Lockwood assumed the role of head coach for both yesterday's matchup against Northwestern and Wednesday's upcoming matchup against No. 6 Indiana after Head Coach Suzy Merchant tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. He said it was all a matter of there being a need and he filled it, it's all a part of the job.

Lockwood had to dust some rust off because it's been 18 years since he last stood in Merchant's spot, joking that it's only "12 inches over" from where he now normally sits. As an associate, he has to be about 80% analytical and 20% emotional when it comes to coaching. However, as the head coach, the balance becomes a little bit different.

"The old Minnesota Vikings coach said this, Bud Grant, and I've always remembered this: A sign of great leadership is when you can remove the leader temporarily and the team still functions at a high level," Lockwood said. "That's a credit to Suzy. They wanted to show that, you know what, even though she's not here with us physically, the stuff you prepared us for, the concepts, everything, we can execute."

Merchant received a FaceTime call following locker room celebrations, where she expressed her pride and love for the ladies.

Lockwood said he and Merchant talked a lot between Saturday morning and tip-off. They game-planned together and were even shooting each other text messages throughout the game. He appreciated that the collaboration was still present despite the circumstances. He also said he was grateful for the assistant coaches Maria Fantanarosa and Kristin Haynie.

"Maria and Kristin were tremendous on the bench," Lockwood said. "We have a great working chemistry. I'm very, very thankful and blessed here to have great people to work with. I can't tell you enough just how much fun it was. It was a team effort all the way around."

Freshman forward Matilda Ekh said it's really different not having Merchant around, but going through adversity can be good for you. She said it made them tougher going into yesterday.

"We just talked about playing together, playing for her and playing tough," Ekh said. "(Coach Lockwood) did a great job today and so did the rest of the coaches, bringing the energy and sticking to the game plan."

Senior guard Nia Clouden agreed with her teammate, quoting Lockwood's past as head coach of both Saginaw Valley and Northwood's men's basketball teams between 1991 and 2004. Lockwood also has roughly 19 seasons worth of assistant coaching under his belt, between 1982 when he worked for Central Michigan as a fresh graduate to 2019 when he was officially hired onto the Spartan's staff.

"He knows what he's doing," Clouden said.

Lockwood and Merchant have both said that consistency is an issue for their team, but they're looking to keep this fire blazing as they head to Bloomington on Wednesday to take on their first top-10 team this season.

"You're going to hit bumps in the road here and there, but to be able to maintain (a good flow), that's what often separates and defines good teams," Lockwood said. "We've got to reinforce what happened today, how it happened and why it happened. I think one of the things about coaching that I've realized for years is so important is that the players don't need to just know the how, but also the why. So tomorrow we'll probably just go over the whys, show why this happened, what we did well and how we got to this point and hopefully it reinforces the habits we're looking for. This word is used a lot and sometimes I know it's cliche, but it's a process."