NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - MERCER VS UCONN

March 18, 2022

Geno Auriemma

Christyn Williams

Olivia Nelson-Ododa

UConn Huskies

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes?

Q. A year later are you a more mature team? What do you take from last year that's kind of you're bringing into this?

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: I would say yes we're more mature just by default. We had a lot of freshmen last year, so just having a year of experience under their belts, you just become more mature.

But definitely we're more mature this year, just because of everything we've had to go through. I feel like we've handled it very well and it was hard at times but we've always fought through it. So I feel like we're very, we're more mature than we were last year.

Q. A lot was said about this team, five losses, injuries, so on and so forth. They're going to send you out West. And now you might not have to leave the state of Connecticut, right, before we get to the Final Four. Talk about seniors, being able to do that for the fans here in the state.

OLIVIA NELSON-ODODA: Yeah. I mean, just having to face a lot of adversity this season. Like Christyn said, it builds a sense of maturity within you and your teammates. And I think just kind of going through that whole process and then now getting into the tournament, I think those experiences have definitely helped us and I think it has also prepared us for a lot of things. I think it also builds on the excitement we have going into this tournament and being able to play games.

And we try not to look too far ahead in terms of where we're going to be at, where we're ranked at, and so on. But I think just kind of building on the excitement that we've had, just preparing this whole season is really the big thing for us right now.

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: We're really excited to be able to play in Connecticut. We have some of the best fans in women's basketball, so I know they're going to come and show out. It's just fun to play in front of a crowd like that. So we're just really happy that, and grateful that we were put in this region.

Q. I was wondering, earlier this year coach was talking about how you guys like to play in games but whatever you do when you're at Connecticut you don't want to come to one of his practices because then that's his time. I was wondering, what is your emotion when you're going to a practice? Do you get frustrated sometimes when he's harping on things? And then also like what was the last 10 days like because it was all him harping on things?

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: Practice here is definitely different and it's hard. I would say it's very frustrating as a freshman because there's so many things he's harping on you about and you're just not used to getting called out on things because you're usually probably the best player coming out of high school or whatever it is, whatever the case may be.

But you get used to it. You just learn to suck it up and deal with it and you just learn to take constructive criticism. But the preparation in the past 10 days, it has been normal practices, which has been focusing on our offense and our defense and just sharpening up a few things for the tournament. So it's been good and productive.

Q. There was a lot of talk last year about the discrepancies between men's and the women's tournament and the NCAA has said they have done a lot to even things out. Can you talk about, have you noticed anything different this year, the swag bags better, have they treated you better in any way, food, is anything changed as far as you're concerned?

OLIVIA NELSON-ODODA: I don't think we got a chance to see everything quite yet, honestly. But last year it was disappointing to see just the differences in what the men were able to get versus what we were provided. So hopefully this year they stuck to their word and were able to change a few things.

Q. You guys have had five games now where you've had all but one player back available for you guys. Having two weeks of practice, do you feel like everybody's kind of found their role now and what's it like knowing you have all 11 players available for March Madness?

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: Yeah, I feel like everybody has pretty much found their role and are embracing their role. Practice has been good. What was the second part of your question?

Q. What's it like to have everybody back now for this time of year?

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: Yeah, it's been great having everybody back. We're so grateful that everybody's healthy now, it just makes everything more fun and easier. It's just been really good to be able to sub four people in at a time and not miss a beat. So we're just really happy to have everybody healthy and really excited for the games moving forward.

Q. Now how important is it to get off to a fast start offensively and defensively tomorrow?

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: Very important. We need to set the tone early, we need to throw the first punch. In this tournament anything can happen, so we want to take advantage of starting out well early, so I guess that's the emphasis tomorrow, so bring the energy and set the tone early.

Q. Can you just talk about how far along Caroline has come this year and where she is right now. I mean she led you for awhile and was the leading scorer and now she's dropped off a little bit. Do you still believe that she's going to be there in a big way in the tournament?

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: Yeah, absolutely. Caroline stepped up in a big way for us this year when we had a couple guys down. She really stepped up for the guard position and like you said, she was once our leading scorer. As a freshman that's really hard to do. So she really handled herself well and I was really proud of her for that. Right now she is doing well and she's our what do we call her? Silent?

OLIVIA NELSON-ODODA: Assassin.

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: Silent assassin. Yeah. She's still that same person. It's just the guards are healthy now and everybody is playing, so I mean she doesn't have to do as much as she was doing previously or before. So she's still the same guard, she still can score the ball, she still brings everything to the table that she once was doing before. So, yeah. That's Caroline for you.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you, guys. We'll have coach in a moment. We'll start with an opening statement and then open it up for questions.

GENO AURIEMMA: Well, I mean, it's pretty self-explanatory, I think. We played a whole season and you hope you get to this point, and 64 teams, 68, I guess, teams did make the tournament.

And as you saw yesterday seeds and conference you play in and any of the other things really don't matter at this time of the year. What matters is are you the better team that day and if you are you have a chance to win and if you're not you have a chance to go home. So it's unlike anything else you face during the regular season.

And I think we have a team that's completely comfortable with that and practices have been good and we'll see tomorrow how it goes.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Can you say how Paige has been doing since the end of the Big East tournament in practice and have you decided kind of what role she's going to have at least during the first game?

GENO AURIEMMA: Well, obviously she's a little bit better. Time has helped that. We've had enough rest since the tournament. We've had enough practices. We've had enough workouts where she's had a chance to little by little get comfortable on the court again. Two months is a long time, over two months is a long time to be away from the game.

As far as what her role's going to be, we're still trying to figure that one out. We have a pretty good situation going right now, so how much do we want to change that and what's best for our team and what's best for Paige. I thought she handled her role in the Big East tournament good at some times, not so good at other times. So I think we'll, we'll have a better idea after today and tomorrow's shoot-around.

Q. After last, the loss to Arizona last year you mentioned that it wasn't a mature team. A year later do you feel this is now a more mature team, maybe by what it experienced during the year and if so how?

GENO AURIEMMA: At this time of the year you're always hoping that your team has grown and your team has matured. You don't really know until you've been put through that test to see if you pass it or not. This year's Big East tournament kind of went like last year's Big East tournament, so it's hard to say, this early stage of post-season, are we. I think we are.

Certainly we're a more experienced team than we were last year. We certainly have more options than we did last year. So I think in a lot of respects we're a different team, a better team, a more complete team than we were last year at this time. Whether that translates into maturity, you know, teams act really, really mature when the ball's going in the basket. It's kind of funny about that, all right? And all of a sudden they become very immature when the ball's not going in.

So I think the jury's still out, but I like where we are from a standpoint of how many people we have that are capable of helping us win a game that night, and that, I think, races the comfort level of everybody.

Q. A few weeks back a lot of talk about sending you folks out West and so forth. Now obviously have the opportunity of not leaving the state before the Final Four. How big is that for the players, for the state, for UConn fans alike here to be able to partake in it here at home?

GENO AURIEMMA: That's one of the big, that's one of the big pluses, I think, of having a really successful regular season. That does happen in every other sport. We did play ourselves into this position over the last month or so.

Where they had everybody going a month ago and where everybody ended up, probably were a lot of discrepancy between those two things, not just in our case, but other people's.

Playing at home has its advantages, obviously. It also comes with some, you know, some down side, in that you don't, if you're not careful it just seems like another home game, so you don't really get to feel that tournament experience. It doesn't feel like a NCAA tournament game.

A lot of the distractions that wouldn't be there on the road are there here, you know. But I think the part that matters the most is our team earned the right to play here and if we, if we're fortunate enough to win this weekend, and we've earned the right to play in Bridgeport, but you have to be good enough to do that.

So people say, they can put you in any bracket they want, you know. You still have to earn your way there. You still have to win games. Last time I checked we lost to Louisville here. We lost to Villanova here. So it's not like we never lose at home.

I think whoever's the best team this weekend will win and I think all four teams think they have a chance and that's all that matters and that's it.

Q. Players were asked about will it be more equitable, the NCAA talked about after last year with the weight room and everything, the food and everything that went on. One thing we've seen anyway is March Madness behind you. Was it bizarre to you when you found out that the women weren't allowed to use March Madness and what were your feelings about that and that now you do have March Madness?

GENO AURIEMMA: I don't know. I guess I'm pretty simplistic when it comes to this stuff. We've been in the NCAA tournament 30-some years, right? And until last year it never occurred to me that we did or didn't have it. We played in the NCAA tournament and we played where we were supposed to play. We went where we were supposed to go and we tried to win a national championship. It didn't occur to me that you had a weight room. Nobody touched a weight in 30 years in the NCAA tournament. So I have no idea.

So I found out all these things last year and so if it's important to a lot of people and it matters and it's significant, great. I'm all for it. I'm anxious to see how many teams play a lot better and win more games because the logo has helped them.

But, again, I think if it enhances the experience, which I guess today, in the world that we live in, what it looks like, you know, what it appears to be and how it's presented and all that seems to be really, really important, so I'm glad we have it.

Q. You've always talked about the importance of guard play, especially in the tournament. But last year Paige and Christyn were your two best players and you didn't quite get over that hump. I mean, you went to the Final Four. But how big is the post play this year and how far along have your three post players come together?

GENO AURIEMMA: Yeah, the old saying is you can't win without -- you can't win with just good guards, right? But you can't win with just good guards. So if you look at our NCAA championships there were a lot of really good post players playing on those teams.

And as much as I truly believe that guards do control the game in, not just the NCAA tournament, but in general guards control the game, if you don't have the ability to score inside, the ability to handle defensively, rebounding-wise, the other team inside, all the guards in the world are not going to help you win.

So I think we do have a good group of guards. I think we do have a good group of post players. And when it comes to winning in the NCAA tournament maybe in the early rounds you can get away with just one out of the two, but the deeper you go and certainly when you get to the Final Four, you need to be able to count on both of those, especially I think if shots aren't falling and you rely so much on your perimeter game or if you're a transition team and you rely so much on your transition game, at some point teams are going to be able to take away the things that you do well and you're going of to have to come up with more ways to win and last year against Arizona we didn't do that. We didn't do that.

Hopefully this year, hopefully we get back to that point and see if we fix that this year. But right now we got to figure out what works tomorrow against Mercer, and then we'll go from there.

Q. You had mentioned that you're facing a pretty experienced team tomorrow. Fourth straight NCAA tournament for Mercer. I know you talked to your team about anything can happen, but what happened last night with Kentucky and St. Peter's, does it open some eyes, do you use that at all, do you think it kind of brings home the point?

GENO AURIEMMA: I don't think what happened yesterday is any different than what's happened in years past. If anybody's a student of the tournament, they know that there's teams out there that are way better than advertised. They're way better than people think. And you don't want to fall into that trap of, you know, whatever the number is next to your name, that that's going to dictate how the other team plays.

You still have to go out and win the game. You still have to go out and play each game. And I think that comes from, hopefully, you've done that all year long. You've prepared yourself by treating every opponent with the same level of respect that you would treat a NCAA tournament game, a Final Four game, a national championship game, a conference championship game. It doesn't matter.

If your players get the impression during the course of the year that you prepared differently depending upon who the opponent is, then, yeah, there's a chance that you could be sitting there at the end of tomorrow going home because you didn't think they could win.

Any team in the NCAA tournament is capable of winning on any night. Heck, I remember we had to make a couple free throws here a few years ago to beat Xavier to go to the regionals. There's a lot of really good teams out there and if you take any of them lightly, it's at your own peril. And knock on wood over all these years we've made it a point of emphasis and we take pride in the fact that we don't take anybody lightly. We really don't care what their record is, where they come from, what league they're in, how many All-Americans they have, any of that. We treat every team with the respect that they deserve and we're going to do the same thing tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: All right, thank you, coach.