NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - SAINT LOUIS VS TENNESSEE

March 17, 2023

Rebecca Tillett

Thompson-Boling Arena

Saint Louis Billikens

Media Conference

REBECCA TILLETT: Really good to be back, really good to be here with this is special group of women from St. Louis University.

Just so excited to compete at this level. I think the story of this particular group is a fun one to tell especially if you look all the way back into the nonconference season and what this team was able to accomplish together.

Q. Your players were in here earlier were asked about rebounding and they said rebound for their lives. As a coach, how do you prepare for a team like Tennessee that has so much length and size on the boards?

REBECCA TILLETT: Yeah. First love that they said that. Critically important in the execution of the game plan tomorrow. Both teams are nationally ranked in offensive rebounding. So anybody that likes, you know, the offensive game in terms of offensive rebound will be a fun battle to watch.

Obviously the size differential especially in some of the defensive things that we want to try to do, we will be at disadvantages. So you got to rebound for your life to come up with that possession for our team.

One thing about this team is they're going to play hard, going to be tough. You have to really have that for the NCAA tournament and especially against Tennessee.

Q. Coach, you mentioned being back. You have been here before. How does that experience maybe help you as you guide St. Louis through their debut at this point in the season?

REBECCA TILLETT: I hope throughout my entire career I will have the same kind of mindset. They were just teasing me in there. Coach Tiff on our staff has a phrase, act like you have been there before in many things you do in life.

I was certainly acting like a kid in there as our women are looking at the great gear the tournament has given them and even Dove is sponsoring and giving all these products. Soaking in the moment, soaking in the joy of each part of journey.

So even though I have an opportunity to do it again, it's my first time leading this group and a lot of women on this team's first time. And I hope I always get to see it through their eyes. It's really about them and the experience for them.

Q. Kyla was here last year with a different team. What does it say about her two years in a row she's been to a tournament with two major teams and how important could that experience be that your leading scorer has been here before?

REBECCA TILLETT: She was just showing the socks. She has the socks on from last year's tournament right now. She just got the new pair of socks.

Kyla is a special scorer. She's shared that this year has been challenging for her and given her a lot of opportunities to grow with the transition to St. Louis and the A10. You know, I was just talking the other day to our leadership about if you put Kyla on the floor, opponents game plan. We played Baylor early in the year. She took an open three. On film, UC coach going just don't let her be open, don't let her have that look.

Any time you have an opportunity to go in game with a scorer like that who could hit big shots, doesn't get overwhelmed by the environment and has seen so many coverages, really, really glad she's on other team.

Q. What went into your preparation this week and were you able to make it to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame like you said you were going to?

REBECCA TILLETT: Good to hear from you, Natalie. We went this morning and we ran into Toledo there. Really incredible that the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, who partnership with the WBCA funds the ability for our teams to go and experience that.

I kind of got stuck at one station. I wanted to stay there as long as we were there, but I had to keep moving. They have, you know, clips of coaches giving pregame speeches, all of these Hall of Fame coaches. That's just -- I could spend all day there.

Our women had a great time. I think just the education piece, the video that they show at the beginning really is a long historical context. You could hear women behind us in the movie theater aspect of the Basketball Hall of Fame saying I didn't know that, I didn't know she did that, I didn't know she did that.

Isn't that the responsibility especially of those of you in the room to tell the story of these women, and you are doing that right now. You are telling the story of St. Louis and other great teams that are here. I think we all have our responsibility in that because the way the game's story is told is going to have a direct impact on how quickly we grow.

Q. You mentioned that growth. This game is going to be on ABC tomorrow as part of the double header for the women in the first round.

How nice is it to see, you know, the getting to point where some of these early games are not just on cable, but over the air broadcast and helping get that extra exposure for the game and the way ratings have been going up these last couple years?

REBECCA TILLETT: Great point. I think to have the opportunity to showcase our game at that level and in the early rounds because as we have already seen on the men's side of the tournament, there has been upsets. That's what draws people in for tournament coverage in general. You can root for the underdog. You can root for your favorite players. You can hear these stories of these women that strive so hard to be good in the classroom, to be good on the court, to be good in their communities.

So each opportunity that we take a step forward with our game draws in new fans and new viewers. For years, I have been fortunate to go to the Final Four both in my coaching and even when I was a high school coach, we went because our convention was there. We would go to learn.

Those arenas have been sold out for a long time, but not everybody knows that. Not everybody knows that part of the story. There is a huge following of women's basketball. Well, the more we tell the story, it's only going to continue to grow.

I would like to do a side by side where the men's basketball was at this point in their career and where we are in this point in our career. And you probably see pretty similar trajectories of how the growth of the game goes. I think we need to spend a little more time thinking about that and continuing to cover and give the opportunities for the stories to be told.

Q. What do you think the keys to the game are for you tomorrow and how did you work to prepare for those in practice this week?

REBECCA TILLETT: Without giving away too much, definitely the rebounding for our lives is critical. We have to compete in the rebounding game to compete in the game with Tennessee.

We do think we can score the ball. We'll have to stay really fearless in that pursuit due to their size. And we want to -- you know, they want to score a lot of points. We like to score a lot of points. I think for fans, it could be a real fun game to watch from that aspect.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you so much, Coach.