this team mean to you and how was it to coach all of them i think I'd probably need a few days to think and answer that with great detail after a loss or even after a victory it's hard to just sum up in a press conference what this team means obviously we had a heck of a year uh we just off the top of my head we were a top seed again in the NCAA tournament uh you got to host we won games that we probably should not have um we managed injuries I thought as good as we could um but there's so much more that I want to say but I'd have to just really let the emotion go away after a loss and just really really think about what a very very good year we've we've had third year in a row in the Elite 8 with uh a national championship thrown in there um so there's there's more good than this loss getting to a final four coach to your left Kendrick Andrews ESPN i asked FJ about her you know second half and so I wanted to ask you the same just what did you think of the way that she really took over the the second half and also just her impact on your program well I remember when I took the LSU job Fl Johnson was the first McDonald's All-American that I signed at LSU had not coached and won anything at LSU and she came to LSU and so she jumpstarted our program really and then the portal helped us we brought in you know Angel and lots of other players but Flier um was a high school all-American and we got her and so I'm forever indebted to Faj Johnson um I think she told you the game was lost in the second quarter that's where the game was lost um we didn't capitalize on bets being off the floor and she feels like she was a big part of that not having played up to what she her standards are for herself in the second quarter um in the third and fourth quarter you know I think she really really tried you know that's what all Americans do they just try to figure out some way to impact the game and and she did she did thank you coach uhhuh