NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL FINAL - MICHIGAN VS LOUISVILLE

March 28, 2022

Kim Barnes Arico

Naz Hillmon

Danielle Rauch

Intrust Bank Arena

Michigan Wolverines

Elite 8 Postgame Media Conference

Louisville 62, Michigan 50

THE MODERATOR: We welcome the Michigan student-athletes Naz Hillmon and Danielle Rauch, and we will start off with an opening statement by Coach.

KIM BARNES ARICO: Well that sucked. That was stinky. 52-50 with the ball, I'm going to have nightmares about that for the next eight months until we play again.

Louisville is a great team. We knew it would be a game of runs. We had our share of runs. They did what they do best: they forced us into some turnovers which resulted in some easy points for them.

But a great basketball game. Really proud of the effort that our team gave and our senior class. Hailey Van Lith did a great job tonight. She was really key, as was No. 23, who knocked down two three's to start the game, and she hasn't hit very many all year.

So I think they were super confident. Just a great basketball game. Just proud of our team, and congratulations to Louisville moving forward.

Q. When you reflect on your time at Michigan, what are the memories that stand out throughout your four years?

NAZ HILLMON: There's just too many to really point out. This is just a really special group. And not just the ones from this year but from my four years here. Just a group of people who really accepted me into their family, you know, through all of the trials and tribulations of freshman year. Everybody knows how that goes.

They just really supported me throughout this entire time here. I mean, there's too many to really pick out, but there will be a lot of reflecting on the four years because they were something special.

DANIELLE RAUCH: Just kind of going off what Naz said, the people that we got to play with and the girls that we got to create life-long friendship and sisterhood with.

I think for me, I didn't know if I was ever going to play a minute at Michigan and I just played in the Elite Eight as the starting point guard for this university. I think that's something that's going to stick with me for a while, and the support that I've had.

Playing next to Naz, an All-American, she is once-in-a-lifetime kind of player. I got to play with the greatest player in Michigan women's basketball history, and she is also my best friend.

So thinking about the relationships that I have created and the blessings that I have had to put on this Michigan uniform. Like I said, we just played in the Elite Eight. Michigan women's basketball history is not written that way and we made it that way.

So leaving this four years and understanding the impact that our class had, I wouldn't trade anything that I went through to get to this point, because it all made it possible for us to be here.

Q. Congratulations on a marvelous season and careers. Naz, could you talk about what Coach was saying, 52-50, what do you think maybe went wrong over that last stretch? Just seemed like you guys offensively struggled in the last five minutes.

NAZ HILLMON: I think the biggest thing that we wanted to do in that moment was really try to execute and not turn the ball over. They did a really good job of trapping at random points, putting a lot of pressure on ball handlers.

So in that moment we really wanted to get a score, execute whatever we did, whatever we wrote up, and then try to get a stop on the other end. Just something that we have been trying to focus on the entire year, but knowing that that was a crucial moment to do it.

Q. (No microphone.)

NAZ HILLMON: When we talked about that game yesterday, a lot of it was that we said it was a teaching moment for us, and that's exactly what it was.

I think, I mean, a lot of us, if not everybody, watched some parts of that game, whether that was their clips or the entire game, and we knew that wasn't the same -- we are not the same team as we were in that December game.

We said it. We were thankful that that game happened so that we could make so many adjustments and turn our team around after that.

So I really do think that we're just a different team. Those adjustments that we made contributed to most of our success tonight and that was the key. Just knowing that we weren't that same team and continued those adjustments.

DANIELLE RAUCH: Yeah, I think just to build on that, I think we knew that Louisville was a great team, but they weren't 22 points better than us. We came into this game with a lot of confident in knowing that if we played Michigan basketball we would win.

I don't think the final score is indicative of how that game went and how hard we fought and how much we put them on the ropes and we applied pressure as much as we could.

Some things didn't go our way, but I think that's important to recognize.

Q. Naz, you technically could come back if you wanted to. Do you feel like you're ready to move on, or do you have that decision? I know it's a tough decision to talk about now, but what do you think about that?

NAZ HILLMON: Yeah, I've been just really putting a lot of my focus on what was at hand. I need a little bit of time to reflect on this.

When you make it to the Elite Eight, something that Michigan has never done, Michigan women's basketball has never done before, and in the pit of your stomach you know it was a ride that you want to take again, there will be some reflection and I will be thinking about that.

THE MODERATOR: Okay, ladies, thank you very much. Congratulations on an excellent season. Questions for Coach Barnes Arico.

Q. If you think back four years, the freshmen coming in called themselves the Fab Five; now they're seniors graduating. Do you think they lived up to that name, and what impact did they have on your program?

KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, we've talked about it and they've talked about it before. The history and their tradition hasn't been rich in women's basketball. They give a lot of credit, both of these guys, to the people that came before them and to the people that laid the foundation and to the people that sacrificed and maybe never got to an Elite Eight or to an NCAA Tournament.

But this group really stuck together, persevered through so much. Danielle and Emily's story has been told a number of times of them not playing, but in the day and age of the transfer portal, them staying the course and believing in the process and winding up really making an impact their senior year.

Then you have Amy Dilk, where she wasn't able to go to the NCAA Tournament last year, hurts her knee in the first game this year, we think it's a season-ending injury, and comes back, perseveres just to have an opportunity to play with this group.

Obviously Naz's story is so well documented. Probably one of the best male or female to put on a Michigan uniform. I would say they lived up to the hype. They've been amazing.

You guys listened to them. They're even better young women than they are basketball players. They represent our university in a first-class manner in everything they do,

Whether that's in the community.

Whether that's in the classroom, whether that's on the basketball court, they're true Michigan women.

Q. Kim, what do you hope this Elite Eight appearance does for this Michigan program moving forward?

KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, it's a great question, and I think something that we even forgot to mention in my opening statement. I think one of the things that was challenging for us this year was our injuries.

Leigha Brown has been battling through injury all year long, and she came back and really helped us in this tournament run and really her tank was empty. She couldn't go anymore. I'm looking at the plus-minus, and she was plus for the game. We didn't have her in the second half of the game.

Like I said, in the Northwestern game or the Michigan State game or in those games we lost by one possession, when you don't have a dynamic guard like Leigha Brown, arguably our best guard on our roster, that really hurts.

But you listen to our kids up here, and not one of them mention that, because we haven't made an excuse all year long. And when one thing after another thing happened, there was never an excuse. It was like, okay, coach, we're going to get up and do what we can do and control what we can control and be ready to play the next day.

That's our culture, to answer your question. We're going to get up, we're going to figure out who is gone, who is returning, and that was my challenge I gave everyone besides our seniors in the locker room.

They're leaving a legacy. They left their mark. Now it's the be responsibility of the rest of us to continue on that path and learn from what they taught us, and that's their hard work, their perseverance, their never-quit attitude that all of them have.

Q. Danielle said you put Emily on the ropes tonight. Can you talk about the defensive intensity?

KIM BARNES ARICO: I think we have been an amazing defensive team pretty much all season long. We have gotten better and better, and we did another great job of that tonight.

I think their pressure, and that's something that was obviously a concern of ours, really wore us down. We handled it well early. Only had one turnover the first timeout mark, but we couldn't get our buckets to fall. I think it was the environment.

Once we settled down they wore us down with their defensive pressure, which forced turnovers. But our defense was outstanding until the end, and I think it's been something that we can hold our head up on.

And like I said, we did it in the first three rounds of the tournament and we were really good. Obviously they got 62, but like I said, it was 52-50 and we had foul down the stretch.

Q. Coach, is there any chance of Naz coming back? Have you and her talked about that? Because tonight is the deadline for seniors letting the WNBA know, which stinks so quickly after your game, but is there a chance that you have talked about that or is she already settled?

KIM BARNES ARICO: It's been interesting because I have four seniors, and obviously Naz is an All-American, but, you know, we only have 15 scholarships, and I think all of them love Michigan and all of them love our program.

So because of that, we're not really -- we weren't in the opportunity to do that during the course of the year, so we just waited on that. We haven't had those conversations. I don't know, maybe tonight or on the plane tomorrow we will have some of those conversations.

Honestly we haven't had them because I think they all bleed blue and they all are not ready to say good bye to this program. I think the thing with Naz, she is so dynamic and so special, I believe she is going to be a high first-round draft pick and will really make an impact at the next level.

I know that's a dream of hers and that's something that I would support 100%. I know her teammates would as well. We haven't had the conversation, but whatever she decides to do, we're behind her 100% for sure.

Q. Yesterday we talked about Emily Engstler and what she does defensively. How much of a factor was she? She only had I think it was five points but 16 rebounds, six steals. How did she impact the game?

KIM BARNES ARICO: She is obviously really disruptive. Her length is incredible and she gets in the passing lanes, and it seemed like every big play they made she was involved in, so she didn't really score the basketball.

But on our team we always talk about intangible things and how you can make an impact. They called that charge late that she drew. She had a bunch of tie-ups that caused turnovers.

So she is really involved in a lot of plays on the defensive end and rebounds the ball exceptionally well. I think she is certainly a difference maker for them.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.