Iowa players impressed by Cardinals

Monika Czinano came back to Iowa for another year for an opportunity like this. A chance to advance to the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament. She and her Hawkeye teammates will get that chance on Sunday night when they face Louisville.

The Iowa players have been studying film and they are impressed the effort from the Cardinals, particularly on the defensive end of the floor.

Iowa All American Caitlin Clark also has a relationship with Louisville’s Coach Waltz and their star player, Hailey Van Lith from playing for USA Basketball. They cover what they have seen from Louisville and more at their press conference on Saturday morning in Seattle.

Q. Caitlin, I know you and Coach Walz have a relationship from your time at USA Basketball, and everyone probably doesn’t know the story, but can you revisit the one from I think the finals game when he had you go and shoot the free throws and the history of I think he told you that morning, if something happens, you’re going to do it?

CAITLIN CLARK: I honestly forgot about that until you brought it up. But, man, what was it three years ago now when I was playing for Team USA, and I was the youngest one on the team. The first time I played the U19 team, it was the World Cup. We were in Thailand at the time and we were playing Australia, which the U19 World Cup is one of the hardest Junior National team events to win just because you’re playing against a lot of girls that play professional basketball, usually, and we’re playing with college girls.

So I remember he came up to me before the game when we were warming up. He’s like, If we get in the situation where I got put someone in off the bench to shoot free throws, I’m picking you. And I’m like, Oh, okay, whatever, that’s not going to happen. I think Rhyne Howard got busted in the face pretty good and her nose was pretty messed up, gushing blood. We were down at the time, and then I had to go in. They called an intentional foul, and I made one for two. And then I stayed in the game, and he drew up a play, and Hailey Van Lith made a bucket to tie it and send it to overtime and we end up winding gold.

So it was pretty incredible and, honestly, we probably should have lost the game and won silver. But, yeah, he kind of like predicted what was going to happen, so it was a pretty cool moment.

Q. There’s a lot of — when I watch your guys’ games on TV, the have fans with the Law of Clark and Czinano, do you know where that shirt came from? Is that something that you guys created or just fans made those?

MONIKA CZINANO: No. Christy Winters-Scott came up with the idea and the law firm thing and it really just stuck. The Clark and Czinano, it kind of just sounds good together. But, yeah, Hawk fans really just ate it up. So it kind of took off from there. But, yeah, all the credit goes to Christy Winters-Scott for that.

Q. Monika, you’re the only one on this team who was on the Elite 8 team. You were a freshman way back in 2019. Just what experience did you learn from that and what are you trying to give to your teammates going into tomorrow’s game from that experience?

MONIKA CZINANO: Yeah, I mean, it almost feels like a different lifetime ago playing on that team. But I think a lot of it just it’s such a cool moment, making sure you’re staying in the moment. It’s easy to kind of view this as a vacation, but I don’t think anybody on our team is doing that at all.

But just it’s a business trip and we have more we want to prove. Quite honestly, that team was so different from this team it’s hard to even compare ’em. But just taking each game as it comes and just enjoying the moment with your team.

Q. Coach was saying that from her perspective, it’s important for you guys all to approach the game tomorrow just like any other game and not let the pressure get to you. How have you just navigated pressure and expectations throughout the season but also going into a stage like tomorrow?

McKENNA WARNOCK: Yeah, I think this entire season we’ve done a great job of just staying true to ourselves. We know that we didn’t have to be anyone else yesterday and we know that going forward. I think that all of the amazing experiences that we’ve had and all battles we’ve had through the Big Ten and throughout the season has just prepared us so much for this post-season. That’s just kind of what keeps our confidence.

Q. You’ve obviously played with Hailey. How would you describe her game on the court and what she does for her team?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I think she’s somebody that plays with a ton of energy and passion and that’s what I admire most. I’m somebody that plays with that same level of passion and energy and excitement. She’s feisty. I think that’s what I love about her. Really good mid-range jump shot, really good attacking the rim. But I think more than anything, she’s just an emotional leader for them. They’re never going to be out of it no matter what the score is. I think she really puts the team on her back and really carries them, carries a big load. She — I played the point guard spot with her on USA Basketball. We were roommates for awhile on part of the trip, so I know her pretty well. A great person, but also a really good basketball player. So I’m excited to go up against her and go against Coach Walz, who was also my coach. So I know him really well and it will be a fun, fun game.

Q. Coach talked about Hawkeye Nation traveling real well to Seattle. It was a great crowd, a very pro-Iowa crowd last night. Maybe, McKenna, you can start. Talk about how the crowd fed you guys, especially in those later moments when they really got animated for some of the bigger plays coming down the stretch.

McKENNA WARNOCK: Yeah, it’s amazing. Hawkeye fans truly are the best in the nation. I think that it’s kind of shown through our home crowd and then also coming all the way out here to Seattle. I mean, that’s not an easy flight. Kind of a Carver West type situation out here, which is awesome to have.

But they really just feed into our energy and I think that that’s something that helps so much down the stretch. They love those big plays and they love to watch Caitlin and love to watch Monika, they love to watch our team, and it’s really awesome to have ’em in this experience.

Q. I know you’re still going and looking at film and scouting Louisville, but what stands out about that team that just makes them so tough and able to get to the Elite 8?

CAITLIN CLARK: I think they’re a very good defensive team. They’re going to come in here and D up. Obviously Hailey’s kind of their engine and what makes ’em go. But also they have good post players and then super well coached. They have the tradition of being in the Final Four. Jeff’s had ’em there quite a few times. I think this is their fifth straight Elite 8 appearance. So it’s not anything that they’re strangers of. But I think at the same time, yeah, maybe this group hasn’t been to the Final Four or the Elite 8 for us, but we’ve had the opportunity to play with each other for three years, so it’s not anything we’re going to shy away from. We’ve been in plenty of big games. But I think that’s the biggest thing about them, they have experience being in this situation, they’re really well coached.

Q. Outside of what Louisville does, what do you guys need to focus on just from an internal Iowa standpoint to be the victors tomorrow? What are sort of the things that, trying to push out the noise and really say, these are the things that as Iowa players we need to focus on that are sort of keys for the game?

MONIKA CZINANO: I think just sticking true to our fundamentals, playing Iowa basketball. Not taking super quick shots, really making them work in their defense. But playing good defense ourselves. Like they’re a really quick, explosive offensive team, so just making sure we stick true to our fundamentals and like McKenna said not be anything different than we have been all season.

Q. Caitlin, it feels like this is an AAU tournament in a sense, the two regions and different things. I know you guys are focused on the game you had yesterday and the game tomorrow, but have you paid attention to the other bracket at all? I know you have the same hotels, you see them around. Is there any feel — because this is the first time they’re doing this with eight teams in one place, so how do you feel about this set up?

CAITLIN CLARK: I think I like it. Obviously it’s not close to the state of Iowa, but I still feel like we have really good support here. We get to play in a city that loves women’s basketball. I think at the same time we really love getting to play the first day rather than the second day. Because we won and we’re moving on and you get to watch all the other teams play. I think a lot of us just love watching women’s basketball. So we always have the TV on. We were just watching the Maryland-Notre Dame game. So I think it’s fun. I think it’s cool — obviously we’re not going to be coming to all the games today, that’s just not really how it works. Obviously we have game ourself that we have to prepare for. But I think I like the two regional sites. I mean, I don’t really know too much different, I guess, because I played in the bubble and then one time last year and now this. So it’s been different for me every year. But I think it’s been good. I thought the turnout was really good yesterday. But, yeah, I think we love getting to watch other teams, we love getting to watch women’s basketball, so it’s been fun.

Q. Monika, for you, you came back for your fifth year, probably for games like this one tomorrow. Just to get your team back to the Elite 8 is something you haven’t done since your freshman year and then no one else on your team has done. How much does that mean to you and how much do you have extra motivation because you decided to come back and play in this last year for a game like this?

MONIKA CZINANO: Yeah, I mean, this opportunity right here was a huge reason of why I came back. But an even bigger one was to play basketball with these girls and our coaching staff. It truly is a family. We don’t just say that. So the opportunity to still be a part of it for another year was one that it would have been silly to turn down, honestly. So it’s super big. We’re just happy to still be playing basketball. We want to be around each other and doing what we love for as long as we can. So the opportunity to come out here and compete every single day is something that we don’t take for granted.

Q. When you all were talking yesterday about like at halftime just kind of needing to collect yourselves and figure out what you had to do moving forward to erase that deficit, is that something that is player led, when you all kind of figure out where to move forward; or is that coach led, is that a little bit of both how do you all kind of, I guess, move forward or come together in those moments?

McKENNA WARNOCK: I mean, I think it’s a little bit of both. But I think we just have so much maturity on the team and so much experience that we’re kind of able to understand when we need those moments just to collect and take a deep breath. I think yesterday that’s all we really needed. We needed to just get back down to our roots and just kind of know that we don’t have to be anything different going into that second half. And I think we did a great job right out of that.