Kentucky Women’s Basketball News Conference
No. 11 Kentucky vs. Murray State
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Memorial Coliseum – Lexington, Ky.
Interim Head Coach Kyra Elzy
On details of Tatyana Wyatt’s and Rhyne Howard’s suspensions…
“Well first, Tatyana Wyatt will be suspended for the first three games for violation of team rules. Rhyne Howard will be suspended for the first two games for not upholding the standards of the program. Both of these young ladies are great people. They made a bad mistake, and they are taking responsibility and holding themselves accountable, and I am 100 percent confident that they will be intentional about making better decisions moving forward, and I am confident that they will be ready to help this team move forward to achieve the goals that we have set out.”
On how difficult was the decision to suspend those two ladies…
“I mean, it’s a very difficult decision. I mean, we have not played basketball since March. You want everybody to take the floor. We have been dealing with such adversity. You definitely don’t want that to happen but at the end of the day my job as the leader of this program, and our staff, is to make sure that our players are held accountable and they are responsible and they are ready for the real world and they are held accountable for every decision that is not the right one, so we love them enough, I love them enough, not to turn my head when mistakes are made, and we have to make those types of decisions.”
On setting the tone…
“Well, you have to set the tone. The culture here is built, it was laid by Coach (Matthew) Mitchell. We are going to run a first-class program. We are going to be disciplined. We are going to be respectful. We are going to be grateful for the opportunity, and we are going to hold ourselves accountable, staff and players. So, that will be an everyday thing here at the University of Kentucky, our players know that, there’s an expectation and standard of which we hold ourselves and when we fall short, there will be consequences, of which we will take them and move on.”
On if the suspensions were COVID related…
“Well, I am not going to go into details. It is internal, and we will keep it within the family. They know exactly where I stand and the standards and expectations of this program, but it was not COVID.”
On how you changed your approach in this game without two elite players…
“I mean, not having Rhyne and Tatyana on the floor, they both have experience, they’re veteran players for us, so that did hurt us, so that’s why we go back, when we make these decisions, it not only hurts yourself, it hurts the family. However, this team is resilient, and we prepare for, there is no person bigger than the team, so when you number is called, when you’re name is called, we need you to step up and make plays, and I think you saw the team do just that today.”
On Chasity Patterson’s performance…
“So proud of Chasity Patterson. She has been intentional all summer about taking responsibility of playing the point guard position. I thought she was aggressive offensively, she took the shots when she was open, she made sure that we got into our sets and ran our plays efficiently and effectively, but I am super proud of how hard she played defensively. That’s one thing we challenged her on all summer, and I thought she stepped up to the plate today. Blair Green has been relentless in her work ethic. Just works tiresley, you know, coming in and getting extra shots. She was 50 percent today, I thought she played within herself, took great shots, and her hard work has paid off. Treasure Hunt, I just love our freshmen, I thought Treasure came in, she was solid, she made shots, she played hard on the defensive end, but all of our freshmen, they’re super talented, they’re getting baptized by fire, but they will settle in and they will make this team different.”
On how your nerves settled down leading the program through the game…
“Well, I think my nerves settled in really quickly when we missed that first box out and I went to intense mode, and I forgot all about the nerves and the jitters, and I went to the fiery person that I am. But, you know, so honored to coach here and get my first win, but its bigger than me. A lot of people put in a lot of hard work in order for us to take the floor. I am surrounded by an amazing staff with Coach (Nyah) Butts, Coach Amber (Smith) and Daniel Boice, and all of the support staff that poor into the players that made today and all other games possible.”
On Kentucky’s defense today…
“Well, thank you so much, and they probably want you to come to practice, because we did force 32 turnovers, and I was down there getting on them about how I didn’t like their defensive energy. I do think we can do better. We did some great things. I thought KeKe (McKinney) really stepped up to the plate in our black press, we scored off of our defense, but I just think that we can get better. Fundamentally, we did some things that I was not happy with. Too many straight -live dives, we didn’t get to help side, and more importantly we did not finish our defense with a box out. Credit to Murray State, they played extremely hard. Nineteen offensive boards today. But, we will go back to work. We did some great things. Very happy for the win and what we did, but there are some things that we can fix.”
On making first substitution within a minute and if that is what we will see all year…
“Not necessarily. I mean, we’re going to go with the game flow. It just happened to be in the first minute today, and it might be in the next game as well, I don’t know, however, there is a certain intensity and offensive look that we’re looking for and if we don’t have it, we will sub until we get it, but our job is to keep five players on the floor that are doing the job that we need to get done.”
On Emma King…
“Emma has taken the biggest jump forward in my opinion of playing with so much confidence. Her shot did not go in today, but I am confident that they will. She puts in hours and hours of extra work. She is a student of the game. She is tough, resilient, and I am very pleased with Emma. A year ago, if she would have missed a shot, she would have went into her shell and not shot the ball again. She kept shooting, she kept fighting, I thought she made some great defensive plays where she tried to make the offense score over her. Emma will find her a place on the floor – she brings the heart and toughness that I am looking for.”
On Olivia Owens…
“Olivia, I thought she had a great showing. Obviously, I think she was nervous, but I think she gives us the physical presence that we are looking for. She finished in the paint, and I think she can make even more than she did today. Y’all did not get a great look of Dre’una (Edwards), who also makes us different on both ends of the floor. She got into early foul trouble, thought she was pressing, missed a couple of bunnies, but I expect both of them, and with the return of Tatyana Wyatt, that our post game will bring exactly what we need them to do in the future.”
#5 Blair Green, G, Jr.
On when she knew she’d be starting …
“For the last two weeks, we had started to put the starting five together, and I have been on the blue team, so I’ve known for awhile. I truly wasn’t that nervous, I was just excited to get back out there with my team.”
On if she had doubts this season would ever happen …
“Yes, there was a time where I think everyone thought that we wouldn’t have a season, but I think they’ve done a great job with all the precautions that they have that has allowed us to play. Once we started practicing, I got really excited that we would eventually have a season.”
On Coach (Kyra) Elzy coaching in her first game as interim head coach …
“I think she was ready. From the first initial practice she’s been with us, she’s been coaching us, and we have always looked up to her. She was ready for this moment and I really enjoyed working with her.”
On Emma King …
“She is a great player and she is always putting in extra work putting up shots in practice. Just to slow down and focus in because I know she can make those shots. And to just be confident. Probably confidence is the biggest thing for her because she can knock those things down like nothing.”
On the atmosphere and if she could hear Coach Elzy with the reduced capacity …
“It was really different. We could hear Coach Elzy just fine. I thought our bench did a good job with bringing a great environment and cheering us on. The bench did great, we heard Coach Elzy great and I thought the fans we could have here created a great environment for us.”
#15 Chasity Patterson, G, Sr.
On when she knew Rhyne Howard wouldn’t play in the game …
“That decision was made by coach. We didn’t really know until they came out and we started playing. But, Rhyne is a great addition to our team in scoring and so I definitely knew that I had to step up in this game and contribute in that aspect. Overall, I know this team is great. Everybody is good, so I just feel like everybody stepped up today when they needed too.”
On her shooting and expectations …
“Coming into this game, I knew I wanted to get to the (free throw) line a lot. I wanted to attack the rim and play inside out so that was my approach to the game.”
On the flow of the offense without Rhyne …
“Coming into the game, we knew we were going to have to adjust without her. I thought we did a great job. Everybody stepped up. We were attacking and playing inside-out and I thought that was good on our end.”
