NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL SEMIFINAL - SOUTH DAKOTA VS MICHIGAN

March 25, 2022

Dawn Plitzuweit

Liv Korngable

Chloe Lamb

Hannah Sjerven

Intrust Bank Arena

South Dakota Coyotes

Sweet 16 Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: I'd like to introduce head coach of South Dakota, Coach Plitzuweit.

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: Our program is really excited to be here in Wichita. We certainly are excited about the challenge that we have in front of us in playing the University of Michigan. We know it's going to be an incredible opportunity for us. Michigan certainly has our greatest amount of respect as a program, as a team, as a team that's been here before.

We're trying to do some things that hopefully put us in a position where we can compete tomorrow out on the court.

THE MODERATOR: Let's open it for questions.

Q. What is the benefit of having these super seniors and the process of them returning? What was that like?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: Our super seniors in Hannah, Liv, and Chloe certainly have been great leaders for our program. I think they've had an opportunity to continue demonstrating what it takes on a daily basis starting in June, actually starting probably last year in March in the postseason, and getting us ready for the next opportunity to compete.

They're great leaders certainly on the court, they're great leaders off the court. They have done just a tremendous job for us. I think the fact that they've had a chance to play in the NCAA tournament before has certainly assisted us in our first two games. There's an opportunity now that they get to continue playing and we're excited about that.

Q. What are the emotions like facing a program that you spent five years of your career at?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: I think we certainly have a great deal of respect for Michigan, how Kim Barnes Arico and her staff have continued to elevate the program to whole new levels. Felt kind of really disappointed for the program that they weren't able to capture their first conference championship this year and have that opportunity. They're so close to it. That was unfortunate.

To watch it continue to grow is something that is really pretty special. It's strange now we play against each other. Have to take the other side of it and say, Man, now what do we do? How do we compete against a team like them?

It is kind of strange to be able to do it but it's kind of neat at the same time.

Q. Is there a difference in the way that you approach this round now that the program has a little bit more name recognition in this field?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: I don't think there's a difference in how we approach the game. We kind of do what we do. But I also think we have to be prepared in different ways against an opponent that is a much different opponent in Michigan. But we don't really change who we are, do anything differently. I don't know, we just do what we do, I guess.

Q. When you played Baylor, you were playing a road game in front of a hostile crowd. Sounds like there's going to be a lot of USD fans making the drive. Thoughts on having potentially a home crowd here.

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: We hope we have a lot of fans here from Vermillion. I'm certain we weren't expected to be the team here. It ended up we're the closest team here. Vermillion fans travel. Fans from our state and our region certainly travel. Our USD alumni in this area have been incredibly supportive.

I hope that we have a great crowd. I really do think the town of Vermillion is probably shut down at this point in time because most people are on their way here already. So if you're trying to find a place to go out to eat or do anything in Vermillion, there might be one establishment open tomorrow and that's probably where everybody else is going to be at watching the game. It's kind of like the little small town neat little story line.

Why not? Our program hasn't done this before. Michigan has had a chance to be here before. For us it is pretty special. It is new. Our fans are probably having a lot more fun with it than we are because they're not prepping for the game. They should have a lot of fun.

Q. How have you seen support grow for this program?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: The support for our program grow? I think it's just been consistent. When we got to the University of South Dakota six years ago, the program before we had gotten there had won the WNIT. There was a lot of support for the program before we had gotten there. It's continued to grow in a lot of different ways.

I think what's kind of neat, great little story for you, so our students wanted to come down to the game. I have a son who is on the men's basketball team. Mom, people actually know who you are. Our students know.

I'm like, I know. All the PT students we share the facility with, they are now like fans of ours. I told them to come, but they're studying. That's a good thing too.

A lot of students wanted to come. It's a six-plus hour trip. They're trying to get a fan bus to come. There aren't any buses, there aren't any bus drivers. Our university had this little find a way mentality and went all over the state of South Dakota and found a bus. Then it filled up. So then they found another bus. I think the bus has to travel probably a couple hours, three, four hours to actually get to Vermillion before they actually pick our people up, and then actually come down here.

I think the support is really kind of fun to be around. It's great. Our pep band was practicing today outside of my window. I'm thinking, This isn't a typical day before the game prep. That's kind of interesting. Tell the saxophones they've got to get a little bit better before the game. Their saxophones are my people. I played saxophone. We have extra saxophones that came on this trip so I was kind of happy to see that.

Q. Who had a major impact on your coaching career while you were at Michigan and in what ways?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: Certainly Kevin Borseth is a great mentor for me, someone who recruited me, and actually got me into the coaching profession. I thought I was going to be a kindergarten teacher, somehow I ended up as a college basketball coach. Sometimes we have just as much fun doing this as we probably would in the kindergarten classroom.

Kevin certainly has. Mike Williams, a great story line. Mike Williams and I coached together at Grand Valley before we coached together at the University of Michigan. Now Mike Williams is actually coaching our daughter at Grand Valley State. Some great little story lines, a lot of fun. Goes to show how small the circle, the basketball connection, is.

Laila Phelia, like I said, and our daughter played basketball together. We recruited Naz when I was at Northern Kentucky. Naz I guess decided Michigan was maybe a better fit than Northern Kentucky. Kind of a little different story lines, a lot of fun with it that way.

Q. Last week was such a tremendous accomplishment in beating Ole Miss, then Baylor on their own floor. How does the challenge change with Michigan when you look at the length they bring at the guard spot?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: Michigan is a great defensive team and they're a great offensive team. They provide us major challenges on both ends of the court. Very tough, very disciplined, I think very physical.

I think we've got -- then on top of that, I think they're one of the best rebounding teams in the nation. The list just kind of goes on and on and on. So for us, we're going to try -- I think we have to go into the game with an approach to be the aggressor. They're going to go into the game with the same mindset, the same approach. Then I think we have to have a couple different options of things that we can try and see if any of them work. If they don't, better scrap it and go to the next one pretty quickly.

Certainly great challenges for us on both ends of the court, trying to keep them away from the rim, trying to limit three-point opportunities, trying to limit second-chance opportunities, and they get them in so many different ways.

Their defense has been really locked down throughout this tournament and before that. Certainly we look at what they've been doing and certainly trying to figure out what can we do. They do a great job of speeding teams up in different ways and making them play kind of and get uncomfortable.

We'll see if there's a couple things maybe that we can try that will give us a chance.

Q. There's been a lot of conversation around the money men's teams earn from their conferences when they advance in the tournament that women's teams do not. I'm wondering what you think about units and that structure, especially as kind of one of the smaller programs left in the tournament?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: Well, I just know this: we don't typically charter fly all that often. We've had a chance to do that during the tournament. That's been kind of neat for our players. The per diem amount we get is way more than we normally get. The meals we've gotten have been incredibly wonderful for us.

While we may not get some of those other things, I think our players are having an awful lot of fun with what we do have at this point in time, the opportunities.

I asked our players if any of the NCAA towels were left from the first two rounds. I think they got every single one of those, too. We were told it was okay. I'm just saying, just putting it out there. We asked in advance. We're having an awful lot of fun with it.

Q. Shakira Austin and NaLyssa Smith, now you get another tough one. What makes Naz such a special player? How can you try to slow her down?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: The NCAA didn't do us any favors with both players. It will be kind of fun to watch them go into the WNBA draft, which one goes ahead of the others.

Naz is so special because she doesn't get sped up, she doesn't get rushed. You can't really even keep her off the glass. That's a challenge for you. If the ball touches her hands, you're not getting it out of her hands.

Then on the defensive end she's all over the perimeter, kids passing the basketball, post kids out there, she can guard you inside. Naz is really, really special. She's kind of a very unique player in that regard. She can do it all.

I think it will be fun to watch her, but it would be more fun if we didn't have to coach against her, I can tell you that.

Q. You are very much the same person that I remember from when you were at Michigan.

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: In reference to? How are you saying that (smiling)?

Q. Very personable, outgoing, funny, witty. How have you changed as a coach in the last 10 years now that you've been in charge of your own programs?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: I don't know if I've changed a whole lot except hopefully I've gotten a little bit smarter. The game changes, players change. Certainly trying to find ways to I think continue to connect and continue to grow, continue to look at different ways to get better.

But, yeah, I would say overall I think our philosophy is that we want to play really hard, we want to get after it, but we do want to have an awful lot of fun with it. That's the bottom line. If we're having fun in what we're doing, mission accomplished at that point in time. Hopefully we can find a way to do some things on the court that are good, too, at the same time.

But our players are having a lot of fun while they're here. They still have to study though. That's a little bit different. Last week we were on spring break. I think they liked that a lot more.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. We'll have the student-athletes up here soon.

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: We have our student-athlete representatives from the University of South Dakota.

We'd like to now open the floor for questions.

Q. Particularly for Liv and Chloe, the challenge was great in and of itself last week obviously with Ole Miss and Baylor. How does it change against this Michigan team, particularly from your spots with the length that they offer at guard?

LIV KORNGABLE: Yeah, compared to Baylor's guards, they have quite a bit of size. We're preparing for that in practice. But regardless, I think they're just a tough team, you know. They have a lot of toughness, they're very aggressive on defense, so that will be a challenge for us.

CHLOE LAMB: I would agree. They bring a lot of challenges both on the perimeter and down low. The size will definitely be different from last weekend. Liv and I maybe should have played one-on-one this week to prepare (smiling).

But, yeah, we've been preparing for it. Yeah, just doing what we can.

Q. Hannah, you've kind of gotten a murderer's row of bigs to play against in this tournament, now another challenge in Naz. How much are you embracing this challenge to go against some of the best bigs in the country every game?

HANNAH SJERVEN: It's not every day you get to continue to play against such talented posts. I'm excited. I've been having fun doing it and learning from them. They're very talented both offensively and defensively so far. I don't see any difference as far as the being very talented and skilled in Naz Hillmon.

Q. Hannah, does Naz remind you of any one-on-one matchups you've had in the past?

HANNAH SJERVEN: I don't think I could compare her to a player we've played before. She's a great rebounder. That's pretty evident in watching her. She's long and she can move on the perimeter and score inside. I think it will be a good challenge for us.

Q. You had such a great weekend with getting off to those quick starts. How much did your confidence just grow as time went on and as those games went on? You were able to have the lead and keep the lead against those teams.

LIV KORNGABLE: I think the hot starts were very beneficial to us, then leaning on our defense when shots weren't falling, especially in the fourth quarter of that Baylor game. Just kind of sticking to our defense, then scoring as we can.

Q. Coach was in here a few moments ago and talked about how this is not a normal experience for you guys, traveling on the charter flight, the meals. Was there a moment where being here at the Sweet 16, it set in for you guys and you realized this is different, this is not normal, and what was that moment?

HANNAH SJERVEN: I think right now (smiling). We just walked in here, and this is definitely the biggest media.

LIV KORNGABLE: The brightest lights we've ever encountered.

HANNAH SJERVEN: So definitely right now.

CHLOE LAMB: I think there's something new every few minutes that we're like, Oh, didn't know that was going to happen, or This is cool.

LIV KORNGABLE: We had two police motorcycles escort us to practice today. Sometimes in Vermillion we have a fire truck and a cop car, but the motorcycles were new (smiling).

Q. Your coach was also talking about the small town support you're getting. Chloe being from South Dakota, can you describe how you've seen that grow.

CHLOE LAMB: Yeah, I think South Dakota is very special because of the support that we see for women's basketball. Having South Dakota State and USD, then not being very far from each other, it makes it kind of easy, I think, as a fan, to be a fan of women's basketball.

But, yeah, we see a lot of great support both in Vermillion and then from our hometowns. Our moms, they're kind of crazy. I think they pull a lot of people, make them fans.

Coach P obviously is very passionate. She pulls a lot of fans for us, too.

But, yeah, it's great. For me, I get to support and represent South Dakota, so that's kind of a cherry on top, as well, I would say.

Q. How are your moms crazy?

LIV KORNGABLE: They're great recruiters. Coach P really should get them on their staff. They make us seem so cool, so much cooler than we actually are.

HANNAH SJERVEN: They call themselves like the Mom Squad.

LIV KORNGABLE: They have shirts.

CHLOE LAMB: Some days we don't own them (laughter).

Q. Chloe, that nothing to lose mentality that this team had was so huge at the start, all the way through the Baylor game. With a little bit more time to get ready, more of a media circus, everything that comes with the Sweet 16, what is the key to maintaining that mindset to make sure you're going to go out and play basketball and play like you don't have anything to lose here?

CHLOE LAMB: I think you hit it right on the nail, just play basketball. That's kind of in its simplest terms what we're going to be doing. I think having that mindset is beneficial for us. It was nice to have a few days of preparation, of course, just that one day prep with Baylor. Hopefully that is beneficial for us, as well.

But remembering it's just a basketball game, trusting in what we've done thus far hopefully puts us in a good position.

Q. Why did you decide to come back and take your extra year?

LIV KORNGABLE: When I came to South Dakota, I didn't see as many minutes my freshman, sophomore, junior year. Played more of a role player my junior year. Then got to play a lot of minutes my senior year.

I decided to come back to get more minutes on the court. It's a special experience. We really reaped the benefits of that and have gotten to have some very special experiences, obviously some very great accomplishments.

CHLOE LAMB: For me, I have more than enjoyed my time here. Kind of thinking ahead, knowing that I would want to come back to this time in my life, there's nothing really pulling me away. Having more fun. I couldn't pass that up.

HANNAH SJERVEN: Similarly to Chloe, just experiencing what South Dakota has in the community. Our success on the court, I wanted more of that. It was something that I think I would have regretted if I turned it down.

Q. Chloe, you talked about how popular women's basketball is in South Dakota. Is this something where you think even Jackrabbits fans are rooting for you now because it's a South Dakota thing? Also, do you sort of sense you're one of the teams people across the country are rooting for, people love the upset kings or queens of the tournament?

CHLOE LAMB: If I'm hearing you right, kind of your first question was if we recruited any Jackrabbit fans, I'll address that first.

I hope so. I guess our rivalry is pretty strong. Yeah, I come from a community that kind of bleeds blue at home. I know they are supporting me. Some of the other Jackrabbit fans might not be.

I think seeing a South Dakota school doing well, you know, it's hard not to cheer for that.

But I didn't really understand your second question. If you could repeat that, please.

Q. Do you think nationally people have sort of -- people love the double-digit seeds on the men's and women's tournaments that have some upsets. Have you sensed nationally you have been one of the teams people have fallen in love with in the tournament?

CHLOE LAMB: The underdog story is always something that people are going to enjoy. Whether that's kind of how we think about it or not, I think that is just a popular enjoyment for people.

But, yeah, it's a lot of fun. March Madness in and of itself is a lot of fun. Kind of these mid-major or double-digit seeded teams, kind of throwing everyone for a loop is fun. It's just exciting, so...

Q. Hannah, Coach P was talking about the student buses that are coming down tomorrow, how much they had to pull away and had to scramble together to find two buses for the students. How cool is it that not only families are coming but kind of a student body of the school?

HANNAH SJERVEN: I think it's awesome. Our Coyote Crazies are loyal and they bring a lot of energy. I'm very excited about not only filling one student bus but two. I'm very proud of our school for that.

THE MODERATOR: We'll wrap it up. Ladies, thank you very much.