NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - TOLEDO VS TENNESSEE

March 19, 2023

Khera Goss

Sammi Mikonowicz

Nan Garcia

Thompson-Boling Arena

Toledo Rockets

Media Conference

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THE MODERATOR: We have student-athletes Khera Goss, Sammi Mikonowicz, and Nan Garcia.

Questions.

Q. Just for each of you, could you give a word to describe Q and just what your first impressions were when you got to Toledo and met her?

NAN GARCIA: Great.

SAMMI MIKONOWICZ: I think I'm going to say crazy, but in a good way.

KHERA GOSS: I'm going to say phenomenal. Yeah, she's always been such an uplifting person, very high energy, always fun person to be around.

Q. When you guys were growing up, when someone says Tennessee women's basketball, what kind of came to mind?

KHERA GOSS: And SEC basketball. Always competitive program, very skilled, talented, big.

All the above.

SAMMI MIKONOWICZ: Yeah, I have to second her. Only difference is I wasn't very into basketball when I was younger. Didn't follow a lot of women's basketball until I got to like the later high school, college level.

But I would have to say all those things.

NAN GARCIA: Yeah, third them. Pat Summitt, Candace Parker, all these amazing names coming out of here. Great program. Stars coming out of here.

Q. Shifting to the game itself, obviously you guys -- it's clear the mindset you had coming in here. You were expecting to be in this position to play Tennessee on Monday. How beneficial was it for you guys to have that game under your belt and go into Tennessee having played on their court already once?

SAMMI MIKONOWICZ: I feel like it gives us that experience. We were there a little bit early. We saw what their crowd is like. That's not new to us. We have a great fan base back in Toledo.

It definitely was nice to get on that court, get the experience we need, and just prepare us for what's ahead.

Q. For all three players, you mentioned Pat Summitt, but your coach is very well-known. She has credentials that are impeccable. Talk about your coach and what she means to basketball.

KHERA GOSS: We feel she means a lot. She's an amazing person on and off court. She's very smart then comes to just running basketball plays, defensive-wise. Definitely somebody I look up. Always there for me.

For me personally she's helped me on my shot tremendously. The fast that she took the time out of her day as the head coach to work with me over the summer time and time again is huge to me, so she means a lot to me.

SAMMI MIKONOWICZ: I would have to second everything she said. Same with the shot thing. She's helped me become a better shooter. Coming out of high school I wasn't looking to shoot a lot, and that's obviously changed a lot.

She cares about us past basketball. She's always harping on us to get our academics and make sure we stay up on that. She cares about life after basketball and that just means a lot.

NAN GARCIA: Yeah, Coach Cullop, one of a kind. I couldn't thank her enough for giving me the opportunity to be here, obviously as a transfer.

Just an amazing human being outside of basketball, somebody I'm always going to look up to. She is a role model to us.

Q. Tennessee has a size advantage. How do you counter that? Is it with your ability to get up and down and the court as fast as you do? And how much can that help you with your shooting ability?

NAN GARCIA: I think the most important thing is we just have to play Toledo basketball. You know, no matter what team we play, we have to play the style that we know how to play.

Size advantage, anything, you know, Toledo basketball is what we need to stick to.

SAMMI MIKONOWICZ: On top of that, I feel like just playing with grit and heart. If you just play your heart out, I mean, you can beat anyone you want to beat.

So if we just play tough and like she said, play Toledo basketball, we have a chance.

KHERA GOSS: To counter that as well, doing the little things will be huge in this game. Like you said, we don't have the size advantage, but doing all the little things like boxing out, going to get the loose balls, that's all going to matter in this game.

Q. I know you visited the Pat Summitt statute yesterday. Do you think Coach Cullop should have a statue on the UT campus now?

KHERA GOSS: For sure.

NAN GARCIA: I think when they retires she'll get it. She'll get something.

SAMMI MIKONOWICZ: Yeah.

NAN GARCIA: But she ain't retiring any time soon.

Q. You saw a little bit of Tennessee game in person yesterday. Your impressions of the Lady Vols? Obviously you guys said all along you weren't happy just to get here. You wanted to win games. How do you continue that mindset with the Knoxville challenge?

NAN GARCIA: I just think we need to keep the momentum that we have. Like I said, play our game of basketball and play those 40 minutes the best to our ability and see what happens.

SAMMI MIKONOWICZ: Yeah, and just staying together as a team. They might go on a few runs, but we can counter that with a few runs of our own. So just lock down and get the stops and make some plays out of it.

KHERA GOSS: Yeah, and continue to stay focused and remember what got us here in the first place.

Q. Knoxville, has become the place where the 5 seed comes to die essentially. Ya'll went into that game absolutely fearless, up against a higher seed and team that had a lot of attention because of their ability to score. Do you replicate that -- and this is for all the three of you -- same mindset tomorrow, same realization that the number by your seed just doesn't matter?

KHERA GOSS: Yeah, kind of like what Nan was saying, just got to make sure we play Toledo basketball. That's what it comes down to. All that other stuff, that's all fun and games, but we need to make sure we stay in our identity and we know what we can do.

SAMMI MIKONOWICZ: I feel like that number next to our name a just a number. We're all here to prove that we're better than that.

NAN GARCIA: Yeah, like they said, it's just a number. What we truly represent is what is on our jersey, and that's what we're playing for.

Q. For all of you, I know you don't want to make this bigger than it is, but chance to go in the first Sweet 16 in Toledo history, playing in the home of women's basketball at Tennessee, is this kind of the stuff, opportunities you dream of? How do you sum up this opportunity as a kid? Got to be pretty cool.

NAN GARCIA: Yeah, this is an experience you dream of as a kid, and I think we're all taking it in. I think we're all enjoying the moment.

Not just are we here to play basketball, but here to live these experiences, and I think that's very important. The most important thing is we're doing it with our family, like our teammates, so....

SAMMI MIKONOWICZ: Yeah, it's an incredible experience. It's definitely one you don't expect to have too often. Very fortunate to be where we are, but we also earned it.

So I don't know. I think it's fun. I think it'll hit me more when we reach the end of the season and you can stop and look back at everything. But right now we're just focusing on one game at a time.

KHERA GOSS: Yeah, like they were saying, this is something that I've dreamed of since I was a little girl. Growing up in a basketball family this is something that I've been surrounded by, so the fact that it's our turn to be able to experience it and live it out is something that I can't even put into words.

Q. Obviously you guys are playing your best when multiple people are scoring the basketball. Soph yesterday, ten points in the first five minutes. How beneficial is it a focus for you guys to get as many people involved early in the game as possible?

KHERA GOSS: It's huge, really huge, because we bring out so many weapons, just from our starting five, off the bench. It's really about you can't just stop one. You have to be able to worried and focused about everyone on the floor.

So just so key in our team all together.

Q. For all three players again, and especially Sammi, since you said you came late to basketball, you went to the women's basketball Hall of Fame. Did you get the full experience and were you maybe surprised at the depth of this game and its history when you made that visit?

SAMMI MIKONOWICZ: For sure. It opened my eyes to a lot of things. I actually wish we had a little more time there or just like a free day where I could take my time to read more because I definitely didn't get a chance to read everything. There was so much information.

Just didn't soak it all in. It was definitely incredible to see where it was and where we've come.

KHERA GOSS: Yeah, makes you appreciate the game we play and just the impact that so many people had before we even thought of playing basketball and how much they did for us in women's basketball.

NAN GARCIA: Like they said, it was a super cool experience and does make you appreciate the game so much more.

You get to see how much it's developed and how we can keep developing it to this day.

Q. For either or all three of you, a little bit out-of-the-box question. Do you prefer low tops or high tops? Because we're seeing on colleagues on the men's side, seeing a lot of low tops. I remember when everybody was just going with the high tops to protect your ankles. Preference, and have you made a change in your college career for a particular reason?

NAN GARCIA: (Smiling.) So this year I went with the low tops. Been rocking the same shoe all year, just different colors. Personally I like the low tops this year. I think they're crazy comfortable and, you know, the ankle support I feel could go both ways.

SAMMI MIKONOWICZ: I agree, I like the low tops. Been using those ever since I got to -- actually high school and Toledo and they just seem to be the most comfortable for me.

KHERA GOSS: Yeah, I like low tops but I'm definitely an ankle brace girl, so I have to be braced up.

SAMMI MIKONOWICZ: Yes.

Q. Sammi, obviously yesterday you were primary defender on Ashley Jones and did a pretty good job. Challenge against Tennessee is not going to get easier. How prideful are you having the primary defender role and feeding the energy for everyone else?

SAMMI MIKONOWICZ: I mean, it's still a team thing. Like, yeah, I was on her, but we were all in the gaps helping. Nan helped me with a few doubles. People were digging in, getting tips on it.

So it's definitely a team thing, but I just feel like defense leads to offense, so if you work hard on defense it's going to lead to your offense.

It wasn't a huge scoring night for me, but it was opening up for the rest of the team. At the end of the day, that's all that matters.

THE MODERATOR: Any other questions?

Q. Nan, you mentioned coming as a transfer from Penn. You mentioned you played in a hostile crowd at Savage. Getting a feel of what it's going to be like seeing Tennessee game yesterday, what are your expectations for what the atmosphere is going to be like tomorrow and how you guys plan to prepare to adapt to that?

NAN GARCIA: I think we know the atmosphere is going to be loud. They have an amazing attendance, so we just got to be prepared, listen, echo each other. I think we'll be just fine.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else? Okay, thank so much.

NAN GARCIA: Thank you.

KHERA GOSS: Thank you.

SAMMI MIKONOWICZ: Thank you.