NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - UCF VS UCONN

March 20, 2022

Geno Auriemma

Olivia Nelson-Ododa

Evina Westbrook

UConn Huskies

Media Conference

Q. Olivia, you have played UCF before. In fact, the last time you played them you took a good shot to the nose there at the end. What do you remember about their style of play? Do you expect it to be as physical? And of the teams you had played in the American, they came the closest to beating you guys. How tough do you expect this to be, and physical?

OLIVIA NELSON-ODODA: I definitely expect a tough game, if not tougher then what we experienced in the past just because of the experience that the older people have.

I know they have a few seniors or grad seniors, whatever the case may be.

But just from when we played them my sophomore year to now I expect it to be even more physical.

Q. Evina, you talked a lot about teams coming in here and always trying to give you their best shot and talking about they can play defense well enough to beat you guys. Can you talk about how well your defense is playing right now? Because they're the No. 1 defense in the country and they believe that's their ticket to beating you.

EVINA WESTBROOK: Yeah, so we understand they're going to come in and press us and be aggressive, something that we have to be ready for.

We have to give more and not only match their defensive intensity, but give it right back to them. So being aggressive and just being tough overall. So we understand that that's the type of game that is going to be played tomorrow. We just got to be ready for that.

Q. For both of you guys, tomorrow is your last game at little Gamble Pavilion. Speak on what that means to wrap up your career here at Storrs.

OLIVIA NELSON-ODODA: What was the last part?

EVINA WESTBROOK: In Storrs.

OLIVIA NELSON-ODODA: Oh, okay. You know, it's crazy just kind of looking back when I first got here as a freshman to now. Tomorrow being my last game, when I look at it from a bigger perspective, just incredible moments I've had with four different teams, and being able to just play together, and especially with such a great fan base with UConn has and what they bring.

And so just being able to play in Gamble and have that energy from people that show up and support us means everything, especially for my collegiate career.

EVINA WESTBROOK: Definitely agree with what Liv said. Piggybacking off that, a lot of great memories for me. Obviously didn't play the first year, but still just being on bench and having memories from those games.

But it definitely feels surreal. I don't think it'll hit us until we come back and we're just watching as spectators. But it's definitely a cool moment.

Still got to be ready for the game tomorrow, so we'll take it all in afterwards.

Q. Liv, what's your favorite part about playing at Gamble? Some of the guys on the team have said you didn't get to play here very much this year, and so this weekend means a lot. What is your favorite thing about playing here?

OLIVIA NELSON-ODODA: I would say definitely just the fans. Like they bring -- they make the entire atmosphere something special to play in.

I feel like a lot of college women's programs can't really say that in terms of just having that fan base and that support game in and game out.

It doesn't matter if it's against a higher-ranked opponent that we play or against a lower opponent. It doesn't matter. Whoever we play, they come out and support us, and that has never lacked in the time I've been here.

Q. Evina, how far has your group of guards evolved? You're going to go up against a team that wants to press all game long, and a lot of you guys haven't played together all that long. How difficult a challenge is it going to be and how is this group of guards ready for that challenge?

EVINA WESTBROOK: Yeah, since everybody has been back for the time that it's been, it feels like a very short time just overall the year that we've had. I think we're ready. I think we understand the task that we have ahead tomorrow.

So we just got to be diligent with the ball, be smart with it. We worked on it in practice all the time, so it's nothing that we haven't seen before in practice.

I think we understand what we have ahead of us. Still, just playing within our game.

Q. Yesterday the first quarter didn't go the way you guys wanted. It was only an eight-point lead; lost in the turnover battle. How important will it be to get off to a good start against a team like the Knights who are well-known for their defensive prowess?

EVINA WESTBROOK: I think it's going to be a vital point of the game to make sure we take the first punch to them. We are going to have our punches thrown at us, too.

But we have to come out and play UConn basketball. We have to come out with a lot of energy, a lot of intensity, like the past games have been, if not more.

So we just have to be ready for that overall.

Q. Olivia, they have two really good bigs in Masseny and Brittney. How do you take that personally as a challenge? Obviously played against Masseny before. Now that they have this front line that is really good, how important is it that you guys now have three front line players that you can rotate in against their bigs?

OLIVIA NELSON-ODODA: I think's a big challenge, especially as posts, just in terms of physicality and being aggressive with them.

But I think in the grand scheme of things it's just going to be a whole team effort keeping people from doing what they do on their side, just limiting them to what they're capable of.

Q. Evina, I was wondering, with regard to your role as Mama E, did you have that knack before you got here like in high school or at Tennessee for being a leader or the team mom? Does that just come from when you got here and when you played last year, there was a need for that role because of COVID and because there were so many freshman? I was wondering if you have ever had that role before.

EVINA WESTBROOK: I've always had some type of leadership role in high school. Was always the point guard, always the starting point guard, so always had some type of leadership. Even at Tennessee.

When I got here in the COVID years is definitely when I developed the mom role.

It's kind of funny because people back home knew me as like the total opposite. Like I was kind of like the goofy one and the one like, Okay, E, like focus and things like that.

When I got here I'm like, I told some of my teammates to call me mom. They're like, What? Like no way.

So, but, yeah, definitely developed that throughout the COVID year.

Just something -- I don't know if we needed it. Just something that -- or maybe they needed it. I don't know. But just something that happened. Yeah, just developed into what it is now.

Q. Hey ladies, following the Big East tournament and then in preparation of taking on Mercer and now getting practices where you guys are almost full strength with that entire roster, do you feel maybe quarters two through four was a place where you guys are beginning to think that you're gelling and you are at full strength?

OLIVIA NELSON-ODODA: Yeah, I would say -- I mean, from the Big East to now it's just a huge difference. It's a different tournament. It's different expectations and whatnot.

I think the Big East was able to show not only everybody else, but just us kind of what we're capable of when we're clicking and on the same page with each other.

But continuing that into the tournament now is really big for us and will be very key for us, and I think we just saw glimpses of that in the second through fourth quarters yesterday.

Really being on the same page with each other and continuing to build that, especially in practices, will be very important for us.

Q. For either, I imagine that coach on occasion talks about players who have played here in the past and what they've done and how they did certain things. Has he every mentioned Nykesha Sales to you and how she played or things she did that maybe he would like for you to emulate?

EVINA WESTBROOK: I don't remember a specific time, but he has mentioned a lot of people, especially with their names being in the gym. I think the overall toughness that all of them had, referencing that to us whenever we're in a drought in practice, whatever it may be.

But, no, we've talked about her as a team, what kind of player she was, the style of play that she had. It was just incredible. So having her walk just walk back into her alumni school is pretty awesome.

Q. Evina, as the team mom, can you talk about having your last child back at home now again with Aubrey coming back, and what that means to the team just to have her around more often?

EVINA WESTBROOK: I think Aubrey coming back just brings a sense of happiness for everyone, just having her be in the locker room. And obviously she can't be on the court with us, but her presence in itself is -- it's felt throughout everyone.

I think that speaks volumes with how close we are with this team, you know, and what Aubrey means to us. We pray for her every game.

So just to have her here, especially in this tournament, the one that you work all season for, means a lot to us that she was able to come back.

Q. Of all the statistical accomplishments that the team has, where do you guys rank shutting out a team for a quarter, and where does the defense rank in terms of importance for this team? Is that like a goal you guys have? Where in terms of offense, defense does something like that rank for you guys?

OLIVIA NELSON-ODODA: Definitely for us defense is one of the most important things. I think that's also what gets our offense going. We kind of rely on that in terms of just getting our flow and sense of play in. So for us, we take it very seriously and it's very important for us.

Q. Coach, UCF has always played you guys physical, and I think the only team in the AAC to come within ten points of you, and last game there was a couple intentional fouls and it was physical. Is that what you expect tomorrow night? In terms of their defense, do you see a lot of the way you guys play defense and the way they play defense and just the physicality of their play?

GENO AURIEMMA: Yeah, the games that we've played with UCF have all been hard-fought and intense and very physical.

You know, their defensive philosophy is to be very, very disruptive. They work really, really hard to get you out of your stuff, out of your rhythm.

You've got to do a really good job of taking care of the ball, being assertive with the ball, and I think you've got to be the more aggressive team when you play against them.

There is an assertiveness that you have to have, and you have to be able to sustain it for an entire 40 minutes. You know, every year that we played them I think, with few exceptions, it was that kind of game. Sometimes we won by a lot; sometimes we won by a little.

Either way, the game was always -- the game always followed a particular pattern, you know.

Q. You've talked a lot about playing with just a short bench or playing with a lot of kids. When you're only playing six guys you get great chemistry. They know how to play together. How well-prepared is this group of guards to play under the pressure that their defense will bring to bear? You guys haven't played a lot with the same lineup.

GENO AURIEMMA: Yeah, that will be a little bit of a challenge for us. We spent the entire season shorthanded, so we have not been able to use any of our pressure against anybody until just recently. You know, we've had to kind of conserve energy sometimes so we had enough left over for the fourth quarter.

When you play a shorter bench, when the same five or six players are on the floor a lot, the chemistry does seem to be better. The ball seems to find the open player more often. Players are like, I know where she's going to be, I know where she's going to be, I know where she's going to be, and then you will an of sudden you bring in a different personality out on the floor, different type of game, and that changes how you're going to play.

At the same time, you have certain principles you got to stick to. There is no question that in the NCAA tournament in general, but games like tomorrow your guards do have to play really, really well, be really, really tough.

But I've said this before. Like you can't win without really good guards, but if that's all you have is really good guards, you're not going to go very far either. Your post players have to be big factors.

And tomorrow especially they've got to be big factors. They've got to be able to carve out space for themselves inside, they've got to be able to make 15-footers, be good passers, rebound the ball.

So I think the guards, yeah, they're going to be able to get the ball to the right place at the right time, but I don't think tomorrow is the kind of game where you'll be able to go out and get 30 threes. That's not the way UCF, their games usually go.

They rely on their defense and their tempo to keep the games really low scoring. It's easy to get caught up in that kind of game. Obviously that's something we want to try to prevent tomorrow.

Q. You're a couple years now removed from the league, but from afar, maybe a snapshot or birdseye view of what UCF has been able to do the past couple years that maybe has caught your eye. And outside of the physicality that you expect to have, what is it about this particular team in UCF that might be different than years past?

GENO AURIEMMA: I think the experience factor is different. They've got a lot of guys that have played a lot of basketball. They've got a couple kids that have transferred in that I think have really helped them a lot.

There is no substitute for experience. Their defensive philosophy requires a lot of communication, and the older you are the better that works.

And I didn't check last year, but I think this year may be been the toughest nonconference schedule they've had in a long, long time. I think for a few years that's what kept them out of NCAA tournament was people's perception that they didn't play a strong enough nonconference schedule.

This year their nonconference schedule really was quite challenging and it's kind of prepared them and got them the seed that they got. I don't think winning the American Athletic Conference got them that seed. I think it was partly that and partly who they played in the pre-season and how well they did in those games.

That also prepares them for tomorrow and beyond if they win.

Q. How have you seen Nykesha's influence in their program, particularly the players she coaches positionally? How have you seen her influence in what they do?

GENO AURIEMMA: You know, Kesha always had a certain swagger about her, you know. She took tremendous pride in her ability to be disruptive and her ability to play defense in all parts of the game, whether it was full court pressure, three quarter, pressure, man-to-man.

But she made it almost an art form of stealing the ball and creating opportunities for us when she was here. You know, I see them, I see UCF play, and I certainly see a lot of that in them offensively. They're very disciplined and their guards, you know, their guards are a little bit different than Kesha. Kesha was a big, big guard who was able to play inside, outside.

They've got their two big guys that they put on the blocks and their guards are pretty much perimeter guys who want to attack off the dribble. More so on the defensive end probably her effect is probably more noticeable.

Q. To that end, Coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson has taken the UCF program to unprecedented heights. As someone who regularly faced her when she firs made it there, how has she in your eyes evolved as a coach and brought that program to where it is now?

GENO AURIEMMA: I don't know how many years she's been there, but I'm sure it's been eight, nine, ten, you know. We played them seven, I think. Seven years I think we were in the league. I think we played them all seven years, if I'm not mistaken. I know it was before that.

They've gotten better every year. As I said, their schedule is more national now than it was before. She brought with her from Albany the same style, the same philosophy defensively, and she's kind of stuck with it.

They're just doing it with a better athlete, better player than they did in Albany. And I think the consistency is what I think is impressive, that every year they have been able to impose their style of play on everybody they play.

Doesn't matter who they play, they make them play the way they want them to play. It's not very often that you see them -- I remember we played them one year, I think Nepheesa's senior year where I think we scored 60 in the first half or something like that.

And that's like such an anomaly against them, because every game usually ends up in the 60s somehow, some way. So they've been able to do something I think that's really impressive, is every game they play they make you play their way.

From a coaching standpoint that's pretty darn good.

Q. Maria Conlon won state yesterday, Notre Dame, Fairfield. Can you talk -- have you stayed in contact her? Has anything that she's done with the team recently impressed with you? And a follow up to that bigger picture, you have so many former players and former assistants coaching this post-season though all the different various leagues. What's that like to see them continue on with their coaching careers?

GENO AURIEMMA: Yeah, Maria was another one that I wasn't sure where she was going in terms of basketball future. Maria always had a certain attitude about her, a certain way. There was an edginess to her as a person, as a player.

So whatever she was going to get involved in she was going to be successful. She has been successful off the basketball court noncoaching-wise, but I'm not surprised that she's had the success she's had.

You know, touched base with her yesterday, and it's quite remarkable I think that a lot of these kids that I didn't really expect they would do it, have gone on to have such great success.

I watched Carla's game yesterday on TV. Same thing. They both coach to their personalities. Neither of them are trying to be me or anything they think they need to be. They're both true to their personalities, and I think that's when it works best.

You have a lot of coaches that when they leave a program, oh, I'm going to do it just like we did it at Connecticut. You know, both of those guys, they have their own unique style, their own way of doing things. It really fits with who they are.

I think they're genuine, they're authentic, and the players respond to that. That's no surprise. No surprise whatsoever. (Smiling.)