NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - IOWA VS ILLINOIS STATE

March 17, 2022

Kristen Gillespie

Mary Crompton

Juliunn Redmond

Illinois State Redbirds

Media Conference

KRISTEN GILLESPIE: We are absolutely thrilled to be here. Just such an incredible accomplishment for our program. I've said this a lot the past couple of days. It's just something that you talk about with your team as the ultimate goal, but as a coach to be able to watch your players' dreams come true before your very eyes, it's unlike anything. I'm just so thankful that I get to be their coach, and we're just thrilled to be here.

Q. Kristen, how do you or can you in any way prepare your team for 14,000 plus tomorrow cheering for the team that you are playing against?

KRISTEN GILLESPIE: It will definitely be a new experience for all of us, but how awesome. That's what it's all about. Not only did we win three games in three days to make it here, now we get to -- I think probably for the first round game I'm sure this will be the best atmosphere, and that's how we're looking at it. It's not a negative, or we're not overwhelmed.

It's just our program gets to be on ESPN. We get to put our brand out there. Our 14 players get to showcase everything they've done, all the hard work that they've put in to get our program back to where it's at, so we're thrilled. It sure beats the alternative of watching it on TV, so we're excited.

Q. Can you just sort of describe how Mary Crompton has grown as a person, player? Being named an Academic All American is certainly just the tip of the iceberg, I think.

KRISTEN GILLESPIE: That's a loaded question. Mary Crompton is a coach's dream come true. I'm not sure there is a better ambassador for Illinois State University. She is the epitome of a student athlete.

Mary is the type of young woman that when we were recruiting her, it was us and Ivy League schools, and the big thing we had to overcome is would she be able to achieve all of her academic goals at Illinois State, and she believed in us, and it's been so much fun because every goal that Mary has set for herself, she's achieved already.

I don't know how many of you know Mary's story. She graduated in three years with a perfect 4.0 in biology. She's already started her Master's in biology. She took the MCAT in September, scored in the 90th percentile. She's uncommon in every way, shape, and form.

Her drive to be the best, I have never been around a player with her drive. It is what has made her from a 5'7" and a half, 110-pound kid coming out of Iowa City to one of the best guards in the Valley. She was just a shooter out of high school. She has made herself into so much more, and I am the luckiest coach in America to be able to coach Mary Crompton.

Q. At what point this week did the "happy to be here" mentality depart and the "get down to business" begin?

KRISTEN GILLESPIE: Monday. I wanted our players -- Sunday it was a whirlwind. We won. We cut down nets. We got on the bus. There was a big pep rally in the Selection Show, and I wanted our staff to take a moment to enjoy it, and then our staff got to work on Monday. Our players had the day off, and we came up with a pretty good game plan, but I think it is a delicate balance because I also know that this week is very fleeting, and we are here. We are here to try to win, and that is all our intention is to do everything we can to win tomorrow, but I want to make sure that our players enjoy every second of this too because especially coming out of COVID, there's nothing that is ever guaranteed in this life.

We always talk about there's so many players that never get this opportunity. There are so many coaches out there. I never want the urgent to get in the way of the important. I think you can accomplish both. We're just thrilled to be here, but we also know that we're going to compete like heck tomorrow at 3:00.

Q. When you look at your team compared to Iowa, Iowa likes to run up and down the court a lot up, up near the top in pace of play. You are down in the 300s. How do you guys prepare for a team that likes to run like that, and what is your game plan to kind of slow the game down potentially?

KRISTEN GILLESPIE: Yeah, very contrasting styles. I think they are a little similar to a team in our league in Drake. Different players, no doubt, but we've played teams that play all different styles. We are who we are, though, and I like who we are. Like I said, I think our staff -- I think we have a good game plan. Now, is it going to be enough? I don't know.

We haven't played against a player like Caitlin Clark. I remember watching her from seventh grade on with the attack. Mary Crompton and Lexy Koudelka played All Iowa Tech with her in AAU, and she's phenomenal, and I don't think there's a defense that can shut her down, but it's going to be by committee.

Monika is an unbelievable post player. Probably the best post player we've faced. Heck, why not try to go toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the country? It will be a by committee. We're going to have to play phenomenal team defense and probably we talk about second, third efforts. It is going to have to be a game where it's a multiple effort on the defensive end, and really try to limit second chance shots.

Q. For both of you: How do you see Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano posing a challenge for you guys tomorrow?

MARY CROMPTON: Obviously, they're both two amazingly talented players, and one of them being a point forward and the other one being a post, it can kind of make it tough to stop, but our coaches are really good at coming up with good scouts and good game plans, so we've been working on that all week to hopefully put us in the best position to stop them.

JULIUNN REDMOND: Same as what Mary is saying. I don't want us to get into the big picture of who they are. I just think if we just go out and compete, it will be a good game.

Q. Mary, as a hometown girl here in Iowa City, is there any way to anticipate what it's going to be like for you to run out with 14,000 people in this place tomorrow, and they're cheering for the other team?

MARY CROMPTON: Yeah. I mean, I went to a lot of Iowa games growing up, but I think that their program is at a new level. Especially right now. I don't think I'll ever have seen Carver as full as it will probably be tomorrow.

Yeah, I mean, I think we're all looking forward to the experience, and even if they are cheering for the other team, it beats an empty gym for sure. We're looking forward to the opportunity.

Q. JuJu, obviously last week was very exciting getting the one, but now you have a job to do. What has been the mentality through practices this week?

JULIUNN REDMOND: I mean, go out and play as hard as you can and go get it. She's going to have a night tomorrow, so it's going to be a game.

Q. For both players, how did the process go from switching from just being excited to be here with the Selection Show and everything to now focusing on taking care of the job? How was the process this week? Were you able to take any time to be excited, or has it just been a business trip all week?

JULIUNN REDMOND: I mean, it's been both. We've been balancing it out. We are still college athletes, and we did just win a big tournament for our school, and now we've got to handle business, so it's just bittersweet in both moments.

MARY CROMPTON: I think to go along with what JuJu said, this is a new experience for I think everyone on our team, so we're just enjoying the new experience of March Madness and all the fun that that brings, but still whenever it's practice time, we're ready to go, and we're locked in and we're coming to win tomorrow, so we'll be ready.

Q. Mary, can you just describe how you think you've changed from a freshman to kind of an oldie-moldy now there at Illinois State? You've already got a degree, and you're still going strong.

MARY CROMPTON: Yeah. Looking back, I mean, I feel like I'm a really completely different person than I was coming into this program. Just physically I've really focused on getting stronger. I came in a pretty weak link for college basketball, so that's been a focus of mine, and then the program is just extremely good at skill development, so just working with position coaches on developing my game, being more than just a three-point shooter.

Definitely my defense, but outside of basketball I think I've just matured a lot as a person, understand everything that goes into being a college athlete, have a great mindset on it. I'm really thankful for the opportunity. I think just since being a freshman I've just gained a lot of maturity.

Q. For both of you. What has Coach Gillespie been able to share with you two about -- since she's been here as a player? Has she shared any of her experiences from being in the March Madness tournament as player as just this week to help you two prepare for the week?

MARY CROMPTON: You know, she has. She's talked about it's a time that we'll always remember. It's an extremely exciting time. We'll have memories forever. Especially the people that we're doing it with, so just going in there and knowing that we're meant to be here, and she also set us up to talk to the 2008 RedBird team that made the NCAA Tournament, and we got some words of wisdom from them, so we've heard from a lot of different experienced athletes about what it means to be here and the importance it has.

JULIUNN REDMOND: Same as Mary. Same exact thing. It's just a great experience.

Q. How did you guys pull off the win over UNI there in the championship game? You were trailing, trailing, trailing, and then there were just a few minutes left and, bam. What did you guys do there? Can that carry over to this kind of a game?

JULIUNN REDMOND: Togetherness. I feel like we stayed together as a unit, and when times got tough, we just went back to our principles and believed in one another, and I feel like it can carry over to the game tomorrow if we just stay together and listen to what the coach is telling us and stick to the game plan. It should be a great night.

MARY CROMPTON: Yeah, I would agree. I think that this team has so much love for each other, more than any team I've ever played on, and I think that that's just really special, and it's brought us to where we are today, so I think just going down to the wire we knew that we were going to be the tightest team and the closest team. And on top of that, when you have JuJu on your team, you can kind of rely on her to carry you through those situations, and she always does, and we have so much trust in her.