BIG EAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 8, 2021

Paige Bueckers

Christyn Williams

UConn Huskies

Mohegan Sun Arena

Postgame Media Conference

UConn - 73, Marquette - 39

Q. Now that you've accomplished this, but when you think about how you've done it, just the intensity that you showed, the execution that you had on both ends throughout each game, what does that say about your readiness for the NCAA Tournament coming up?

PAIGE BUECKERS: Yeah, no, I think we're just playing really good basketball right now. And it obviously starts at the defensive end for us. That's been a huge key for us.

And ever since we lost we've just really tried to focus and hone in on that. And with that being the main focus it's helped us offensively as well. So our sense of urgency is just really high right now, and we know there's little room for mistakes going into March the NCAA Tournament now. I think that's been our key focus and it's worked well so far.

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: Yep, I agree with what she said.

Q. Paige, what's your definition of a great teammate? And is it the biggest compliment you can get when your teammates or coaches say that you're a great teammate?

PAIGE BUECKERS: Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's why I play, for my teammates, my coaches. I'm all concerned about winning and making my teammates better. And I think that's the best thing, like, I could ever be called. I think that's the best thing I can get credit for is being a great teammate.

I think it's just making everyone around you better, being selfless and not caring who gets the credit. And I think why we're so close as a team because we all don't care. We're very selfless as a team, as a unit. And all we want to do is win, and I think that's really key.

Q. Christyn, if I'm not mistaken you made the all-tournament team all three years at UConn. You seem to get focused when it comes to this tournament. So what was the difference for you in terms of getting focused and especially on the defensive end?

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: I mean, Coach is always on me about defense. And it's March, you know. It's tournament time; it's do or die right now. Like she said, we have a sense of urgency, and it starts on the defensive end. And I think that's what won the game for us tonight is our defense. So, yeah, that sense of urgency.

Q. In what ways do you think you're a better team today than you were Thursday? And how have you gotten better through the tournament -- how are you a better team?

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: Okay. So I feel like we got better each game. And that says a lot because our defense is great each game. Just everything starts on our defensive end. It gets everything flowing. Like transition buckets and just getting our offense flowing and everything was just sharp.

We are playing our best basketball right now. We just have to continue to do that moving forward.

PAIGE BUECKERS: Yes, and I think it goes -- a lot of credit to our coaching staff, our scouting reports, the way in which we've prepared for these games.

We went through dang near all the Big East plays. Walk-throughs and shoot-arounds have been hours. Just going through all those plays, and they're preparing us -- and they're making it a lot easier on the court, giving us what to expect, how teams run things and just sort of their tendencies on offense and defense.

I think that's really helped and our focus on those scouting reports and applying the game plan not only to the walk-throughs and practice but in the games. So I think that's really helped us a lot, too.

Q. Christyn, so in the first game, the game on March 1st, you (indiscernible) only allowed six points. And yesterday with Maddy Siegrist, you allowed her to six points. What was the mentality going into tonight after Selena dropped 27 against Creighton last night?

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: I've been just taking those matchups personal. I don't want them to score 25 on me or our team. So that was my mentality going into the game. And that was, hey, I did my job. And, first of all, it's not even all on me because --

PAIGE BUECKERS: No, it was Christyn --

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: No, no, no, it was a total team effort because I got Liv and Aaliyah in the back, I got my guards and Paige and Nika on the side of me.

I don't want to give all the credit to me that's not right. It was a total team effort and we shut those guards down as a team.

Q. You obviously have bigger goals, but how satisfying is this championship, especially in the season where you can take nothing for granted, especially with games and everything that was going on earlier in the year with the virus?

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: I mean, yeah, like this year's been difficult. We've had our ups and downs. Just the different protocols and stuff with COVID. So it feels good to win this. This is one of our first goals and it feels good to mark it off. Feels great.

Q. What was the celebration like down on the court for you guys just to have that moment with all the confetti?

PAIGE BUECKERS: It was fun. It was really fun. That's just kind of the team we are. We're all about having fun. You see it on the court as well, but off the court it's a whole different level.

And obviously winning that championship was a whole lot of fun so we just kind of showed it and wanted to get everybody involved. I think we threw confetti on every single one of the people on our team, staff included. So, no, we just want to enjoy the moment as much as we can, especially in times like these.

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: It was fun to see the freshmen get to experience that. It was good to see. It was a lot of fun.