BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 3, 2022

Amy Williams

Jaz Shelley

Alexis Markowski

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Postgame Press Conference

Nebraska - 92, Illinois - 74

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement from coach.

AMY WILLIAMS: Yeah. I'm really proud of the way we came out and competed. We shot the ball well and that always helps.

But I thought we played Husker basketball, 24 assists on, and 10 turnovers, pretty good job sharing the ball, moving the ball, and playing aggressive, and we had contributions from a lot of different people, which we've come to enjoy and expect on our team and in this program. So one down. One down.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Jaz, you tied a Big Ten Tournament record here tonight with nine threes. Kelly Mazzante of Penn State set that back in 2002. Great player. You remember her, Amy. You found your stroke early. You kept putting the ball in. It looked like a lot of times Illinois lost you over the screen to the back. Talk a little bit about your play tonight and how well you think you played with the shot.

JAZ SHELLEY: I definitely think that my teammates are incredible facilitators. They found me for some incredible shots and then toward the second half I had to find my way to get my shot away and that came from great screens and, again, great passes. So shout-out to my teammates.

Q. Some of us were talking on media row. You were, shooters shoot all the time, and they're looking for their shot, and you're a volume shooter. No doubt about that. Trying to find your range at the start of the game, what worked, what didn't, because you missed four, five shots there at one time at the start and then you found your range.

JAZ SHELLEY: Yeah. I definitely think that I was trying to read the defense a little more and I think I was taking long bombs when I didn't need to as much. I need to find my feet more on the three-point line, so I think I did that well.

Q. Alexis, you've got a different game. You always had, we had Megan Gustafson in this league for a long time. Who do you fashion your game after?

ALEXIS MARKOWSKI: I watched of lot of just college basketball, NBA, and all of that, and I feel like it comes from a lot of different places. But mainly, like, my dad has really helped shape my game and he never got an opportunity to shoot, and he really saw that I could shoot the ball well. So I just wanted to be a very complete basketball player and I work on all areas of my game.

Q. Where does your energy come from because when you make a shot, everybody in the building knows it.

ALEXIS MARKOWSKI: Yeah, I mean I've always just played with a lot of energy, I love basketball so much and I love playing for this team and program and they just really fuel me and I love to win and I want to win, so I feel like energy is just something that factors into winning.

THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll dismiss the student-athletes and take questions for coach.

Q. The question is, you brought your team -- I mean you played with Connie in Nebraska basketball that was like this. You have to be happy with the results.

AMY WILLIAMS: Well, I never got to the pleasure to play for Connie, she was the head coach at Creighton when I was at Nebraska. I played three years for Angela Beck and one year for Paul Sanderford and we got to play against Connie quite a bit. But certainly I take a lot of pride in the fact that I was able to wear that Huskers across my chest and now to be representing and pouring into and mentoring young women that get the opportunity to do the same, I mean, we just, we just, it's like a dream come true.

Q. Looking at your team, Sam said there were other components around her, she's got to be pretty happy with what's going on right now?

AMY WILLIAMS: Yeah, Sam Haiby is, she's just an a special leader and she does whatever our team needs her to do. She's just a great facilitator, a great leader, she knows the right things to say at the right moment and I think she's done just a fabulous job alongside Izzy Bourne, our two team captains, of really just preparing this team for this tournament and what it takes to be successful and to advance.

Q. Jaz, 9-13, I guess just she got open, but how do you put that in perspective to shoot 9-13 in a college game like that?

AMY WILLIAMS: Yeah, I mean, it was just a, it was a great night. I'm glad that she kind of acknowledged it and recognized her teammates, I think that they did do a pretty good job of finding ways to facilitate. Whether that was just Allison Weidner getting a quick outlet pass on defense or after a defensive stop and then advancing it down the floor quickly to Jaz where she could get an open look before their defense was set. Or whether it came from penetration or post feed inside/outside, I thought there was a lot of good movement that created some opportunities for Jaz.

But once she starts feeling it, then she's hunting her shot a little bit more, she becomes much more difficult to defend.

Q. Could you give us your thoughts about tomorrow night's game?

AMY WILLIAMS: Yeah, I mean we're just excited. At this point we want to survive and advance and continue to have an opportunity. We feel like in order to prove that we belong on this stage and to be playing for championships and to be playing in NCAA tournaments you have to play the best teams in the country. Michigan is definitely one of those, and so we're excited for the opportunity.