2026 PHILLIPS 66 BIG 12 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 4, 2026

Matthew Mitchell

TK Pitts

Shun'teria Anumele

T-Mobile Center

Houston Cougars

Postgame Press Conference

BYU-76, Houston-66

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Houston Cougar Head Coach Matthew Mitchell, student-athletes TK Pitts and Shun Anumele. Coach, comments about the game?

MATTHEW MITCHELL: I was so proud of our hustle today. BYU is a fantastic team, a tough team for us to match up with. They are playing really good basketball here at the end of the season. We knew it would be a big challenge. We told our players and asked our players to try to out-work them and out-hustle them today, and we just gave a tremendous effort.

So proud of that. We congratulate BYU. They are a fantastic team and playing great basketball right now.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. For either one of the players, in this game it seemed like you guys jumped out with a ton of aggression, trying to do some trappings, different things that way. How were you able to frustrate BYU and keep that game really close?

SHUN'TERIA ANUMELE: At the beginning of the season we played them, and we realized that the pressure that we brought upon them, it kind of scared them a little bit. So just going into this game -- and we only have five players. We just got a little bit fatigued towards the end of the game. We knew that keeping that same mindset, that same energy in this game with more players, it was going to have them a little frantic again.

Q. Coach, you get them to turn over the ball 15 times in that first half, being really aggressive, doing all those different things. What changed that allowed them -- do you think, that allowed them to make that run?

MATTHEW MITCHELL: (Indiscernible) they just made some timely shots, some shots at the right time. I thought that we were still out there hustling and putting the pressure on them.

I thought there were a few bang-bang plays there that could have gone our way that we -- just the ball slipped out of our hands, and they were able to capitalize. I think they made some adjustments, some good coaching adjustments, at halftime and just started really pounding the ball into the paint.

No. 13 is just a really good player and hard to guard. They just made some good adjustments and made some good execution, and it was a close game. We were right there with a couple of minutes left. You have to give all the credit to BYU.

Q. Talk about just being around this group of young ladies and how it feels. First year is finally done, but talk about some of the positives.

MATTHEW MITCHELL: I told the team in the locker room, the word that comes to my mind is "gratitude." Just gratitude for the opportunity, grateful that Houston selected me to lead the program. It's a really special place, and this was a special group of players, because they did not get the results we wanted, but they continued to improve. They developed over the year.

Both of these players by my side are just incredible examples of how their game has developed and how they got better.

You know, we know the future is very bright for our program. These players taught me a lot this year, and so we'll go in and build for next year with a lot of confidence, because these players gave everything they had this season.

I was proud to coach them and just full of gratitude.

Q. Coach Mitchell, what does it mean to you coaching these three seniors, TK, Bri, Amirah? And also, TK, tell us about your last year here at UH. And, Shun, what was it like playing with this group of seniors?

TK PITTS: This being my last year, I'm very emotional right now, so I apologize in advance. But I've learned a lot. I think my greatest accomplishment at Houston is I grew as a human being, not only a basketball player. So I'm forever grateful for Coach Mitchell, just the opportunity that he gave me.

This group of girls he brought in, regardless of any stat or record this year, we really built something special within that locker room and within that gym and came in and made each other better every day. We were very grateful every day.

It's hard to be upset about things when you are just grateful for the opportunity. Just the things that Coach Mitchell has instilled in me and the team and hard work, honesty, and discipline, those are things that I'm going to carry with me the rest of my life. I just can't thank you enough.

SHUN'TERIA ANUMELE: With the seniors, you have the older group, and then you have me, a part of the younger group. I feel like them enforcing that camaraderie with us was just a great experience. You don't have that with a lot of teams. I didn't have that in past teams.

But this team, it was great, just everybody being on the same page. Even outside of the basketball, we just had great moments with each other. Even moments we had at Coach Mitchell's house, the moments we had with recruits.

Every moment with those seniors was just a great moment to have and be around.

MATTHEW MITCHELL: Yeah, the seniors were really important for our team this year. You think about TK just about every game had the toughest defensive assignment. Her offensive game just grew tremendously this year, and she became a really reliable scoring option for us, and just proud to see her growth as a player.

I think Amirah and Bri as well just had tremendous growth in their game. I think we wanted to create that atmosphere where they could grow as people as well. That's really important to how we want to build the program and why it's going to continue to be a special place to play.

These seniors, we've got some big shoes to fill here. We'll go into constructing next year's roster really informed on what we need to do, and these seniors helped us do that. We're going to be aggressive and build a high-character, up-tempo team that's hard-nosed. We are excited for the future, and this is going to be an exciting place to play.

Again, I'll just go grateful for the seniors, but grateful for all of them because we learned so much about what we need to do to be successful here, and we truly have confidence that we will be and continue to be.

Q. TK, just with you going out, what would you like to say to any recruits or anyone kind of looking at Coach Mitchell building up his version of this program?

TK PITTS: This program is founded on three things, the winning tools: hard work, honesty, discipline. He'll preach it every single day.

But, you know, he just expects you to come in and bring your best every single day, whether your 100% is a 60%, whether your 100% is an 80%. Bring your best to the team. Big on energy and just creating an energy and an atmosphere that's just unbeatable.

I believe I seen one Houston shirt out there as we played in the stands, but once you create your own energy on the court, none of that matters.

Just coming in and being coachable, he does a very great job at coaching you as a human as well and just preparing you for the rest of your life and feeding you information and knowledge and wisdom that you can take with you and carry with you anywhere.

I think that's the greatest gift about coming to Houston.

Q. Everyone is talking about the new court and everything about it. How did it feel to be on it? Have you been on it before? Does it feel that much different than being on hardwood?

TK PITTS: I think it does. I think it feels different.

SHUN'TERIA ANUMELE: I do, too.

TK PITTS: Yeah, it was kind of hot, too. You get down on the surface, it's a little hot.

It was nice. It was nice. I think it was really cool. I was trying to look at it during starting lineups and stuff, just the design and the LED and everything that comes with it. I think it was cool, but slick, but it was nice.

SHUN'TERIA ANUMELE: Yeah, I agree. It was just amazing to be a part of. Not everybody gets to play on glass courts, and just to be a part of that was an amazing experience.

MATTHEW MITCHELL: I felt very quick on the court. I felt like I moved with tremendous quickness and speed, so I liked the court a lot. It was awesome.