2017 NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
First Round • Kentucky vs. Belmont
Memorial Coliseum • Lexington, Ky.
Friday, March 17, 2017
POSTGAME QUOTES – Kentucky
Matthew Mitchell, Kentucky Head Coach
Opening Statement…
“Congratulations to Belmont. What a fantanstic tem they have and great season they’ve had. They really tested us in every way imaginable today. They were really, really tough and played a great game so we respected them going into the game and they have our total respect after the game. They really did a great job and pushed us to the limit. So proud of our team for finding a way to win on a day where it certainly all didn’t go right for us but we had to have a gut check at halftime and the players came back and gave enough efforts to win. I’m just really happy that we made to the next round. I’m proud of our players and I’m happy for them.”
On the tone of his halftime message…
“This year with this team we really tried to work on improving our communication so we’re very matter-of-fact. I was just so displeased with the second quarter. I don’t know what happened there. We did a good job and I had expected that there may be some rest but we handled ourselves pretty well in the first quarter and then we just stopped hustling and I just didn’t understand why that was happening. So I didn’t have a lot that I could tell them. I couldn’t help them a lot schematically or strategically until we got that fixed. So I was just matter-of-fact with them and let them know that until we got the hustle turned around, there wasn’t really anything that we could do to help them. Belmont was really the aggressor in that second quarter and I thought that was really dangerous for us because they got into a rhythm and then they started having some great belief that they could beat us. It was a difficult game and that second quarter was uncharacteristic of us from the standpoint of hustle. So we just tried to refocus on that. One big indicator is the boards when it was 20-9, that shouldn’t be the case if we’re hustling. They’re a great rebounding team. They were +12 all year but we just weren’t active and we weren’t trying the way we needed to. So I tried to talk about that and to our players credit they got it turned around.”
On the emotions during the last minute of the game…
“Well, I was just calm on the exterior. I can assure you that in my mind and inside I was taking off my jacket and loosening my tie, but that’s not helpful to our team. They’re a great group of players and young women and for whatever reason but we just were not with it mentally in certain segments of the game and that’s what allowed it to be a close game. So, we had to get that corrected but when I lose my composure and get upset that doesn’t help any so I just try to do the best I could to stay calm. I was asking them to have some charater and play with some intensity and I’ll do the opposite – staying calm and instructing them on what they need to do.”
On Belmont’s run in the fourth quarter…
“I thought they just played fantastic. They never stopped moving. They played with great energy and they played with some freedom. I thought we started looking at the scoreboard a little bit and felt some pressure. I know our team didn’t want to lose today so we did what we had to do to win. I thought Belmont just played with great energy, poise, and rhythm all day and in the second quarter they put their heads down and drove the ball. Smith had a huge second quarter, she was unstoppable. At the end, we made a couple of mistakes and they really made us pay. That’s a hard team to play your first game back after two weeks because they move, they’re well-coached, they’re well-schemed, they have great strategy and that’s just a difficult team to play. When you can shoot 3-pointers the way that they can, you’re never out of the game.”
On Epps’ 3-pointers and Taylor playing after coming back from injury…
“Epps has worked really hard on the 3-pointers. We started right after Christmas working on them and getting a lot of reps up and I think that helped her. She was at a really poor percentage going into conference play really imporved and I think that just comes from repetition, and I was not surprised that Belmont packed the lane and tried not to let her get there, but she is also a great rhythm shooter. When she gets in rhthym and gets her legs underneath her and gets her elbow underneath the ball and really uses her legs and her footwork, she can shoot 3-pointers well.
“I thought Taylor did a really good job. She was just cleared for contact yesterday so basically she played that game with six assists, 0 turnovers, four points and some really good defensive plays off of one practice. So, I thought she handled herself well and I think she will continue to get better from here.”
On what McKenzie did for the team today…
“McKenzie and Evelyn really gave us a great group guarding the 3-point line at the end of the game. We can switch everything with post players who aren’t used to getting in that kind of switching action so she helped us a lot defensively and we got enough stops to win the game. She had some good defensive plays today. She played a little uneven on the offensive end but she sure gave us a lot on the defensive end.”
On getting Maci the ball at the end of the game…
“I don’t think she worried too much about what was going on on the court and that’s a good demeanor to have in those types of situations. Because on the last couple of free throws, my heart was racing because you watch these kids, and I’ve been coaching for over 20 years now, and I still get amazed at watching these young people go up there in those situations and knock down those free throws. Maci is just a real cool player and didn’t get worked up about it. She made a bunch of defensive mistakes today but what I love about her is that I can get a little frustrated with her and she just keeps going. She’s always done that since the first day she got here. The 3-pointer that she didn’t think much of was a huge play in the game. That may have been the play of the game. It a great weapon to have – being able to get the ball to your 90 percent shooter and she produces. You need those type of things to win games and I’m really proud of her for making them.”
Maci Morris, UK Guard
On the last five minutes of the game…
“At the free-throw line, I just didn’t want to miss because in the past I’ve missed big free throws that could’ve helped us get a win, so I didn’t want to miss this time. After I missed one free throw Epps told me that I would make the next two. So I know my teammates have a lot of faith in me.”
On defining “gut-check” at halftime…
“Coach was disappointed in my hustle and he wanted me to come out and hustle and play better defense on No. 23 because she had 18 points the first half and it just wasn’t acceptable. So he wanted me to imporve with that and just try to pick the energy back up.”
Makayla Epps, UK Guard
On what it was like out on the perimeter…
“Belmont is a great 3-point shooting team and I feel like we matched them on the 3-point line. They only hit two more than we did and it’s funny because in warm-ups I was shooting 3s and my teammate was like ‘I want to see that in the game’ and I was like ‘I probably won’t shoot one 3 in the game’ and then I started the game shooting all 3s. So it’s just funny how the game works out, you never know what you’re going to be out there doing. The shots were open and I feel like I was feeling good, my feet were set and that’s just the good thing about our team in general – we have people that can score both from the perimeter and mid-range. Overall, it was just a really fun game today.”
On her thoughts during last minute of game…
“In the last minute I just wanted to make sure we got the ball to Maci. She’s the best free-throw shooter, shooting at about 80-90 percent and even though I had missed two, I had it in my mind that if they fouled me I was going to step up and make them. It was just a really good feeling today being back in Memorial Colliseum. For Evelyn and I it was Senior Night Part II and so now Sunday we have Senior Night Part III. So, we’re just going to keep celebrating senior night until senior night is over. We’re proud of the team and the poise that we had down the stretch.”
On defining “gut-check” at halftime…
“It wasn’t just Maci’s hustle, it was the whole team’s hustle. The second quarter they outscored us 23-12 and that’s only happened one other time this season vs. South Carolina. Having a 20-9 (disadvantage) on the board at halftime was just uncharacteristic of us so we just had to take that one on the chin. If we wanted to prolong our season, we had to go out and fight for it because we were only guaranteed 20 more minutes so we had to fight those last 20 minutes.”
On today’s 3-point shooting…
“On game days we do volume shooting and Maci is my partner and we get a lot of 3-pointers up. Just to get the reps and to see the ball go in is a really good feeling. In the game, if they’re not going to respect it and close the space on me or guard it, I’m going to shoot it. They were just feeling really good today, even the ones that I missed.”
Evelyn Akhator, UK Forward
On adjustments made during second half…
“During halftime we did a gut-check and he (Mitchell) had to get on me because I had been relaxing and after that we talked about it as a team and we realized that we just had to keep going. We knew that no matter what, we didn’t want to go home today so we had to be able to fight.”
POSTGAME QUOTES – Belmont
Cameron Newbauer, Belmont Head Coach
Opening Statement …
“Wow. That was fun. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but that was incredible to watch what our team just did. Kentucky is a great team. Evelyn Akhator – if you want to tell me that she’s not first team All-SEC, then you’re crazy. Epps – you know about her. I told her after the game, ‘You’ve never shot 3s great. We were going to make you.’ And she did it. She took what we gave her and hit five 3s that were big. Akhator had her 22 (points), then Maci (Morris) with her 15. Even then with what they did, we’re still right there knocking at the door, and that’s the resolve, resiliency, toughness that our kids have. If you didn’t see that, then you’re crazy because this group of young ladies fought through everything. We were down 12 in the first half and came back to take the lead. We were down nine, maybe, in the four quarter and came back to take the lead. I’m just so proud of how we fought, stuck together, and just kept playing the next play. I’m proud of how we grew throughout the course of the game and tried to figure out some of the things that (Kentucky) was doing. It was a great atmosphere to be a part of. Obviously, wish we were on the winning end, but there’s a reason they’re a four seed. Playing them here at home is tough. The only way I could be more proud – I don’t even know that I could be more proud because you’re talking one possession changes it. A win or loss isn’t what makes me proud.”
On Maci Morris late in the game …
“Great players step up when they have to. Maci Morris stepped up when she had to. We knew what (Epps and Akhator) were going to do, and that X-factor was who’s the other person that was going to make plays? We knew Maci could. She doesn’t need much daylight. I don’t think it was a breakdown on our part, I just think she hit a big shot. Free throws – we weren’t really trying to foul. Unfortunately, we got a foul call, and then she just did her job and took care of free throws. I recruited Maci when I was at Louisville. Everybody in the state knows what she can do. She’s a shooter. That’s kind of been her M.O., and she took care of what she needed to today.”
On what he will do with this game …
“I’m already kicking myself over some things that I thought we should’ve done with their switching. I said it before the game – they zone a lot, but I did not think they would zone us. I thought they would actually switch everything, and that’s what they did. We need to learn from that because that’s what happened this year that gave us some problems at times. Today, I was really proud because our kids made plays. They took away our actions, but our kids made plays. You talked about Kylee (Smith), she made some big plays and attacked the rim. Sierra Jones attacked the rim. We made plays. No matter how bad it stings, you have to use it to get better because we have 10 players in that locker room coming back. You have to use it. Now, when do we use it? I don’t know. It might not be until next October, but we are going to use it. I know that our players – I know (Maggard) is going to want to watch it tonight. We’ll definitely use it, but at the same time, it’s tough. It’s so tough because you don’t to go out with a loss and for it to and for it to be this close. We’ll use it to celebrate as well because we’re a good team.”
On what makes Makayla Epps so good …
“She’s crafty – crafty with the bounce, crafty with her body, and creating contact. She hit us 3-of-3 from the three-point line in the first half. When she’s hitting her 3s, that really changes the game because now you have to come out and guard her. Then, if she gets you on her hip, she has so much power that it’s an and-one or a foul. We were trying to avoid the contact on some of her drives, but she can do it all. She believes she can. Matthew (Mitchell) has done a great job of tailoring everything around her. She’s really good.”
On Darby Maggard probably wanting to look at the film tonight and the future of his team …
“They have an insatiable hunger to be great. The practices we had preparing for this game today were not full of joy. We’re in the tournament. Let’s do something special. I think they’re going to want to come back and do something even more special. We know that there’s going to be a number of different challenges that we’ll face every single day. We’re going to continue to do what we do. We’re going to try to improve in areas we need to improve and tweak some things. I don’t know how we’ll play next year after losing Lauren (Thompson), Frankie (Joubran), and Kia (Perry). We might play a little differently, but the great thing is that this burns. This really burns. If you’re any bit of a competitor, then you want it again. You want this experience again because this is the pinnacle of a season. Sometimes this is the pinnacle of a dream that you’ve had your entire life. To be able to live that and get there, it can take you to another level. Our kids are that competitive to where I think that it’s only going to fuel them more.”
On his emotions through the last minute of the game …
“Strangely and oddly enough, I was pretty calm, which for me is not normal. My favorite moment of today’s game was when Darby hit the 3. We went flat high, Darby hit the 3 to cut it to two (points) with 13 seconds left, and (Mitchell) called a timeout to advance it. They came over, and I just sat and smiled at our team. I didn’t even say anything. This is us. It was incredible. Our fans were incredible. It was fun. I had a calm presence because I knew that our players were prepared because of how hard they would go for a moment like this. It wasn’t anything at the end that we didn’t execute. It wasn’t anything that we didn’t do from an offensive standpoint when we had chances to tie it there at the end. It was that Kentucky switched out, was bigger and longer than us, and made a really tough, challenged shot for us. The last minute – that’s what I love about coaching – just watching your kids make plays and knowing that they’ve trusted their training for the last 120 practices or whatever it is. They’ve trusted it so much that when they’re getting punched – they didn’t just get up, they jumped up. It was fun.”
On Maggard’s 3-point look at the end of regulation …
“With 13 seconds to go – we talk a lot about how teams try to force a 3. You don’t need a 3. That’s why we ran a play before that saying that we wanted a 3, but if we didn’t get it, drive it to the rim. Sierra Jones did a great job doing that. At the end, with 3.2 (seconds) left, with no timeouts left, we had to get a 3. We had to get a 3 just because of not being able to advance the ball all of the sudden. You take 3.2 seconds and take a quick two, you’re talking under one second with a full-court catch. We definitely wanted a 3, and they just swallowed Darby up a little bit with their size.”
On coming back from double-digit deficits and what it takes to come back …
“It takes toughness and belief in each other. You can’t do it on your own, and that’s what our team is built on – a multitude of people that can do things and score in different ways. People sometimes get frustrated when I don’t call a timeout when the other team goes on a run. I don’t do that because I know our kids are going to respond. We ended up using one when we were down nine, or whatever it was, then we came back. There’s a reason why UConnhas won 14 road games and why we’ve won 13. We’re second in the nation in road wins. That’s another thing that I had rest in and knowing our kids embrace these atmospheres. It sounds crazy, but I really think they do and like being the underdog on the road with a great crowd like today. Your repertoire of experience – the recesses of your mind where you remembered, subconsciously, what you did to have success in these moments. You go back to Minnesota, where we lose by one in that environment. We talk about that. We talk in the huddles all the time: ‘Remember everything you’ve worked on. Trust your training.’ I think our kids did that. That’s what it takes. That’s why we’re in the game today. I guarantee you everybody in the gym thought it was over when we were down by 12. Were we down nine in the fourth quarter and six minutes to go maybe? I don’t remember, but I was calm even when we were down nine because our kids just fight. They fight.”
Darby Maggard, Belmont Guard
On what she thinks that people learned about Belmont …
“I think they learned that we have a lot of heart and fight. No matter what the circumstances are, we are never going to give up. That stems from our love for one another. That stems from willingness to put in the work every single day in practice. I think that no matter what, people learn that we’re fighters and going to keep coming.”
On the Kentucky’s defense during the last possession and her 3-point shot at the buzzer …
“Kentucky is a great defensive team. That’s where they make their money is getting up in people and being able to force you into tough shots. They switched the last possession. (Makenzie Cann) was out on me, and when I turned, she was right there so I had to pivot to find some space to get the ball up in the air. That’s a testament to their defense. The next one’s going down.”
Sally McCabe, Belmont Center
On coming back and Belmont’s runs throughout the game …
“I think a big testament to our team is how we bounce back. We don’t let things like that keep us down. During our second game of the OVC Tournament, the same thing happened. We were down 12, come back and ended up winning the game. It’s just what we do. We don’t focus on mistakes. We focus on the next play and getting the job done on defense or offense.”
On the future of the team …
“We may have one starter leaving, but those three seniors have done a lot for us. We’re going to miss them a lot. We’re here because of them. They built this program. Next season is definitely for them. They told us, ‘Keep going. We want you to do more.’ It’s amazing to have seniors like them. We have a really bright future and a lot of great freshman coming in. We’re excited to get them. Right now, we just want to sit, think about how amazing this season has been, and honor our seniors.”
Kylee Smith , Belmont Forward
On the future of the team …
“I think we’re super excited, definitely. We won’t forget this feeling, but we’ll definitely miss our three seniors. Our seniors want what is best for us, and they push us every day. They’re so proud and proud to be able to wear Belmont for the rest of their lives. They’re going to be our biggest cheerleaders now. We want to get back in the gym again. I think we’re just excited to come back again for sure.”
On her offense in the second quarter…
“We talked about this all year. It can be anyone’s quarter, minute or day. That’s just a testimony to our team sharing the ball. They just got me the ball when I was open and down shots. Any other time, we have full faith in any of our players. In the second quarter, we played great defense. We wanted to fight back. It just so happens that I hit shots. It’s about sharing the ball, and that’s what has made us a great team all year.”
