The news of Kobe Bryant’s passing affects every basketball community, even right here in Lafayette.

UL women’s basketball head coach Garry Brodhead opened his press conference on Monday reflecting on Kobe’s relationship with his daughter Gigi, who also passed in the crash.

Brodhead says he relates to their bond, as he coached his own daughters.

“As a dad, I was able to coach my daughters,” Brodhead says. “And I love basketball, but I didn’t know what women’s basketball was until I coached them. Kobe said ‘I saw it through Gigi.’ He said ‘I was able to see basketball through a different light through her.’ That’s what happened to me. It kind of touches you, and I just think that it’s a big loss for not only basketball, but the whole world.”