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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: LOUISVILLEMarch 23, 2019Naz HillmonAmy DilkNicole MungerLouisville, Kentucky Q. For any of you. Can you guys just talk a little about like the difficulties of the quick turnaround? Obviously a big win yesterday and now you have to face Louisville tomorrow. THE MODERATOR: Nicole, Naz and then Amy. NICOLE MUNGER: I think the good part about it is we were well-prepared. Over Thanksgiving, we got to go to Florida and had the opportunity to back-to-back-to-back games which really prepared us, and then just last week we had the Big Ten Tournament at Indianapolis where we played back-to-back. So I think our team is really used to the quick turnarounds, but kudos to our coaches who do really, really thorough scouts who got us information after last game so that we can study them last night and then heading into today's practice ready to go. NAZ HILLMON: It is a tough turnaround playing against any team, but like Nicole said just a little while ago we had prepared for this all year, going to Florida and even the games after that it was a quick turnaround and the Big Ten Tournament and prepared us for that. So I feel like throughout the year, coaches have definitely acted and getting us to be able to just turn around and play the next game. AMY DILK: Yeah, just to add to them, too. With the quick turnaround it's as much mental as it is physical so just focusing on scout and film and times when preparing for each team is really important and we've done a great job of buying into that. Q. How does it feel to be in an underdog role heading into tomorrow's game? NICOLE MUNGER: I love it. Eagles won the Super Bowl Last last year. I'm a big Eagles fan. Hungry dogs run faster. So I'm just really happy that we're in this position. We have a chance to wear the Cinderella shoe. We can be Bracket Busters. It's a lot of fun. NAZ HILLMON: Like Munger just said, there's a lot of excitement going into that but it's something that we're used to. There's been a lot of times, just counting us out but we've been showing up and we're just going to keep our heads on straight and focus on Michigan basketball on this next game. AMY DILK: I agree with both of them. Nothing is going to change with our way of play. We've been playing the same all year, so we're going to continue to do that. Q. After such an easy game yesterday, how much tougher does it get against Louisville and I guess for the veterans, what do you remember about the last time you faced them? NICOLE MUNGER: Well, I wouldn't say there's anything easy about yesterday's game. NCAA Tournament and everybody here has proven that they belong here, so it was nice to get out there and get a win, especially because we played really, really well, 1 through 14. 1 through 14 got to step on the court which really special. I am a veteran and from last year, I just remember that we were up five at half, that we were hanging with them and we know that we can play with them. They are definitely a very, very, very talented team but we are right there with talent, too. Excited to get the opportunity again. NAZ HILLMON: Just piggybacking off that, by no means yesterday's game was easy. We just bought into our game plan and really focused and worked on it. But I mean, this is the NCAA Tournament and nothing is going to come easy and we're excited to be in this position. To be able to step on the court another day is exciting. I wasn't part of the Louisville game last year, but I remember watching a little bit and seeing the juniors and sophomores talk about it a little bit to us. They definitely wish there was a different outcome last year, but they will definitely keep that in the back of our minds. Q. Naz, I know you have a little bit of experience playing for Coach Walz, obviously with USA Basketball last summer. Could you just talk a little about that experience and maybe your relationship with him? NAZ HILLMON: First of all, USA Basketball was a great experience. Definitely helped me a lot moving into the college setting. Coach Walz is a great coach. Very enthusiastic and he's a great character, and I mean that in the best way possible for sure, but he's very fiery and he doesn't take any games for granted. You can see that in his coaching style over the summer, but I know that he's going to have a game plan and push his girls to the right position. We'll be ready for that. Q. You guys are obviously going to be playing in front of a crowd tomorrow that's going to be predominately Louisville fans. Is that intimidating you at all? NICOLE MUNGER: I don't think it's intimidating at all. We've put ourselves in these situations all year long of being in different opposing crowds' venues, and I think it makes it more fun, going in with the underdog mentality and getting something done that's very special. NAZ HILLMON: Piggybacking off of that, we've been doing that all year. It's exciting having a crowd of people wanting to watch women's basketball. That's exciting. We know how a crowd can affect the game but we're going to try to not worry about that so much and know that we have our Michigan section somewhere in the crowd. AMY DILK: Yeah, just going off that, I think just minimizing the crowd noise as much as possible and just focusing on what is going on out on the court and listening to our bench, as well. Q. For Nicole, as a whole, what do you see from Louisville that you really have to stop the most? Is it speed? Is it just the defense? Do you really have to try to beat the pressing defense? NICOLE MUNGER: Well, first and foremost I think they are really, really fast and they use their speed to their advantage really well. They like to get advantages on the offensive end by drawing two, and once they draw two, they are really good at making the extra pass, finding the shooters or finding their bigs for easy twos. They also do a really, really good job in transition. Like going back to their speed, when they go in transition, even if they don't make their first shot, since they are going so fast, their rebounder is able to get right on the glass and crash, and that's where they get a lot of their second-chance opportunities. So I think it's going to be really crucial for us to slow them down, but also to put bodies on them and block them out. And then on the offensive end, if we have the same turnovers as we did yesterday, we are not going to be very successful. So just taking care of the ball. Just staying within ourselves and just being poised but I think we are ready to do it. Q. The team really hit its stride in February when you went 7-1. What do you think clicked on that run to help you guys make that final push for the Tournament? NAZ HILLMON: I think that not to say that we weren't buying in the entire year but in February we really bought in and locked in when we really started to figure out each other and our game plan each and every day. We just really stuck to Michigan Basketball. Of course we focused on our opponent, but we really tried to make sure that we were making ourselves better that month. I just think, going off things we've said in the past, we just had a lot of fun in that month and we were taking things serious, but taking it one step at a time and just letting the game come to us during that month. AMY DILK: I agree with everything that Naz said. Also the Big Ten Tournament is super competitive, obviously, so the month of February, I think we found how to close games out as much as like starting the jump on them early as possible. So I think, yeah, just coming together as a team in the fourth quarter and closing the game out. Q. You got to the starting point guard role right out of camp and began the year in that position. What have you learned the most about that job, and how do you feel like your first season has gone handling the responsibility of being the distributor for this team, even as a freshman? AMY DILK: I think over the course of the year, I've learned a lot obviously, mentally and physically, growing as a player. The main thing is just not to take any possessions off. I've learned more about my team over the course of the year. I think each rep helps, obviously, in practice, whether that's in practice or games, or getting outside work, like shots off with Coach. Just continuing to build as a player mentally and physically has been the biggest thing I've learned. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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