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

March 20, 2023

Geno Auriemma

Azzi Fudd

Nika Muhl

Gampel Pavilion

UConn Huskies

Media Conference

UConn 77, Baylor 58

GENO AURIEMMA: Well, there was a period of time during that game where I thought we're really, really, really in big trouble because we were having so much trouble executing the defensive game plan that we wanted.

So that whole first half was a struggle, struggle, struggle, and we came out in the second half and I don't think there was ever a time I thought we would win the game. The change in our players and the defensive changes that we made and the intensity level that we played at, it's probably one of the more gratifying wins that I've had in this building.

Obviously these two are a big reason why. But that was pretty amazing. I mean, how many threes they make? 12. Jesus Christ. They made 26 threes in two days? Made 14 the other day? We did a great job then. We held them to 12. Wow.

They're averaging six a game. This is what happens in the NCAA tournament. A lot of home teams get beat during the NCAA tournament. So much for home-court advantage, right?

Q. Azzi, since coming back from the injury you had struggled to find your shot and then all of a sudden in the third quarter it seemed you found it after Aaliyah went out. Was it a matter of knowing that you had to take this team on your back at that point? What led you to finding your shot?

AZZI FUDD: I definitely wouldn't say taking the team on my back. I think everyone played on incredible role tonight, but just keeping that mindset of being aggressive and having my teammates and the coaches continuing to remind me to don't stop shooting, keep shooting, keep looking for your shot.

I think that's what it was.

Q. Aubrey came out and lit a spark. What does that say about her?

NIKA MUHL: I mean, Aubrey was just incredible, and it's like you guys know that she's dealing with back spasms and all of that, but behind the scenes, just like to see her go through stuff like that every day and still show up in practice -- I talked to her the other day. I said, if you playing games for us means not practicing for the rest of year, that's fine with me.

She still shows up every day and goes through it and does her rehab and Janelle is doing a great job with her, and she comes in and plays like that for the last time here at Gampel this year, that just speaks of how big of a person she is first and how unselfish she is for our team.

I mean, if I could say who was MVP of that game, it was definitely Aubrey.

Q. Nika when Aaliyah went out with her third foul at the end of the first half and then her fourth foul early in the third quarter, how do you dig down deep and like kind of rearrange and get it done without her on the floor?

NIKA MUHL: I think Dorka stepped up amazing for Aaliyah when she got in foul trouble. Aaliyah just plays with so much passion. I think the Baylor team, you know, had some floppers out there. It's okay. It happens. I flop too sometimes, so it's nothing new.

But Aliyah plays with so much passion, and not having her on the floor, it's hard without her because she's a player that we can count on every second, offense, defense.

But Dorka, she stepped up so much today and she played so many more minutes than usual. I think she, even when she is tired like she was tired today, she just kept her pace and she kept being focused, talked to all of us. Her communication was amazing today on defense.

She stepped up big time, and that's what we expect of her as a senior, and she delivers every time.

Q. You have talked about having Azzi back on the floor changes so much with spacing, confidence. When she is hitting shots like she was in the second half, how much of a boost does that give you guys?

NIKA MUHL: Yeah, I've said it a hundred times, like Azzi's trying to be humble here, but if she misses 100 shots that game, I would still get her the last shot for the win. That's how good of a shooter she is. She is definitely the best shooter that I've ever played with.

Her shot is perfect. Confidence is huge. Even when she misses those shots we know it's going to be a good miss. That's what important for us, to get those good misses so our bigs can rebound the ball like Aubrey did today, which was huge for us.

Azzi got hot today, and I can't wait to see what she's going to go for the rest of the tournament because it's only the beginning from here.

Q. Nika, you played in a lot of close games this year. Down early on, close game at the half. How does what you've been through this year prepare you for those moments in march so you know that you can pull out the win?

NIKA MUHL: I mean, honestly, I don't think there was a time in this game where I didn't think we was going to win it. Just like the way we came out, even when they were hitting shots, when our defense wasn't the best, we knew we were going to figure it out.

Coach did a great job emphasizing what we need to do and we spent so much time scouting them, never underestimated them at any point. Coach made a lot of changes during the game. We were there, listening, all focused, bought in.

So I feel like he just keeps us together, and the only thing we have to do is listen and do it. Then we're confident that whatever happens is going to be our win.

Q. For both of you, just given all the adversity you faced, Azzi being out for so long, Nika having to kind of corral the team throughout such a tough stretch, to be able to go out there way at Gampel for the last game of the season with crowd and just the energy and the way that you guys won, to be able to make the Sweet 16 even though you have larger goals, what did that moment really mean for you?

AZZI FUDD: Tonight was incredible. The fans and students to come out and give us the energy and hype we need. I thought this was the best game possible to kind of leave it at Gampel, especially for our seniors.

But I thought this was a great game. They made it tough, but the fans just made it amazing.

Q. Azzi, looked like Caro at one point was feeling a little dizzy and Lou was dealing with stuff; obviously Aubrey would go out and put that wrap around her and you were coming off an injury. Talk about the mental toughness of you guys to overcome injuries and what the mindset is when you're clearly not 100% out there on the court?

AZZI FUDD: I think our mindset is to kind of just stay together. I mean, all of us are going through stuff, whether it's stuff you can see, can't see. Everyone on the team has their on -- I don't want to say issues, but everyone has their issues at this time of year. No one is 100%.

So just staying together, holding each other accountable, but being there for each other, help when needed, I think that's our big thing right now.

And I think tonight we did a great job being there for each other by stepping up, like literally on defense, offense.

But I think that's something that we have gotten a lot better at as the season has gone on. We've had our ups and downs, is being able to hold -- what am I looking for? Being able to know that we can count on each other. Knowing Nika will be there when I need her and I don't need to feel bad about asking her if I need help, that kind of thing.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for coach?

GENO AURIEMMA: Is it still a flop when you run into somebody that in the NFL would be a 15 yard penalty? Is that still a flop?

Q. You mentioned that this win is one of the more gratifying wins in your career. Can you say a bit more about that and what made this so special tonight?

GENO AURIEMMA: Obviously been a lot of great wins here in this building. A lot of heartbreaking losses as well. It's funny, there was a game against Toledo here in the NCAA tournament and we had never been to the regionals, and we got a three-point play from Kerry Bascom with ten seconds left to win it to go to our first regional.

And I thought, you know, nothing will ever top that. But in all these other games since then pretty much we've been expected to win, to do UConn things.

We usually come into this tournament, we got everybody healthy for the most par, we're rolling, and we just storm through the tournament. This year none of that was true. Everything was a struggle. Everything was hard.

And for us to be in the position that we're in to go to the same place where so many other UConn teams have gone, yet having gone through so much more than I think any other UConn team has had to go through, I just was -- I was really proud of them because I've been through a lot of these, but they haven't.

So to see them feel that -- what it feels like, I mean, this is why we do what we do, right? I'm out there coaching like I'm trying to get to our first regional ever. In some ways, I am. You know, Lou has never been to one. Those are the kind of things that make this job rewarding. But Nika balances all that out.

Q. How was Aubrey Griffin than X factor for you guys tonight, and how impressive was it that she was able to do that after dealing with the back spasms and playing less than six and a half minutes last game?

GENO AURIEMMA: She didn't practice since the Big East tournament. She's hardly practiced at all, and we were hoping we didn't need her on Saturday and we actually even sat down today and Jamelle said, man, wouldn't be with great if we played so well that Aubrey could play limited amount of minutes, because we're really, really, really going to need her going forward.

As it turned out, Baylor was just too good. We needed everything that Aubrey could give us. I made a point to tell the entire team, you know, Aubrey scored four points and dominated the game, so that's a lesson to everybody. You don't have to go out there and shoot it every time you touch it to impact the game. Azzi does, but that's her job.

But not only that, I think she came in third in the Tour de France because she spent so much time on the bike over there when she wasn't in the game. One time I said, put Aubrey in. I had to send carrier pigeons to go find her. She was so far away.

So then it became, hey, look, if we're going to put Aubrey in, we need to have someone on their way before we -- I said, man, what do I got to have ESP here? I know that in four minutes I'm going to need her.

So it was really like kind of jumbled up, but she would just sprint off the bike and run out there. Some of the rebounds were just absolutely classic. I mean, that's just -- some of it God-given, and some is just Aubrey just didn't want to lose tonight.

Q. Kind of following up on that, Azzi's dealt with confidence issues her whole year. How important do you feel games like this are for her battle in that realm?

GENO AURIEMMA: Yeah, you know, when you have high expectations, you come from a family of high achievers, especially in the basketball world, I think you put a lot of unnecessary pressure on yourself sometimes. You just want to be so good, so bad, that when it doesn't quite go your way, you really get, you know, into yourself and start being more critical of yourself than you need to be.

And that's why pretty much during her career Azzi has been when it's going is good, there is nobody better. When it's not going good, there is nobody worse, because she beats herself up so much when it's not going good.

I think today, the biggest lesson today was I don't need to be anything more than what I was tonight. I don't have to go out there and score every time I touch the ball, try to prove that I'm good enough. There were a bunch of rebounds she got today where in the past she would've turned around and forced something up there to try to prove a point, and she kicked them out a bunch of times.

She's just growing as a player and a person, and it's -- if anybody has ever had back issues, and I know -- I think they were watching obviously our men's game last night and they saw that kid go down, right? Just standing there and the kid goes down?

You know Aubrey is going, oh, man. So it's not easy being in her situation. She's growing up. She's growing up right in front of our eyes.

Q. Aaliyah, goes out with four fouls; Azzi scores 16 points in the third quarter to put in game a way. Can you just talk about her coming back and finding that? Obviously she is a confident kid, but what does that mean for the team?

GENO AURIEMMA: Today at shootaround I said to Morgan, I'm worried about Azzi, because she's another one that puts a lot pressure on herself. In these games, she wants to make every shot. She was 9 for 22. I know that when she misses she is like us, and you. We're all incredulous that the ball didn't go in.

I think she takes it upon herself that I am who I am and I need to make every shot. That's why she is spends hours and hours and hours out there making 150 out of 175 threes or 150 out of 160 over and over and over again during the summer, because she wants to be -- she wants to perfect it.

So I said, I'm worried. I hope she gets off to a good start and doesn't press a little bit. So in the third quarter, that's why I put her at the free throw line during that intentional foul. I needed to have her see the ball go in the basket.

I mean, Lou is the one that got whacked in the face, she's really good free throw thrower. It's like Lou, sorry, we need Azzi to see the ball going in the basket.

In the third quarter we did a lot to -- usually we just run our stuff, kind of organically trying to get people to do things and take advantage of what the defense is doing.

But in that third quarter we made a concerted effort to make sure she touched it in certain spots on the floor and that she did the rest. Nika is great at finding her no matter where she is, and she doesn't hesitate.

And she's from the Nykesha Sales School of Interviews. She figures the less she gives you for an answer the less questions you'll ask her. As opposed to Nika just rambling on.

Q. Going off that, Azzi scored 22 points, her most since November before the injury. Thoughts on how she is looking five games back, and what kind of confidence does that give you for you guys moving forward and the run you guys can make?

GENO AURIEMMA: Well, she missed I don't know how many games and how much time, and played a couple games in the Big East tournament and practiced a little more, and here she is tonight and she played 37 minutes.

That's way more than I wanted to play her. But at the same time, that just goes to show you how far she's come back and how she feels. You know, what a great job she's done rehabbing and getting stronger. There are not many players like a Azzi in the country. I think everybody knows that. That's one of the first things Nicki said after the game. Just shook her head and said, you know, that kid is absolutely amazing.

I'm just glad she's healthy and can play because I know how much she's missed it. But the impact that she has on a game is just immeasurable, you know. And the impact she has on the rest of our team. Not just on wining that particular game.

And for Aaliyah, I mean, for her to play the way she did after all these fouls and during all these fouls -- for us to win, we have to have multiple players play really well. I thought today everyone that played really well.

That's when we're at our best. We can't go out there with two players playing well and three struggling. We don't have that. That's not who we are.

So when we get the balance that we got tonight, that's when we're really, really good team.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach.

GENO AURIEMMA: Thank you, everybody.