Kentucky-Louisville Postgame Quotes
KENTUCKY BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
KENTUCKY VS. LOUISVILLE
RUPP ARENA – LEXINGTON, KY.
December 11, 2022
UK Head Coach Kyra Elzy
On slow start during Virginia Tech game and Louisville game …
“Obviously we don’t want to start slow. That’s not what we’re trying to do and that’s not our intentions. You know, credit to Louisville, I thought they came in and played really hard. You know it just took us a minute to get settled into the physical game. I thought after we did adjust, in the second half, but that’s too long. It took us too long to get settled in.”
On winning or being tied in every category besides free throws …
“We have toughness and fight but at the end of the day you have to have discipline. You know, we made a run, but we put them on the free throw line too many times. So, 39 free throws, they make 33, ball game. That’s it just being more disciplined defensively.”
On film determining it would be a physical game…
“Any time you play in a Power Five conference (game) it’s going to be a physical game and that’s just part of it. That’s what we liked, the competition. I thought we adjusted to it down the stretch. We just have to put four quarters together more and be more consistent.”
On what the game plan was to hold Louisville to one of 15 from the three-point line …
“Well, you know, we just talked about locating shooters, obviously all three of their guards average in double figure scoring, you know, trying to play personnel defense, making sure we closed out on shooters, that we did a good job there. I thought we made a run, had some good defensive stops when we needed it. But at the end of the day, like I said, we fouled way too much. So, we have to go back, evaluate how we’re calling it in practice what we’re calling in practice, and we’ll learn from this game and continue to get better.”
On what it was like playing against her former AAU coach …
“I love coach (Jeff) Walz. I don’t love coach Walz when we’re playing. I’m a competitor we’re trying to win. You know, it’s great to see him before the game. Obviously, he’s had a lot of success. And I tell him, we gave him his great start with the Kentucky Hustle. So, he learned from a great group of young ladies. But at the end of the day, we’re competitors. It’s a rivalry game we’re trying to win, we came here to win obviously very disappointed that we didn’t. And all you can do from here is learn, grow, get ready for the next game.”
On where she thinks her team is and what does she like about what she’s got …
“What do I like about this team? We have fight, we have heart, I love our versatility, (we’re) able to play different lineups. I thought our freshmen came in really gave us a punch off the bench with Mimi (Amiya) Jenkins and Kennedy Cambridge, Ajae Petty what she’s able to do when we can keep her out of foul trouble. For us to be able to pound the ball inside and her finish consistently. We have the pieces we have exactly what we need. Now it’s just a matter of putting it together.”
UK Student-Athletes
#22, Maddie Scherr
On difficulty in losing in this rivalry …
“It just sucks period. I mean honestly you don’t ever want to lose any game, but especially losing to Louisville it just sucks. I think it would all be bad.”
On Louisville defensive pressure in first quarter …
“We scouted them and they’re going to play pressure and physical defense and I don’t think we matched their physicality and that showed in the first half. We talked about how we just need to play tougher. They played more gritty than us tonight and I think that really showed. It was hard to come back from in the second half .”
On slow start to the past few games …
“I don’t think there’s a connection, I think we just need to be locked in from the start of the game. It could be some jitters, it could be playing hard in Rupp for the first time for some people which is just different. These are fixable things and we can look at that as a positive. We definitely don’t want to be a second half team or anything and we’re definitely going to learn from that and moving forward when we get in these big games we’ll eventually be able to put those parts together.”
#1,Robyn Benton
On putting the pressure on later in the game …
“I mean once we realized we were down we needed turn up the heat somehow just to make some type of run to get back into the game. As far as starting like that, that wasn’t necessarily the game plan. But you know, we were down so we had to turn up the heat.”
On the adjustments made in the second half to improve their scoring…
“Basically, just turn up our defense more so we can get more transition points and that’s where we’re very good. Basically, Coach (Niya) Butts she drew up some plays for us to get some good opportunities at the basket.”
Where they would rather play this rivalry game every two years…
“Rupp. Without a question.”
On how eager they are to get back on the practice court…
“Very eager, you know I hate losing. The team, we’re disappointed. We came here to win today and we have got to improve some things, like rebounding. I know there was a couple of times the ball went over my head and I should have gotten the rebound. We’re going to improve, take a look back at the film, try to improve and get better for the next game.”
