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LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 12, 2016

Nikki Fargas

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

NIKKI FARGAS: First off, it's great to have a practice team. It's very -- it's very enlightening to see that we have 13 healthy bodies on the floor. This season our team is looking to be that team that we want to see in postseason play. We want to be that team that finishes in the top of our conference to have better seeding for the SEC Tournament.

We've got a lot of goals set for this team, and that's one of the first things we talked about in the off-season is how do we reach those goals.

We have some veteran players returning, which I'm pleased to say that Raigyne Moncrief has been cleared, and she's been practicing with us, along with Ayana Mitchell, but we've also got some young kids we have to bring along.

This off-season was a season of really just trying to assess where we were physically, mentally, emotionally, and the team did a great job of really trying to hone in on the exercises that we had from a rehabilitation standpoint. And then going into preseason, last week we started on Monday with two-a-days, and the team really is in that mode of learning. So we're doing a lot of skill development right now, along with some of our team concepts.

But very proud of where we're at. I like the energy in practice. I like the leadership, especially our veteran guards. So looking forward to an exciting season.

Q. Coach, you mentioned the injuries right off the bat. We all kind of understand what that did to your team last year. How much can you improve upon that? Do you feel like that held you back from maybe progressing as a program? And where do you hope that it's different this year?
NIKKI FARGAS: Well, if you had told me going into the season last year that we're going to have four kids close to averaging double digits, I'd have been like, oh, that's great. But when you only have six, that doesn't lend for a lot of points being scored.

So the fact that we're healthy, the fact that we've got players that are returning who, due to injuries or transfer rules and then being newcomers, that's a practice that looks like a team that's learning.

I like the fact that they're taking -- especially the ones who played last year. They're taking all that experience, because they got a lot of playing time, and you can't really substitute playing time and those reps that you get in practice, and I know that's only going to help Jasmine Rhodes, that's only going to help Rina Hill, Jenna Deemer, and Alexis Hyder, the four young ladies who played the bulk of the minutes for us last season.

Q. Coach, where are you at with toughness in the paint? You have some new post players that are supposed to really contribute there, right?
NIKKI FARGAS: Yes, we do. Obviously, Alexis Hyder is going to lead the attack. She brings a dimension of strength and toughness and scoring in the paint, but she's also stretched her game where we're going to be able to run her at the four some in that trail spot. She also has the green light to shoot the three.

I like the look of our two freshmen, Faustine Aifuwa, who is a 6'4", just athletic kid who really can score around the basket, and Yasmine Bidikuindila, who is a 6'6" kid. I know you have to work on the pronunciation of their last names, but we call one Yas and the other one Faus.

But those two bring a presence in the paint, a low block presence that we haven't had since Theresa Plaisance, someone we can match up. When you look at some of the bigs in the country, in our league, we're going to be able to play man to man because we're going to match up size-wise.

I do love playing small ball. I do still like the fact we can go to a smaller, faster, quicker lineup, but those two in particular will allow us to play more of a power game.

Q. Quick follow -up. I'll just say Yas and Faus, if that's okay with you.
NIKKI FARGAS: That's fine.

Q. But Jenna Deemer, we saw her the other day, looks like she's really muscled up. She got bigger and stronger?
NIKKI FARGAS: Jenna has done a good job of just being that player that's trying to develop every year. She's somebody who we're going to look to to be that sharpshooter for us. It doesn't take a lot of attempts for her to make those baskets. I like the fact she's able to stretch the defense. I like the fact that we can play to our dribble drive and really put the ball on the floor and then allow her to spot up.

She is someone who commands hard denial. She commands you to defend her away from the basket, which will allow our post game to have much more space to maneuver. But she's definitely going to be a great offensive threat for us on the floor.

Q. Entering your sixth now, I know expectations and pressure from within the building are always greater than what anybody can put on the outside, but do you feel like this is kind of a put up, shut up year for you, your staff, and this team?
NIKKI FARGAS: This is a year that our team has felt what I wouldn't put through any other team in the country from what they had to experience last year, but this was a team of young ladies who came every day and gave me everything that they had.

This is a team that now has help, and we have healthy help. We have a team that is hungry. One of the things that they came up with in the off-season was HUSH, and that acronym, "H" standing for this team is going to be hungry this year. They're going to be hungry to come after people. Obviously, that's going to start with our defensive pressure and our ability to score in the paint and knock down open jump shots.

"U" was for them to be united. We know that we cannot leave the gym and not give everything that we've got, but we've got to do it as a unit. When you look at our schedule, we've got a tough schedule ahead of us. Seven, eight of our opponents in the nonconference were in postseason play, and you know, when you hit SEC play, that's going to be tough as well. Our last ten games in the SEC, six of those are on the road. So we've definitely got to be united, and we've got to be road warriors.

With the "S," they were talking about being selfless, and selfless is them giving to each other. They're going to be a team that you're going to see strong help side defense. You're going to see players taking charges. You're going to see players giving up their shot to get a better shot for our team.

And then the final part of that HUSH was heart. This team is going to play with a lot of heart, and that's one thing that consistently, that these young ladies have done year in and year out as they play with a lot of heart and emotions, and they play with that on their sleeve. A lot of high fives, probably some chest bumps, things like that, but the emotion and fun of the game is going to be there for them.

Q. Hi, Coach. Are you able to comment on Jenna Deemer's sickness and her coming back to the court?
NIKKI FARGAS: Jenna right now is cleared to play and practice. We're obviously happy about that, and we're looking forward to her contribution to our team. She's somebody who has fought an illness, and now she's back with us.

Q. Nikki, obviously all players are different, but you've got four players who didn't play last year. Two were hurt, two transfers. Is there a common element in that when a player's had to sit out for that long, that you find them hungry or rusty, whatever? Especially when you get into game play.
NIKKI FARGAS: The first day of practice, you can see them being a little rusty, but it wasn't lack of effort. It wasn't lack of them trying. It was just not being in that flow of the game.

You can see that Moncrief is coming into her own. When a player comes off of an injury -- and two major injuries, mind you, where they're season-ending injuries with an ACL and then back injury -- there's a mental block there as well. As athletes, you tend to maybe try to favor or think something is going on when it really isn't, but these two young ladies, Ayana Mitchell and Raigyne Moncrief, have hit the floor, and they're not being held back by their injuries, previous injuries. They're playing with a passion. They're playing with a sense of urgency, and we expect great things from them.

Q. Earlier you talked about how you love to play zone, but with the players you have this year, you can see being more of a man-to-man team. Could you expand a little more on that, what talents or -- what talents about your team make you feel that's a better way to go?
NIKKI FARGAS: The versatility of our team to play a matchup zone. Our matchup zone plays like a man-to-man. It just has zone principles. But when we're in transition, we don't want to give up easy baskets. If we can take away transition points and keep people off the offensive glass, we're going to meet our defensive goal, which is keep our opponents in the 40s.

Defensively, because of the roster, we're going to be able to match up with bigger post players if we do go to our man to man. We may see more of that this year because of Yasmine and Faustine. They give us a true presence on the low block, and they're also very good shot blockers. So we like the versatility of being able to switch up our defenses and keep our opponents guessing how we're going to come down the floor and play.

Sometimes when you do look at our matchup, it already lends the look of a man-to-man. So it won't be too much of a transition for them. For those of the former players or returning players who have played the matchup, they'll be able to grasp the man-to-man easily.

Q. With this being the first season since Coach Summitt passed away, how do you expect this season to feel a little different, especially once you get into post conference play?
NIKKI FARGAS: You know, when you lose someone of great meaning to the women's game, there's a void there. I know personally she's somebody that has changed my life, but she's also changed the game of basketball for so many other people and for other sports.

You're going to miss, even the appearances that she did have here and there, just seeing her out there on the court receiving awards or her crusade for finding a cure for Alzheimer's -- you're just going to miss being able to see her. There was a period there where you missed talking to her, but you visually could still have that connection.

For me, I just feel our best tribute that we can ever pay Coach Summitt is to be the best people that we can be in this life, to treat people like we want to be treated, and to, obviously, show an unwavering amount of respect to this game that has given so many of us opportunities.

Q. Do you have a five that you like, or is there going to be competition, like every Coach loves?
NIKKI FARGAS: It's definitely competition. I haven't named the five yet. I want everybody to stay competitive, stay in that mode of playing and trying to win out positions. I think that's healthy when you're able to do that. I like that we can have a purple and a gold team and split our players up.

But I think the one thing that I will say, from the leadership of Raigyne Moncrief being back on the floor, she definitely makes us a lot better. Rina Hill is going to be coming into her own and doing a great job of being that leader as well to complement Raigyne Moncrief. Those two on the top of my matchup is a pretty good defensive look.

And I can't say enough about Alexis Hyder and her ability to not only score the basketball, but rebound the basketball, assist. She can handle. She can play 1 through 5 for me.

So those three are probably three that we've identified through practice that have -- that are working extremely hard and at a different level right now.

Q. I would like to hear you say the names of your two new post players again.
NIKKI FARGAS: Yasmine Bidikuindila and Faustine Aifuwa.

Q. There will be a spelling test later.
NIKKI FARGAS: F-a-u-s-t-i-n-e.

Q. They're both freshmen. Are you seeing them come along where they can both play at the same time or rotating one for the other?
NIKKI FARGAS: No, they will not both play at the same time. The reason being is right now they're learning one spot in our matchup. They're learning to be that true center. And I don't want to overload their circuits right now, but as we go along in the season, I would like to be able to move them to different -- especially probably Faustine more than Yasmine. She's a little bit more of a mobile player, athletic, 6'5" kid.

But if I do play both of them, watch out because their ability to score on the low block, if one misses, the other one's 6'6", she'll be able to clean it up. So I've got two great bookends.

My concern would be bringing them along from a defensive standpoint because, I think, guarding the four, especially an athletic stretch four, is going to be a little bit of a challenge right now for them.

But they definitely are two players that are going to see valuable minutes this season.

Q. Kind of piggy-backing on that, when we see bigs out of high school, either in the men's or women's games, sometimes the speed of the game and their conditioning is what holds them back the most. Where are these girls at transitioning to college ball in that realm?
NIKKI FARGAS: You know, what helped Faustine is she was able to come in the off-season and work in the summer to get a baseline. So she's not too far behind. Yasmine didn't come until August, so she's still doing the extra. She's doing the extra conditioning. She's working hard with Melissa, our strength coach, and her team. But in our practice, the tempo of the game, they're definitely getting used to that.

But we don't have your typical guards either. Raigyne Moncrief, Rina Hill, Shanice Norton, Chloe Jackson -- you know, these kids can really sprint the floor, but we're not waiting for them either. But they know that I can't be too far off of them in our sprint work.

Q. Let me ask you, speaking of Coach Summitt, you've been a head coach for a long time, but does it feel a little odd being Mickie's boss so to speak? And what has she brought to the program?
NIKKI FARGAS: You know, DeMoss is 40 years -- I believe she's been in the business 40 years. The thing about DeMoss is she is going to make me better, and she's going to make our staff better and our team better through her experiences.

I was fortunate to play for DeMoss, and when I was a grad assistant at Tennessee, I was glued to her hip. I wanted to learn about the business. She's somebody that has just a great balance of -- she's been a head coach, but she absolutely has no desire to go back to being a head coach, and she loves where she's at in assisting our program in this capacity.

But I like being able to tap into not only what she's been able to do at the collegiate level, but what she's also been able to do professionally in the WNBA in winning a championship at that level. So she brings a wealth of knowledge, a wealth of experience. It's like having a different set of eyes on your team.

Like in practice, she's making a lot of notes. She's critiquing, and I'm taking those suggestions, and we're implementing them. Just very attentive to the details of the game.

But her relationship with our team is, even though you have an age difference, she's very in tune to this generation. Obviously, the young ladies that we're trying to sign as well.

I love having DeMoss with us. Again, she's a Louisiana native, and this is home for her. She's somebody that has always had a special place in her heart for LSU.

Q. Kind of along those lines, after every year, I'm sure you do some evaluating. Was there a hole in your resume personally that you identified and maybe wanted to work towards this year being better at?
NIKKI FARGAS: I think the one thing that I'm always looking to be better in relationships with our players. I think that's something that has got to be constant because I'm kind of -- I mean, I'm a little older, but I'm also old school. And understanding how these young ladies and men, how they communicate with each other is a little different but not necessarily wavering on what my values are.

But I'm learning how to give/take a little bit. I think I'm becoming a better negotiator, where it's not just what I was taught and that's it and that's how we do it. It's more so now seeing things through their lenses and incorporating and having in depth dialogue where they're taking more ownership of the team, where if something isn't going right in practice, I may pull Moncrief or Rina Hill to the side and allow them to address.

So allowing them to be better leaders, taking a backseat and grooming them to take more ownership and not feel like everything that goes on, I've got to have an input or a say, allow them to have that room for growth.

Q. Coach, you spoke a little bit about Ayana, I guess. But could you just speak to her more. I hear a lot of people say, boy, if they would have had her last year, the season could have been a lot different.
NIKKI FARGAS: It would have been a lot different, I think. She could have easily been freshman of the year. She's somebody that's very athletic, runs the floor hard, can defend, brings a lot of energy, can score the basketball. This year she's, obviously, with that redshirt, she still could be freshman of the year.

I like Ayana's -- just her personality on the floor. You're going to see a very passionate young lady who would be a great complement -- we call Moncrief our hype man, but she's really a woman, but we call her our hype man, and I like that Ayana feeds off of that.

Especially when you're on the road, you're going to need somebody that wants to clear boards and really go after the opponent. She will bring that to our team, a different toughness that will complement Alexis Hyder inside.

Q. Given the season you all had last year, it's going to be very curious to see where you all are picked, like at Media Days, to finish in the conference. People don't know what to make of your team exactly. Can that play into your advantage, where people may, for one time in many years, underestimate LSU a little bit?
NIKKI FARGAS: They've picked us to be middle six, seven, eight, and we've finished top four three years in a row. I don't know if they always get that right. It's just their opinion.

I think, when you look at our team and the schedule that we put together, we're going to be prepared for SEC play. We've got one of the toughest schedules in the conference. Like I said, eight of our opponents in our nonconference experienced postseason play. We start on the road, again preparing for SEC play on the road, but playing teams like Connecticut. We've got K State, UTEP, Little Rock was in the Tournament. You've got Tulane, who was a Tournament team. Even Alabama State was a Tournament team. Those teams kind of play a little bit differently.

So to me, it's about preparing our team for SEC play. To be able to have this kind of schedule -- we're playing North Carolina on the road this year. All those games and all those experiences that our young ladies are going to be put in is only going to help them have that courageous heart that they need to go on the road.

So when you're playing -- when you look at our SEC season -- and you're playing at Tennessee and playing at Mississippi State and at Texas A&M, some of our top teams in our conference -- then you've got to have a toughness about you, and this does not happen overnight. Like they're going to need November, December to get ready to go at these teams in January.

Q. Coach, can you just speak to hosting UConn? . I imagine this is going to be an event, not just a basketball game. Is it good for the game when one team has dominated the way they have?
NIKKI FARGAS: Well, I think it's good for -- obviously, if you're the team that's dominating, you would love to be in that situation. But it also allows you to make sure you're raising the bar for your kids.

They're the defending National Champions. It's going to be a great matchup. It's not going to be the same outcome as it was at their place. We obviously had a huge roster change, not to mention injuries, but also not having certain players return to the roster. So we go from having a game plan of playing a UConn a certain way to changing it when you get down to six players.

I like the matchup of UConn early. It's going to allow us to see where we stack up against a team that is one of the best teams in the country. And I know our team is a lot different, and I know theirs is a lot different too when you lose three All-Americans.

I know he's going to have his team prepared as well as we are. We're playing in the PMAC, so I really just want to make a plea for people to come out and watch this team this year. It's a different team. It's a team that, again, has a little chip on their shoulder. It's a team that understands the season that we had, move on from it, and let's focus on the positives right now going into this season. And that's what they've done.

This is a team too who they know they have the potential to be one of the best teams in the country, and it's just a matter of can we gel in the right way, stay healthy, and allow the great players that we have on our team to excel? So I need players to understand their responsibility and their role and play it to the best of their ability.

I like the fact that UConn is coming here. We went to their place last year. They had a great crowd. This is also a chance to show the east coast what SEC basketball is all about. It's going to be a battle. I'm excited for our team to be in that situation. I'm glad that ESPN has recognized that as a premier game, and they're putting that game on television for us.

Again, playing a team like UConn two weeks into your season, it's going to -- and I remember Coach always saying this, Coach Summitt. If you're going to get us, you'd better get us early. Our mentality is let's get after them early.

Thank you.

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