Dec. 22, 2009
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Kentucky Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
Opening Statement …
“That was a good win for us tonight. I thought that the team had a really big challenge to come back after a short period of time from one of the best performances of the year and having only one day to prepare. Having to refocus and come back in to play Tennessee Martin was a real challenge for us. We certainly didn’t play our best tonight, but I thought that we were able to come back from some lulls in intensity and bring it back ending the game playing the way that we wanted to play. It allows us to keep our momentum going and we are happy that we won the game.”
On UK’s defensive performance …
“I thought that the first four minutes weren’t where we wanted it and they were able to get some intensity in the game. Going into halftime, we weren’t terribly unhappy because we thought we were in range of meeting some goals that we had set for ourselves. Tonight, we needed to live up to our standard and not focus on the opponent as much. There were definitely some good moments in the game.”
On the dunk attempt by Victoria Dunlap …
“Well, I guess it is the most talked about missed shot in women’s basketball history here at Kentucky. She did miss the shot. I just haven’t been working with her much on dunking. I am the only person in the program that can currently dunk. Clearly, we have to up our individual instruction program to work on dunking the basketball . It was an electrifying play and the reason that it was, is because it was so unexpected. It was a surprise because she did not share with me that is what she was doing.”
On Keyla Snowden …
“She was so big for us tonight because I really felt that until the later part of the second half when our players started to get the ball inside. Up until that point, we just weren’t having a very good night and we weren’t working really hard to get the ball inside. Keyla basically bailed us out. When she is on, and I have said this many times, she can shoot as well as anyone that I have ever played with or coached. That is not surprising to me that she got it going like that. I think that really allowed us in the first half to get a big lead. Her being 5-for-6 was huge. It is a good example of how we are having different people step in at times when we need it. That gives us a good chance to be a good team.”
On still being undefeated …
“It is a big deal. I told the team that it is significant because they have answered every challenge that was put in front of them. We feel good about it but we don’t want to let that define us at all. We want to know what our formula is and that starts with being enthusiastic about playing at Kentucky and being committed on the defensive end every day in practice. We will keep plugging along. We are happy to be 11-0 but we won’t focus on it too much. We have a major test in front of us going down to Middle Tennessee. But I am happy that the players will have a couple of days here to spend with their families and friends and get some rest. We will have a big test waiting when we come back from the holidays.”
Kentucky Players
Victoria Dunlap, F, #34
On the dunk attempt …
“I think that I might have grabbed the rim a little bit too much to bring it down. It just didn’t go in.”
On what was going through her mind when she stole the ball…
“As I was dribbling, I was like, `Let’s just go ahead and go.’ I took my last few steps and thought `Just do it.’ I have never tried it in a game, but in AAU. I didn’t have a lot of thought, it was just like, `Go up and dunk it and then see what happens.’ People are always telling me when I have an open layup to try to dunk.”
On how much they are enjoying playing defense …
“I love playing defense, that is one of my strong suits, but as a team, we work on it so much that it just comes natural to us. The things that we are doing in practice just gets the momentum going in the game as well. That is where our offensive points come from, playing defense and playing hard.”
Keyla Snowden, G, #4
On Victoria’s dunk attempt …
“I was so shocked and it caught me off guard. We are all so happy that she tried to do it. We have been talking about it forever and I am glad that she finally did it.”
On finding her zone, especially now that she is back home at Kentucky …
“It affects me a lot now, being back at home and playing for my hometown. I just try to find that zone when I am in the game and try to focus on scoring and shooting. I also have to give credit to my teammates because they worked hard to try to find me tonight.”
On playing in front of the soldiers from Ft. Knox and what that means to her …
“It felt really good to meet people here who are fighting for our country and here to support us. We got to shake their hand and it really felt good. We put on a good show for them, too.”
UT Martin Head Coach Kevin McMillan
On the loss to Kentucky…
“I thought we competed. Defensively, we made them use a little time on the shot clock. We didn’t have an answer for rebounding and playing inside of five feet. We let (Keyla Snowden) get too many three’s. But, overall it’s not bad for where we are. We found some ways to score and I think it’s something we can take with us as we get ready for two more games, then conference play.”
On using this game as a learning experience…
“I hope they learned. We knew we had trouble doing certain things, but I think they kind of took that for granted and they thought they could do it. A team that pressures you is going to show you your weaknesses. We’ve been talking about getting the ball on the wing nonchalantly. We didn’t do a good job tonight at all and they do a great job pressuring. If you couple those two things, then we had a bunch of turnovers that weren’t characteristic.”
On Kentucky’s defense…
“Kentucky is long and very active. They can play anybody on anybody. Defensively against someone like us, they can switch screens, fly out into the passing lane, and cause us a lot of problems. When you’ve got a five-player like Victoria Dunlap, it just adds so much to your overall defense. When you can sub in and you’re going nine and 10 deep, you can keep your intensity level up, which is exactly what they did.”
