West Virginia women’s basketball caught national attention as they took No. 1 Iowa to the wire in their round of 32 loss in the NCAA Tournament.

In addition to many nationwide, the game was watched by football coach Neal Brown, who has always given praise to other WVU sports teams. After the game, Brown said, “loved watching you compete all year. Team had grit and toughness! Free throw comparison tonight,” Brown said mentioning a discrepancy in foul calls.

On Wednesday, Brown held one of his spring practice press conferences and praised the Mountaineer women’s hoops squad. In addition to that, he told about the message he had for his team about how the women’s team performed.

“Coach Kellogg and the women’s basketball team, I thought that was really impressive. I thought it showed well on national tv. If we can play defense and we can show as much grit and toughness as those women did this season, then we’re going to be in pretty good shape.”