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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: ALBANY

March 31, 2019

Albany, New York

Connecticut - 80, Louisville - 73

THE MODERATOR: As you can see, we've been joined by UConn head coach Geno Auriemma, along with sophomore Megan Walker, senior Christyn Williams, and senior Katie Lou Samuelson. We'll begin with an opening statement.

GENO AURIEMMA: As I said out in the arena, there's a lot that goes into trying to do this. You have to be a great team to go to the Final Four. That's always been the case, and especially tonight. I knew it was going to turn out to be either Asia Durr, or somebody on our team that would step up for us to have a great night. In these games, that's always what happens. There's no trick offenses or trick defenses you're going to come up with or run any fancy plays. At this time of year in these big games, either one of their guys or one of our guys is going to be the difference, and tonight it happened to be Lou.

I don't know what to say about our entire team's performance. It was pretty special.

Q. Lou, was it -- were you feeling better today, or was the adrenaline just going? What leads to a performance like you had tonight?
KATIE LOU SAMUELSON: There's definitely a lot of adrenaline that goes into that, but coming into this game, we all felt like there was a little bit of unfinished business from the last game. There was a little bit of extra motivation, and we wanted to give ourselves a chance to get to the Final Four. So with that, with that much focus and that many things all coming at you, it's easy to just play, just go out there and play as hard as you can, play with everything you have in you. So it was easy to not focus on anything but the game at hand.

Q. Katie, compare what you did in this game to the rest of your season.
KATIE LOU SAMUELSON: Wow. Well, today I just -- I feel like I've been shooting well in practices and stuff, and today I was getting some shots. And we were doing a pretty good job of setting the screens, getting me open, and overall, I think every single person on this team stepped up and did something big. We had five players score in double digits, which is pretty impressive that every single person is there, engaged, doing what they need to do.

Megan stepped up and kind of controlled that first half for us with hitting those four threes. They weren't expecting that. For her to do that, we have that confidence in her. We're going to continue to keep going. It's going to be someone different every game.

Q. Just wondering what you did from, I guess, post-game Friday to today in order to get you ready. Obviously, a much different game for you.
KATIE LOU SAMUELSON: Yeah, I think the way the games are played were different too, I think, for us going into it. We approach our defense and everything the same way, but for me I learned to make a little bit more of an impact offensively and make sure I was involved. In Friday's game, we didn't necessarily need that from me, and I felt today I did need to step up. So I did what I could to help win the game.

Q. Katie Lou, do you know it was said after the game on the court that you guys celebrated like this was going to your first Final Four and not your 12th. I was wondering why is that? Obviously, going to the Final Four is exciting, but what makes you guys so thrilled about this?
KATIE LOU SAMUELSON: I think this team has done a lot behind closed doors to get to this point, and we've been through so much ups and downs, trying to figure out how to work with certain people. You know, sometimes we have a lot of mismatches and things like that. So this team has really fought our way to get to this point. We experienced a lot of ups and downs this year playing-wise, close games and close losses. And for us, to get to this point to win and to win the way we have and the way we're playing right now as a team, we're just so happy with where we are, and it's just special. This team is special. And every single one of these girls are my best friends, and I'm glad that I get this chance to go to the Final Four one last time.

Q. Megan, it looked like they were cheating a little bit toward Napheesa in the first half. Did you recognize that, and was that maybe giving you some offensive opportunities there?
MEGAN WALKER: Yes. Coach, we had a conversation earlier on -- in shootaround, and I think the practice before that, they probably would sag off me. So I knew I had to be ready to knock in open shots.

Q. Lou, it's sort of been a recurring theme for your career with the back. In the game where you scored 23 against Maryland, and you managed to play through all of last year as well. I guess I wonder where this rates when you think about it in terms of games where you've managed to overcome fighting through different things, especially of a physical nature.
KATIE LOU SAMUELSON: Yeah, I think -- I've said this before. At this point in the season, there's something that someone is going through. Every single person has things they've got to fight through, and they have to be ready to step up and get over that. So it comes down to just being -- are you mentally tough enough to play? There's things that we all have had to do, all of us had to get through, and for me, I'm just trying to do whatever I can to put my team in the best situation they can be in.

Q. For Megan and Christyn, Megan, I know you shot the lights out in first half, and, Christyn, you had big plays in the second half. I wonder what goes through your mind when you see someone like Katie Lou makes like a three over Sam and the four-point play, facing the end of her career and really coming up with those huge, defining plays for your program.
MEGAN WALKER: Lou works so hard, so we see those plays, those type of shots in practice. In my mind, I had no doubt that it wasn't going in.

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: Yeah, she does it every day in practice, so I was not surprised. She's a great leader on the floor. She's just a great teammate. I love you, man. I'm not surprised that she made those big plays and it helps us because it gives great energy to the team.

Q. Lou, start of the fourth quarter, you're on the bench, but before the five went out on the floor, you made it a point to call them all together, and there was only -- you were pretty -- I'm not sure what the right word is -- but forceful with what you were saying. I'm not concerned with what you said, but why you felt the need to say it at that time.
KATIE LOU SAMUELSON: I think this year, especially sitting out the games I did, I found ways to make an impact not being in the game. I felt like, when I have something to say, they all listen, and they all kind of come through. But I went out there in that fourth quarter and said, we've got to bear down and make these rebounds, and we're going to go to the Final Four. So I think, for us, no matter who's out there on the court, we've been through so many different things and so many different lineups, that at this point we feel confident, whether I'm on the bench or not, we're going to be successful.

Q. Christyn, Katie goes out with her fourth foul, and it looked like you took it on yourself to just start being the Christyn Williams we saw at Notre Dame and a few times since. Is that correct? Is that what you thought?
CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: Yeah. It was kind of like, when she wasn't playing in the conference tournament, somebody had to step up and play her role. So I just took what the defense gave me, and offensively, it was there. I was just flowing. So it happened.

Q. Christyn, you've made a lot of big plays in the second half, but arguably none bigger than that the steal to seal the game on the inbound pass. Take me through that play right there.
CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: This entire season, I've struggled defensively. So that was a huge stop for me -- or for the team really. I saw it coming, and I stole the ball. It was just a big play at that time.

THE MODERATOR: Our time with the student-athletes is expired. We appreciate you taking time to be on the dais. Congratulations and good luck next weekend.

GENO AURIEMMA: It's Christyn's favorite defense, zone.

Q. Geno, two-part question. You mentioned on the court how the team celebrated like they've never gone to the Final Four before. You heard what Katie said about stuff behind closed doors. Is this special for this group for you to make it here even though it's been 12 straight years. And second part just what Lou's performance was? You've seen a lot of great ones. What she did tonight, where that ranks for you.
GENO AURIEMMA: I know things are different at UConn. I know we're treated different, the expectations are different at our place. When Lou and Napheesa were freshman, we had the kind of players that, if Napheesa and Lou didn't show up for the game, it was just a matter of how much we're going to win by, not whether we were going to win.

Now to see them at the end of their four years, it's all on their shoulders. They have to play great, both of them or at least one of them, or we don't have a chance to win. And this is the first time they've been in that situation. And they kind of took that load and took it personally.

Like I said, somebody was going to be big tonight. We knew what Asia was going to. That's a given. We just needed somebody to match everything she did. We got the lead, and we never lost the lead the entire game. We wanted to make sure that we answered everything. It would have been a hell of a thing if the only time we didn't lead was at the end of the game.

Yeah, she made some shots today that only really special players make at this particular time. This is when players separate themselves in these games.

Q. Geno, what can you say about Megan and Christyn and just kind of their growth and how important it is in the tournament?
GENO AURIEMMA: I think like Lou said -- I think Christyn said it too. Not being able to play in the conference tournament really, really helped. It helped with Megan realizing she had to do more. All along, we've been trying to get her to do more and do more and do more or trying to be more confident, be more aggressive.

Christyn -- you know, when you come from high school and you're the best player in the country supposedly, and you have the ball all the time, and then you come here, and you're going to have it some of the time, it's a foreign, foreign world that you're entering, and it takes a while to get used to that, to find your place, you know, where you fit in. I think, as the season wore on, she did. She found her place, and she's starting to play now like the player I saw in high school. And it's just made us -- you know, the two of them, it's just made us a completely different team than the team that played Louisville the very first time.

Q. When you think about what it means for Lou to have the game that she had in this spot today, it's just the fact that now they, as a duo, are going back to the Final Four once more. What do you think it does for their overall legacy here at the school and their ability to carve out their own identity. Like you said, on a team that will started with -- it be eight players that eventually going to play WNBA ball in 2016.
GENO AURIEMMA: You know, kids get to write their own stories a lot of times. As I said earlier, they could have had the same careers someplace else, and it could have ended tonight, and it would be viewed as two of the best players ever to play at that school. And unfortunately -- and fortunately -- they're at a place where what they did today has become commonplace and expected. But that in no way diminishes what they've had to do and the way they did it day in and day out.

It's not easy playing at Connecticut. I don't think the people understand the pressures that go with playing at UConn, that the expectations are so unrealistic, and at the same time, very realistic because we keep delivering on them. It takes a certain kind of unique individual to be able to handle it. The two of them have handled it as best as they ever have, with less supporting cast than some other people.

Q. How mind boggling or mind blowing is it to you that 12 years in a row you're going to the Final Four? That isn't supposed to happen, is it?
GENO AURIEMMA: I don't think so. I don't think it's supposed to happen. Not in today's world, the way things change and the way teams keep getting better and better. It's not normal, and it's something that's hard to describe. Because, if you're writing a book and making it up, people would say that doesn't happen in real life, and it has happened in real life. I'm still -- like you said, I'm boggled. My mind just doesn't get it, how this could happen this many years in a row with a different cast of characters that change so often. But, no, it's not normal. It's not normal.

Q. Geno, you have said one of your players was going to have to step up, at least one. Did you have any idea, especially after Friday, that that player was going to be Katie Lou Samuelson?
GENO AURIEMMA: Talking today with our video coordinator, talking with Ben and some of our coaches, and especially after yesterday's workout where Lou looked less than ecstatic about being there, because she was just really hurting both physically and mentally, I said, she's either going to have a big night or it's just going to be terrible. I don't think there's going to be any in between. And he said, every single shot she's missed is going to go in tonight, today.

I guess when you have a player that's done so much like she has in her four years, you expect them to bounce back. I didn't anticipate -- you know, 29 points is 29 points, but the way they came. They weren't just stand there, shoot open threes the whole night. So given where she was Friday and yesterday and some of the things she's battling with off the court, remarkable. That's the best thing I could say. Absolutely remarkable.

Q. Geno, what kind of joy does it give you to see all the joy the kids had after the game?
GENO AURIEMMA: It's only happened a couple of times. It's only happened a couple times. The one time, I said -- in the locker room, I said, you know, guys, this team is really special. I said, this team reminds me of that very first team in '91, and they all looked at each other, and none of them had been born, obviously. And it was the first time that I'd gotten to experience what a bunch of kids who had no expectations on them, no one expected them to be able to do it, and the feeling in that locker room in Philadelphia when we won is one I'll never, ever forget. To this day, that just is burned in my memory.

And then the '95 team, you know, because you do go through a point where we might never win one. As good as we are, we might never win. So there's been a couple times when it's been that incredibly joyous and spontaneous, and I don't ever -- I'm glad that at my age I'm getting to experience this because I don't ever want it to become -- you know, how the world is. What did you do today? We're going to the Final Four. Good job, man. Like I don't ever want it to be like, okay, what are we eating tonight? Like it's still got to mean a lot, and you still have to feel it in your soul.

I have felt everything about this team all year long. I've loved them. I've hated them. I wanted the season to end. I wanted the season to keep going. I wanted ten guys to transfer. I only wanted to coach one guy. I wanted to have them over for dinner every night. I wanted to -- I wish they'd never eat again the rest of their lives. Every single emotion -- we can't play defense. We can't run offense. We're a great defensive team. Man, we run offense great. Every single thought you could ever imagine was in my brain all year long, to a point where -- you know, I can't even -- I don't have any more brain space.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations on the victory. Good luck in the Final Four.

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