It is well deserving for this group. Even though we didn't talk about the No. 1 ranking, it's always there in the back of your mind. They have played with maturity and poise and just handled situations wonderfully. I have been so pleased with the poise and the confidence of this team.

We felt like our guard play was better than theirs and I think we got them tired.

We haven't talked to the girls yet about tying (the series), but we will first thing this morning.

And they weren't allowed to take those pictures down until we won South State.

That loss woke us up. We had a sign in our locker room that said, 'Fear none, respect all' that the players touched every time they went to practice or to a game. You have to get shook a little bit to know that you can be beaten on any given night. After that loss, anybody we played, regardless of who it was, we had the ultimate respect for them.

To win it, you have to be good, and you have to be lucky too. We really needed to be tested like we were tested tonight. This team reminds me of the team that I had in Forest in '94 when we won it that year. They play so hard and they handle everything well. They respect everybody we play and know that any given moment, we can be defeated.