BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 4, 2022

Joe McKeown

Lauryn Satterwhite

Veronica Burton

Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Northwestern Wildcats

Postgame Press Conference

Iowa - 72, Northwestern - 59

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement from coach and then go to questions for the student-athletes.

JOE MCKEOWN: Disappointed. Really disappointed for the people I'm sitting with right here because they left everything on the table and at Northwestern. Just really proud of them.

Hard fought game. I thought the third quarter was really important. Great first half for both teams. The pace was where we wanted it. And Iowa went on a little stretch that we were back and forth.

And congratulations to them. I wish them the best the rest of the tournament. They played really well in the second half. I thought we did a great job for a lot of the game. We just couldn't match buckets with them and that's the hardest part. We played really hard. I thought would played. We fought really hard. Just didn't shoot the ball very well and when we needed baskets, when we didn't get them, they came down and scored. You could just feel the momentum shift.

But that being said, we had a great tournament. We played so hard, I'm really proud of our team. I feel like what we've been able to do here last night against Minnesota, tonight against a team that was co-champions of the league, we showed the country that we're one of the best teams in the Big Ten, in college basketball, and I feel like we deserve an opportunity to keep playing in the NCAA Tournament and hope -- and I feel good that will happen and get to showcase these guys again.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please?

Q. Last night you spoke up. You could not wait for tonight. Like coach said, great first half, basket for basket with Caitlyn and talk a little bit about that third quarter when you guys got cold and they just put a good run on you.

VERONICA BURTON: Yeah. I think it's been a bit of a trend throughout our season is the third quarter. We're always pretty good the first half and obviously finishing games is the strong side for us, but the third quarter that's where we kind of make or break, and unfortunately it didn't go our way in the third and I think it's just the little things. It's not really anything.

Obviously credit to them. Great team. But I think it's more just some of the little things that end up going their way.

Q. First two times you played Iowa you had a lot of turnovers. Didn't have as many tonight. Was there any reason for that?

VERONICA BURTON: I'm sure they scouted that as well. I would hope at least or I would think. But I also just think that playing two games in a row, it's a little, it does take a toll on your body and I think just you can't get into them as much as you want.

I think we did a great job of pressuring them, not really getting them the easy look that's they're able to get often, but I think at least myself didn't really get as many deflections as I could and stuff like that.

Q. Obviously a lot is out of your control at this point and kind of in the hands of the committee. But if this is kind of the end, obviously, Lauryn you're a grad student, Veronica, you have the extra year. What memories will you take away from your time here?

LAURYN SATTERWHITE: I'm just super thankful for this place, this team. As you know, I've been here five years and I've grown closer to each class that's came in. I hope we have another shot and we go into the NCAA Tournament and I would be super excited because I don't want my career to end like that.

But I'm super thankful and just to play with Veronica as well. She's one of my best friends and it's truly been a blessing and honor to play with her. I'm going to miss it, but fingers crossed and God willing we get another opportunity.

VERONICA BURTON: Yeah. Hard to put into words the opportunities that this place has given both of us, honestly. Super thankful for all the things on the court, but more importantly all the things off the court, the relationships, the memories, as she said, the opportunities, really.

I think when you're young this is the stuff that you dream about and going to a NCAA Tournament last year and the run we went on this year, this is place I'll never forget and a place I'm forever thankful for.

She's one of my best friend and I'm very thankful that she came back this year because I think she's had more of an impact on me than she will know.

Q. What can you elaborate on regarding taking a knee during the National Anthem and the emblems for Black Lives Matter on your uniforms?

VERONICA BURTON: Yeah. I would say around, I don't know the exact numbers, half the team probably goes out in the hall. The other half take a knee, and I think that's something that began last year and just we want to fight for social justice. That was a conversation that was really important to our team and something that we didn't really want to stop last year just because it was more prominent then. It was being more talked about last year. We wanted to continue it and I think that's just kind of our way of showing what we stand for and what we value.

LAURYN SATTERWHITE: Yeah. I agree and I echo that. And I think there's so much, there's so many other things that are just bigger than basketball, like social justice, and I'm really proud of this team, too, for taking the stance and using our platform to speak out against it -- whether it be walking out or taking a knee. So it's bigger than basketball and super thankful for this team for taking a stand.

Q. Iowa had more than half of their points come from the paint. Courtney Shaw working her butt off down there. I think she had 11 rebounds or something like that, working hard down there. Just how hard is it guarding those Iowa bigs down there?

LAURYN SATTERWHITE: Yeah. Courtney, she's been battling all Big Ten with these bigs. She's a little undersized, but I think she's holding her own.

Iowa has Czinano. She's very good and she's very efficient, but I thought that we did our best to have ball pressure. We did our best to double-team her.

She got some good looks, but I think Courtney showed out and she did all she could to protect the rim. She was pulling down boards and she's been great at that all season.

VERONICA BURTON: Yeah. I think Courtney has been phenomenal this season, last season. Obviously it was cut short for her just because of an injury but I think she's done everything that we could have asked her to do and more. It's really impressive, just the motor honestly too, because it's not easy. Getting rebounds is not easy, especially when you're undersized.

I think the problem with Iowa is they score on the paint, but they can also knock down any type of three and so we're also trying to match out, but also helping because Courtney is fronting. And so I think we, all of us guards included, we're all at a bit of a height disadvantage and so we just got to help Courtney, honestly, just help her.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you, ladies. Good luck in the post-season. We'll take questions for coach.

Q. You talked a little bit about why Northwestern deserves to be in the NCAA. Of course you've got eight great teams semi-finals today playing for this. These are your Elite 8 here. Tell me why and tell everybody else why Northwestern belongs in the tournament.

JOE MCKEOWN: Well, I can't speak for the other schools, but our league was so hard this year, so deep, and you hear people talk about leagues sending nine and 10 teams, and I feel like we're just as deep as the SEC or the ACC or any other leagues that would be in that position.

We finished 7th. We could have finished, you know, 5th, 6th, 4th. I don't know. You know, we had to play six of the last eight games the whole month of February, six of eight on the road.

We also beat Iowa at Iowa, which is very hard to do. We beat Michigan. So the two champions of the league we beat and that in itself should separate you on your resume.

We didn't get to play enough games. You heard about Michigan bringing that up this week. We never got to play Illinois at home. We never got to play Michigan State at home.

The Big Ten scheduling, again, because of COVID, it just never happened. So I feel like our record could be a little bit better had we played those games. We had a chance to play, we had a game with Oregon, a great team, cancel too at home. So three home games we never got to play.

So I don't want to belabor the point but you saw us tonight. You saw us against Minnesota. You saw us, we hit a shot to beat Iowa at home, also. We would have swept them, but it got wiped out, and that's another circumstantial thing that I won't get into.

So when you look at the way we competed against the best teams in the league, the top teams in the league, to beat Michigan like we did, to beat Iowa on the road, I feel like it's a layup for us. Sorry for the long answer.

Q. So much uncertainty about if and when you would play again this season where that would be, what was the message to the team after the loss tonight?

JOE MCKEOWN: Get ready to play. That's all. That's it. Get ready to play. That's why you came here. Last year we played a great game against Louisville who was No. 1 in the country in the NCAA Tournament, had a 15-point lead. The year before we were going to host the first two rounds. We won the Big Ten championship. So these guys they want to play and they just want an opportunity. And that was the message pretty much.

Q. Caitlin Clark was scoring somewhat but she has a near triple double. A player like her in terms of her future what kind of bind does that put on your defense when you're having to worry about her and her getting other players involved?

JOE MCKEOWN: We thought, we played them a lot. This is the fifth time. We swept them last year. We beat them at Iowa. So we beat them three times in a row and, again, we had the overtime game at Northwestern.

So in those four games I felt like our players understood her strengths and also didn't panic. I mean, she's going to make a tough shot here or there or a crazy shot and you can't get caught up in that.

What hurt us tonight was them being able to play inside out. But I feel like we have done a great job since she's been here -- excuse me, since she's been at Iowa, of just making it harder for her than, you see Burton is a great defender, obviously and we just tried to pressure her.

But, again, she's a great player. These guys are great players and what separates Veronica Burton, Caitlin Clark, is they is have the physical skills but they're so tough mentally and they're smart and these guys they have a tremendous drive. I love coaching Veronica. If Caitlin wanted to come to Northwestern that would be okay too.

Q. I know that there was some controversial referee (no microphone) that hurt your team. What do you say about that?

JOE MCKEOWN: I'm not in a position to comment about that.

Q. You've said time and time again after just about any game, the name Veronica Burton. She left it all out there today, 25 points, 12 rebounds, something like that. How representative or emblematic was her performance today of the entire season?

JOE MCKEOWN: I'll say this, and again, we have a lot of great players in our league, a lot of great players in women's college basketball, our field, our league, our talent level is so deep now. That's why our game is so good.

I think, and again, I've been a head coach for whatever, 35 years, whatever. I think Veronica Burton did more for her team this year, played so well, than any player in college basketball.

And, again, there's a lot of great ones, but I'm saying what she did for her team, just carried us every single night. She never had a bad night. We played 29, 30 games. She never had a bad day. It's amazing.

And that's with people double-teaming her people, trying to stop her, everybody's defense built towards her. And she just made everybody better. I say that with respect for the other players in the country. Hopefully in the NCAA Tournament we'll showcase that.

But Veronica Burton did more for her team than anybody in college basketball this year. That's the only way I can put it. (No microphone).

Q. You have one of the best outgoing classes in program history. Can you just speak to what they have done for the team and the program?

JOE MCKEOWN: Thank you for bringing that up. When they came in they changed our program. To win a Big Ten championship, they have won, ironically this is crazy, right? The benchmark in college basketball is when you win 20 games in a season in a league like the Big Ten.

For them to have four straight winning seasons in the league is incredible. If we could have -- we didn't play a lot of games because of COVID. We never played the NCAA Tournament as champions. Last year we only played two non-conference games. They probably would have won 85, 90 games in their career.

And, again, hopefully we'll get a chance to prove that next week. But to do that in the Big Ten, to average 20 wins a year, is incredible. And more importantly what they did off the court, what they have done in the classroom, who they are in the communities, so, yeah, I appreciate that. They made their mark.

Q. What makes Czinano so hard to stop?

JOE MCKEOWN: Two things: I think she's got great hands. She finishes around the basket. When we've been able to beat them we have, we have stopped her, but we haven't completely stopped her.

And then they do a great job of getting her the ball. When they can spread you out like that she's going to be isolated one-on-one and she's a tough matchup for everybody. She's one of those guys that she's been a terrific player.