NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - FLORIDA GULF COAST VS VILLANOVA

March 20, 2023

Denise Dillon

Lucy Olsen

Maddy Siegrist

Finneran Pavilion

Villanova Wildcats

Media Conference

Villanova - 76, Florida Gulf Coast - 57

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Head Coach Denise Dillon and student-athletes Maddy Siegrist and Lucy Olsen.

DENISE DILLON: What a great night here at The Finn. So proud of our team coming in here ready to compete against a very talented veteran Florida Gulf Coast team who has great experience in this tournament.

Our girls came to play and got the job done and couldn't be more excited to head to Sweet 16 and and see who we're going up against.

Q. Lucy, you got off to a hot start. I guess you struggled the other night. What was different for you tonight than Saturday?

LUCY OLSEN: Yeah, I think there were just a few more opportunities today, and I just had to take them in order to help my team out in order to win the game.

So I think I just took advantage of the opportunities that were given to me instead of, I don't know, passing them off.

Q. Did you feel a little more comfortable in this setting than -- the whole team? Were you a little more comfortable today than you were Saturday?

LUCY OLSEN: Yeah, we got a taste of the crowd that was there, the environment. So that probably played a role into it as well.

Q. Maddy, you checked out at the end of the game, you hugged every teammate down the line. After the game, after your post-game interview, you were in the stands hugging everybody. What's your general feeling? What's going through your mind during these moments as you head to the Sweet 16 and get to celebrate?

MADDY SIEGRIST: Yeah, I said to Brooke, I was just like thinking about when we first got here, you know, there weren't that many people in the stands, and it's like a soldout crowd. It's just so exciting and just trying to take it all in.

Just look around because, if this is my last game home, it's a great way to go out.

Q. Lucy, can you take us into that post-game locker room feel? Can you talk about that moment, what it was like to be with your team alone?

LUCY OLSEN: It was incredible. We're all such great friends. I wouldn't want to celebrate it with anyone else. We were all just so excited, made it to the Sweet 16. It was just amazing.

Q. Maddy, can you talk about how meaningful it is for this team now to advance to the Sweet 16 and have opportunities to move beyond?

MADDY SIEGRIST: Yeah, there's such a strong tradition of basketball in general at Villanova, and everyone wants to leave their mark. There's so many great players. We have such a strong alumni base, coach included, of people who come out to all the games. You hear the stories about when they played.

The '03 team that went to Elite Eight, they still talk about that. Just to be able to try to carry that tradition the best you can, it's something I'll always cherish.

Q. Lucy, there's a real -- you play for this environment to be in this home crowd and in front of this, but there's also a homegrown, hometown sort of environment to this team with the way that the roster is built. How special is it -- does this enhance how special it is to be with a group of people that you've been competitors with for a long time, and now you're doing it with them as teammates?

LUCY OLSEN: Yeah, it's awesome. Playing against them, never wanted to go up against them, it's so good. Now that I get to play with them, it's amazing. And all of our families get to come to these games, being right around home. So it's just awesome.

Q. This is a big game and you guys just jumped all over them at the start. Blocked their first two shots, grabbing the loose rebounds, it's 8-0, and the crowd's going crazy. How important was that? Those opening minutes kind of set the tone for what happened the rest of the game.

MADDY SIEGRIST: Yeah, you've got to punch first in these type of games. You can't look at anybody's record, what they're seeded, anything like that. Everybody's trying to win, and they're going to do whatever it takes.

That was one of the things we talked about was defensively really setting the tone early. Lucy, Brooke, everyone was really doing that. When that happens, the offense gets a little bit easier.

So just trying to set the tone, and I think we did a great job.

Q. For Maddy, it sounds cliche to say what did the coach say to you at halftime? But they got close. I'm just curious the message -- yeah, those words, or message to each other too.

MADDY SIEGRIST: What she said to me is continue to remind the team that we're inside out. We've got to look inside out. We were settling for shots in the second quarter that we weren't taking those shots in the first quarter. We were trying to get -- whatever we were running, that's what we were trying to get. Trying to get the ball -- we had a clear height advantage inside, and we wanted to continue to use it and go at them that way.

And then defensively we're giving up way too many threes and the and ones. I think they had way too many and ones in the second quarter, and that just can't happen.

Q. For both of you, you talk a little bit about the intangibles of this team. The stats are up there and things like that. But what kind of stuff happens behind the scenes that seems to just elevate your games?

LUCY OLSEN: I would just say the hard work that we bring every day to practice. Everyone wants to be there, and we push each other to be the best we can. So I'd say the hard work is through the roof with this team.

MADDY SIEGRIST: Yeah, just to go off of that, I think there's so many things that happen that you don't see. Like Kylie Swider, she braids everybody's hair before the games. That's something little, but that's something that really brings the table together.

Megan Olbrys, she's out with a hand injury. You wouldn't know it the way she sits on the bench. She's the loudest one.

I think everyone just has a role, and she does it really, really well. I think when you have a group like that who just like buys in.

Brooke Mullin, every single night she's on the other team's best player, and that's her role, and you know she's going to do it great.

I think when you have a team like that, a lot of really special things can happen.

Q. I don't know if you're too young to watch Shelly play, ever watch films of her play. She and Maddy are the two most complete players I've ever seen at Villanova. Can you talk about what you've heard about her and how the players might compare.

DENISE DILLON: I appreciate the sentiments, but yes, I was only a few years younger than Shelly. So I did have an opportunity to see her play here at Villanova. I think they did some good coverage there. Channel 6, I can remember watching a whole special on her and how great a shooter she was.

Then as a player in the mid-90s, I heard it every day from Harry about how great Shelly was. So great appreciation for her game for sure.

Yes, seeing Maddy come in here and do what she has done is remarkable. I watched her as a freshman from afar, but having an opportunity to coach her, you recognize that there are few times you have a player at that level of efficiency, and you could see different elements of players' games grow and develop.

But, yeah, what Maddy has done and continues to do is off the charts.

Q. You started out quick. They made a run, got back at you. So the third quarter seems to be where it turned. Are you more pleased that it was really a defensive effort or maybe the offensive effort they created, or was it just straight balance?

DENISE DILLON: Well, it was a combination of both. The first quarter, yeah, we came out ready. We were doing what we do best, execution and getting stops and rebounding the basketball.

The reality is Christina Dalce gets in foul trouble, and that just changes the whole setting because the mentality was inside out on the offensive end, but now you're only relying on Maddy on the inside.

Chris does a really good job -- I said it, our players were taking shots, and she typically is the one cleaning it up with missed shots. She wasn't in the game, so it changed the whole dynamic. We start the third quarter, she's back in there.

So everyone doing what their role is, their responsibility on the floor, and I think Chris really was a game changer in that aspect when you're playing a smaller team.

Then you speak to the defense, it's really great when we can switch one through five. They're at a great efficient offensive team who shoots a three and they get to the rim. We're able to switch one through five, and that kept them out of those positions.

Q. Are we seeing Lucy blossoming at this time of year, really coming into her own?

DENISE DILLON: For sure. We know what Lucy is capable of doing. You always want it as a coach, and her teammates encourage her to see that on a consistent basis every night.

But to the point of what she even said, she understands she's going to find her spots when necessary. It's a tough position as a scoring point guard. She wants to facilitate, but she's also realizing, oh, the team wants me to score the ball as well.

I think she settled in today and recognized, again, size advantage as a scoring point guard, you're shooting up and over some of the players. Once she made the first couple shots, she was ready to go.

Lucy, I say it all the time, is someone who never cuts corners. She doesn't skip steps. You're just going to continue to see her grow each time she steps on the floor.

Q. It seemed like she got going early, and that allowed Maddy to kind of get going.

DENISE DILLON: I think the greatest thing about this team has been -- and it's not just Maddy in the beginning. Other players contributing, making shots either from the outside or Chris coming up with an offensive rebound putback. Lucy setting that tone, and then it settled in where she gets shots.

If we're just counting on Maddy to get her those touches early, it's a little tiresome for everybody else.

Q. You guys are getting, it seems, quality minutes from your bench at the right time. You talk a little bit about that depth that seemed to be really making a difference.

DENISE DILLON: We've always relied on Bella Runyan. She's been that sixth player since her freshman year, and she just embraces that role starting in the second half just to keep that spark, keep that energy going. So she's given us that.

But I feel that her offensive game has grown, it's there, and she's feeling more confident with producing there.

Kaitlyn Orihel, we joke, when it's time to battle, you're calling her number. She doesn't get fazed in big games. That's the thing about Kaitlyn, just having that mentality. She's going to compete no matter what, no matter who she's going up against.

And seeing Zanai Jones get more minutes is crucial for us. Just being able to take Lucy off the ball a little bit certainly helps, giving us that scoring opportunity.

Any time the players, you see it with the experience, two of them, in Kaitlyn and Z being sophomores, it's exciting because I always think the biggest growth in a player is going from sophomore to junior year. So them getting this experience is really good for our program.

Q. Congratulations on your 400th career win. How special is it that this one was the one to send you to the Sweet 16?

DENISE DILLON: Yeah, I'll certainly remember it. Again, as a coach, you remember some of the great wins, and unfortunately you remember all the losses. But this one, I'll certainly hold onto. Yeah, it's unbelievable, just the journey. Take a little time to reflect.

I always say you're not in this position without tremendous staff. I felt I had the best at Drexel. We just continue to get even better here at Villanova.

You're nothing without players. So I've had -- I've been super fortunate in my career to be developing and working with some incredible young women who just want to give everything to their university. So it's been a lot of fun.

Q. Half of your roster and most of your rotation are all from the Philadelphia region, which feels uncommon for a team achieving what you are this year. How does that hometown, home grown roster build and enhance the experience both over the season and especially this weekend?

DENISE DILLON: I always think it's important to try to get the best in your area. Don't overthink it. Look right in your backyard, and then expand out. Now, luckily we have Maddy from New York. We could get her out of that territory. But that's the region.

I think some of the best basketball you have on the East Coast here. So if you can stay in that region, again, the distance, it's not too far. Their families are here. They can go home and escape. Yeah, I'll always try to convince, especially here, I think Villanova is the best in the 21. So you're going to draw the attention of the best players out of high school.

Q. A lot of times after wins your girls have sort of that business-like, all right, onto the next one. Obviously tonight you let them really celebrate. How important was it to let them have that moment of catharsis, the release, and letting them go celebrate with the students like that?

DENISE DILLON: You're not passing that opportunity up. We're playing here in our home court, a big win the other night. Just seeing in their eyes how much they wanted this one as well.

You have to enjoy these moments, or you're going to lose the innocence of the game and how much they put into it. Yeah, just appreciation of the crowd, everything that our department, the university in general has put into making this weekend so incredible.

I'm so glad the girls felt to recognize the students out there and do everything possible. I mean, the fans stayed there in the stands. Yeah, we're going to soak it up as much as we can.

Then regroup. They have the day off tomorrow. It's a quick turnaround. And figure things out on Wednesday who we're going to face, I think Friday night.

Q. I don't know if you've given it much thought, but do you think the change in the regionals from four sites to two now is a good one for the game?

DENISE DILLON: I'll be curious. I guess it is the first they're doing that in a while. So it will be interesting to have a number of the teams down there. I think at this point, yeah, everyone is just excited to play and hit the neutral court. So I think it will be good.

I think it's going to be the attention we need for women's basketball and see it continue to grow. And you're seeing having the home sites, everyone with sellout crowds. So I'm hoping to have just as good a draw now that we're hitting some neutral sites.

Q. You've talked a lot about what Brooke means to your team. Tonight she gave it everything, and she really set the tone and made a big difference on the defensive end. What did you see from her impact tonight?

DENISE DILLON: As we said, Brooke makes a difference on the defensive end every night and just that commitment. I liked her energy on the offensive end as well. She was playing basketball. She wasn't second guessing, should I, shouldn't I, she knows like what needs to be done at this point, and did just that.

Even missing a couple shots, she just reset and got right back at it, whether it was a rebound or the stop that we needed. You talk about those intangibles, they are everything you need in a team to continue -- well, to be successful in general, but to continue to advance.

Brooke certainly left it out there in the pavilion.