Kentucky Women’s Basketball Postgame Quotes
Kentucky vs. Marshall
Memorial Coliseum – Lexington, Ky.
Nov. 26, 2017
Kentucky Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
Opening statement…
“Great win today. Proud of the players. Worked hard to have a big day on the boards. That was something we really challenged them before the game, to be aggressive on the offensive and defensive boards, but we still need to improve. In our league we will have a challenge every night on the boards and that’s going to be such an important part of us being successful. A good step in the right direction. I thought we were aggressive on a day where we didn’t shoot the ball as well as we did the last time out. Still did a lot of good things. Proud of the team.”
On Alyssa Rice gaining confidence and surprising people…
“Yeah, I thought she was really poised with the ball. We’ve been working so hard about getting in the right position and we’ve been trying to sharpen up all of post players’ technique and Alyssa showed you what she can do. She can get started fast, she got started fast on the offensive glass. Aggressive. In some games this year we just haven’t been real aggressive on the offensive glass to start the game. We’ve had to be prodded and heavily encouraged at time outs to go the offensive glass and she started the game with a couple that I think was really a confidence boost to her. But really, some nice finishes because of proper technique, getting in the right position and her teammates found her today. She worked hard. Great game for her. Real proud of her. She’s worked hard.”
On how happy he is of how hard Alyssa has worked…
“There just came a time for Alyssa where we were so proud of the person she was when she got here and she’s improved and she’s strengthened herself. But I just wanted her to round into the basketball player she can be. She’s just come a million miles since the beginning of last year. Happy. Very, very happy for her.”
On today’s rebounding…
“I think on the defensive end Marshall was really trying to get back and limit our transition buckets. I’ll have to watch the film to see exactly how we did on the defensive end, but the offensive end there’s no doubt that they answered the challenge of going and getting it. Marshall wasn’t leaking out trying to get fast-break points, they were in there around the basket. We went and got – multiple kids had multiple offensive boards – Amanda (Paschal) had four, Taylor (Murray) three, (Alyssa) Rice five, Keke (McKinney) two. Lot of people getting more than one offensive board. That’s good for us. That’s what we need to do.”
On the versatility of the different lineups he can play…
“We’re giving everyone a look. There are some things that you see the younger kids have got to start coming along mentally with a couple of things that we’ve got to make some progress in these next few practice opportunities. Heading down to Baylor will be a really tough game. Hopefully by the end of the year, after they’ve had a bunch of reps, we will be 10 deep at least. That would be good for us. Our veteran top five or six right now are doing a good job and we’re seeing progress from our younger players and we just need to continue that.”
On if Dorie Harrison is finally getting to a good place with her game…
“Yeah, you just have to continue to work. A lot of that is she’s not taking her time and not trying to make it happen. It reminds me a lot of Alyssa (Rice), where Alyssa was when she was younger. Not real poised with the ball and it is a great effort she’s giving. But you have to couple that, or marry that, to proper technique because poor technique will negate great hustle. That’s what was happening to us a little bit defensively in the first quarter. I told the team there was nobody out there that was dragging around or wasn’t running or giving great effort, but you’ve got to do both. You have to have great technique plus great hustle and then you have something. If one is absent, you’re in trouble. Dorie just needs to work on her technique. What’s so great about basketball is you have some time to try and help these players come along. We’ll just have a great week of work and she’s a great player and a great kid and it will come together for her.”
On what he told the team after the first quarter to slow Marshall down…
“That’s what I was just saying was that we just weren’t guarding the ball. We were letting them turn the corner and get to the bucket, and then also its just young post players involved in the middle ball screen and just not being defended properly and they were able to take advantage of that. We had a long conversation. Thank goodness the timeouts were real long. The timeouts were very long, so you can get a whole lot of coaching done in between the quarters. We really talked and tried to make sure that we sharpened up our ball screen defense and that helped us tremendously in the second quarter. We’re giving up a ton of open shots right now to a team that can really shoot well is going to make us pay. So, it’s still a work in progress for us. We have to get better defensively and I believe the kids want to and I believe we will.”
UK Student-Athletes
#4 Maci Morris, G
On how happy she is to see Alyssa Rice have a big game…
“It makes me super happy. She puts in a lot of hard work and she does a lot of things besides basketball wise, but off the court; just making sure that we’re all organized and where we need to be. I always tell people she’s like our mom. So, just to see her have a great game, it makes me happy and hopefully she continues to do it.”
#45 Alyssa Rice, C
On what worked today for Kentucky…
“We’ve just been working hard in practice. Rebounding was really a big emphasis in this game because we knew they were a strong rebounding team. That is just something that I put to the forefront of my mind, just be on the boards early. And then my teammates did a good job finding me and I just try to score off rebounds as well.”
On a game like this giving her more confidence…
“Yes, just anytime you can put the ball in the hole, it just gives you that confidence and shows you your true capabilities. So just being able to have a game like this did really help my confidence and hopefully it can carry on.”
On how coach emphasizes rebounding…
“Just when we guard and we’re scrimmaging each other, we’ll go make sure that we’re boxing out each other. And on the offensive end, we’re crashing the boards, just battling against each other in practice, constantly emphasizing rebounding. If we’re not rebounding he’ll stop us and call us out on it. So, just keeping it in our minds.”
On what was working well in the second half defensively…
“We just really talked about it at halftime, that we needed to get stops and that they were getting too many easy buckets. We just emphasized getting stops and that’s what it takes. One possession at a time, just try and get stops and our help side. Just getting better each possession on defense.”
