BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 2, 2022

Nancy Fahey

Kendall Bostic

Aaliyah Nye

Illinois Fighting Illini

Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Postgame Press Conference

Illinois - 75, Wisconsin - 66.

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement.

NANCY FAHEY: Always exciting to be in the Big Ten tournament. We talked a lot about it, a team that this is our second chance. I was really impressed and I challenged this team to really, really play 40 minutes.

We talked about it. We got to 25, 30. This was 40, correct? And if you look at the five starters all in double figures, that's an indication of great ball movement, people stepping up at different times.

I have to admit, we were talking in the coach's room and Anne Marie having 16 boards. We were at a sideline out of bounds play for Aaliyah, inbound. I thought she was going to dribble it off a little bit and use the 15 seconds, and bang, she hits a three. I don't know if you knew that. Yeah.

But it was that kind of confidence that was fun to watch. These kids played hard, and I'm really just really proud of them.

The defensive end, Wisconsin's a good team. They came back at us. They were close enough to hit some big shots. And nine for 12 from three, what can you say? That's a great shooting night.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Kendall, it seems like you and have I been around a few times ever since Northwestern. When you were in 8th grade I think is when we first met. Talk about how the season was disappointing, but how confident going into your next game, how proud are you of your entire team, including yourself about how you've listened to Nancy during the year and you guys have come along.

KENDALL BOSTIC: Coach always talked about anything can happen once March hits. Everybody's an underdog. So I think we kind of came in with the mentality, like we really have an opportunity here. And it's kind of like a new season. Like, it's a fresh start. Like, it's turning time back. So I think that kind of gave us a little bit of confidence, too, just to be like, okay, let's start fresh. Let's start over.

And I think we played, I am super proud of everyone on this team. I think everybody stepped up. I know Adalia as a freshman her first time in the Big Ten tournament comes out and is driving to the basket, getting boards for us. So I was really proud of her. And Erika had a great game. She was finding people in the post. We were able to get it to her. So she had a great game.

I'm proud of everybody collectively and I really think that's just the best place to be.

Q. Going off of that, obviously, in that third quarter where that, as a team, how do you guys feel about that?

AALIYAH NYE: We really focused and it's tournament time so we really had to focus on what we need to do. And we talked about playing for 40 minutes and I think we all came together, like KB said, and we all played an amazing game, and I'm so proud of us.

KENDALL BOSTIC: I just really think that we had everybody step up and it was a collective effort and I think it was one of the few times, like we haven't rolled over usually. There's been a trend in seasons sometimes, when a team punches us, we tend to roll over, and I think they went on their run and we saw that and I think our defense was probably the best defensive collective effort we've had and I think we really kind of put our food foot down and said, like, stop, score, stop. So I think our defense was really good.

Q. Aaliyah, just kind of take me through that play with 58 seconds to go where you get the three-pointer, kind of take me through what you saw on that play to get you open on that three.

AALIYAH NYE: I think Erika just set a good screen and then switched out on us and I saw our post running up and I thought I was open so I shot it.

NANCY FAHEY: Yeah, love it.

Q. For either player, just the ability to have multiple players for you, whether it was Erika Porter or some other players just stepping up, how crucial was that to be able to get just, not just from one or two players, but a team effort all across the board?

KENDALL BOSTIC: I think it was really crucial. A lot of the teams with Aaliyah, they know she's a shooter so they kind of tend to shade towards her a lot of the time. And I really think that with Erika and Adalia both stepping up they couldn't do that tonight because we had other people taking it to the hole, being confident with the ball.

So I really think it was huge that we had our other starters really step up like this and I think it took the pressure off of our shooters and off of the bigs inside because we had a collective effort from everybody.

Q. Aaliyah, this place is way bigger than State Farm. There's a huge crowd. It was a different atmosphere. Every single time when you hit a three do you feel like it was different or did you even realize that you were hitting a three?

AALIYAH NYE: I think it was just exciting because everybody was making their shots, so I didn't even realize like at the time, like, oh, I got to shoot a three. I mean, you know you're about to shoot a three, but everybody was hitting their shots, so it just made me more confident in shooting my threes and making my shots. So, yeah.

Q. Kendall, just how cool is it to have Aaliyah to be able to hit that shot for you guys, I mean, just to know how much confidence you can have in her to step up when they kind of make their run and know you have that player that can do that for you guys?

KENDALL BOSTIC: It's huge, just having the confidence in one our shooters like that, just to know as soon as it goes up I'll just turn back and run on defense. We don't even try to grab the rebound because we know it's going to go in.

So just having that confidence in a shooter like that is huge because I think it kind of helped settle us down. Like, to hit a shot like that with that amount of time left it really gave us the ability to focus on our defense.

THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll take questions for coach.

Q. Talking about Porter, she did make the rebounding numbers, her presence in the paint, the way that she was able to alter shots and the shot angles, what can you say about her defensive effort tonight?

NANCY FAHEY: Defensively, I mean, she really shut down the post inside. We had scouted left shoulder, right shoulder of a couple players and she really stayed with it and understood which side to jump. We played, last time we played Wisconsin she was just coming off of an injury, so we didn't really have her, and she was a big presence in the first game, so we were excited that she was back because she just caused a lot of problems because they can score over the right and left shoulders, but she's a big presence defensively.

Q. First off, have you had a chance to exhale yet after this season and knowing here we won game now, now we can move on to the tournament and is that kind of been success for you after winning this game?

NANCY FAHEY: Yes. Exhale because it's been a tough January and February for a lot of different reasons. This team never broke. The locker room was not broke. You can tell by the way they support each other when you watch our bench. And that's what I was really proud of.

We just -- you got to say it's 40 minutes, it's one thing you say, but to actually got to go out and do it, that's the next step. I think finally exhale would be just appropriate for those guys.

Q. When you came into the game, made the game plan against Katie, anything changed or she just did what she normally does?

NANCY FAHEY: Well, okay, so they -- Julie has been doing really well, okay? And we knew that. Douglass has been shooting the ball really well. And Ellew is shooting the ball really well. So basically they became like a very three-headed shooting team and they pick and pop with their posts so well.

So we did make a decision how we defended through our ball screens. She started turning the corner and our post defense just wasn't sliding over and she got to the rim a couple times. And we kind of, you know, we had done our job, but then she started taking it to the rack, so we had to make a little bit of an adjustment.

And that baseline kick that they were getting, they hit a couple threes on that, but yeah, that was kind of, you kind of have to pick who you're going to -- you let Julie go, that's not a good thing. And she played a great game, nothing to take away from her.

Q. Jada Peoples, she hit some really big-time threes for you in that third and fourth quarter. She got herself open, your team found her.

NANCY FAHEY: The one thing I've been telling Jada all year is -- she doesn't take bad shots, rarely does she take a bad shot. I was just more -- it's been a little bit up and down and if you keep believing it -- after every game I said, If it's a bad shot I'll tell you, you got to keep shooting.

And that's the confidence I have in her. Tonight it showed up. It was two games ago she showed up -- so you know what I'm saying? You just got to keep -- you get more upset with kids taking bad shots and she's been here and done that, and I was excited for her. I think she's was 4-5. But you're right, they're big shots.

And that's a little bit of experience, you know, you know, has been here, has been in the program. That says a lot when a kid has that confidence in the Big Ten tournament and knows that.

Q. Take me through that play for Aaliyah there with 60 seconds left, what did you kind of see, what did you kind of draw up to get her that opportunity?

NANCY FAHEY: We have two sideline, baseline out of bounds and we run --our typical one, um, was that one -- I ran a pin down instead. Because I didn't know if they were going to foul right away, so I wanted it in her hands, a good shooter and confident.

So we ran a split and we pinned down and she came off of it. It's a little scary because it went across the court. She saw the kid get back. Like I said, I'll be honest, I thought -- I said, if you catch it clear out, you got to clear out the side, go take it to the rack. And she felt it and that's why kids play the game and we stay out of it sometimes.

Q. After the Rutgers game I know you referred to the fact that you wanted -- the biggest key for you offensively was finding not just one or two players, but four or more players. To have five players in double figures tonight for you how much of a difference maker was that in being able to get the result that you needed tonight?

NANCY FAHEY: I think that the interesting thing is, you listen to Aaliyah Nye when she said, Other people were shooting, I relaxed. That, that's the -- when you -- when you only have a couple kids shooting and they're not going in, it's human nature that they tend to tighten up. So sometimes when we're playing other teams and they get really loose and you see people that never hit a three hit a three, it's because they're relaxed. It's like, Okay, we got a lead.

This was a night where these kids could count on everybody else and they relaxed. They can shoot the ball and that's what you saw. We moved the ball probably better than -- we threw kind of a new zone offense in, but it kind of helped them move the ball. I mean, our plan was run, we wanted to run, we didn't want Wisconsin to set up. I wanted the ball to go inside and I wanted ball movement.

And then you just kind of, at this point let the kids play. And that's why they were so relaxed. I mean, it just -- she said it right there and it's much different when you have other people scoring with her. And she's taken a lot of that load this year.