Everything Michigan players said pre-Louisville
Q. As you rewatch and think about the Louisville game, what kind of emotions come up about that game?
LAILA PHELIA: Just thinking back, I know we had a rough game against them, but I felt like we have learned a lot from it, so it's like a lesson learned and we were able to work and get back. I feel like this will be a great match-up for us tomorrow night.
DANIELLE RAUCH: It was early on in our season and we were still figuring some things out. Playing at Louisville is a really difficult thing to do. So we definitely were shocked in that situation.
But I think we've grown a lot since then and gone through a lot of different things throughout this season to prepare us to play them again.
MADDIE NOLAN: For sure. And like those two touched on, it was early in our season. We have learned a lot, we've grown a lot, I think we have learned how to play with each other a lot more. Our confidence has grown not only in ourselves but in our teammates and in games as well.
NAZ HILLMON: I think what everybody is saying is exactly what it is, and definitely a lesson learned. And we have grown a lot from that game. It will be a great battle but we have been reflecting on it and figuring out how we can be better. They still have the same players. They're a great team, and we will have to work around that and make in-game adjustments, but reflecting on that as a lesson.
EMILY KISER: I'm not sure I can add to that. We let their defense speed us up with their pressure. So I think we've grown in that, and we're more confident in our ball handling and passing. So not letting them speed us up.
Q. Following up on that same point, how are you different? You had 24 turnovers in that game, you were outrebounded significantly. What's the difference in this team today than December?
EMILY KISER: Yeah, I mean, I think a huge difference I saw, just I think everyone saw that crowd last night, I think it was all South Dakota Coyotes, and we didn't let that energy affect us. And in the Louisville game, we let that crowd and defense speed us up. And not doing the things that our team focuses on, not losing our identity and not letting the other team affect what we do.
NAZ HILLMON: Yeah, that game helped us to put people in better positions. We really figured out, you know, if people are doubling and tripling me, how to put people in their best spots to be a contributor to our team and focusing on slowing down the game for us sometimes.
Definitely felt like we were sped up, like somebody said earlier, so knowing what pace we want to play at throughout the game.
MADDIE NOLAN: For sure, Emily touched on it, we have played in a lot of hostile environments this year, and last night was probably our most successful game in that. To know that we are capable of playing in front of however many South Dakota fans were there and pulling out the win was huge for us. Knowing that we're confident in each other and with our ball handling and anyone can score at any given moment, I think we saw that last night as well.
DANIELLE RAUCH: I think just the different experience, we are in March, and March is a different time. I think our team has grown through a lot since then and that loss.
It hurt, but it also taught us a lot and helped us be successful. I think our growth and our experience throughout this season is definitely what has helped and made us different now.
LAILA PHELIA: I feel like our chemistry has gotten better, and the best thing we can do is play Michigan basketball.
Q. Take me inside the locker room. Who is the most vocal before the game?
NAZ HILLMON: I would say Coach gives good pregame speeches. She gets us fired up before the game. But we have a couple of huddles, within our warm-up or before we go out, and Danielle gets us going, as well as Michelle. She gives us a good -- she is making us want to run through a wall so the combination of those people.
Q. Naz and Danielle, and if anybody else has a good story, what was it about Kim that appealed to you during your recruiting process? What did you learn about her? What made you feel a connection there, if you have any specific stories on that?
NAZ HILLMON: Yeah, for me she was very similar to my parents, in terms of just always being honest. Sometimes during the recruiting process people tell you what you want to hear. That was the complete opposite. Like I always remember after AAU games when I played bad and she was like, yeah, that wasn't a good weekend. I was like, I know.
So just that honesty and never allowing me to think that I was going to come into Michigan and just be able to walk on the floor and do whatever I want to and still be successful.
She laid out a plan, and we had this power play of how successful I could be at Michigan, but she said at the end of it I have to work for it. Nobody is going to hold my hand to get there.
And I felt like that was very important, and I knew I wanted to grow throughout my college career, and those words of encouragement and putting that into perspective definitely helped me build that connection with Coach.
DANIELLE RAUCH: I think for me what Coach is building at Michigan and the culture of Michigan basketball aligned with who I was as a person and wanted to achieve, not only on the basketball court, but in the classroom as well.
And bonding with Coach, and at Michigan knowing who she was, and Coach and I are similar, and we have grown a lot together through the last four years. So knowing that coming in, I knew that that was going to be how it was going to be.
Q. Naz, Louisville has an ability to throw a couple of different bigs down low, whether it's Olivia, Liz or Emily. What did you learn going up against them the first time and adjusting that?
NAZ HILLMON: Knowing that they're going to throw a couple of different looks, whether that be coverage or a single player or double or triple teams, being aware of the defense they're throwing or throwing multiple bodies where my teammates are going to be. And I think that's definitely something we learned from last time we played them. So in-game adjustments and what they have drawn up, Coach Walz is crafty at throwing different things, so being aware of what I have coming at me.
Q. Naz, at the beginning of the season, at Media Day you said that there was some unfinished business and you wanted to come back and as a senior to get back further than you all went last year. What did that moment feel like when the buzzer went off and you knew that you had done that but still have more unfinished business ahead?
NAZ HILLMON: Yeah. It was just so many emotions running through my mind. Every time we win a game, I reflect on the entire season and how hard we have worked and all the ups and downs, the great moments, the bad moments that we've had. And just everything we went through, you know, put us into position that we were in last night.
Just so happy and thankful for my teammates, to be able to share that special moment with my classmates, and how great they played during that made me reflect on that and thinking about all the people who came before us. It was a ton of emotions, happiness and joy and thankfulness all wrapped up in one, and excited to continue to keep this thing going.
Q. Making history and I would love for you to put into perspective what this historical run means to each of you.
LAILA PHELIA: Well, as a freshman coming in, I knew and watched how the season ended for these girls last year and just going down in the Sweet 16 against Baylor, so coming in I felt like I really wanted to do whatever I could to help them make history and get back to that position.
So I feel like the biggest thing is for me, just like my emotions and stuff, I'm just really thankful and happy for these girls, the seniors and stuff, because I know how hard they've worked, and I'm glad to be able to pitch in to that.
DANIELLE RAUCH: Being a senior and thinking about the last four years and everything that we've gone through, the good and the bad, just having this moment to make history. Last year was awesome, going to the Sweet 16.
But now to be in this position, I think Naz hit on it, too, we felt like everything has prepared us for this moment, and that started our freshmen year and what we set out to accomplish here. So seeing it all come together, joy, elation, all of that, I was like sobbing after the game yesterday.
But just this feeling and being able to accomplish it with this team is just incredible.
MADDIE NOLAN: I think going off that, especially not after winning a Big Ten Championship, we had a lot of heartbreak, and we looked at what we could do in order to make history and make it to the Sweet 16 and to the Elite Eight like we did last year. Just kind of building off that, trusting in each other.
And coming in as a freshman, having the seniors in the class ahead of me, you believed. You could tell something special was going to happen. They took me under their wing, me and D joke about that, but you couldn't have ask for a better group of people. And it means a lot not only to make history but to make history with the teammates that I do have.
NAZ HILLMON: It's crazy to think about just like us making history, because the year before our class came, Michigan didn't make the tournament at all. They went and they won the WNIT, but Coach talks to us and says, like, we thought we were getting into the tournament, and we didn't. That was heartbreaking for everybody who was a part of that team.
At that point if you were to say that we made it to the tournament and made it this far and made it to the tournament three of our four years, with COVID being the exception, people wouldn't believe us.
Just to see that hard work, the turn-around, the growth and what Coach has done to bring us so many special players and so many people to buy into it. We've talked plenty about Danielle and Emily not playing as much their freshmen through junior years and being that special player that has that bye-in and being those special kids that Coach brings in.
EMILY KISER: I think the people that came before us -- Danielle and I called Nicole Munger after the game because she had the vision, she was the senior class when we were freshmen, she had that vision about being Big Ten champions, and thinking about the people that came before us.
Our class didn't start from scratch. There was a lot that went in before us. So adding to the joy that we have paid off. What they started has been really cool.