Kentucky-South Carolina Women's Basketball Postgame Quotes
Kentucky-South Carolina Postgame Press Conference
Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Feb. 25, 2024
Head Coach Kyra Elzy
On what separates South Carolina from other teams…
“Well, they’re the number one team in the country for a reason. They are talented, they have a lot of depth, and their ability to score inside and out is what makes them the number one team in the country.”
On what the mindset for today’s game was…
“The mindset today was, well obviously we did not have a great showing in Columbia, and we were really disappointed and embarrassed about, proving to ourselves that we had more. They did not get our best in Columbia, and we needed to come here today, and fight and compete, and be willing to lay it all on the line so that was the mindset today.”
On the postgame message to the team…
“Well, I did not like our defensive intensity. I thought from the get-go we were flat defensively which made us press offensively and how we needed to take care of the ball. We are going to have to do that in these upcoming games. Today we had 19 turnovers and gave up 32 points. So, the message is to control what we can control. We can control our defensive intensity, making the right reads, and we will have a short-term memory about this as we get ready for our next one.”
On the approach to practice after the loss…
“It is the same approach. When you lose a game, you go back to the drawing board as a coach or staff. We will watch the film. There are some things in this game that we did better than we did in Columbia. There are also a lot of things that we can learn from, and we do this after every game whether we win or lose how can we get better and see what successes we have, and how we can grow and we do this after every game and this game will be no different.”
On her mindset being more motivational or tactical during the game…
“It’s both, one… seven to nothing is not where we wanted to be so we talked about some things how we got there and then you have to talk strategy. We have to help the helper, we have to box out and get a rebound, then we can’t let them run away from us right now. We have to settle in, I thought we were pressing too fast, we were walking… so just go over the things that you can do to get better to settle in.”
On Jordy Griggs’ and Janae Walker’s development…
“They continue to grow, I thought Jordy had one of her best practices today in shoot-around. I’ve been talking to her about pace and competing, even where you’re learning and growing, I thought she did that today, she continues to get better. You see Janae, she continues to learn and grow, she’s one of the best screeners that we have, she does not mind physical play, very coachable. A freshman is a freshman, you learn and grow on the job and they continue to get better and we need the both of them.”
On Saniah Tyler’s play right now …
“I’m so proud of her and her growth. She’s had an up and down year, the last two games I thought she has been so confident offensively. She really carried us at Mississippi State with some big threes we had to have. For her to bounce back in this game, she was disappointed in her showing in Columbia, she played confident today, took good shots and she was aggressive. We needed all 15 points she scored.”
Player Quotes
#13, Ajae Petty, F, Sr.
Adapting to South Carolina’s quick start…
“I would just say lack of intensity on our end, better lock-in and better focus. Just trying to control things that we can.”
Matchup against Sania Feagin and the difference she made…
“I thought I got to my spots, thought I was getting over there. I didn’t knock my free throws down but I did what I usually do.”
#34, Emma King, G, Sr.
Struggle of size discrepancy between UK and South Carolina…
“Obviously I’m out-sized especially in the SEC but specifically against South Carolina. South Carolina just has a lot of tall girls who are really physical but I think the one thing I try to do and our team tries to do is just try and match their play, box them out early, and do the little things. Sometimes being small can be an advantage if you know how to use it. Which is honestly why I try and take a lot of charges because I’m not going to block their shots, it’s all about effort and I think that is something we’re really trying to work on.”
If you could reset the game what would you do differently…
“Obviously we came out a little flat, I think just going into the game we were prepared but it’s more of locking in and making sure, especially in the SEC and playing teams that are top in the country like when you make the mistakes people capitalize on them, so being able to be locked in and just take every possession very carefully and I think we were prepared well it was just a matter of we came out flat and we were playing from behind from there.”
5th senior reflections…
“I talked about it earlier. I am just super thankful for this program, I was just a little girl who dreamed of being here. With senior day comes a lot of emotions, I truly am so grateful and it’s a very bittersweet moment. I’m out of eligibility obviously but I’m just so thankful for the 5 years that I’ve had here but also I had so much family here today and that just really means the world to me and just being able to be recognized at a university and a place I call home was really sweet.”
