Everything Kara Lawson said after loss to South Carolina in Players Era Championship

Duke Women’s Basketball head coach Kara Lawson spoke to the media after losing to South Carolina in the Player’s Era Championship, 83-66.

Duke now heads to the third-place game against No. 3 UCLA on Thursday at 10:30 p.m. ET

Here is everything she said.

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Opening Statement

“Challenging game for us. I thought South Carolina did a great job in the first half on the offensive glass. They had 11 offensive boards at halftime, and then we had 11 turnovers. And so that second quarter, where they were able to mount that lead going into the halftime, that double-digit lead, you know, it was on the backs of 22 extra possessions, and it was hard for us to box them out and limit them to one shot. And then we were careless with the ball, and they got going in transition. That margin, we just weren’t able to dig into too much the second half. Obviously played them fairly even in the second half, but weren’t able to get closer.”

Coach, South Carolina has just a really solid one-two punch in the paint with Madina Okot and Joyce Edwards. How do you go about trying to slow them down, and what made them so challenging today?

“You know, I don’t think I’m the right person to ask that. I don’t know if I slowed them down. The size of 11 is challenging. She’s very strong and finishes well. We had a hard time with her size and strength, in particular on the offensive glass, but also the deep post positioning. She made a couple nice plays in transition, in one-on-one. She’s a very good player. Joyce, I love Joyce. I had Joyce this summer, got to know her a little bit. She’s just a wonderful player. Can impact the game in many ways. When she’s hitting the jumpshot like she was tonight, it’s hard to guard her. So yeah, I mean, I’m not big into, like, rankings or anything like that. They got to be one of the top front courts in the country when you look at the talent of the both of them together. They’re really, really good, tough to defend.”

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Over the past few years, you’ve talked about your scheduling philosophy, you want to play tough games. How do you feel this tough schedule has helped or hurt your team?

“Yeah, I think it’s low-hanging fruit. If you lose the games and you say it’s bad. You win them, you say it’s good, right? We play these games to have things revealed. We want to be exposed. That gives us a framework to go back and practice and work on it. Result is result. Would we like to have better ones than we have now? Yeah, sure. But we have a team that’s growing, I think that’s improving. That’s going to be good. For us, we get to play again tomorrow. You heard our players. That’s not lip service. We talk about growth more than result. We talk about focusing on improvement. Over time if you’re consistent with that, then I think results will come and start to go in your direction.”

Last year’s game against Oklahoma still resonates. It was a team that fine line of killer instinct. Would you agree on the fine line? Where is your team, in terms as the head coach, to get them to grasp that? I don’t know if you can teach that.

“I mean, I like the team that I have. I like the players that I have. We return four of five starters from that team last year. There’s a lot of wins in our locker room over the course of their careers, a lot of success. We have it inside of us. It’s just about working out the new rotation. We have some new players that we’re integrating. I thought Riley [Nelson] was really good today. This is her first time playing with us. It’s, what, seven games into the season for her? I thought Arianna [Roberson] showed some flashes. She’s just a freshman, but she’s going to be really good. Obviously, we’re without the services of [Emilee] Skinner. You may know her, may not know her. You’ll remember her when she starts playing. Those are the things that we keep growing, keep getting better. We’re going to play a really good team tomorrow. I’m excited to see if we can take it a step further than we did today.”

There’s a proposal on the table for NCAA men’s and women’s basketball with the transfer portal, shortening the time frame to 15 days. It would open after the Final Fours. Your thoughts on that?

“I don’t really get into all that stuff. I just look at the rules. Whatever they say the rules are. There’s people much smarter than me and more experienced in the governing of the sport. A little bit of a neophyte just being in my sixth year. Whatever they decide, we’ll go off of that.”

You mentioned being without Skinner. Is there any update on her status?

“I don’t have an update or timetable. Just lower body injury.”

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