Despite illness, ASU women’s basketball coach arrives In Iowa City for First Four matchup

TEMPE – Reports started swirling Wednesday morning that coach Molly Miller did not travel with ASU women’s basketball for an NCAA Tournament First Four matchup against Virginia. 

Yet Miller, battling a virus, powered through and arrived in Iowa City, Iowa, Thursday in time for the team’s 6 p.m. MST tip-off.

Even when she was sidelined, Miller’s identity resonated from over 1,000 miles away, and in the most Molly Miller way possible. At a pregame news conference for Thursday’s game, senior guard Marley Washenitz elaborated on the first-year coach’s impact throughout the regular season.

“Just because she’s not physically here with us doesn’t mean she’s not doing things behind the scenes,” Washenitz said. “She’s been doing scout. She’s been up late watching film and she’s been communicating to us as well. So, yes, we miss her presence physically but she’s always there with us doing things.”

Throughout the season, Miller’s energetic, positive impact was felt in a tangible way, reverberating through the line of assistant coaches by her side.

“We want Molly to be at everything we can do, obviously, but at the same time, we have great assistant coaches and Molly always says that she has head coaches that assist, not assistant coaches,” Washenitz said. 

The Sun Devils insist they will play the way they have the entire season.

“I think we just need to be ourselves and continue to play to our strengths and keep our identity what it is,” Washenitz said. “We have been a defensive team the whole season.”

Washenitz isn’t the only player who echoes the importance of defense. Senior guard Gabby Elliott leads the team in scoring, but has been a leader on both sides of the ball in 2025-26. Like her teammates, she highlights the defensive mentality preached by Miller. 

“We knew that defense was our calling and that’s what’s going to carry us through this tournament,” Elliott said. “It’s going to be our defense and us staying true to who we are and making sure that we bring energy in those aspects and let everything else, like offense, follow.”

On Sunday after being selected to the tournament, Washenitz highlighted her connection to Virginia’s roster: playing travel ball with the Cavaliers top scorer, Kymora Johnson. However, Washenitz isn’t the only player on the Sun Devils roster with a connection to Virginia. Two others either played or coached in the ACC. One is Elliott. While Washenitz spoke about her connection to a player on Virginia, Elliott called out the Cavaliers coach, Amaka Agugua-Hamilton.

“Being around in a couple different conferences myself, I think I’m more so familiar with the head coach,” Elliott said. “She’s great, recruited me before. She’s a great coach and she’s going to bring a great team as well.”

The other person in the ASU locker room connected to the ACC is Stephanie Norman, who spent 18 seasons coaching Louisville. Echoing Elliott’s sentiment, Norman shouted out both Johnson and Agugua-Hamilton.

“Coach Mak has done an amazing job with that group,” Norman said. “Year after year, they have continued to improve and … they arguably have the best guard in the conference in Kymora Johnson.”

While Miller made waves building ASU’s program in her first season in Tempe, Agugua-Hamilton has had a similar impact in Charlottesville. The season before she took over the top job with the Cavaliers, they went 5-22. Since joining them in 2022-23, Virginia hasn’t had a season under .500, finally returning to the NCAA Tournament in 2026. Looking back, Agugua-Hamilton highlighted the importance of her culture.

“I knew what I was walking into and I knew it was going to be a challenging job, but I also wanted to build it the right way,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “I wanted to build it with my culture. I wanted to build it with my standards and we had to rebuild a lot.”

Program building isn’t the only similarity between Miller and Agugua-Hamilton. A focus on defense is something the coaches also share. With Agugua-Hamilton’s team leading the ACC in blocked shots per game with 6.67 in 2025-26, the value of effort in her defensive system is clear.

“We have quite a few bigs, and they’ve been great protecting the rim, but we also have guards that block shots,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “We really stress contesting, and so just if you’re flying out there trying to contest, naturally you’re going to get some tips or blocks but I just wanted to – especially with this year, we really wanted to get some fives in there, some bigs, some height, some length, some physicality and it’s been easier to play out what we need to do in my philosophy.”

The mindset for Virginia is clear: restore the program to its glory days. Virginia made the women’s tournament every season from 1984-2003, a streak that included three consecutive Final Fours from 1990-1992. Johnson, Virginia’s star player, grew up in Charlottesville. The opportunity to compete in the tournament with the Cavaliers means the world to her.  

“It’s hard to put into words but that’s what I came here to do,” Johnson said. “That’s what these girls came here to do, put this place back on the map. Virginia in its glory days was amazing. I grew up watching Virginia. My mom grew up watching Virginia, so just knowing that that’s possible and finally being able to do it has been amazing. I’m really excited for tomorrow and the rest of March.”

With both teams in the First Four, it will take seven wins in the tournament to crown either one national champions. With the first step on the horizon, passion and effort are expected from both groups. 

For fans wondering what style of play they will see at Carver-Hawkeye arena, Elliott put it simply.

“You’re going to see a lot of ball pressure,” Elliott said. “We play a lot of team defense so it’s never just one person, whether that’s us helping on the post player, shrinking the court or finding shooters. That’s what you’re going to see. You’re going to see us get every 50/50 ball because every 50/50 ball is ours. You’re going to see us play hard.”

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