NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - VILLANOVA VS MICHIGAN

March 21, 2022

Denise Dillon

Brianna Herlihy

Maddy Siegrist

Villanova Wildcats

Media Conference

Michigan 64, Villanova 49

COACH DILLON: Well, congratulations to Michigan, heading into the sweet 16. Heck of a game. They came ready to go start to finish, but extremely proud of our group for battling 'til the end and giving everything they had as they have all season. So extremely proud of our group and happy with the season overall, but a tough one today.

Q. Brianna and Maddy, what was it like rebounding against this team and trying to keep Naz and Emily off the boards?

BRIANNA HERLIHY: It was definitely tough. They're obviously incredible rebounders down low. So yeah, definitely tough. But, you know, we were in there battling with them. And so we didn't get bounces sometimes and, you know, some people from the outside came in and got rebounds. So definitely tough in there.

Q. Maddy, what were -- what did Michigan do to slow you down offensively?

MADDY SIEGRIST: I think they were really aggressive. You know, in hindsight, I should have done a few things differently offensively, but what are you going to do? I mean I did the best I could.

Q. This question is for Brianna. You guys in the first half had five threes and then you hit a three in the first ten seconds of the second half. And then after that there wasn't any threes.

What happened in the second half? What did Michigan do to maybe kind of change that?

BRIANNA HERLIHY: I think that they were kind of more conscious of our three-point shooters. I know that Lior hit a bunch, Lucy was hitting a few. So I think they were definitely, you know, in the first half they were helping a lot in the middle. And then the second half they were kind of further out on our shooters.

Q. Brianna, I guess what do you take away from your time at Villanova starting with, you know, the NCAA tournament for four years ago and then now again?

BRIANNA HERLIHY: Yeah, I mean it's been an incredible six years. Definitely a long time. But I mean I just -- I can't thank everyone enough from Villanova. I mean I have learned so many things. I've grown so much. You know, I love my team. You know, friends, we'll be friends forever. And yeah, I think this year has been incredibly special just seeing how we've grown from the beginning of the season to, you know, where we are now. You know, at the beginning of the season it was kind of, you know, we had our ups and downs. We had Maddy out. We had, you know, freshmen starting, playing, and it was just kind of rocky start. But I think it shows how much grit and tenacity this team has in that we were able to make it this far.

Q. Just asked you about how things ended. This was a two-point game with two or three minutes to go in the third quarter. Michigan made one little push.

When you guys were out there, could you kind of feel the momentum changing a little bit in the game? And was it just a matter of it just sort of that's just what happened, and they were able to have that one little spurt that sort of created that separation?

MADDY SIEGRIST: Yeah, I mean we just stopped making shots. And I think that was the biggest thing is like yeah, they were scoring but we weren't. So if they are scoring and we're scoring and you're going back and forth, it's different. But unfortunately, we just weren't able to hit. And we got some good looks down stretch, especially I thought the end of the third quarter or the beginning of fourth. And you know, maybe we make one or two of those threes, all of a sudden it went from an eight point to a five-point game, then it's a little different. Credit to them, they went on a great run, and we couldn't recover.

Q. As best you can answer this without having sour grapes, playing on the road maybe having some questionable calls, just your thoughts on how much of a disadvantage it is to play on someone's home court?

COACH DILLON: Yeah, well after seeing Saturday the American game we were expecting a great crowd and even more than they had here Saturday. So just embracing the opportunity and appreciating that.

But just trying to keep the team in check with knowing it would be a hostile environment. There is really -- you have no control of that whatsoever. But just trying to keep girls' heads focused on what we were doing and executing. And it is tough. I mean it's -- the play calling, all of those things are tough on the floor. But you're expecting a battle no matter where you're playing, especially at this time of the season. So I felt our players embraced that and they came in ready.

Talked about some other games we played like UCONN, for instance, with such a crowd in our Big East tournament. I don't know if it was so much the crowd as just getting worn down as the game went on.

Q. You talked about rebounding yesterday and they out-rebounded you tonight. How big was that?

COACH DILLON: Yeah, obviously that's a strength of Michigan basketball. And Naz, she's extremely impressive. You know, I took time yesterday to speak to that. And she showed exactly why she is, you know, the All-American out on the floor. So it was tough. We said, you know, with Brianna and Maddy looking to put some contact in there, some bodies on players, but we needed more rebounds from our guards. And that's just everything. We talked about everyone being a rebounder in today's contest.

And you get caught out of position, but yeah, it's a battle trying to beat her to the board.

Q. Naz Hillmon took the task of guarding Maddy today.

COACH DILLON: Yes.

Q. I know there is help as well, but the way that she played defense did you expect her to be on there? And then just sort of I know there was a lot of talk about how well she did defending. She made it tough for her all day. Was that maybe a big factor today, too?

COACH DILLON: Yeah. And I think that is why Naz is such a great player. She plays both ends of the floor at the highest level. And she doesn't tire either. It's really impressive. And that's why, you know, she'll be a great pro when she finishes up here. Yes, physically, I think she did a really nice job of knocking Mad off her mark on some of the cuts just being in position.

But even so, even when it wasn't man, you had her at the top of their press, and she did some nice things there as well being disruptive. So you want to see your two best players go up against one another and that was the case today.

And I think, again, some lessons learned for us, you know, for Maddy, and she's going to be willing to get after. She has another season with us, which we're excited about. And she's grown each and every year. And we're only expecting bigger and better things in the future. And I think Naz is a great example of that for her and for our team.

Q. Just to go back to the same kind of question with the players, that stretch there end of the third into the fourth, you called a couple of timeouts. What was message in there to try to talk to the team? And also was it as simple as they said, you had the looks you wanted you just couldn't get the shots to go?

COACH DILLON: Exactly. Yeah, I thought we were continuing to share the ball, move the basketball and get some shots. They weren't falling. Then the problem was then on the defensive end, you know, once some shots didn't fall for us. We didn't let up on the initial aggressiveness of our game but the rebounding. We gave too many second, third chance opportunities. And that is only wearing you down a little bit more.

So yeah, just not capitalizing on some of those possessions. And finding people. But talked about it all season. Not allowing your offense to dictate defense. But when you're in a game like this and so much is on the line and the clock is running down, yeah, that pressure mounts a little more. Exactly.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

COACH DILLON: Thank you.