Jillian Hayes was supposed to be the future of the University of Cincinnati women's basketball program.
Well, that future is now.
With former UC forward and 2021 American Athletic Conference Player of the Year IImar'I Thomas transferring to UCLA to be closer to her hometown of Oakland, California, Hayes, a Cincinnati native and former Loveland High School standout, is expected to take on a much larger role for the Bearcats this season.
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"It's funny because a lot of the freshmen will ask me how to do this, and I'm like, 'I don't know. This is kind of my first time going at it too,'" said Hayes, who averaged 7.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.1 blocks last season en route to earning a spot on the American Athletic Conference All-Freshman Team. "But I'm definitely excited to have all the fans back. I think the eagerness of people even last year wanting to come to games but not being able to. So I'm looking forward to having a lot of people up in the stands."
After finishing 8-16 (6-12 AAC) in an injury-plagued 2020-21 season that also included a few COVID-19 pauses, UC head coach Michelle Clark-Heard, Hayes and the Bearcats open their 2021-22 slate against Alabama A&M on Wednesday at Fifth Third Arena (7 p.m. on ESPN+).
"I think last year taught us all a lot, just who we are as individuals, who we are as people in the midst of times when adversity hits," Clark-Heard said. "I think the most important thing for me that I always do, and I've always been this way, is just rely on my faith. I wanted to make sure that every single day I came in with the mind set that they understood and knew that last year was last year and this year is this year, but never forgetting the things and the struggles that we went through so we could build upon them for this year."
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Clark-Heard began her tenure as UC head coach in 2018 with back-to-back 20-win seasons and an appearance in a conference (AAC) tournament final, both of which hadn't happened for the program since the 2002-03 season.
In order to bounce back from last season's turbulent campaign, Clark-Heard has reloaded her roster with eight new faces, including Virginia Tech transfer and former Lakota West High School standout Nevaeh Dean.
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Clark-Heard will still rely heavily on returning senior Arame Niang and junior twins Jada Scott and Jadyn Scott. But it's the versatile, 6-foot-1 Hayes who will need to take the next step in order for the Bearcats to reach their ceiling this season.
"The thing about Jillian that I really love, and we saw a lot of this last year, she's able to play multiple positions," Clark-Heard said. "When you can do that, that means you're going to be on the floor a lot. So I wanted to make sure that she could get herself in the best shape that she possibly could, and man, she took it to heart. She's changed her body. She's really focused on her conditioning.
"She's going to be able to do a lot of different things, and I think that's where her game has to continue to grow. She's such a winner and such a competitor. ... But taking that next step would be every single day, day in and day out, coming out and doing whatever this team needs, but also too helping lead this young group."
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