ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL TIPOFF MEDIA DAY

October 24, 2023

Amaka Agugua-Hamilton

Sam Brunelle

Camryn Taylor

Virginia Cavaliers

Women's Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: University of Virginia joins us today onstage. They are led by head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton. Next to her, she has Camryn Taylor, as well as second team All-ACC from a season ago, and then what I'm excited about is seeing Sam Brunelle.

I will say this. It's really exciting when you look at the trajectory of a coach the first year, how they impact right away, then the lessons that you carry over for the next season.

After going 5-22 the previous season before you got there, you guys were able to finish off 15-15. When you're looking at the growth with this team, where did it start?

AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: I really think it started with the culture. Really setting the foundation of that in year one is what I was trying to do. I think our players bought into that for the most part. That's why I would say culture wins. We were able to start out 12-0.

Obviously we hit some adversity, had some injuries, some other things, some you know about, some you don't know about. We were able to weather the storm, just keep fighting.

I just loved our resilience. I always talk to them about persevering through adversity. We had so much adversity, but we never stopped. We played a game towards the end of the year with six available players, which is unheard of.

There was a lot to be proud of. As competitors, we want a better record. We want to be playing in March. That's what we set out to accomplish this year.

Q. When they say the injury bug hits a team, my goodness, Virginia is the example. Had to forego the WNIT because of a lack of healthy players. That's all in the past now. We're excited to see what you can bring to the table in this season. Camryn, your story is so unique with how you're coming back, what that looked like for you on your journey back to the court, but also why you chose to be with Virginia. What does that look like for you in this year?

CAMRYN TAYLOR: I mean, obviously, my story has been a big part of me. Obviously my mom has been just something that I always just kind of carry dear to my heart. My story makes me unique, makes me who I am.

I persevered through a lot. I think taking that into basketball and how Coach Mox operates in her program. Her staff is also great as well. I take those lessons. You can apply it to basketball.

This team has been through so much. We've hit a lot of adversity. But I think the best lesson that's come from that is just our resilience, like Coach Mox said. Whether that's injuries, whether that's the shooting that happened last fall, kind of coming back from that and being able to still perform at a high level, wake up every day and say, Let's get it, let's get to it.

As a student-athlete going to school every single day, being just able to accomplish what we want to accomplish.

Q. Sam, in your journey back to the floor after starting 21 games before the season-ending injury, first your status? How do you feel?

SAM BRUNELLE: Yeah, it was really great. Being able to come back home was great. To come play for someone like Coach Mox was special. It helped me build my confidence up a lot and give me confidence in my game and my different skill sets, being more than just a shooter, being able to handle the ball on the break, being able to put the ball on the floor and shoot instead of just being a three-point shooter.

Being able to have that versatility was really nice this year. It gave me a lot of confidence to work on some things in the off-season to get ready for my last year.

Q. What are some of those things?

SAM BRUNELLE: I feel like I'm only respected as a three-point shooter. I know I'm efficient inside when I choose to be an inside presence, so I worked a lot on having confidence when I catch on the block, go up and score or use my finesse moves and score the ball, as well as being able to get into my one-dribble pullup better, put the ball on the floor from the high post and drive and score from there, as well.

Q. You were a big part of just seeing the change right away for this squad, winning the first 12 games. The best start in program history since the '94/'95 season. For you guys, it's one thing to say we may be a surprise for a team last year, but what makes you excited or understanding what other teams may look at you now now that you're not a surprise? How do you prepare going into this year?

CAMRYN TAYLOR: I mean, obviously we want to take one game at a time. I think that's, like, the biggest thing, is just staying present, staying in the moment, just working on ourselves.

We've been through so much, and we're taking that in as we go. But I think the best thing is we play for each other. Like, that's the biggest thing I feel like we have definitely grown in since this summer. Every single day we're getting better. Every single day there's improvement from everybody individually and as a team, as a collective.

I think we feel that. We see that. We bounce off of each other's energy all the time.

I think teams are kind of seeing that. I think you guys see that a lot. We have a huge sisterhood here. We hang out all the time. We goof around. We just have really great synergy and chemistry.

Q. Bringing in the number 13 recruiting class in the fold, one of them being Kymora Johnson. What has she been like so far for you and the expectation of her?

AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: Yeah, Mo, she's different. One, she's a hometown kid, so that's great. We were able to get Sam. I was probably hired for two weeks before we got Sam, and then we were able to use her in recruiting, too, which was great.

But Mo and Olivia, as well, they decided to stay home. They understand where this program has been and where we're trying to take it, just the pride that putting Virginia on your chest, what that means.

I'm not saying that Cam and everybody else doesn't, but it's different when it's your home.

Mo brings that because she's from Charlottesville. She lives two or three miles from campus, from grounds. It's grounds (smiling).

But, no, her game, she is a dynamic player. She's a three-level scorer. She can really shoot. She can create, get inside. She plays defense. She has a really high motor.

She just is a little bit beyond her years. Her IQ is very high. She understands things. You don't have to tell her multiple times. She understands she has scorers around her, too. She can score, but she understands there's a lot of people around her that can score. She can really pass and facilitate, which is great.

Having Mo is great. It's one thing to have that skill set and that ability, but if you don't have the maturity and IQ to put it together, you're not going to be that impactful right away. But she has that.

Q. Mo Johnson, I'll say that for you, was also a two-time Gatorade Virginia Basketball Player of the Year. You said she can pass. I know just not from that but for this team, watching you guys last season, it wasn't just a one-man show. How does everyone get it done together? For you, Coach, what does that mean to you, knowing that's been instilled, but seeing it on display as well?

AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: I love it. I mean, I tell them all the time, we're going to get individual accolades that come from a team effort. Nobody has to go out of their way to try and shine or just to make it about them. Just stick to the team. I'm going to put everybody in positions to be successful.

Most importantly for our team to be successful, but our system is predicated around togetherness. We say family off the court, but it is on the court as well, because that's how we play.

Making the extra pass, maybe passing up a good shot for a great shot, whatever it is, it's only going to help us be better.

I love the fact that everybody has bought into that because we have so many scorers. Literally all 14 players can score. We have great passers, too. It's going to make it really hard for the defense to guard us. You take one thing away, we're going to go to the next.

Q. For you guys, some people can say we like our locker room, but it doesn't really look like that translates on the floor. What makes you guys so special when you can put the two together?

CAMRYN TAYLOR: I think for us, like I said before, we always hang out. It's always somebody going somewhere, out to eat, anything like that. We just had a little Halloween.

SAM BRUNELLE: Let me speak to that. We did bachelor night. Cam and Taylor Lauterbach, who is a transfer on our team, would do bachelor night together every week, which was really fun.

AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: I didn't get invited. It's all good (smiling).

CAMRYN TAYLOR: We would do things like that all the time. I think that translates to the court. You can see it. I think it was important for us to learn each other off the court, build that chemistry.

Now it's just effortless to kind of communicate on the court and kind of know how do you want the ball, where do you want it. Even when we make mistakes, it's easier for us to come together and fix that, communicate that. We have each other's back. I think that's the biggest thing that we've pretty much learned and we're going to keep learning every single day.

Q. I would remiss if I didn't mention too watching you guys last season and the importance of being the student-athlete. It was really cool to see the different type of ways that you guys celebrate them. Are there any new ways that you guys are celebrating, putting both sides together? That can get lost in translation with this being somewhat of a professional sport on the college level.

AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: For sure.

SAM BRUNELLE: Yeah, so, we have academic teams on the team, which also makes us compete a little bit, gives us an extra edge to want to do good in the classroom.

Basically we report our grades to our coach, that's our leader. If we get As, we get Smarties. We don't just get little Smarties, we get jumbo Smarties, so... Little sweet treat.

AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: They're like this big. We got some Smarties in the house (laughter). When they think they had a smarty, they don't, they all come at it. They get competitive about it.

SAM BRUNELLE: It's like certain As. You have to get an A on a paper or a project, an exam. It's not like you get an A on a six-point quiz because those are relatively easy.

Q. I find it incredible when I can look at a coach and see how they build culture by the meaning of words, right? So I know for you, for years to come, it's something you've relayed to your team. I think it was grind now, shine later, so GNSL. Is that a hashtag we're still using?

AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: Oh, yeah.

Q. What goes into creating that? Does it change with different personnel?

AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: No, it will never change.

Grind now, shine later. We talk about that all the time because it's about the work. It's about bringing the energy, the effort, pay attention to detail, and just focus on the work; then the results will take care of itself.

A lot of people focus on, I want to be this, I want to be that, I want to win this. Whether it's, like, win an all-conference award, conference title, whatever it is, we have our team goals, but just focus on the grind, then obviously we'll shine later.

So that's never going to change. That's like literally who I am, number one, and my philosophy. But they've really bought into that, as well. It's just the truth.

It really goes into any part of your life. It's not even just basketball, right? Your confidence comes from preparation. So just focus on preparing yourself the best you can in every single thing you do. It's taking a test, a job interview, whatever it is, focus on the work and let the results take care of itself.

Q. For the ladies, what do you want people to know about what this team is about this year?

SAM BRUNELLE: I think I want them to know that we are a very, very special team. I think we can get overlooked by some at times. I think we're going to be the unexpected team that's going to be around, we're going to give you a hard time, so you better be ready for us.

CAMRYN TAYLOR: Love that.

Q. You like that?

CAMRYN TAYLOR: She pretty much just said it. 'Unexpected' is a word, as a team, we really talked about it. That's our word this year. We all have our own individual words that's part of our culture, as well. We all kind of have a word for ourselves.

I think for this team, we just want to go out there and get it, just go out there and be the best we possibly can, defend the culture, wear Virginia on our chest proudly.

Q. Coach, from what you've seen in practice so far, what aspect of the game do you expect this team to be better at than last year?

AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: I expect us to be better defensively. I think we have some really, really good defenders. We can play the way I want to play now.

And also how fast we want to play, the tempo, the pace. I think we'll be able to sustain that for 40 minutes because we have depth. If we sub, we have more talented players coming in because we don't really drop off.

Q. The Cayman Islands, I know that's something that's on the schedule, for sure. When you have Tulane and also taking on LSU, how does that just make you feel for the preparation now?

AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: I mean, obviously it's a great challenge. You want to be the best, you got to beat the best. Can you look at it that way.

I think our non-conference, not even just LSU, we have Oklahoma, we have some other teams are there that are really going to challenge us, show us where we are.

It's all to prepare us for the ACC. By then, hopefully we're hitting our stride and we're going.

Obviously it's easy to look and say, You got LSU on your schedule. But we're really not focused on that. We're focused on our first game, being consistent, getting our camaraderie together, our chemistry on the court, just getting better every single game, obviously all the way up until LSU, then past LSU.

It's not like we don't know it's not on our schedule, but it's really not the focus.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for your time, ladies.