Kentucky-Alabama Postgame Quotes
KENTUCKY BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
#12 KENTUCKY VS. #22 ALABAMA
HISTORIC MEMORIAL COLISEUM
JANUARY 30, 2015
HEAD COACH KENNY BROOKS
Opening statement…
“I know you guys are journalists and you can be objective, but if you want to give a round of applause for Georgia’s eight hundredth assists tonight (applause). I have been very fortunate to see every one of them. I am a lucky coach. Really great and gritty effort tonight, in the SEC you have to win that way. In the first quarter, we were trying to find the scoreboard and whatnot. We got that all rectified, ironically our defense kicked in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters. It wasn’t always the prettiest, I thought we were a little off. Some of the balls we normally grab and secure, were tipping. But nonetheless, we really came out, which was really good. We had two big threes which really gave us some separation. Everyone stepped up and did something. Dazia Lawrence was a catalyst when she went on her stretch. I think we took the lead and didn’t relinquish it. Claire Streck, bless her heart. I was yelling at her all night because she was tipping the basketball, then I looked up and she got fourteen points. So, that’s pretty good. I thought Amelia was really good, Amelia’s defense was really good chasing people around and bothering Green. She got switched off by Barker sometimes. And ST was really good, she played fifteen straight minutes in the first half. Hit a big three and a nice layup. Just her whole season has been maybe not what she wanted but she did a tremendous job coming out and doing anything to get herself in good graces. We are really happy for her.”
On team defensive performance…
“I think we definitely placed emphasis on team-level defense. I remember in the third quarter Teonni was put in a situation where you’re fouling, it’s hard to play solid defense, and I think that she let one go, and she was so down on herself. She said, ‘my bad,’ we’re like ‘no, it’s our bad’ because we have to be better in the gaps, we have to be better in rotation, so we know that one-on-one matchups, they’re tough. You know me, a good one-on-one defender, they’re hard to come by, so we really understand that it’s a team effort. I think we take some pride and some joy in it. It gives us momentum especially when you have, for me, shooters in transition, or you have Teonni running the floor, even Clara brought it up some. He’s kind of loosened the grip on transition this year than usual, so it gives us the opportunity to get it out and go, and we love it. We love having opportunities where we clean up the boards and open the floodgates. We had transition, but this is the most exciting in terms of having people like Teonni and Clara. I’ve maybe had one player like that before, that my junior year and that was Taylor Soule. That’s as close as it’s come to be able to turn our defense into offense.”
On facing five ranked opponents the remainder of the season…
“We’ll focus on all eight because we can focus on the five that are ranked, but we have still good opponents in the mix, and if we look at them like they’re not ranked, we’re a step behind already. Our motto this season has been ‘who’s up next,’ and that’s all you can really do because there’s no fast-forwarding. Every single game we go out there confident and that’s what we came to Kentucky for, this is what we came to the SEC for. We want these matchups, and it just so happens that we do happen to have a tough stretch, but that should bring excitement for us.”
On what hitting 800 career assists means as a point guard…
“I’m doing my job pretty well. I’m definitely getting put in positions where, maybe early on, it was kind of set. We run sets; you have two options, made my life a lot easier, pick one or the other. But now, I think the more I’ve grown, been put in situations, making reads and just growing up intellectually. This year has been different, I’ve had different defenses thrown at me earlier in the season. It was hard hedges and full-court press, now people are switching and putting long guards on me, so it’s a challenge, but it’s fun every night to blitz up the defense. I think it just, for us, opens everything because no team has been consistent in being able to, yet, really halt us because I think we find a way. That’s why it’s so fun to play with this team because everyone finds a way. It’s just been really fun to come here, to play with a bunch of great girls who make shots and make my life a lot easier.”
KENTUCKY PLAYER QUOTES
#3, Georgia Amoore, G, G.S.
On team defensive performance…
“I think we definitely placed emphasis on team-level defense. I remember in the third quarter Teonni was put in a situation where you’re fouling, it’s hard to play solid defense, and I think that she let one go, and she was so down on herself. She said, ‘my bad,’ we’re like ‘no, it’s our bad’ because we have to be better in the gaps, we have to be better in rotation, so we know that one-on-one matchups, they’re tough. You know me, a good one-on-one defender, they’re hard to come by, so we really understand that it’s a team effort. I think we take some pride and some joy in it. It gives us momentum especially when you have, for me, shooters in transition, or you have Teonni running the floor, even Clara brought it up some. He’s kind of loosened the grip on transition this year than usual, so it gives us the opportunity to get it out and go, and we love it. We love having opportunities where we clean up the boards and open the floodgates. We had transitioned, but this is the most exciting in terms of having people like Teonni and Clara. I’ve maybe had one player like that before, that my junior year and that was Taylor Soule. That’s as close as it’s come to being able to turn our defense into offense.”
On facing five ranked opponents the remainder of the season…
“We’ll focus on all eight because we can focus on the five that are ranked, but we still have good opponents in the mix, and if we look at them like they’re not ranked, we’re a step behind already. Our motto this season has been ‘who’s up next,’ and that’s all you can really do because there’s no fast-forwarding. Every single game we go out there confident and that’s what we came to Kentucky for, this is what we came to the SEC for. We want these matchups, and it just so happens that we do happen to have a tough stretch, but that should bring excitement for us.”
On what hitting 800 career assists means as a point guard…
“I’m doing my job pretty well. I’m definitely getting put in positions where, maybe early on, it was kind of set. We run sets; you have two options, make my life a lot easier, pick one or the other. But now, I think the more I’ve grown, been put in situations, making reads and just growing up intellectually. This year has been different, I’ve had different defenses thrown at me earlier in the season. It was hard hedges and full-court press, now people are switching and putting long guards on me, so it’s a challenge, but it’s fun every night to blitz up the defense. I think it just, for us, opens everything because no team has been consistent in being able to, yet, really halt us because I think we find a way. That’s why it’s so fun to play with this team because everyone finds a way. It’s just been really fun to come here, to play with a bunch of great girls who make shots and make my life a lot easier.”
