Sunday Schedule at NCAA Championships

LOS ANGELES – Sunday morning started with a a Sacrament Meeting at the Westdale Second Ward in Los Angeles for the BYU women's basketball team.

Later in the afternoon coach Jeff Judkins, Lexi Eaton and Kylie Maeda met with media members to talk about the team's second round match up with Nebraska.

SECOND ROUND PRACTICE DAY QUOTES – BYU

Jeff Judkins, BYU Head Coach

Opening Statement

“Well first of all like I said the other day, we’re excited to be in this tournament. We felt very fortunate yesterday to play one of our normal games. I think sometimes, NCAA, you don’t play as well sometimes, and we played like we did all year. I’m really proud of these young ladies and what they’ve accomplished this year. A lot of people don’t know 27 wins is the most in BYU history and so it was nice for us to be able to do that. But more importantly, they just wanted to represent themselves and this university and our conference and it was nice to be able to play a very good school and be able to do that. So we’re excited. We’re not satisfied by any means. We didn’t come here to win one game and go home. We came here to win these two games and advance. And as you see today and you see in all the tournaments, basketball is a crazy game. People can beat anybody on any given night. If you’re not ready to play, you can lose. All these teams in this tournament can play. They wouldn’t be here if they weren’t any good and so we’re going to have our hands full with Nebraska. They cause a lot of problems for us, but hopefully we can cause problems for them, too. So, it’ll be exciting.”

On Nebraska’s frontcourt

“Well, the one advantage we do have is our league, a lot of the post players are like Nebraska’s. They can post, they can shoot, they can drive it. So, I think that’s kind of helped us a little bit. Now this team reminds me a lot of San Diego in our conference, but they’re bigger and they shoot the ball a lot better. So, we’re going to have to really adjust to that. It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be so funny. It’s going to be so different preparation for this team than was for North Carolina State and that’s what makes the NCAA Tournament so exciting. And the other side of the coin? They got to guard us. They got to guard our inside presence. How are they going to deal with it? If Jen and Bay (Morgan Bailey) can stay with them outside, then we’ve got an advantage inside on them. So it’s going to be kind of a chess match. It’s going to be interesting to see who can adjust the best. They really execute their plays so well and that’s the part I’m most impressed with them. And they run so many different things at different positions. So Jen might be outside on the wing and Jen might be at the high post guarding them. And that’s probably going to be the hardest adjustment for us.”

On Nebraska’s backcourt

“Their guard line’s really good sized and they’re active with their hands and with their feet. They can pressure you full court, they can gap you. That’s what makes them good. That’s wh they won the Big Ten. They can adjust in so many different ways. Kylie’s going to have her hands full. My gut feeling is they’ll try to pressure her as much as they can and be physical. I think they’ll try to do that with Lexi (Eaton). Lexi’s kind of been used to it over the years, especially this year. A lot of teams try to do that to her. We have to get catches where we ca feed the post and where we can do things and hopefully we’ll be able to handle that. If not, it’s going to be a long night. A lot of people don’t see that. They just see the ball going in. It’s getting your offense in position where you can score and you can make plays. That’ll be interesting. Defensively for us, I don’t know. It’s going to be kind of cat‐and‐mouse game a littl bit. I’ll probably rotate a little bit differently with different lineups and see if that can help us, but we’re not going to change our game. We didn’t get here because we’re going to go change it all tomorrow and do something differently. We’re going to play our game and do the things that we do best. I’m going to tell Kylie to drive it like she did yesterday and attack like she’sdone all year. So it’ll be a lot of fun.”

Lexi Eaton, BYU Guard

On challenge of playing Nebraska

“All of their players are kind of just crafty and they are very skilled. We have seen them play a ittle bit but we haven’t come up with a game plan quite yet. That will be finished tonight. It will take a collective effort from all of us.”  

On where she thinks her scoring opportunities will be

“Like I said, we haven’t had a ton of time to do that but we will definitely look at the film. I make that a point every game to study the film. But usually, my drive is always open. I find that I can usually get around players and create things to the basket. That is the kind of player I am. I try to create for myself and for the team. That opens everyone else up and that is kind of my role.”

Kylie Maeda, BYU Guard:

On preparation for Nebraska

“I think if we just stick to our principles that we have stuck to all season long—keeping them in front of us, not getting beat, getting through screens, that sort of thing—we will be fine. Team defense, helping each other, but I think we will be fine if we stick to our principles.”

On guard’s emphasis on rebounding

“Yesterday, one of our focuses was for the guards to rebound too. In the beginning of the game, the guards didn’t do a very good job of that but I think in the second half we focused more on blocking out and getting rebounds. I think that helped the bigs and opened them up inside. If we focus on that tomorrow just as we focused on it last game, then we will be fine.”