NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - UNLV VS ARIZONA

March 18, 2022

Lindy La Rocque

Essence Booker

Desi-Rae Young

Kayla Rooks

UNLV Lady Rebels

Media Conference

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

LINDY LA ROCQUE: Welcome, everyone. We're excited to be here in Tucson. It's been a great day already. We've kind of been able to get out and experience a little bit of the town and have some lunch together. We're practicing here after that. So that's what we're really focused on.

But we're excited for our matchup with Arizona. Obviously playing on their home court, not too excited about that. We know what McKale Center is all about and the fan base and everything. But we're really confident in who we are and the game plan that we have and we're excited to play. So we're going to go out there and work hard.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Kayla, what does it mean to you to be back on your father's old stomping grounds playing in a game of this magnitude in this stage?

KAYLA ROOKS: It's honestly a blessing. Just the fact that we are here is a blessing. But to be able to come and play an NCAA March Madness game on his court is truly an honor and I'm super excited to be here.

Q. Something that Arizona players talked about in their press conference was rebounding and it's something that they have had to work on to improve and rebounding is obviously a strength for you guys. Is that something you guys have talked about because they're so much bigger or what's your approach to rebounding going into this game?

DESI-RAE YOUNG: Just box out. That's how we're going to be able to get the rebound is just box out. They do have a little bit of size on us, so we know we're going to have to box out, and everyone's going to have to do that.

Q. Essence, you had a really great Mountain West tournament. How does that carry over into this March Madness tournament?

ESSENCE BOOKER: Hopefully I can keep the momentum going with my teammates. But honestly, it's a whole different atmosphere here. As our coach mentioned, playing here is going to be tough and we expect it. I feel like she's prepared us enough in practice, though, playing a couple of speakers in our ears.

But it's going to be hard, but I definitely think with the team and how much excitement we have, the momentum could keep going, for sure.

Q. Linde, what's the biggest advice you can give your team just from your experience and your NCAA tournament run?

LINDY LA ROCQUE: I've just tried to encourage them that we're not playing the occasion, we're playing the game, and we've played the game all year, and it's just about doing what we do and being true to who we are and staying committed and together and being really tough.

So it's no different. Obviously there's, this is really cool, just even this environment. We don't do this for our regular season games. So there's some different hoopla that's kind of fun to be a part of. But Tjia it's about the game and we have a great game plan we have to go out there and execute. So just trying to keep them focused on that and staying really grounded.

Q. Essence, looking at Arizona's guards, how would you compare them to what you faced in the Mountain West this season?

ESSENCE BOOKER: Comparing their guards to what we faced in the Mountain West season, they have a lot of size, a lot of strength, obviously. They have some big guards.

But it's just going to be about heart. I don't feel like the size and the strength is really going to matter. Obviously it does if we're talking technical, but it's going to be about heart and who wants it more. I mean, it's March Madness, so....

Q. For any of you, what do you think are the keys for this matchup for you?

KAYLA ROOKS: I think the biggest keys are definitely rebounding and taking care of the ball. We know that Arizona's really good at -- well, they have size on us obviously, so rebounding, like Desi was saying, and then they're just a really good defensive team so we got to take care of the ball.

Q. Kayla, Linde just mentioned it, but you guys had the send off. You've gotten to do all this extra stuff surrounding March Madness. After this long season, after the championship, after your personal long wait to get to this stage, what has it been like to go through that and experience these last couple days?

KAYLA ROOKS: It's an honor. It's a blessing. I'm excited. I can't wait to play on the big stage. Just watching the games, obviously, that have already been played and anything happens, so we have that mentality and let the madness begin.

Q. Essence, you guys have pushed the pace all year. You like to run the ball. In this matchup are you guys going to be looking for opportunities to continue and play that way and try to get those early shots?

ESSENCE BOOKER: Yeah. I don't think anything changes despite our matchup. Obviously we want to continue to be us, but we are going to have to make a few adjustments, and as Kayla emphasized, we have to take care of the basketball.

Arizona's great defensive team and they get a lot of their points off of defense. As a point guard I have to set the tempo for that, but nothing changes. We want to score in transition. We want to play fast. So, yeah.

Q. Linde, your trust level in Essence to run the offense, know her spots, when to push it, when to control tempo, can you just speak to your trust in her and especially on a big stage like this, just your point guard knowing when to push the pace and try to get those buckets early?

LINDY LA ROCQUE: Sure. I mean, her growth over the course of the season has just been tremendous in really a position that she's never really played, ever. It's just been fun to watch.

And like you said, I just totally trust her and I think her teammates trust her more than anything, and so she's got a really good feel for the game and she's just, again, she's a learner. She's a worker. She wants to watch film. And she's just really grown. So I think that I trust her to, like when she sees a lane to take it.

And then we try to teach our team a lot just about the flow of the game, of knowing what we have recently done in our last possessions and then what we need to make sure we get executed coming up, whether it's momentum or turnovers or whatever it is.

So I think it starts with her, obviously with the ball in her hands, but then everyone plays a part in that.

Q. Essence and Desi, what have these last, this time between the Mountain West tournament and start of March Madness been like, what's your preparation been like, how have practices been, stuff like that?

DESI-RAE YOUNG: Well, like we said before, Coach Linde has been preparing us for this moment, just knowing that Arizona is going to have a ton of fans. So we've been playing with loud, big speakers of people cheering and booing and just getting a feel for everything and just trying to figure out how we're going to play with people so super loud, like, how we're going to get it, just following our signals, practicing those, just doing the basic things.

ESSENCE BOOKER: As Desi mentioned about the fan base, she definitely has been preparing us for that.

But as far as the game goes I don't think that we're going to do anything differently. I think we prepare the same way that we do any game, but obviously coming here it's a different atmosphere, so....

Q. Desi, earlier you said slow starts haven't really bothered you. That's kind of been a theme for you guys this year. You've always been able to come back and run it back even in the first quarter. But Arizona's a different team, a very good team. Is that something that you're still not really worried about or is that something that you guys really want to come out of the gates really hot?

DESI-RAE YOUNG: I mean, we do want to come out the gates fast. We want to score in transition. We want to score whenever we have the ball. But it just depends on the momentum of the game. Like, sometimes some possessions might be slower than other possessions and sometimes we might be able to get a fast break in transition.

Q. Kayla, what's this mean to your family that you're able to play here in a NCAA tournament game because I know they have come out here before?

KAYLA ROOKS: They all were trying to come. But it means a lot. My mom is super excited. She was, she, every time we come out here she tells me all about her college experience with my dad and stuff like that. So I think she's super excited. My grandma's excited that I'll be able to play in my dad's gym.

So I think overall they're super excited and super happy for me that I get this opportunity.

Q. Have you had a chance to see his poster yet?

KAYLA ROOKS: Not yet. I'll be doing that later on today.

Q. Desi-Rae, just how does a player get almost 300 rebounds in a season? Talk about your ability to do that.

DESI-RAE YOUNG: I don't know. My teammates are always complaining how I be taking their rebounds, so (laughing).

I don't know, just being tough against the glass. We always do 55 threes and Coach Linde's always like, Don't let the ball hit the ground. Like, chase it down, follow it, see where it goes, and go get it.

So I just think, like, her yelling at me and yelling at us just makes us want to get rebounds more.

THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll let the student athletes go back to the locker room and take questions for coach.

Q. Your team, incredible season, but how ready are they right now for this moment?

LINDY LA ROCQUE: I think they're really ready. They have got just a really good head on their shoulders. Everyone's, like you guys have asked of how do you keep them calm, all of that. I look at their faces and they're like, okay, this is cool, but like can we just play the game already?

They have just got a really good demeanor about themselves that they're really committed to just doing whatever it takes and wanting to get the job done and being just kind of blue collar workers and that in that area. So, if anything, it's kind of like, man, it's felt like forever since we've played and we're just ready to play. So they're ready.

Q. Could we get a rating on Desi's impression right there?

LINDY LA ROCQUE: Oh, my gosh. For those of you that haven't maybe seen our team play or talked to Desi much, she doesn't lack personality and character. So I think you saw that a little bit.

But I have not gotten any of those rebounds for her. She has got, she's grabbed every single one of them. I do appreciate her saying maybe that I'm helping her focus on it, but she's just a warrior on the glass. She kind of is a little reckless and relentless and obviously it's kind of my job to pull that out of her. But she goes and gets it.

A lot of rebounding is just willpower and she does that. Impression? Not so much. That's not her forte.

Q. During the Arizona press conference they were talking about how that program has really grown and the impact they have had on the community and everything. Is Arizona kind of a model for what you're hoping to do at UNLV and what you hope to see in the next couple years as you guys continue to build here?

LINDY LA ROCQUE: Sure. I mean, I think Adia's done such a fabulous job. I guess now that I think about it, there's maybe more similarities than differences. I didn't play at UNLV, but just being from Las Vegas, she obviously played here and has a pride and passion for this place to take it to where she has.

So I do. I feel the same way, and it doesn't always have to look the same or go the same path, but what she's been able to do here is really awesome for obviously the Tucson community and for University of Arizona, but just for women's basketball too. It's really fun to watch from afar.

Q. Looking from the outside it may seem like your team just kind of ran through the season, great year, but was there a moment that you might consider some kind of adversity or something that may have been a turning point for you in a good way now that you look back on it or was it just beginning to end all roses?

LINDY LA ROCQUE: Well, it definitely wasn't that. We had some really defining, I think, adversity early in the year, in December even. We, or Thanksgiving. We hosted our Thanksgiving tournament and we lost what you could maybe call a heartbreaker to UT Arlington in a game obviously that we felt like we could have and should have won. And they were really tough and kind of knocked us back.

I thought we played our guts out at Texas Tech in a game that was on a neutral site. That was, I think, kind of a defining moment for our team too of playing a team of that caliber and being like, you know, we were right there and maybe one or two calls or a ball bounce, it could have been a different outcome.

So obviously those are both losses and I think as a coach you kind of look back on some of things. But it just, I think with the new group, we had obviously a lot of new faces. It really took us all of November and really into December to kind of just find our groove together and establish roles and some sacrifice and get going.

Then once we kind of started conference play we were like, well, we'll see what we can do. We had a really tough start to conference play, got a couple of key wins, and then went to New Mexico and really battled there, but dropped that one.

Then from there we won 12 in a row. So it's like, I think it was midway maybe through that streak where I was like, okay, I guess we could, we're going to be all right. Not all of those games are just cakewalks, by any means, and we had to win games in a lot of different ways with a lot of different contributions.

So there's been all different, I think, kind of defining moments of the season, of this team, but we've just been able to kind of just really stick together, and so I think our probably we, our conference is really good. I mean, we've got four teams in the WNIT and three of them have already won, and Colorado State's playing tonight, which I'm cheering for them.

So our conference is only getting better, and so anyone that we face in conference gives you a different challenge and adversity, and while it may seem like we steamrolled a little bit, that's not how we felt and I think that's maybe the biggest thing.

Q. Can you talk about your relationship and your family's relationship with Lute Olson. He wrote a glowing comment about you when you got hired at UNLV. Just talk about what he means to you guys.

LINDY LA ROCQUE: Yeah, Coach Olson is my godfather. My dad played for him at Long Beach City College on his second team there. Coach and his family has had, have been a part of my life since I can, have I any memories. I mean, actually some of my earliest basketball memories are here in McKale Center, being with coach and the teams and watching them, and every year my dad would bring us for a week and we would watch practice and hang out and eat all the Mexican food that we can and kind of do the whole Tucson thing.

So that's, I mean, Coach's family is our family, the Brases, all of them. It's been great to hear from them all, especially this week, and then, you know, our ties just run really deep. So, yeah.

Q. Your family also has a great relationship with the Arizona men's basketball assistant coach, Jack Murphy. I know he actually coached you when you were younger for a brief time, right, a little bit?

LINDY LA ROCQUE: Yeah. That's what he calls it.

Q. How much of an influence did he have on your early development in basketball? And talk about your relationship now.

LINDY LA ROCQUE: Yeah. So obviously it was through Coach that -- Murph was actually my babysitter. That's how he started out, and then it, I guess, maybe developed into a camp coach. But he leaves the babysitting part out.

Murph's been an older brother to me since, again, since I was little. He came here. He was a manager for Coach and obviously like that didn't happen by chance. My dad played a huge role in that.

And then Murph's own basketball career has just kind of blossomed and taken many different turns, and our family's been right lock in step with him wherever it's been. So I think, especially Murph will tell you, again his own path has taken so many twists and turns, and whether it was, I was a player or even as a younger coach, just trying to learn from everyone else.

And yeah, he's just, he's, again, he's family and so I'm lucky to have not just many kind of pseudo big brothers like that, mainly through obviously my father being a high school coach and a lot of different things, but Murph's definitely one of them.

Q. Your players have talked several times since winning the Mountain West about their excitement level for the NCAA tournament, but for you in coaching your first NCAA game, is there excitement for you or as a coach you try to not get excited or what's your approach?

LINDY LA ROCQUE: I think maybe this is where I'm like taking more after them, similar to what they're supposed to be taking after me. I'm like, it's a game. You know, this is obviously really exciting. We have a standard and expectation in our program though that these are the games that we want to play in. We're not surprised to be here.

Other people may be surprised that we are here, but we aren't surprised. I'm not surprised. So we're super excited and very grateful and thankful and just really kind of a cool opportunity to have. But I'm not going to do anything different than I've done all year because they're not going to do anything different than they have done all year. So we're going to coach a great game and try to put our players in the most successful positions that we possibly can as coaches so they can make good decisions and make great plays, and try to stay out of their way a little bit.

Q. You talked a little bit about the strength of the Mountain West conference, but what do you think a win here would do for the conference's reputation as a whole?

LINDY LA ROCQUE: I think it's huge. I think it's huge. A tournament win, really, for, you know, I guess maybe any conference outside of the Power 5, it's significant. Again, like I've had our conference coaches like reach out to me and be like, go get 'em. We're behind you. And that support is great. I feel it. Because I do the same.

Wyoming last year, I was the first, maybe the first person to text G and be like, go make some noise. So I think a win would be really good for the conference as a whole. Again, it's only continuing to get better. We have great coaches and great teams and great cities, for the most part, in great locations. And so I think we, obviously, the men have really established kind of their competitiveness, and so they're giving us a good blueprint and so the more we can have even better and better teams and competition and talent then it only helps.

Q. I think after the Mountain West tournament win you said you've had a lot of full circle moments in your career up to this point. Where does playing at Arizona rank amongst those full circle moments so far?

LINDY LA ROCQUE: It's probably pretty up there. Obviously I played here as a player and, again, I've been to a number of games, and so now to like lead a team here is just another addition to those moments here. Yeah. It's really exciting.

Obviously my family will be here. I wish Coach was here. He would really I think get a kick out of it and probably be torn on who to cheer for. But we know he's watching up there and he's probably going to be sitting there with his glass of wine having a fun time watching. So, yeah, definitely adding to the full circle.

Q. Following on all that, what is it like for you to walk back into McKale Center knowing that this is where Coach coached, the floor is named for him and Bobby, and that you get to do your thing here?

LINDY LA ROCQUE: Well, it's funny because just driving up here, I'm like, in a lot of ways this feels like home too because I've been here so much, where they're like no, down this hallway, and I'm like, no, I know where I'm going.

So -- I didn't say that, but, you know, it's, I'm comfortable here. You guys have great hospitality. I love the people here, the history, the tradition. I think it was really cool to walk in with Kayla today because that adds just another level of, a layer of feeling, which is really cool.

But, yeah, I mean, I'm excited to be here. I have a lot of really, really good memories and so I'm keeping that with me.

Q. Can you share with us a really good babysitter Murph story?

LINDY LA ROCQUE: Oh, gosh, yeah, I can, actually. We were in an AAU tournament. My dad, he was like, had the AAU team outside of a high school. And so while Murph says he was a player, he was actually the manager and the babysitter, so he didn't play. So when the team was doing different things, Murph had to babysit my sister and I. And on this trip in Florida, I don't know where my parents were but we were in the hotel room and he had us jumping back and forth on the beds and he taught us this bubble gum song. And it may be the most annoying song and unfortunately I still know it, but I'm not going to do that to you guys.

So this was like the first day of like the four-day trip and I think my mother wanted to like wring Murph's neck after when they came back, because we were jumping on the beds and singing that song for the rest of the trip. Murph also knows the song, so I'm sure he's taught it to his children too (laughing) or if he hasn't then I'm going to.

Q. I actually left Julie Hairgrove at her daughter's playing softball down the street. But she was really conflicted this weekend. Especially with Alyssa Brown, who is chasing her Arizona State scoring record and her grandfather played here also. Can you talk a little bit about Alyssa Brown?

LINDY LA ROCQUE: Yeah, I mean just we call her AB because we have two Alyssas, so forgive me on the nickname, but just what an awesome young person, obviously recruiting her from Tucson and, I mean, she nearly broke the record book, right? Just a prolific scorer and rebounder and did everything. I think, obviously for our team right now she's playing behind the Player of the Year, the Sixth Woman of the Year in Kayla Rooks. And the best thing about AB is she is soaking up every minute with them to try to learn and get better, because she's going to be one hell of a player for us. Now she's played spot minutes this year, but for the future of Lady Rebel basketball, Alyssa Brown's going to be a huge part of it and I'm really, really excited. She has a great family, great support, just great friends, just again another person that just has great character. I think you guys probably know that from maybe all the interviews you did with her in high school. But, yeah, I love coaching her and I'm excited to coach her for the next four years because she's going to be really good for us.

Q. A lot of people talk about this team being young, lots of freshmen and sophomores who are playing big minutes for you guys. But you've always said that after this whole season they're not youth anymore. How would you kind of expand on that looking at the March Madness tournament because this is for a lot of your players their first experience.

LINDY LA ROCQUE: Well, we are young, on paper, and a lot of our young players have been able to get a lot of experience and experience together. No one has played in the NCAA tournament, so this just adds to it. So, you know, we expect some maybe obviously some jitters, some butterflies early in the game, but they're competitors and they're really connected and together, so I think if anything they will lean on each other and kind of, they're just fearless, which is I think a really good quality in this kind of situation as a team. So I'm excited for them to share this experience and then carry it with them for future because again we want to be back here.

Q. When you first took this job, what did you see as the trajectory of the program and are you on schedule, faster?

LINDY LA ROCQUE: When I took the job obviously I think it starts with the belief of knowing what we could do. And not just me knowing it, but our staff, our administration really knowing it and believing it and really believing in it. And so did I think that I would be right here on this day in 2022? Probably not. But I'm sure dang excited I am. And, yeah, this is kind of right on the path where we thought we could be. So but again I think we're still just scratching the surface and it's great to be here, but the consistency of that, that's the hard part, that's the hard part. So the bigger task is maybe even next year to do the same thing or more. So that will be our challenge whenever that comes. But I'm really proud of what we've been able to do, obviously I haven't scored a single point, so we've got the right people around us and I think that's the biggest thing, the staff and obviously the talented players. So we've been able to do that really quickly. Sometimes people is the hardest part to, that takes the longer time to get around, whether it's a, you know, corporation administration, whatever it is. So I'm pretty thankful that I was able to get like my first round draft picks of staff and players and recruits and all of that. Because we worked really hard to do that. So it's great to be here in this situation right now.

Q. March can be contagious, the magic, and I'm sure you and your players saw 15th seed Saint Peters beat Kentucky and Richmond beat Iowa. Does that bolster belief and maybe remind you that regardless of that Pac-10 or PAC-12 opponent that it just takes 40 minutes of good basketball for anything to happen.

LINDY LA ROCQUE: Yeah, well I think maybe that's a perk of not playing on the first day or in the first game because we know it's March, things are bound to happen. There are going to be some major upsets and I think when we're quote the underdog in this situation you watch some of those games and it's like you do start to think, well why not us? I mean not that we didn't believe it before, but really anything can happen if you go out there and execute your game plan. I mean Saint Peters didn't win on a fluke. They had a great game plan they went out there and executed and got the job done. So it's exciting to see that and even on the women's side there was a few upsets today, which again I think is great for our game, I think it's fun to watch, it makes for a really exciting times and, yeah, maybe it gives us a little pat on the back of like, you know, you could be one too.

THE MODERATOR: All right, thank you.