BIG EAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 6, 2021

Olivia Nelson-Ododa

Paige Bueckers

UConn Huskies

Mohegan Sun Arena

Postgame Media Conference

UConn - 77, St. John's - 41

Q. Geno discussed your mindset. He wasn't sure how the freshmen would respond to the bigger stage of the postseason. Could you just discuss your mindset, what it felt like today of playing?

PAIGE BUECKERS: Yeah, I mean, I think all of us as a team and as freshmen, we just want to come in and win especially in the postseason, survive and advance. And every game means so much. So just having that sense of urgency on offense and defense and making sure we do whatever it takes to win that's really big for us.

And just keying in on the little things and focusing on getting better each game, because we're in March now.

Q. Nika means so much to your team and she seemed to set the tone on the defensive end today. In your words, I guess, what was she able to do today to get you guys going and what does she mean to the team and how hard was it to see her go down like she did?

OLIVIA NELSON-ODODA: Yeah, I mean, she means so much to the team on and off the court, but especially in today's game I think she just brought a certain edge, certain aggressiveness we needed to start off with. Just coming in impacting the game especially on the defensive end with her steals and ball pressure. That's something we need to continue especially in this tournament and moving on more importantly into March.

It's hard seeing her go out like that but we know she's tough and we know she's going to be able to come back pretty easy from that.

Q. Liv, you had a double-double in the first half and dominated inside the paint today after getting just, like, two fast break points against Marquette. Was there a concerted effort to get out on the break and get down low and dominate inside?

OLIVIA NELSON-ODODA: Definitely, we wanted to get into our transition offense as much as possible and get our pace up and run teams like that from the beginning. That's been a focus for us especially from the coaches.

We've been trying to play our games like that instead of just having to come in and rely on setting up our half-court offense and going through that. I think moving forward that's something that we're going to really have to just keep pushing and make it a very big priority for us.

Q. Paige, you forced them into shot-clock violations early that turned into defense. Could you talk about that effort on the defensive end and how big a focus that was?

PAIGE BUECKERS: Definitely in March the key thing for everyone's game is their defense. Obviously there's going to be scoring. There's going to be a lot of shooting opportunities and a lot of opportunities on offense. We just wanted to key in on our defense because it sets well for our offense and transitions well. If we set the tone on defense it makes offense a lot easier. So, starting that from the jump and setting the tone for the rest of the tournament and for the rest of March for us, we wanted to key in on defense first.

Q. I was wondering, obviously you guys are confident, Muhl goes down there, tough blow for you guys, but could you speak to your depth? You have three players coming in Aubrey Griffin comes in off the bench doesn't look like she's missed a beat. Poffenbarger comes in, doesn't looked like she missed a beat. You guys are always so well rounded and ready to compete at any level. Could you speak about the coaching and the depth of your team?

OLIVIA NELSON-ODODA: That kind of speaks into our practices, because that's where it really starts. It's just instilling different methods, different practice methods there. And realizing that it can't just be five people that know certain things, certain plays. It's everyone that comes in and is expected to contribute at a certain level.

I think our team does a really good job of that.

Q. Wanted to ask you guys. You were able to control points in the paint there, get on the offensive glass as well. Could you just talk about those areas, just in trying, plus getting to the free-throw line as well as knocking down 15 out of 18 free throws, guys?

OLIVIA NELSON-ODODA: That's been a huge key for us, offensive rebounding, and something that the coaches, the whole staff has kind of enforced on us. So making that extra effort to go after the ball on the offensive end and then also trying to finish and score as best as possible in the lane has been super important for us and will be, continuing down into March. So as a team we just try to make that effort to do those things the best we can.