UK ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
RHODE ISLAND at KENTUCKY
DEC. 6, 2018
MEMORIAL COLLISEUM – LEXINGTON, KY.
UK Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
Opening statement…
“I’m real proud of our team for winning tonight. I asked them to try to have a better effort on the board, and I thought they did that. We had a big turnover margin in this game – I felt like those were two areas we really needed to address to win the game and they did a nice job tonight. So, I’m proud of them. I thought Rhode Island came out and played really hard, really tough and on a night where it was tough for us offensively. I was really proud of the hustle and being able to get it done without defense. Good win for us.”
On if you are seeing something different from Maci (Morris) this season…
“We are shooting the ball well. It’s just kind of what the game dictates. I think that maybe down in the Virgin Islands people didn’t know a lot about us. We are kind of going on last year’s reputation, and they’re really giving Maci a lot of attention. Rhyne (Howard) broke out and had some big games and Taylor (Murray) has been playing fantastic. I don’t know one thing Maci is doing… she’s shooting 3’s well, and making her free throws, and has the ability to get to the rim. Another thing that dictates it a little bit against this 3-2 zone tonight, we just weren’t real sharp and we’ve had a couple days where we’ve tried to work on that. That will get better and our zone offense will get better, so she had to shovel the load a little bit tonight. They’re shooting the ball well and we need her to right now, we are not a flawless team by any means.”
On more off-the-ball movement in this game…
“We struggled a little bit against their zone early. We had a very tough first half and we just did not move. We needed to get some weak side flashes and we got caught standing. We’ll get better. We’ll see some zone in the SEC and we’ll have some time during Christmas to round some things into better shape. It’s early in the season and we haven’t seen some of that. They played a little 3-2 zone and we needed to do things a little bit differently and better. They’ll get better. I was really proud that they hustled. We had a night that we didn’t shoot the ball very well and they just kept battling. You see the offensive rebounds, that takes effort. They created 30 turnovers, that takes a lot of effort. We have a lot of things to get better at, we’ll just keep plugging. They are a really coachable team. We have to sharpen up in some areas and we have to get a little tighter in our rotations. I don’t know we know exactly what we’re doing when we go to that five-guard lineup. We’re trying to focus on what we have and not what we don’t have.”
On Sunday’s game at Louisville…
“It’s a big game, Louisville is a great team. They’re highly ranked, well talented, always well coached. Anytime Kentucky and Louisville play it’s a big game for the commonwealth. It’s always tough to go over there and play; we will turn our attention towards them and see if we can get a good day of preparation tomorrow.”
On having scouted Louisville’s offense…
“I know a lot about them from being here for 12 years; I know they’ll be explosive and they have one of the best players in the country. Asia Durr is such a good player. I have not seen a lot of them this year. They’re always really tough, really explosive on offense, run a lot of great action, and are smart basketball players. They’re explosive in transition and will try to confuse you on defense with a lot of pressure. It will be a tall test for us, but were going to get some rest tonight and prepare well for the game.”
On Ogechi Anyagaligbo progression with her injury…
“She’s getting better every day so I don’t know what that time table is, but she’s trending in the right direction. That will help the rotation as well.”
UK Student-Athletes
#10 Rhyne Howard, Fr., G
On what they did well tonight…
“We were also able to keep them off the boards, so you know, when we weren’t scoring, they weren’t able to get any second chances “
On halftime energy…
“Coach said to keep doing what we’re doing, our defense, and bring a little more energy and our offensive shots will start falling through”
On her stats…
“The seven rebounds because he put a big emphasis on boxing out, so I had to step up to the plate and show him what I can do”
On switching coaches…
“I don’t think it will be hard, Coach (Jeff) Walz is a great coach, so I learned a lot from him, so it will be great to catch up, but Coach Mitchell knows where my heart is”
#4, Maci Morris, Sr., G
On her shooting tonight …
“I honestly didn’t think I shot that well tonight. I had a wide-open shot and the shot clock was running down and it went in. Other than that I didn’t shoot that well.”
On what went well for them tonight …
“I thought, especially in the third quarter, we picked up our hustle a lot. We were getting on the floor, getting loose balls, getting deflections and I think that plays a very valuable role in the team we want to be. Getting some energy and sparks like that and being able to convert the turnovers to points was good.”
On how much pressure is lifted off her because of other scorers…
“It just takes off a tremendous amount of pressure. If one of us isn’t scoring then the other two usually picks us up. When all three of us are on, it’s going to be scary. I’m excited for when that happens, and we just got to continue to feed off of each other. We just feed off of each other’s energy and Taylor (Murray) is a great passer and she knows how to get us open and we know where we like to get the ball so we try to get each other our shots.”
On having to pace yourself in a long season…
“This summer we worked really hard with our conditioning to make sure our bodies are in the shape it needs to be. We are doing all we can to recover our bodies, like getting treatments. We have a lot more depth, we have a lot more people coming off the bench so that helps. It’s not just us wearing our bodies out, but we are trying to wear the other team out and try to get them going fast so that it plays in our favor.”
On how confident she is in Howard…
“I have all the confidence in the world in her. She makes some unbelievable plays, she does it all. I wish I was good as her as a freshman.”
