NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - LONGWOOD VS NC STATE

March 19, 2022

Rebecca Tillett

Kyla McMakin

Tra'Dayja Smith

Akila Smith

Longwood Lancers

Media Conference

NC State 96, Longwood 68

THE MODERATOR: We'll begin with an opening statement from Coach Tillett.

COACH TILLETT: Yeah, I would just like to start with our women, these three and all of the women in the locker room should be incredibly proud of their season, the historical nature of all of their accomplishments and their performance today. Obviously NC State is a one seed for a good reason. High level of talents and really well coached, and I thought our women just fought over and over and over again. That's the number two scoring defense in the ACC and our women were able to in the second half really stay determined and put up some really good numbers. I want to talk about these three real quick. Day-Day just incredible point guard, incredible mind for the game someone that should be coaching a power five team someday in her future. We joke on the team, there's a play book that we develop as a staff and there's Day-Day's playbook that's a separate play book that has secret calls in it. That has been why our team has been so good offensively over the course of the three years she has been with us. And then just the special things she did this year when we had a freshman point guard coming in, Ken Calhoun, who you got to see today. And most players, most people get a little bit sensitive about somebody else coming in that's also really really talented and just to watch Day-Day's development of the relationship with her and making sure that our program is going to be in good hands for years to come, speaks to her unselfishness. Just an incredible, incredible point guard. Akila just her growth over these four years. We talked about it a bunch over the past couple of days. Where she came as a freshman now to a senior and really to be on a national stage in terms of her talent and just the commitment she's made to our team. There were times when she was hesitant to speak in a group to us. And look at her now in a press conference ready to answer questions after a tough loss. Incredible contributions to our program. Kyla, one of the fiercest competitors that I've ever met. So glad that I get more time with her. These three have just forged a bond amongst themselves and then led our team every step of the way this year. Through some challenges as well. Excited for more opportunities with them on the court and off. Just a team of really, really incredible women. And just the last story line is we had to have two starters from last year not be starters this year, and that's not easy to ask women who were starters all last year to not be starters this year. I thought Anne and Adriana took those roles and allowed Bri and Ken to step in those roles and allowed our team to achieve at high heights even though that's an unselfish act to make. Really really excited for our program and the direction we're headed.

Q. In the third quarter you matched them in scoring, 26-26. That's a three-time ACC championship team. What got into you guys in the third quarter? What worked so well?

AKILA SMITH: I think it was just our mindset coming out of halftime. We just wanted to be aggressive. We know we're a good offensive team, so we just put that together a good first half.

TRA'DAYJA SMITH: I think just being true competitors. You are not just going to lay down and take punch after punch. You are going to punch back. And basketball is a game of runs. We knew that second half we were going to go on a run eventually and that's when the time came and we matched scoring with them.

Q. Kyla, I believe you became the top scorer in program history in today's game. What does that mean to you? And you got a whole other year.

KYLA MCMAKIN: It means a lot. It means a lot to make that accomplishment and to do it with these women it's pretty cool. I can't wait to break the big soph ones.

Q. At one point in the first quarter coming into the second, you were even with them on rebounds. And that was making a difference, and you could see the energy that you were putting out. Where did that change? What did they start to do that made it a little bit tougher?

AKILA SMITH: I thought maybe -- I don't know, they were more aggressive than we were.

TRA'DAYJA SMITH: I think what made the difference was we were trying to rebound in certain areas instead of finding a body and putting a -- and boxing them out. And just trying to get the rebound instead of just being in that area.

Q. Tra'Dayja, I've had a chance to ask Kyla and Akila. I know coach really does a lot of teaching you about the history of the game and about the systems. I want to know what have you learned about kind of women's sports as a whole that you are going to take from coach and from your experience here in March Madness?

TRA'DAYJA SMITH: Just being empowered. I wasn't talking in front of people before I got here. I was just like, basically like Akila. And just coming out of my shell. Just being empowered and saying how I feel and standing on how I feel too.

THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll open up the floor for Coach Tillett.

Q. Coach, I asked them about the third quarter, too. What was the message at halftime and I guess how did you kind of just get them remotivated after the second quarter was a bit of a struggle?

COACH TILLETT: We really feel that that run they went on in the second quarter, obviously credit to them we turned it off. We weren't turning it over prior to that. We had one turnover prior to that, I think 4:38 in the second quarter. And we turned it over four times, and they got fuelled. They got momentum that, you know, you don't want to give a team like that that type of momentum. And we weren't hitting shots, which is not like us either. Credit to their D. So we felt like just kind of getting back to being ourselves. We knew we had to hit big shots to stay even to them in parts of the game or long periods of the game. So I think it was just, you know, do what we do well, try to find ways to get stops. We were trying to say rebound for your life today. Every rebound mattered that much in an opponent in a game match up like this. I think that's who they are, this group. That's who they have been all year. I think I shared a little bit but we had these two conference losses in a row, and a lot of teams can go one direction with that, and this team just forged and said, no, we're powering through. We're still going to win the regular season. We're still going to win the conference championship. We've never done those things before. They are speaking it into existence before it's ever happened. I think they had that same mentality at halftime.

Q. I'm going to ask this carefully because I do not usually ask coaches about what they are wearing. Particularly female coaches. But you look wonderful. And I wonder if there's any significance behind the all white suit today.

COACH TILLETT: Great question. So we have fashionistas on our team. Some women that are really, really well dressed. My favorite advice they are giving me before the game. This is my daughter on the team red shirting and then Milou, one of our seniors, says make sure you do your makeup before you put your suit on. They are coaching me throughout. And I'm not thinking about my makeup or my suit. I'm thinking about are we going to rebound for our lives and are we going to hit big shots tonight? I have reached out to a friend. I've mentioned her before, Tiffany Sardin, head coach at Chicago State. She sent me a couple looks. I'm not that talented with fashion. I have to lean on colleagues, teammates. She sent me a couple looks, put it together, and off we go. We did get a challenge from home, I needed to have good shoes. Tried to match that. Thank you.

Q. With the talent that these three and the rest of the team, the attitude, the mind set, obviously they lead a lot of it. What are you doing as a coaching staff for a program like yours to do that so you're going to have other players get interested because they see that. What have you learned through your experience, not only throughout your career, but with Longwood, a program like this, to get a team that didn't look like they are going to give up for any reason at all?

COACH TILLETT: Great question. I think there are so many parts that make something like this work. First of all, we've got an incredible staff, and we've got each staff member has to take a leadership role. If we're going to ask these women to go take leadership roles in their lives and be empowered, then we also have to also empower our staff. For example, Jessica on our staff does something called ultimate competitor. Yesterday they were doing head, shoulders, knees, and toes and grabbing a water bottle. All these things add up over time. So that's one thing: Ultimate competitor. Ka’lia who played at Duke is on our staff and she's been in charge of bringing in powerful women. We just had a powerful woman in our locker room after the game, Ari Chambers, who is huge in the sport of women's basketball. A huge WNBA supporter. We bring in these powerful women. So that's another element that helps. Ryenn on our staff is a loving, caring person that can challenge you without ever making you feel bad about it. I think it's just all these elements added up together. And this year we brought in a sports psychologist, and we had donors that funded it for us. That included executive coaching for me and staff, and our women could have individual and group session. That's why you see them stay present in each moment and be able to put on a second-half performance like that, despite the fact that we were down. It takes a lot of people to make something like this happen.

Q. Could you just summarize what you told the team after, going from some of those people were 3-27 three years ago and now you are playing in the NCAA tournament, you play the ACC Champions pretty even for three out of four quarters on national TV. Can you just take us through how you tried to summarize that moment with them?

COACH TILLETT: Yeah. As I shared with some of you guys, I'm from a coaching family, so I have stolen bits and pieces over the year. And my dad always had the last game after you kind of do your summary, you go to each senior and everyone in the program talks to that senior. It's getting harder and harder because of COVID years. Who's leaving, who's staying, what are we doing? We knew Day-Day this is it. We have exhausted all eligibility. So we did that. We also did our normal routines. I think it's really important to do your routines. We set goals every game, we went through all those goals, we talked about the progress. You know, Jess and I probably talked more about the four-year progress. I was really focused on today and this season. There will be time for that. We were really excited about scoring on them in the second half, because we do think that that's something we can do. And we felt like we pushed them more than we expected. And that's something we wanted as well. So then it all becomes about Day-Day and making sure we're saying proper good-byes and supporting her in that moment. It's the last time she's going to put on the jersey for us.

Q. Coach, I'm curious, there's a lot of coaches who have been in your position before where they build up a group of five program and make some history at a mid-major and then all of a sudden power five teams start looking at them. Are you interested in hearing those calls, or are you committed to kind of making something long-lasting here at Longwood?

COACH TILLETT: I've shared this with our women, shared this with Michelle, our leadership. I think you always have a responsibility to take those calls, especially as women. I think we have to take those calls. I have been poured into by other women. I have been taught how to negotiate. I would have no experience negotiating. My parents are teachers. My dad always says you are out of our realm with this stuff. We can't really help you. I think for women to approach things the way that men have been taught to or had the opportunities to do that maybe we haven't. I think you take those calls. At this point in time, I'm really happy with what we're building and what we're trying to do. And I'll answer my phone when calls come, and I'm also really committed to what we're doing over here.

Q. I just wanted your thoughts on NC State, how good of a team this is, what do you see in them in terms of going in the NCAA tournament?

COACH TILLETT: I think they are really dangerous for a bunch of reasons. One, the fact that they can defend for long periods of time, and did successfully in a really, really good league all conference season. That's starting point. And they are so balanced offensively. We were able to get some people off rhythm, and here comes another teammate, another teammate ready. And that's what we tried to do in our league. They are doing it at a different level than us. I think they can make a deep run. Excited to watch them. It will be good for us if they make a deep run. We'll feel even better about how we played here today. Excited about them. Very well coached.