ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL TIPOFF MEDIA DAY

October 24, 2023

Megan Gebbia

Elise Williams

Kaia Harrison

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Women's Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Wake Forest. Led right now by Megan Gebbia, Elise Williams and Kaia Harrison.

Just a couple of things that we wanted to review for your season. We've had so many different new coaches in the league in the previous season. We just like to highlight the different things that you've been able to do. 17 wins, tied the most since the 2011/2012 season. Also tallied the most wins against ACC opponents by a new head coach. Most wins under a first-year coach.

What I like about this is also wins over four NCAA tournament teams including two Elite Eight teams.

Despite not being one of those teams that played in the NCAA, you've had moments with this group where you're like, we can shock a lot of different people. The lessons from your first season, but also moving forward, the challenges, what you want to see done differently to continue to build on such an amazing accolades in the first year?

MEGAN GEBBIA: All right, so very restorative, so I like to fix things. We'll talk about the things we need to fix first. Does that sound good (smiling)?

We talk a lot about just the areas of weakness for us, defensive rebounding, too many turnovers, and we love to foul, apparently. We're trying to cut those things in half if we can, just a little bit, to keep us in the games longer, right?

One of the things I learned is how competitive the league is, right? Comes down to the fourth quarter in a lot of games. We got to be able to execute down the stretch.

You want to keep people off the free-throw line, give them extra opportunities on the glass. Those are areas of focus for me.

Q. If you're looking at what you guys were able to do last year, the highlight and how you build on that?

KAIA HARRISON: Yeah, I definitely would say, like, I take pride and passion in my defense, so that's something that I would definitely say is something that I would want to build off of because you can always improve.

I would say that, like, just playing with these girls and going on winning streaks is something that we did a lot last year. It's something that you go through ups and downs in the season because we're in the ACC, every game is going to be a dogfight, but I think after we continue to build off of what we've been doing, how we've been progressing over the summer, I think that we can only get better.

ELISE WILLIAMS: I would say sort of like the same thing. We just got to take what we did last year and just kind of keep that in our back pocket, just kind of like grow from it.

I think for me, I just am focusing more on being more consistent, bringing the same energy, bringing the same intensity every game, not changing up how I do that. Maybe changing up how I do that; I haven't figured that out yet (laughter).

Just being more consistent, I feel like that will elevate me and elevate my team, as well.

Q. Coach, for you, answering something on Elise, leading the team in steals last season, and assists. Also the team's leading returning scorer. What do you think she can take the next step in for some very big shoes to fill, losing Jewel Spear?

MEGAN GEBBIA: 'Lise is extremely capable and very talented. She's a three-level scorer. On top of that, she does so many things well, like you mentioned. The steals. Her and Kaia are the two best defenders on the team, along with Demeara.

Just the IQ piece, understanding what's happening out on the floor and what we need to do. She's so good at that. Orchestrating and leading the team with the things that are happening on the floor because she sees it kind of before it happens. Kind of like her passing. Some of the passes she makes are at the highest level. It's just kind of fun.

Trying to coach Elise with what we need is going to be really important for her, not to put all the pressure, all the scoring on her, because it's just not that. We have plenty of capable people around her, but just understanding what we need from her that game is probably the biggest growth piece.

Q. How would you add to that, what you've been able to see?

KAIA HARRISON: Yeah, I always hype Elise up. Yeah, she's an incredible player I feel like both sides of the floor. I think she's really growing into her game. Like Coach said, she has a high IQ. She's good at decision making, great at passing. Her ability to score is very really good.

On defense, she's really long and lanky, so she's able to get her hands on a lot of things, especially if I'm going to post it up. I may need some help; she'll be there.

ELISE WILLIAMS: I got you (smiling).

Q. Watching last season, I saw a lot of that fearlessness that you had within each game. You want to have a couple players they'll look to. Going back to the ACC tournament, for a game that seemed like it was done, you guys came back. Would you say that was one of those moments where even as a leader you were able to step into a different sense of we're a special group?

ELISE WILLIAMS: Yeah, for sure. It was crazy 'cause I'm, like, when we're down that much against Florida State at halftime, I'm going in there, I'm like, They're not doing -- you know what I'm saying? Like we were down because of what we were doing.

All we had to do was Kaia just bring us together, set up a game plan, feed Demeara, and we executed that. That's what kind of got us rolling.

I think at halftime we definitely had that talk, for sure. It was just like, All right, y'all, this is not how we're going to end in this run. So yeah...

Q. It was great to see how you were able to pull things together. It's one of those things where you're looking at for this roster, obviously losing a couple of pieces that were big impacts, but what an incredible opportunity for other players and even other players able to come in and fill a void. What can we expect to see from the group this year?

MEGAN GEBBIA: I think dynamic up and down the floor, running maybe a little bit more than we did in the past, because we're playing a four-guard lineup, right? Might be a little undersized rebounding, so we're going to continue working on that (smiling).

But certainly we'll be able to probably just get out in transition a little bit more, attack off the bounce from all four positions, honestly one through four. Maybe switch a little bit more than we did in the past just because we can.

I think it's a really good defensive team, honestly. I always look at the game from a defensive side anyway, but I do think we have the people in place to have a really good year at that end of the floor.

On top of that, you bring your freshman class in, they're learning, integrating. There are good days and bad days, right? But they are them. I think that's one of the things I was trying to make sure that they are this year, is I know you're learning, it's different basketball, different style, whatever, but you can't lose yourself in learning.

I feel like they've come and they've been themselves come hell or high water. I think that's good, and we need that. They're elevating the competition in practice and energy.

Q. Knowing you have to bring a lot of new faces, especially freshmen, it's one thing to say a transfer that is already understanding what it takes to be on the collegiate level, but also freshmen. What's the biggest thing for this team to bring everything together this year?

MEGAN GEBBIA: I think the biggest challenge is we have half our team that has experience and the other half that doesn't. We have 12 on the roster, six that have played, six that are either coming off injury and didn't play last year or haven't played in a couple years.

Then there's freshmen. Trying to get the six that don't have the experience to get the experience in the non-conference to get them ready for ACC play.

Q. We got to talk about Kaia Harrison. I would like to start with you, just understanding the growth that you can see within a player from one season, then they come back and return, she's a little bit different. After being such a big impact for you guys last season, 31 starts, how has her role changed? What have you seen differently about what she can add?

MEGAN GEBBIA: Yeah, I mean, Kaia has been different all summer. Just watching her play, she seems a little bit more relaxed. I think that has something to do with just new coaching staff coming in last year, learning so much.

Now that she knows what we do, she just seem as lot more under control. Trying to score. I think she knows we need to fill some void there and it can't just be Elise. Knowing she has to put the ball in the basket and make the right reads. She's feeding the post better. Reading better. Her defense is outstanding.

I love putting Kaia up against the other team's best player, best guard I should say, just to see how she does. She takes on the challenges and she wants to show you she improved, that she can do it.

These two, I mean, the fearless tattoo there and how she approaches every day at practice, is so much fun. They bring the level of the team up. It's a joy to watch. I can't wait to see what these two have for the league this year.

Q. Kaia, many, many moons ago when I used to play, defense was a big way of how you stayed on the floor. It was also how you brought energy. For you, that being a part of your leadership, but also knowing on the other side that people are probably scouting, this is a defender that will give us a little bit of a problem, what does that mean to you? Is there anyone in particular that you really enjoy defending within this conference?

KAIA HARRISON: Yeah, no, that means a lot to me 'cause that's something I take personal. I'm really passionate about defense, keeping somebody in front of me.

I think I can always improve. I'm still trying to, like, work on more of my off-ball defense, getting more steals, getting my hand into things.

But yeah, I mean, I would say for that question, it's kind of hard to answer 'cause you can really go down the line with any player in the ACC. We're battling against the best players in the country.

I mean, I'm just always going into the game ready to compete against whoever it is.

Q. I'm intrigued when we say I'm going to pit this player on their best player, what that prep looks like for you. Is it watching film? Is it doing tendencies? Outside of just you being an athlete, why are you called for that job?

KAIA HARRISON: Yeah, no, it definitely would be just watching film, doing the scout, reading on their tendencies, studying on their tendencies.

We have practice players that push us every day, so they help with that. If the guard is crafty or fast, whatever it is, they'll study the scout and then I'm able to guard them based off of that.

I think competing in practice against them also helps once the game comes. I'm able to just translate it over.

MEGAN GEBBIA: Lock down the glove (smiling).

Q. Elise, what do you want people to know about this team?

ELISE WILLIAMS: I feel like with this team, I feel like we're going to be, like, the dark horse, the underdog. Just want people to know, like, we going to bite, you know what I'm saying? We got some bite to us, you know? We may be undersized but we're still going to bring that punch every game, every day.

KAIA HARRISON: I would say especially with a second year under Coach Gebbia, everybody has a better understanding of the system, what she wants. I think we've been doing a good job over this summer just progressing and getting better every day, just going after each other every day.

I think that we are going to be underestimated, and that's fine, but that's the only thing that's going to motivate us even more. We're just going to try and bring the energy every game.

MEGAN GEBBIA: We're not going to stop. We're not going to stop improving throughout the year. Doesn't matter game to game, practice to practice. They kind of showed me that last year. If we had a bad practice, we'd come back with a good practice.

Now it's like how many good practices in a row can we put together? How many good games in a row can we put together?

There's a will to this team that they compete. That's what each and every day's about.

Q. When you said 'compete', that brought me to the schedule. How has that been set up for you guys, especially now having the ACC and SEC Challenge taking on Texas A&M?

MEGAN GEBBIA: We sat down and talked through the non-conference schedule as a staff, hopefully what we wanted our net to be. That's important as you head into post-season play. We focused on good mid-major teams that will help with that at the end of the year. Local teams, right, to bring the community in and have fans at games I think is really important. Then obviously the ACC-SEC Challenge, we haven't done it yet, here we are with this one.

It gives a younger player and inexperienced players a kind of look into what the ACC is going to be like, which is always fun.

We always try to take a fun trip every year. We go are going to Hawaii this year, so we get to play BYU. I'm not going to love the trip, but once we get there, it's going to be great. Just trying to upgrade the schedule in the sense of the preparation.

If you lose a couple of those games, it's not the end of the world, you learn from it earlier in the year. We did that last year in The Bahamas. We learned from Missouri and Alabama. I think that helped push us forward.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks so much.