NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - LSU VS JACKSON STATE

March 18, 2022

Tomekia Reed

Dayzsha Rogan

Ameshya Williams-Holliday

Jackson State Tigers

Media Conference

Q. This will be for both players, if you would. Just the idea of being here and being so successful and kind of being battle-tested to this point, what is it about all of those experiences that have prepared you for this moment? Is it just a kind of continuation of the same season, or do you feel like now is your time to really prove the brand that you guys have established all season long?

DAYZSHA ROGAN: We're very excited to be here, and, you know,to be back in the NCAA Tournament. We got here last year, which you know I think we all were a little nervous. It was our first time, but this year I think we're mentally prepared. I think we've prepared ourselves through preseason playing tougher teams, so I think that has got us back to where we are now, and we're looking to show who we are as Jackson State Lady Tigers.

AMESHYA WILLIAMS-HOLLIDAY: I think we're very ready. We didn't have a good showing last time we were in the NCAA Tournament, so I think this go-around we'll show who we are and keep our consecutive record going.

Q. Last season you guys played a Kim Mulkey-led team in Baylor. What are you expecting from LSU heading in? Dayzsha, you can go first.

DAYZSHA ROGAN: What we are expecting from LSU? Well, they have the same coach, so she's a very winning coach, so we know they're not going to lay down, and we aren't either. It's going to be tough and I know competitive. It's not going to be easy, but I think we can pull it out. I think now would be the time to pull it out.

AMESHYA WILLIAMS-HOLLIDAY: I think we are more formidable working systems; so if we play as hard as we can and being tough, we'll be ready for it.

Q. (Off microphone) -- kind of feeling your groove again, feeling your shot since coming back from injury. Talk a little bit about your confidence coming into this game?

DAYZSHA ROGAN: Winning the SWAC Championship, that game, it gave me a lot of confidence coming into this NCAA Tournament. Practicing-wise, we've been putting up shots and getting ready, so I'm very comforted going into this game. Even if shots don't fall, I'm focusing on defense because defense wins games.

Q. Ameshya, I guess same thing. Defense travels, right? You guys are averaging around nine blocks a game. I saw your in-conference blocks were almost the same as your out-of-conference blocks, so, obviously, it has nothing to do with who you are playing or where you are playing, that kind of thing. Talk about how important defense is to y'all's game and being successful.

AMESHYA WILLIAMS-HOLLIDAY: Defense is very important. As our coach says, defense wins games, so if we go out and play good defense, we will pull out the win.

Q. This question is for both the ladies. How important is it to go in as the number 14 seed?

DAYZSHA ROGAN: It's very important. Last year I think we got 16 seed, so this year as winning all our games in conference, we were close to winning in preseason, but we but we went undefeated in conference, so that helped us get a 14 seed, so I'm very grateful for getting a 14 seed because I think it's a good match-up against LSU.

Q. This is for both of you. I think you start all upper classmen. I know three seniors and a couple of juniors. What does that afford you, whether it's just the experience to kind of withstand a run, the ability to kind of know each other and compliment one another about your games? Where is it a benefit for y'all?

AMESHYA WILLIAMS-HOLLIDAY: Let me see. I think in practice as they show how good they play in practice, then that's who my coach is going to ride with, so if you practice good, you'll play good, so that's -- I don't think the classification is the meaning of who gets on the floor or how that goes.

DAYZSHA ROGAN: I think classification doesn't matter, but you want to have your experienced players out there that know each other just like me and Ameshya are grad seniors, so we know what are we going to do. I know when she wants the ball and when to give it to her. I think we have that IQ with each other.

Q. This question is for Dayzsha. Would you talk about going against Khayla Pointer? I know you are probably not going to guard her the whole game, but just going up against a player of that caliber and what that does for you?

DAYZSHA ROGAN: Well, as far as feeling like, oh, she's a nice point guard that can handle the ball, I'm not afraid to go against her. I know I'll have to stop her in order for us to win. I have to be competitive, so I'm going to do the best I can defensively to get stops for her for our team.

Q. This one is for Dayzsha. You got injured a little over a month ago. How are you feeling physically right now and mentally going into the NCAA Tournament? Have you had time to rest?

DAYZSHA ROGAN: Could you repeat that? I'm sorry ?

Q. No apologies necessary. You got injured a little bit over a month ago. How are you feeling physically and mentally going into the NCAA Tournament?

DAYZSHA ROGAN: My injury, it set me back a little bit. I wasn't expecting to be out that long. I thought it was just going to be like a minor ankle sprain, but I found out it was a grade two. I was out for a good bit. I rehabbed a lot.

My mental, I thought I was just going to be able to get back out there and be myself, but I wasn't, so I just kept working hard mentally to get myself back in that mental state and practicing, so I could be back for this tournament. Now I got my confidence back. I think I'm ready physically and mentally.

Q. Dayzsha, you mentioned confidence twice already. Picking it up in the SWAC Championship Tournament and just playing with confidence now, the clip went viral of your coach saying, you know, we're coming for you, Kim Mulkey, whatever. Obviously, you guys have a lot of confidence, right, that comes with the success that you had. How key is that to keep that and play with that kind of swagger, if you will?

DAYZSHA ROGAN: In these type of games it's March Madness. You don't want to come in timid, scared or nothing to play. This is time to compete. This is the time to show who you are. This is the time to put on for your state, city, or whatever. I think you should have a lot of confidence coming into these type of games. Anything can happen.

Q. This is for both have you. You guys talked a little bit about chemistry. Ameshya, what does Dayzsha do well and bring this the team? Dayzsha, what did Ameshya do well and bring to the team?

AMESHYA WILLIAMS-HOLLIDAY: She plays good defense. When she gets stops at the top of the key, it hypes me up. I'll be happy. Once she gets steals, I love it, but she has good -- I just love her defense. That's what I like about her.

DAYZSHA ROGAN: Ameshya is a great post player. She's good. If I get beat, I know she'll block somebody's shot. I know she'll have my back. She's good when we need to score and we need a play run. She's good at finishing. Coach tells us to lob it up; she'll go get it, of course, as tall as she is. We can always count on Ameshya to get it done.

Q. Going into this week of practice, what's been the point of emphasis on facing LSU?

AMESHYA WILLIAMS-HOLLIDAY: Defense, defense, defense. (Laughing). Stand down, walling up, and playing aggressive, and not giving up. Just playing hard defense.

DAYZSHA ROGAN: Being solid and getting stops will be the key, and mental. I heard about their fan base. We can't let none of that get in our head. We just have to have a strong mentality and work hard to get it, but defense is going to win the game.

Q. Dayzsha, I'm going to start with you. You all turned a 1-4 December into a 21-game win streak for the calendar year of 2022. At what point did you realize when you all had made the switch that you all had found something that's working?

DAYZSHA ROGAN: Honestly, when we played preseason, we were close in those games, and I knew we found something then. When we came close to those top teams, we competed with them. We were solid. We worked together, and from that moment forward I knew then that we were going to be a very special team.

Q. Ameshya, you have dipped your toe into the SEC three times this season before you got the SWAC play. You played at Ole Miss and played Arkansas and Mississippi State, and all of them, while they were losses, all very respectable and close games.

What do you draw from three games or can you draw from three games against teams in the SEC to face another SEC team tomorrow?

AMESHYA WILLIAMS-HOLLIDAY: The scores were low, and I think going into this game we are ready to pull -- I think we're ready to pull it off because when we played in the beginning of the season, it was kind of tough, but it was -- let me see how to put it. Let's see --

AMESHYA WILLIAMS-HOLLIDAY: Can you repeat that again?

Q. I was asking about the fact that you have faced three teams already in the SEC. You faced them in December. They were all losses but close losses. What can you draw from them, if anything, going up against another SEC team tomorrow?

AMESHYA WILLIAMS-HOLLIDAY: Just remember that how hard and how tough we played those games. Just go out and play this game as if we want to win and play it how we played it in the beginning of the season when we played those teams.

Q. What do you think is the biggest difference between your team now from previous games against SEC teams?

DAYZSHA ROGAN: What do I think is the biggest difference?

Q. Yes.

DAYZSHA ROGAN: You can go ahead with that one. Can you repeat it again? I'm sorry.

Q. You're fine. Let me rephrase it a little bit differently. What do you think is your biggest area of growth? Like you guys had those close games earlier on in the season. How do you think you guys have grown so that maybe this time around is a different result?

DAYZSHA ROGAN: Well, when we played those preseason games, we were just getting started. We had added some new players, so we didn't have all the pieces put together by then. We were just learning each other and learning how we play, but so far as we've gone through SWAC play, I think we've grown together as a team, so I think we got what it takes.

AMESHYA WILLIAMS-HOLLIDAY: We have better chemistry, I think, playing from the beginning to the end, so I think our chemistry is better now, and we know how each other plays. I think the chemistry is better than it was in the beginning.

Q. Just being tall helps, but you guys are eighth in the country in rebounding. Obviously, that's a commitment to doing it. What is the key to being that good at it?

AMESHYA WILLIAMS-HOLLIDAY: Just boxing out on defense and hitting on offense and trying to get the board and having not just one post player going and getting the rebound, but having at least three going in and rebound.

DAYZSHA ROGAN: We have rebounding drills where we practice blocking out, so we know our opponents are going to be good rebounding as well, so we have to be tough. We're not going to be able to just be athletic and go get it. You have to block out and secure the rebound. I think that's our key into rebounding.

Q. My question is for any of the one that's on the panel. Since you've played against other SEC schools and now you're playing against LSU, how do you think you match up against LSU?

DAYZSHA ROGAN: I think we match up with LSU really well. Last year when we were here, we played Baylor, and they were big in size. We didn't have a good team with height last year, but our coach has recruited some really good players that match up in size. I think we match up with them well offensively and defensively, so I think it's going to be a good competitive game.

TOMEKIA REED: Just really excited to be here. My team has done a phenomenal job this season. We had a tough run in preseason. Obviously, going 1-5 in preseason. Really close in those games. Everybody looked at us and celebrated that, celebrated they were moral victories, and that was a point that we really wanted to win those games.

As you build a program, after you win championships each year, you want to do something different and having national prominence, national attention. Winning those big games was something that was really important to us. Nevertheless, we were on a hike, a journey to get back here to the NCAA Tournament after having such a poor showing on last year against Baylor.

The first thing I said after the game to the team was, we will be back, and we did that. My staff did a phenomenal job in recruiting a really good team with Power Five players, high mid-major players, and just really getting them to gel early in the season and to all get on one accord was all a part of this journey, and here we are now. Longest winning streak in the country passing a great Stanford and now getting ready to face a really good LSU. I'm just extremely ecstatic and very proud of my ball team.

Q. You guys faced Kim Mulkey last season. What's one thing that you kind of saw last year, and what are you expecting from a different Kim Mulkey-led team this season?

TOMEKIA REED: Kim is a winner. She's a winner. She's a go-getter. She's extremely feisty. A lot of intensity. Very passionate. All of those characteristics lead to championship programs, and she instills that into her team. She inherited a lot of her players, and you see players that are different players this year compared to what they were last year. She just brings out the best in her team.

She's brought that winning mentality over to LSU. She's going to have her team playing tough. She's going to have them being aggressive. They've set out after losing in the SEC Tournament, so they have been resting, and they are ready, and so I just think that we'll see a really good, tough team, and Kim is just a phenomenal coach that I have looked up to for a long time. She's a coach that doesn't let up.

Obviously, last year against Baylor she didn't let up on us, so that's the type of person that she is. She's a hard-nosed, go-getter, aggressive, tough cookie, winning coach. I have a lot of respect for her.

Q. I want to ask a question, and you made the statement in the SWAC Tournament that this roster was fashioned in the model of a Power Five team. Talk a little bit about how that came together and what you saw from the game against Baylor last year that kind of transitioned into this year?

TOMEKIA REED: You know, after we played Baylor last season, when we lost that game, it keep diminished everything we had done in the conference. It took away that experience. It took away the excitement. It took away that we were SWAC champions because all the focus was on what we did in that game against Baylor.

For me, obviously, you want to get back here, but you want to have a better showing. You want to walk away from the table knowing, hey, we had a shot at that one. In order to do that, we had to amp up our recruiting. We needed bigger guards. I told my staff, I want 6-foot guards. I told my staff, I want big post players.

In the SWAC Conference she play four guards and one post, and you are talking about the average height at the point guard being about 5'2", and at the four position the average height is about 5'9". Well, in order to compete against Power Five institutions in the NCAA, you have to match them height-for-height, pound-for-pound. I wanted my four players to be 6'2", 6'3", and I wanted many I centers to be 6'4", 6'5".

We signed a 6'5" post player that would have been great for us this year. Top five player in the country in high school. We didn't get her eligible, but having her on our roster would have helped tremendously, but with that being said, the other players match up well.

Daja Woodard, 6'2" post player, LaMiracle Sims, who is athletic. She's 5'10", but she's athletic, and she's strong as an ox. Then you have Miya Crump from the University of Houston who is extremely tall and athletic and tough and aggressive. You match them with your Dayzsha Rogan, player of the year last year, and Ameshya Williams, player of the year, defensive player of the year back to back to back. You match that and get that chemistry for them. That's one heck of a team.

I think they understood the assignment early. We want to do something that's never been done, and they knocked on that door early in preseason against those Power Five institutions. Now we're hoping to knock that door down.

Q. I have a couple. Follow-up to that one. How many of the girls are new to this year's team?

TOMEKIA REED: We have six new players. We have six new players.

Q. That kind of blows my mind. 59-4 I think is your record in the SWAC over the last three years, so to add six news players, how did it work? How were you able to keep that consistency?

TOMEKIA REED: That's a great question. The demands were high. The expectations never lowered. The returners understood that success is what we breed, and we have to get to the tournament. We can't go backwards. When you're constantly preaching that message early in the season, the newcomers have to get it and understand. In order to be something special, it has to work. We have to all fit.

I think our players did a great job in translating that message to our newcomers, and our coaches did a great job in them getting that message that we are here to win, you are here to win. We have to figure it out. We have to get together and play together. The chemistry has to be there. I think that helped the team help itself making that connection with the new players.

Q. LSU comes in. They've won 8 of 9. You've won 21 in a row. How confident is your team coming into this.

TOMEKIA REED: I think our team is extremely confident, but I think the word that I would use is poised and comfortable. I don't think it's an over-anxiousness that we saw last year. I think it's a here we go with another opportunity. Not saying this is an NCAA. This is another opportunity to accomplish something we set out to accomplish in our goals that we set early in the year.

We had six goals that we wanted to accomplish. We accomplished all except for one, and that was to beat a Power Five team. I think right now they are extremely comfortable. They are poised. They are solid. They are prepared. Going 21 wins in a row, I think that lights a fire under them as well to keep it rolling. We have something to run off of now.

Q. The players talked about being a little jittery in that game last year against Baylor. Have you seen a change in the mental toughness through this season? Have you seen that built upon?

TOMEKIA REED: I have. This is a really special team, you guys. They have a lot of mental strength, a lot of mental empowerment that has happened over this season. When we won the regular season championship, I said, all right, y'all, we're about to cut the nets down. They were, like, no, we'll cut them down at the SWAC Tournament, and I said, wow, that's a big statement. I was, like, we got to get there. We'll cut them down at the SWAC Tournament, Coach. I said, well, y'all take those nets down and bring them to my office, and I'll get them some pieces off of it, and they went to the SWAC Tournament and did just that. They won, and they cut the nets down. We celebrated.

When I got into the locker room after the game, it was no overly excitement. They were relaxed. They were on their phones. They had their hats on. Their trophy was just sitting on the side. Not a whole lot of pictures going on. That's after they threw the cooler at me, by the way.

I saw a lot of composure. When I gave my spiel, I said, y'all, it's just something left in your tank. You just look like you're on a mission for something else. Just the same look I got after the regular season championship is the look I got after the SWAC Championship. There's something else we want to go do. This is just a really, really, really special team.

Q. Coach, she might not be 6-feet tall, but she's been very effective for you. I think she's listed at 5'4". Dayzsha Rogan.

TOMEKIA REED: Absolutely.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about her play and what it means and what she brings to the team when she's hot and consistent?

TOMEKIA REED: Dayzsha Rogan is a major piece of the puzzle. I mean, everybody sees her offense. For me it's the defense. When she's in the forefront defending the way we need her to defend, she just sets the tone for the entire team, and sometimes when you are such an impact offensively, when your offensive game isn't the going the way you want it to go, it tends to disturb something else, and so we're constantly telling her, you are great on both on ends. If one is not going right, do the other. She has her moments, but what I love about Dayzsha Rogan is she's extremely resilient. She bounces back extremely fast. She doesn't stay down too long, and when she's up, she's up. When she's hyped, she's hyped. When she's down, she's not there long. She's a major piece of the program.

Going into the SWAC Tournament Championship game, she had not been having the best games offensively, and I just sat and talked to her. I said, what offense do you like? What do you want to run? I said, now, we run this offense for you. You haven't been coming up ready to shoot, and she looked at me and said, Coach, I just want to get my team involved. I said, all right. Well, I need you to get involved too.

She's just a great sport, and she understands what it is that we need for her to do. She's such a key person to this team. We played two games without her, and I thought I wasn't going to make it, but we were able to pull it out, and I saw the team grow. We needed the team to grow within those two games, but when she returned, she returned when we really needed her. We didn't have our point guard. She was injured. She had to play limited minutes in that game. We were down about ten to Arkansas Pine Bluff, and she came off the bench and gave us a great 17 points with limited minutes. She's a very, very, very important piece to our puzzle.

Q. Can you talk about her dealing with an injury and you and your coaching staff kind of keeping her involved, keeping her confident so when March Madness when you guys did make the NCAA Tournament, she's ready, she's confident?

TOMEKIA REED: Yeah. I told Dayzsha, it's more important to have her later than now. We played two of the toughest games in conference without her. The toughest two games we played without her. I told her I really wanted her to focus on her rehab. I wanted her to focus on her therapy. I wanted her to be okay.

The only thing I was worried about is her next. I was never worried about her at Jackson State. I was worried about her missing her opportunity to play professional basketball because the injury she had was a four to six week injury. I said, Dayzsha, you sit out four to six weeks, that's the entire season. Her and our athletic trainer worked extremely hard. They did a lot of rehab. They were in the gym early mornings, late nights, and she just pushed through to get better. I'm just really proud of her and her efforts and how hard she worked to get through that injury.

Q. Year in, year out when we get to March Madness, one of the prevailing themes when a lower seed takes on a higher seed is physicality of the game, playing through the physicality. I wanted to ask about the mental toughness of this team in terms of what they have seen in the preseason and throughout the season in terms of preparing for the physicality of tomorrow.

TOMEKIA REED: Going against a top 15 team in Texas, playing Arkansas at Arkansas, a very gritty, tough, aggressive team. Ole Miss was really tough. Mississippi State was really tough. Mississippi State a really, really got amped up for that game. They were just real physical. Just a lot of physical, tough play in the SEC.

I'm watching film last night of my players, and I'm looking at how we are coming through screens and getting knocked off those screens, and they just play through it. As we prepare for those games in preseason and as we prepare for LSU, we go up against guys, and we have a practice squad that we go against. We do a lot of toughness drills to get the girls tough. We don't call calls. We'll play a scrimmage games and miss the fouls on purpose.

I think that they are prepared for that physicality, and I have told them to expect it. You have to expect that because that's the name of the game, and I'm just watching the officials throughout the tournament and how they have been calling the calls in the tournament, and it's been a very, very fair NCAA Tournament thus far. They're letting the players play, and that's what you want. That's the consistency that you want. I think they are well-prepared for this physical play that LSU will give us tomorrow.

Q. Were you aware that President Joe Biden picked Jackson State to win this game tomorrow?

TOMEKIA REED: Joe knows. Joe knows. Yeah, I saw that, and I'm just ecstatic. That's more national attention for our program, and obviously, I love that respect level. I mean, really? That's huge. I'm very appreciative of that.