NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - AMERICAN VS MICHIGAN

March 19, 2022

Kim Barnes Arico

Emily Kiser

Naz Hillmon

Laila Phelia

Michigan Wolverines

Media Conference

Michigan 74, American 39

COACH ARICO: Yeah, I was really excited for the opportunity to play. It's been a minute since we played our last game, and it has been a really long since we have played at Crisler. So what an incredible, incredible environment. It really is so unbelievable to host. We have always been in a position to be on somebody else's home court. So this is really special. And it was a great night. American's a great team, but we played exceptionally well tonight. And it was nice to get that game under our belt heading into Monday.

Q. You guys started off a little sluggish. Was it nerves or what? And Kim just said exceptional. What changed?

EMILY KISER: Yeah, I think we came out, I think we were just really hyped actually. It was almost the opposite of nervous. Just having the crowd, being able to play on our home court, you know, March Madness, just all of it I think just caused us to come out a little rushed. But I think we settled in. We knew not to panic with it and just stay the course.

Q. I'm curious, you guys kind of talk about the energy and the crowd tonight. Talk to me a little bit more about what the crowd brought and how they were energized and what that meant to you guys as players.

NAZ HILLMON: Yeah, I can speak on that. You know, Emily and I are accustomed to, like she said, being at somebody else's gym. And you know in that first five minutes where we got rushed and flustered, our home crowd was there still cheering us on. And that makes a big difference compared to when you are on the road and you're making a bunch of mistakes. And the only time you hear a cheer is when the other team is scoring on you. So just to have them backing you, you know, whether you're making a mistake or not, it's just being super energized. I mean they were super loud today. I mean even when we were just being announced. You could feel the energy in the air, like it was electric. So just having that group, having all of our fans there, was -- I mean it was a time, it meant a lot.

EMILY KISER: And huge shoutout to our Maze Rage, out student section. They've been coming back game after game here, and it is a big game changer.

Q. You guys did a really good job against Jade Edwards who we spoke before the game was arguably she did basically everything, led points, rebounds, assists, you name it. She was really a non-factor and kind of as a result the team on offense struggled, 1-21 from three-point range. Was that -- how big of a message was it to stop Jade Edwards? Do you think that was the result of if you stop her it would collapse the entire team?

EMILY KISER: Guard? Come on, we got our defense right here.

COACH ARICO: Was that your --

LAILA PHELIA: Yeah. I feel like yeah, going in we knew that we had to be able to stop her. But then I felt like after being able to stop her everyone else was able to contribute and stop everyone else who -- on the other team that wanted to score. So yes, it was, it did contribute to that. But other than that, yeah.

Q. Like Coach said, about the exceptional effort. You guys had a long layoff heading into tonight. Was there stuff in practice and things that you saw in practice that you thought were building up to this type of performance?

NAZ HILLMON: Yes, I would definitely say that these past two weeks of practice have definitely helped us in today's performance. You know, throughout the season especially once you get to the conference, you are always focusing on somebody else. The quick turnarounds like game, practice for one day, and then another game. So just being able to really focus in on ourselves and work on what we need to be better at. Get our touchdown, get some shots up, that was super helpful for us. Like I said, always having the kind of game plan for other people and not yourselves makes a difference for sure.

Q. Leigha Brown looked much more like herself tonight. She had that three-pointer at the end of the half and then six assists. You know, what did you guys see from her tonight?

EMILY KISER: Yeah, I mean having Leigha Brown back, you know, it changes our whole team dynamic, whether it is defense, offense, she's just a game changer. So, you know, I think it builds our team's confidence going into games. We had to go so long without her. But just to see her out there playing confident I think makes us all better.

LAILA PHELIA: Yeah, and going off of what Emily said, being able to play with her on the court, her energy, her fire, that all helps a lot. And she really is a big contributor.

Q. Sort of piggyback on the earlier question about defense. Seemed like you did turn it up a notch this game, not after the early jitters but over-hypeness. Was that a big part of this, working the last two weeks on getting a defensive flow from start to finish?

EMILY KISER: I would say the last two weeks we really wanted to focus on defense. Kind of I think that's our team's identity, or at least we try and make it. Because I think it really leads to our offense when we can rattle a team with our aggressiveness, with our length. I think it's really productive. Coach tried to emphasize that the last two weeks of practice, and I think you saw it today.

NAZ HILLMON: Yeah. And, you know, on the front end we are working on our defense just in general. And then on the back end, I mean they are a team who really wants to run through their stuff. They're setting a lot of screens and you can disrupt that and not really let them get into their flow. That was very helpful for us. So the past two weeks of practice, defense in general. And then getting those couple of days of, you know, their offense so we can work on that defense.

Q. I'm sure you guys don't have much time to scout Villanova, but what are your thoughts on facing Villanova now in the next round?

NAZ HILLMON: I think that -- you know, we know that it's March, anything can happen. We need to just come in locked in and focused. Play our basketball, but we will watch a ton of film in between now and when we play them. We've heard great things about them. They're a good team. I mean all around good team. So just really trying to focus in on us first and then make adjustments after that.

Q. This is a follow-up for Laila. I was curious, how did you feel in your first March Madness game?

LAILA PHELIA: It was great. Yes, going into the game, Mr. Greg Harden, he told me to play the game. And I felt like that was -- just being able to just go out there and know things are going to happen and being able to just lock in and just have fun. And I felt like that was a big part of it. And then just my team again. I know I keep talking about it, but they just really help with like confidence and stuff. So going into that game, yeah, it was like more aggressive than the past couple. Yeah, it's March Madness and all of the teams are going to be great, but just being able to really like have my team behind my back. And Coach, she always tells me just to relax and just have fun. So I felt like it was pretty good, yeah.

NAZ HILLMON: It was also my first March Madness game.

COACH ARICO: Good job, Naz. Mine, too. Go figure.

NAZ HILLMON: It wasn't March Madness last year.

EMILY KISER: Oh, that's where you were going with that.

NAZ HILLMON: It's okay, it's all right.

COACH ARICO: The first one. Takes her a second. She got it. I got it right away, Naz.

NAZ HILLMON: I knew you would.

COACH ARICO: We're on the same page.

Q. Coach, you mentioned the other day that you were kind of scouting American like you had scouted Indiana, that was kind of a similar comparison. How did that factor into today's performance?

COACH ARICO: Yeah, I think American really moves the ball exceptionally well and they set a ton of back screens, flare screens. They run through their stuff. And we really wanted to be disruptive. And I thought we established ourselves tremendously on the defensive end. They scored a bunch of buckets quick when we were playing in a super-fast pace at the beginning of the game. Once we settled down, we were really able to establish ourself on the defensive end. And I thought our defense was outstanding for sure.

Q. Angelique used the word overhyped, Coach. How would you describe the first five, six minutes of the game? And then what --

COACH ARICO: Oh, my gosh.

Q. What changed or did you make any adjustments after that?

COACH ARICO: I was wondering if I should call time out, or if we could make to the first timeout to tell everybody take a deep breath, like relax, it's going to be okay. We spent a lot of time the last couple of weeks working on our X's and O's. But we also spent a lot of time working on the mental part of our game and our confidence and having some tough losses this year. Having some injuries, having some illness, not playing 100% healthy kind of took its toll. And being in a different position. And, Matt, you and I had talked about that the pregame. You know, a different position than we've been in before. So we really wanted to come in today being loose and being aggressive and being confident and just encouraging to our teammates and just staying positive. I think we were at the start, but it was I mean super fast. And we couldn't get some shots to fall early, and they got some shots to fall early. Once the timeout came, though, I just said okay, everybody take a deep breath, like we're going to be fine, just settle in. Get some stops on the defensive end and those shots will fall. But we don't have to take them one pass and a shot. We were trying to control pace. That was something that we really had talked about leading into this game how American does a great job of controlling pace. And they only average 60 points and their opponents have been in the 40s and 50s. We didn't want that to be the case. We wanted to push that tempo. But we had to find the common ground between really pushing it and taking the first shot that we could get and also maybe reversing the ball if we didn't have a great shot the first time down. And I thought after that first timeout, we were able to do that. And then able to score a little bit more comfortably.

Q. You heard what they said about Leigha Brown. What did you see from her tonight?

COACH ARICO: Yeah, I was so excited. Leigha Brown is obviously a difference maker for us. She is a superstar. She's one of the best guards in the country. And she's great at scoring the basketball and great at passing the basketball. But the energy and the passion that she plays with is off the charts. It just makes a difference. And when she is not playing, she does it from the sideline. But when she is on the court, it's just contagious. And she brought that spark. Instant offense. Whether that is scoring the basketball, but her ability to pass the basketball. I mean she got the crowd going with that the curl to Naz, drop off. I mean just unbelievable. So it was great that we got to really -- she got to rest and not have to play a tremendous amount of minutes tonight. But just a spark for us and excited that she was able to play the way that she did today for Monday for sure.

Q. So Naz and Emily both had exceptional games. They were scoring the basketball. How important was getting the ball inside to them?

COACH ARICO: Yea, we knew we would definitely have an advantage with our size inside. And Naz being one of the best players in the country, obviously she's our go-to all the time. But we also knew that defensively they were going to really pack it in the paint and try to limit those touches there and potentially leave Emily in some one-on-one situations. And I thought Emily just did a phenomenal job of being aggressive and playing confident. That is what we have pretty much seen from her all year long. And tonight she had another great game of, you know, showing herself on the offensive and defensive end.

Q. Early thoughts on Villanova. And then a second question. How beneficial is it just to get some of the younger players in and experience an NCAA game?

COACH ARICO: I thought that was amazing. And we spoke about that a lot in the locker room after the game. The opportunity for everyone to get in the game was really special. That doesn't always happen in an NCAA tournament game. All of their families are in town. We have such a great group of young women and a great group of families and a great group of support that it was really nice that they had an opportunity to play in front of the family and in front of our Maze Rage and in front of our crowd. It was awesome.

Villanova, you know, prior to me being at Michigan, I coached in the Big East for 10 years. So I know Harry Perretta well, and I know Villanova well. I have folders and folders of what they do. That doesn't mean it's easy to guard. You can know it. Everybody in the Big East knows it, but it's still very difficult to guard. Denise is doing an amazing, amazing job. Coach of the Year in the league. Three of my former assistants are head coaches in that league. I know that league. I watch that league a ton. I know that league very well. And they all speak the world of her and the job that she is doing there. Replacing a legend in Harry, that's not easy to do.

So they have an incredible program. Similar to American, they execute their stuff. They read their screens. They slip their screens. They move the ball. And you know, this week I was -- as I was getting ready for American I was like well, you know, I brought out all of the folders, you know, on Villanova, too, because it was similar. And just reread all of my notes through the years in preparation just in case we would have to play them. They're a great team. They are a great team playing really well.

Q. Kim, I was just wondering with regard to Leigha, you said you want were happy she got to rest a little bit today. How much can she go? I mean, is she full strength?

COACH ARICO: She can go. Yeah, she can go. But I just try to be smart with her. And I mean I even took out Naz. I don't think she played in the fourth quarter, too. But I try to be really smart with Leigha and just, you know, use her when we need to. But she'll -- I'm expecting she's going to need a lot of minutes on Monday, and I kind of knew that. In the second half of the game I was feeling that, so I was really trying to be smart about her minutes in the second half.