NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL FINAL - MICHIGAN VS LOUISVILLE

March 27, 2022

Jeff Walz

Olivia Cochran

Emily Engstler

Chelsie Hall

Kianna Smith

Hailey Van Lith

Intrust Bank Arena

Louisville Cardinals

Elite 8 Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for joining us. We have in no particular order, Olivia Cochran, Emily Engstler, Chelsie Hall, Kianna Smith and Hailey Van Lith from Louisville women's basketball.

Q. Olivia, how's is the eye? How physical was that game yesterday? Do you have to wear anything protective or do anything different for the game tomorrow?

OLIVIA COCHRAN: I'm doing fine. The game was pretty physical, but that's just the sport. I'm going to wear a mask tomorrow in the game so I wouldn't get hit anymore in it.

Q. Emily, the Michigan coach was in here a few minutes ago, and she said -- I'm going to read this if you don't mind: "I think he gives her the freedom to roam around and be able to double, to be able to be a pest, to be able to just go run at somebody. I think he allows her that freedom to really do that." How much latitude does Coach Walz give you, and if any of the other players want to chime in about the independence that that reflects?

EMILY ENGSTLER: I think that our defense is actually pretty structured. He does give me the freedom to make my own decisions during that structure, which allows for me to, you know, trap sometimes, where maybe we weren't supposed to. A lot of the things we do we're told to do. Honestly. I'm just really long and, like, it kinda just works out.

There's been times, though, where I have made decisions on my own, but you don't like to do that going this far into a tournament, because I trust him and I don't want to risk anything and us lose because of it.

HAILEY VAN LITH: I wouldn't say she is doing her own thing, Emily has instincts. She has those in her, and we trust them. Obviously she is really good at what she does. So we know how to play off of how she plays defense, and it just all works. I think definitely -- it's not all directly planned, but we know it's coming, and she knows it's coming, and that's just how it works for us.

Q. Kianna, Hailey and Olivia, the Michigan coach describes your defense as the most intense defense they have played this year. What's different about you guys defensively and even intensity wise than a year ago?

KIANNA SMITH: I think our ball pressure adds a lot of intensity to our defense, and the fact that we had Emily and O behind us. We know we can get up and put pressure on different guards.

And I think we trust each other a lot more than last year, and our chemistry is better. So we play off each other a lot more, and I think that allows us to come up with a lot of deflections and the things you've seen this year.

OLIVIA COCHRAN: I think we know each other's instincts and we play off each other, and our chemistry is way better. So I feel like we know each other well.

Q. Biggest difference between Michigan that you saw in December and what you're seeing as you scout them now?

HAILEY VAN LITH: I mean, yeah, we played them back in December at home. I would say we just can't take that game into account. We can look at it for things that went well for us, but it's March. Everyone is going to put their best foot forward, everyone is going to fight.

We're not relying on anything. We're going to go out and do what we do and impose our will, and we're just going to be ready to fight. We know they're going to give us their best shot. So I wouldn't say that -- you never know what's going to happen in this month. You just gotta play. There's going to be differences with the team at this point, but I think you just gotta focus on yourself and what your game plan is.

KIANNA SMITH: I would say also we played them in the nonconference, and teams get better and they grow. We were assuming they got better, but we got better as well. So we are expecting a dogfight and a good game.

Q. For any of you, what's changed about you guys since that December 8th game against Michigan? I know you have evolved offensively and added some things defensively, but where do you feel like you have grown the most?

KIANNA SMITH: I think we have matured in the fact that we know that every possession matters. We learned a lot from our losses, and we even talk about it a lot during practice. Our fourth quarters have to be big, coming out of halftime has to be big, every possession matters. So I think our mind-set has changed a lot since then.

Q. Emily and Olivia, Naz is one of the best players in the country. You guys did a good job of limiting her in that first meeting, and she said that was the first time she had seen doubles and triples and pressure thrown at her. What challenge does she present as a threat on offensive?

OLIVIA COCHRAN: Naz is a great player, and doubling is the key, but I feel like one-on-one -- I can guard her one-on-one, but Emily is known for helping a lot. So I feel like that's what kind of threw her off a lot, she wasn't used to the help. So I feel like that's a good game plan to go back into, to get her off her game again.

EMILY ENGSTLER: Naz is a very good player, and she is good doubled and tripled. I think we're not a regular team when it comes to defense. I think that we're very long and athletic, and that obviously helps, but we're also very aggressive. We bring a lot of energy to the game, and that shakes people up when they're trying to play offense.

I think she is going to score, and I also think we're going to get stops. But it's going to be down to who can get a couple more stops than the other team.

Q. Chelsie, the halftime score of the Michigan Game 39-15 they turn the ball over 24 times, you outrebound them by 13. How do you not let that affect your thinking about this game?

CHELSIE HALL: Similar to what Hailey said, that game is in the past. They've grown, they've gotten better from that game. We just have to go out there and focus on us and play our game, play the way we play, bring the same intensity we did that previous game, but also even bring more.

It's March. This is a big game. Anything can happen.

Q. Kianna and Emily, how does Coach Walz's personality and his intensity, how does that affect you guys and impact you the way that what he brings to the team influences how this team plays?

KIANNA SMITH: I think his passion for the game, it just shows in Louisville basketball culture. It's from top to bottom, every single assistant coach, every player on this team shows that passion for the game just like Coach Walz does, that intensity.

And also it shows in his preparation. I think he really prides himself in scouts and the X's and O's part of the game. He really has us prepared. So I think the intensity shows in our Louisville basketball culture.

EMILY ENGSTLER: Coach Walz is a unique character. He's funny. He can be tough on you, but he's also sensitive and emotional. You need that in a man coach. We don't want to say it, but we are women. I like that he's emotionally available and at the same time he's tough and witty. He's.

Someone that you can speak to off the court. He's someone that you can speak to on the court. Even when you don't agree, at the end of the day, he's never going to hold a grudge, which is a very hard thing to do.

I love playing for him. I think most of us do. I think that he's going to get us to a championship game.

Q. I don't know who is best to answer this. When you are in scramble mode defensively, it's one of the things that I think makes this team a little distinct from other teams in this tournament, what you're able to do when you are ramping up that pressure. How much better have you gotten at that over the course of the season? What's it like playing it?

CHELSIE HALL: I think it just all goes with how much we trust each other. We know where each other is going to be before it happens, and I think that we kind of read off each other. It makes it fun, and we love playing defense. We're intense with it, and it brings a lot of our offense as well.

Q. Hailey, you guys talked about the intensity, and you love playing defense, where does that come from? At what point in the off-season did you realize this is going to be a team that feeds off the intensity that you have on the defensive end?

HAILEY VAN LITH: I think it comes from how we feed off each other. Before we turned this corner, even the Miami game we would get stops and kinda look at each other, and there was no energy. We weren't feeding off each other, the rotations weren't there. Stuff like that.

I think we've turned the corner in the fact that, like, we use every ounce of momentum we can get, and we're going to run with it, especially in a tournament like this.

But I do think -- we're talking a lot about defense, but we've got a lot of great scorers on this team and sitting at this table right now, and we love to score.

So we really do play defense the way we do because we want to score so bad and we love to get out and run. We love to put the ball in the hoop and we're flashy and fun to watch on the offensive end.

I will say that is something that I think gets shadowed by our defense because we are so good at defense, and we do it well, but offensively I think we're really hard to guard. We have five people on the floor that can score at all times. You kind of have to pick your poison at times because everyone can score, everyone is good.

I think most of our defensive energy comes from the fact that we just want to score.

Q. Emily, the goal is to get to the Final Four. You bowed out of the tournament last year and this game. For the girls returning, what would it mean for you to win tomorrow, and have you thought about that feeling of making it to Minneapolis?

EMILY ENGSTLER: I have never cut down a net. I've never won a championship. I've never been to a Final Four. I've never made it past second round. This would mean everything to me, leave it all out on the court.

And I think it's cool that we get to play amazing teams such as Michigan and that everybody is doing everything they can to push forward because it makes winning so much better. I think the most important part of it is to have fun and do it with the people you love, which obviously we love each other. I'm just excited to play the game. I kinda want to get there already.

OLIVIA COCHRAN: Just going off what Emily say, just winning for our seniors and stuff, knowing this is their last game, just trying to get there first. Just going to play hard and just keep grinding.

HAILEY VAN LITH: Yeah, I mean, the seniors are a big part of it. We all really care about each other. We have a lot of genuine friendships on this team and honestly, I want to keep winning because I want to obviously play in a Final Four and win, but, like, I want to get to have another practice with them, to have another stretch, another shootaround where the music is playing, and we're all having fun; we got our camcorder out there blogging everything.

We have a lot of fun together, and I want to keep that going and make the most of it and run with it as far as we can.

CHELSIE HALL: This is my last year so I mean it would be amazing. Just to do it with these girls. I really love each and every one of them. We really do this for each other. It's just amazing to just be able to have this opportunity.

KIANNA SMITH: Yeah, as a senior obviously getting to go to a Final Four would be everything. I would say our goal is to win it all. We don't want to sell ourselves short. We want to do something that Louisville has never done before and that's win a national championship, but we're not looking too far ahead. We're taking it one game at a time and enjoying all the little moments together.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies.

We are joined now by Louisville head coach Jeff Walz. Questions for Coach.

Q. That December 8th game against Michigan seemed like forever ago now. Where do you feel like your team has grown the most since that game?

COACH WALZ: That game was back in early December. I mean, it's -- both teams are so much better. Both teams have improved. You really can go back and watch that game just to look at some defensive things, how they may have guarded some ball screens, how we defended.

But looking at personnel, everybody's so much different. For us, I think we've gotten better at the offensive end of the floor. We're executing better. We're much more efficient. Then defensively, we're continuing to play at a high level, and that's what we're going to have to have tomorrow night. It's a great, great Michigan team that has depth. They can shoot the ball, they can throw it inside. Naz is a tremendous player.

We've got to do everything we can to make it as difficult for her to score as possible, and then we have to rebound. We're fortunate in our Tennessee game that a lot of the offensive rebounds -- I think we gave up 23 of them, but 10 of them were dead ball, which means they got knocked out-of-bounds. So we were able to set up defense. We have to do a much better job tomorrow night of keeping them off the glass. Expecting a physical and very, very good basketball game tomorrow night.

Q. Jeff, Kim was talking about the freedom that she perceives you allow Emily on defense. Wondering if you could give us a sense for what you allow her to do and whether she has more latitude than other players you've had in the past?

COACH WALZ: It's all scripted. Everything she does, except for when she goes for a steal and misses, that's when she does it on her own, but everything else I've told her to do. That's why I'm a good coach. (Chuckles.) Now, if she gambles and gets beat, damn it, that's on her, that's not me. Okay?

Emily's instincts for the basketball are off the charts. She reads passing lanes as well as any player we have had here since Angel McCoughtry. And when you start comparing someone to Angel, you're pretty darn good.

That's what Em does. She has a knack for the basketball, she can read people's eyes. She might not get a steal every time, but she is making people start their offense a lot further out. What looks like is going to be a clean entry pass into the post, she gets a hand on it, now the post player has to step to the ball, so it takes them out of their scoring zone.

There are a lot of things that Em does that's hard to prepare for if you're the other coach because I don't even know what she's going to do. I just tell her, just play the game, just be you.

Now, there are times when I'm like, Em, singles. We don't need home runs right now. We just need singles. And she has gotten better at knowing time and score and when it's okay to try to go for a steal. Sometimes when we don't get them, then we do give up an easy basket. The outcome has been a lot better than worse when she actually tries to read a lane and tries to take it.

So she has a little more freedom than most just because she has that instinct of knowing where and when that next pass is coming, and then her recovery time is outstanding, too. Shell go for a steal and miss it, but she doesn't stop, she's right back in the play. There have been several times where she has missed a steal and has gone back and ended up getting the defensive board for us.

Q. (Away from mic regarding deflections.)

COACH WALZ: I'm still waiting on that one. We're still breaking that film down. We went straight to Michigan. We should have that by the afternoon.

Q. You know Sam Purcell is going to Mississippi State. How do you think he's done the double-duty thing, and what's the best piece of advice you have given him in the last couple of weeks?

COACH WALZ: Sam has done a great job. Just try to relax. It's one of the things that takes place when you get your first opportunity to be a head coach, trying to burn the candle at both ends, trying to make sure he's staying on top of things here and also trying to stay on top of things there.

I've just tried to talk to him about enjoying it, just make sure you enjoy this moment. Take care of the players that are currently at Mississippi State. Make sure you take care of the ones that are there. Hire yourself a staff, take your time, when you're doing it, because you've got to get a good staff.

Then enjoy the moment that you have here. Because this is hard. I mean, I say it all the time, everybody laughs at me, there's only 2% of women's basketball teams still playing. There's about 360 Division I schools, and there are only eight still playing. And this is our fourth straight year of being in this game. It's not easy.

You have to enjoy it. You have to enjoy the moment because I tell our players all the time, you can sit there and go back in 10, 15 years, and you'll remember a game or two, you will talk about a game, but it's the moments, the experiences that took place on this trip. The laughs you had in the eating room, the laughs you had at practice.

You will talk about a few games, it's true. When we had our 10-year reunion for our '09 Final Four team, yeah, they talked about a few games, but, man, the stories they told about what took place on the road trip and at somebody's room and the dorm over here, it's what you remember.

That's what I've told Sam. Don't get too far ahead of yourself. Just enjoy this. Continue to stay focused, and then hopefully in a week and a half, when we are finished, then he can go full go into that and worry about recruiting and everything else he's got.

And he's done a great job. He's been in touch with all his players, he's gone down there. Monday was our day off, he flew down there and met with the entire team, was back on Tuesday for practice.

So he's done great.

Q. Coach, you had the opportunity to work with Naz Hillmon twice with USA Basketball. How has she grown as player? Does that give you an advantage knowing her, having coached her one-on-one a little bit through that experience?

COACH WALZ: Well, I will start with the first. Naz is relentless. It's one thing I love about her. She doesn't stop. She has a motor that you don't teach. You either have it or you don't. And she'll shoot, and if you feel good about yourself that you made her miss, well, she's going to get the board.

You've got to stay in contact with her the entire time. You've got to put a body on her. It's not -- it doesn't give you any advantage. It's been three or four years since we had the opportunity to be on that USA Basketball team. She has gotten so much better since then.

Really her free throw shooting over four years is so much better. It used to be her freshman year where you could foul her and put her at the line and she would struggle, and now she's shooting 75% at the line. Her 15-foot game is continuing to get better. She shoots with her right or left hand.

So it's nothing that I'm going to get as an advantage from having worked with her. There's so much film out there. We just live on film at this point in time.

Your second part was what?

Q. How she has grown as a player?

COACH WALZ: I answered part of that there. Her game has evolved. She is continuing to get better at all aspects of it. She's fun to watch. I mean, it's amazing she gets done what she gets done, because it's not like she's 6'5" in there.

But when you are a competitor, you embrace contact and you don't stop, you are hard to guard.

Q. Jeff, I have heard you talk about scrambling and that's how you can get it going. How has this team gotten better in that scramble mode situation, and is that part of its identity now?

COACH WALZ: Yeah, we have to get people moving. We've got to get people out of their sets and try to get them into a point where they're just playing basketball, where they're making reads instead of A goes to B goes to C.

Now, what's happening for us is I tell our kids all the time, when the ball is in the air, our feet have to be in the air. And we're not flat-footed very often anymore. So when you see a ball get skipped, I got five kids moving instead of one moving and four watching to see where it's going to go.

We're moving in the direction of the pass. That's what we have to do because when we can scramble and then we're picking up for each other, what looks like an open pass ends up being a steal.

That's what we have to keep doing. It took place several times in our game last night. Looked like they had a couple easy looks in the key in the post out of transition and our rotation was right there. We got, I think, two steals off that and batted one out-of-bounds.

People are going to score when you press. But sometimes you're trying to get them to play at the pace that you want to play at. For us, if we can get this thing moving up and down the floor, that's more to our advantage offensively because we like to run and we're much better at scoring while we run.

Q. Jeff, you and Kim are close to the same age. I think she is maybe a year older than you are?

COACH WALZ: She is way older than I am.

(Laughter.)

Q. You guys have both established yourselves as iconic figures in your program and had the most success at your programs. What is your relationship with her? How long have you known her? Also, if you could talk about the way you have evolved as a coach from going to your first Final Four in '09.

COACH WALZ: Kim and I go back to the Big East days when she was at St. John's, I was here. I got to know Kim. I think she does a great job. Then we had the opportunity to work together at USA Basketball under Dawn Staley through a two-year stretch, so I got to know her through that.

And we have stayed in contact. That's a neat part about this game. And when you do get the opportunity to be a part of USA Basketball, you get the opportunity to work with other head coaches. I consider Kim a friend, and she has done a great job there.

It's been fun. For our program, you know, it's -- a lot has changed for the fact of in '09 no one really -- I got hired in '07-'08 was my first year, then '08-'09, and the goal was to get to a Sweet 16. And our first year we got to a Sweet 16. It was a big deal, it was an exciting time at Louisville. And then in year two with Angel and Candyce and Des Byrd and Becky Burke, Monique Reid, just to name a few of those kids on that team, I think we kind of shocked everybody, and we get to a Final Four.

Our program has been built on honesty because I tell our kids all the time, and Angel will tell you, I go into halftime our Oklahoma game, and I can remember Rebecca Lobo was the sideline reporter. She was kind enough to flip her heels off so she wasn't so much taller than I was and she asked me about Angel and I said she was terrible, that's the worst half of basketball I've seen her play and if she continues to play this way, we have no chance. People were appalled. I can't believe you would say that about a kid. I can't believe you would say that about a player. What's wrong with the truth? See, we speak the truth. When I got into halftime I told Angel, I said, Angel, they asked me about you. I told them you were terrible, and she was like, well I was. And she goes, it's going to change. Sounds good.

We go out there and roll off the first 15 points and she had 9 of them. That's how we built our program, on honesty and just telling kids the truth. Some like it, some don't, but at the end of the day I sleep well at night, because I know how we do it is the right way. Because we're not just preparing them for the game of basketball, but we're preparing them for the game of life.

We've been fortunate enough to get to three Final Fours, and we have an opportunity tomorrow night against a great basketball team to get to our fourth.

But it's going to take our best effort. We're going to have to play as well as we've played all year and be as focused as we have been all year, because it's -- all these games right now are games of runs. I don't care if you get up 15 on somebody, if you get up 20 on somebody, you can't get happy.

Because everybody knows there is no next game if you don't win. So the urgency is always there.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.