NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL SEMIFINAL: IOWA VS UCONN

March 27, 2021

Christyn Williams

Alamodome - River Walk

UConn Huskies

Sweet 16 Postgame Media Conference

Connecticut 92, Iowa 72

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by Christyn Williams. We'll take questions.

Q. You mentioned the team defense you played on Caitlin Clark. Also the 30 assists on 40 baskets. That's I'm guessing what you hoped for, pretty basketball, so to speak.

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: Yeah, the emphasis was Caitlin Clark coming into the game. We wanted to know where she was at all times. I thought we did a great job of executing our game plan.

30 assists on 40 shots, that's really good. That's UConn basketball. We were working on all cylinders tonight. I think we played a really great game today.

Q. You've had some ups and downs the last couple of years, some low points. Can you describe the process from whatever point it was to where it might have been bottoming out to rising to the level you did today.

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: Yeah, I've had my ups and downs during my time here at UConn. Everybody knows it. So it just feels really good to be able to play this basketball game as well as I did tonight just to know the Christyn Williams I am because I am a complete player and I feel like people have forgotten that.

I'm just trying to showcase my game as well as I can from here on out. It's a lot of hard work that has been put into this. I've been in the gym timeless hours over the course of the year. I've just been working hard. I'm just happy that you guys can see the progress that I've made.

Q. You obviously had embraced this defensive assignment on Caitlin. Just discuss your performance on her, how challenging it was to take on a player like that.

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: Yeah, Caitlin Clark is an amazing player, especially being a freshman. She moves well without the ball. That's what makes her dangerous. We knew that coming into the game. We had to know where she was at all times while she was on the floor.

But, yeah, I have embraced my role on this team as a defensive stopper. That hasn't always been the case my years here at UConn. Coach has always been on me about being a more complete player on both ends of the floor. I've just been working hard on it.

Q. Just knowing how good of a shooting team Iowa both from three and the field in general, you had to expect they were going to go on some run at some point and they kind of did in the third quarter. How important was it to expect that run but know you have to answer it?

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: Yeah, I mean, basketball is a game of runs in any game. Yeah, we knew that they were going to go on runs, whether that was with threes or getting touches in the paint. We knew we just had to be poised and continue to play our best basketball on the offensive end. We can go on runs, too.

That's what happened. I feel we responded well to their runs and we kept pushing.

Q. This game was labeled as the Paige versus Caitlin show. Evina Westbrook was just shy of a triple-double. Talk about the junior leadership and describe the endless depth of this team.

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: Yeah, we're a very young team. It's only two guys on the team that has been to the Final Four, me and Liv. Me, Liv and E have been leading this team all season as far as leadership on the court and off the court.

We just came into this game as a regular game. We know that's the media's job to hype up the games and stuff. But Paige, before the game, she was telling us that this is a team game, don't worry about the media. We don't really feed into that stuff really. We just went out and played our best basketball.

Q. Do you feel as if today's game was your team's most complete effort in the tournament?

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: Yeah, I think we've been playing well all tournament. I feel like we've been playing well as a team the entire, like, last two, three games, and in the Big East Tournament. We're working on all cylinders. I keep saying that. Even people coming off the bench has given us great minutes.

So I'm really proud of this team and how far we've come throughout the season.

Q. Did you have a sense from the game plan coming in that this could potentially be a big-scoring game for you in advance or did it just kind of happen organically once you got on the court?

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: I mean, I just go with the flow of the game. I mean, the game plan was they were going to play man and zone. We knew kind of what they were going to do. We watched film on them. I mean, my goal for every game is to just go out and be aggressive on both ends of the floor. If I'm aggressive at all times, then most of the time I'm successful with it, so...

Hope that answers your question (smiling).

Q. You've talked about just letting the game come to you, just being aggressive at both sides. How much easier is that feeling from now in the tournament to the beginning of the season? Why do you think that's been able to flow so much easier?

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: Obviously it was harder at the beginning of the season because I had a lot of work to do. I wasn't really used to playing as hard as I am now on both ends of the floor. Last year we had Crystal Dangerfield guarding the best guard on the other team. I didn't really have that much responsibility, I would say, on the defensive end.

As the season went on, I kind of got used to embracing this role and being aggressive on both ends of the floor.

Q. Balanced scoring effort today. The fact you were able to dominate points in the paint with second-chance opportunities.

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: Yes, I thought E and Liv and Aaliyah did a great job of hitting the offensive boards. They always do a great job of doing that. But today it was great. That's something that we needed because we got second shots, like you said. Yeah, I thought they played a great game today.

Q. I know there was a point last year or this year where Coach said to you that maybe you were uncoachable. I'm just wondering if you can recall that moment and what that meant, if that was maybe a turning point at all for you. When you kind of knew a day like today was coming, was there something yesterday or this morning where you felt a surge of confidence that something like this was coming?

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: To answer your second question, I just let the game come to me. From the Big East Tournament to now, I've just been aggressive from the jump. So I'm just going to try to continue to do that. I've had some good games.

To answer your first question, yeah, the uncoachable comment, yeah, I would say that was definitely a turning point because what player wants to be uncoachable? I really just try my best to listen to every little thing that he was saying and to do it because Coach has coached for years and he knows what he's talking about.

I just try my best to just do what he's been saying. Look where I am now (smiling). That was a turning point.

Q. Evina Westbrook scored her one thousandth career point today. She's given up a lot of her offensive game to be an all-around player for you guys this year. Have you noticed that? What has it meant for that transition, to do that transition, which isn't easy, how much she has done for your team this year.

CHRISTYN WILLIAMS: Yeah, E is a great player and a great teammate. She does the dirty work. She goes to the offensive boards, she gets steals, a defensive stopper as well. It's not all about points with E. She's a great leader off the floor. She's the mom of our team. We love E to death. I'm so proud of her for getting her one thousandth point.