BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 4, 2022

Amy Williams

Sam Haiby

Allison Weidner

Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Postgame Press Conference

Nebraska - 76, Michigan - 73

THE MODERATOR: We'll take an opening statement from coach.

AMY WILLIAMS: Okay. I'm just really proud of this team. Our third win this season over a top-10 team and this time of year I thought we had to really find a way to overcome adversity several times throughout the ball game and I thought this team really leaned into each other, came together, and found a way to win, and I'm just really proud of them.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. This has to be the best game of the Big Ten so far. I mean, you and Michigan. Talk about how intense it was out on that floor and how there was such runs on both sides.

ALLISON WEIDNER: It was really intense, obviously there was a lot of lead changes and it was pretty physical out there, but we just stuck together, leaned on each other, and got the W.

SAM HAIBY: I think it was just really fun. We came in here with a mission. We knew it was going to be a fight the whole way through. We fought the whole time, faced a lot of adversity, but I'm really proud of how we finished up the game tonight.

Q. Sam, on the last play, were you surprised -- because they brought Nolan in the game. Were you surprised that Kiser took the shot?

SAM HAIBY: I guess, yeah. We were switching everything, so I think that's who was open and it was getting close to five seconds. Obviously I wanted it in the shooter's hand, but we'll take advantage of not letting her catch it, I guess.

Q. Sam, that fourth quarter you had nine points. I guess just kind of walk me through what your approach was in the fourth quarter and your mentality in the fourth quarter personally.

SAM HAIBY: I definitely leaned on my teammates a lot. I was frustrated with the officiating, I guess, and shots not falling.

But just knowing that it's going to be a dog fight I needed to be strong and really needed to rebound, rebound down, whatever it is, so that we could finish the game.

Q. Markowski played like a freshman sometimes tonight, didn't she? And with Hillmon on the other side of that, what did you say to her at halftime to fire her up? Because she played better in the second half than the first.

AMY WILLIAMS: Lex is somebody that is a true competitor and I have come to lean on that. I mean, it's something where I know that if they're taking one thing away from her, she's going to find a way to contribute and help our team in another area.

And I thought that was evident late when we had a one-point lead, 21 seconds to go. We needed a defensive stop. She comes over and just ties up the ball with an All-American post player down there and made a huge play on the baseline, inbounds play, that ensued right after and just find ways to impact the game.

And so just really, really proud of her. And maybe points weren't as much as she's scored in recent games, but her impact was felt on this ball game.

Q. What was the team mindset today to get this done? And how does that switch tomorrow with the finals with only one day to prepare?

AMY WILLIAMS: Yeah. I mean, our mentality coming down to this tournament is we expect to win. We have been really visualizing what it would be like to cut down nets and be Big Ten champions. We've been talking about that. You just have to take one game at a time.

But our mentality is to survive and advance. And we don't have to do it by doing anything other than what we have done to get us to this point. And we needed everybody to contribute. We need everybody to find a way to step in and step up and raise their level of play, but just doing what we've done all year to get to this point.

Q. Allison, taking those last two free throws to seal the game and give more comfort to you guys heading into Michigan's last possession, you just want to take me through those free throws?

ALLISON WEIDNER: Yeah. I kind of turned to my teammates. We kind of huddled, and Sam and Alexis kind of got me a little calmed down, pretty composed and just shifted my mindset and I just went to the line with confidence and once I saw the first one go through I was pretty confident with my second free throw.

Q. Jaz had a great game last night. Tonight she still gets double figures, but she struggles a little more. Do you feel like Michigan just planned for her the whole game? Did you have to limit her shots?

AMY WILLIAMS: Yeah. I mean, the truth is, yeah, you have a player that goes for 32 points, she's going to be the focal point of a defensive game plan. There's no doubt about that. I thought they were keying on her trying to take her away.

But she still finds ways to impact the game and she's so important to our team. She doesn't have to score 32 points to do that. She is a huge defensive staple for us and plays a game plan to perfection. She's a great leader. She talk. She has always more assists than she does steals. She creates opportunities for the rest of our team. So I thought just another tremendous performance from Jaz even if it wasn't 32 points tonight.

Q. They finished that second quarter with a 22-4 run and turned the game around. Just discuss how you regrouped at halftime and how you took their shot and then got right back on track.

SAM HAIBY: Yeah. We went into the locker room and we knew that wasn't Nebraska basketball. We had to bounce back. Just kind of had to refocus. Coach came in, calmed us down. But we knew what we had to do, stay composed, keep fighting, do the little things to keep ourselves in the game and give us a chance to win at the end.

Q. What was one thing that coach kept telling everybody in the huddle? Because I know it was a back-and-back competition, back-and-back trading baskets.

ALLISON WEIDNER: We talked about how we prepared for moments like this and going through adversity and how we need to lean on each other and how to stay calm and stay composed.

Q. I thought Annika Stewart gave you a good start in this game and she hasn't been mentioned here, but she started off really strong for you. I don't know if you were surprised or Michigan just let her alone.

AMY WILLIAMS: Yeah, thanks for asking about her because she hadn't been mentioned here, but she was most definitely mentioned in our locker room. I think that Anni, it's no secret, she's been not 100 percent, she's missed a couple of ball games here, not healthy, not fully healthy, probably not 100 percent even today, but when we got into foul trouble we had to call her and she stepped in and stepped up. She gave us 8 point I think in a minute and a half stretch right there and really sparked us. She's a very capable three-point shooter, everybody on our team has confidence in her ability there, but she also got us some real key buckets down around the basket and just her contributions to this win tonight, double figure scorer and limited minutes, 10 minutes of playing time, between stretches kind of going over, trying to stay loose on the bike and just piecing it together for our team, that's the gritty performance that I'm really proud of.

Q. Sam, clearly when you played Michigan earlier in the year you were confident the first time you played Michigan, you guys were confident again. I guess specific to playing Michigan why did you guys think this was a good matchup and you guys could beat Michigan?

SAM HAIBY: Yeah, obviously after our first win, we win by double figures and it's at home, so we got a lot of support from our fans, but we came into this game knowing that we were very capable of beating this team, we've done it once before, but we kind of had a chip on our shoulder, we knew it was going to be a fight, but we came through in the end.

Q. The locker room video's already out, I believe you said this is the most proud you've ever been of a team. How are you going to defend that to all the other teams you've coached in your career?

AMY WILLIAMS: (Laughing), Yeah, I think if all of those former teammates that I coached watched this game today they probably know exactly what I'm talking about. So I don't feel like I need to really defend that and just really proud of this group.

Q. What specifically are you proud about tonight?

AMY WILLIAMS: I just proud of the adversity that we overcame throughout the game and just the way we leaned in and had different people stepping up and like I said, Anni Stewart just being tough, coming in I thought Bella Cravens gave us just huge minutes. I mean we every overcame foul trouble we overcame just lots of things throughout the ball game and so just proud of that grit.

Q. Obviously the pandemic had a huge impact on both the coaching staff and the players. So how -- and it looks like the last time you guys went to the semi-finals in 2018, how can you use this win to motivate each and everyone of you guys to advance and also to going into the March tournament?

ALLISON WEIDNER: This is my first Big Ten tournament so it's been a really fun experience and obviously just having our fans here and supporting us it means a lot to us, it gives us a lot better chance for it.

SAM HAIBY: We just decided to be in the moment, whatever happened in the past is the past, so we're just going to go out there and take it game by game and give it our all.

AMY WILLIAMS: Yeah, I think Sam kind of said it best, I mean at this point part of our team motto this year was to, we want to be Big Ten champions and we want to do that by living in the moment and a few other things that we really committed to for this program, but right now it's just get these guys some recovery, get them some sleep, get them prepared and I'll go watch a bunch of film tonight.