UK ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
NO. 9 KENTUCKY vs. MARSHALL
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2020
MEMORIAL COLISEUM – LEXINGTON, KY.
Interim Head Coach Kyra Elzy
On what you saw in the game tonight….
“Thank you, I’m glad to be back. I’m so excited for our team today. We got off to a great start offensively. I thought we shared the ball, and shot the ball extremely well, 54 percent from the field, so that’s a great start.”
On four players scoring in double figures…
“We slowed down offensively. I thought we did a better job of executing in the half court, sharing the ball, really taking the time to see what the defense gave us, and capitalizing on it. Rhyne Howard had five assists, Dre (Dre’una Edwards) had five assists, so really moving the ball – great ball movement.”
On shooting the ball well and how huge Blair Green was…
“Blair was huge tonight, so happy for her. Just to see her hard work pay off, but also, Blair has really bought into her role. You know, a year ago, she was really set on how she was supposed to score. It was supposed to look a certain way. We really challenged her to let her know that she can score in a variety of way and to not box herself in as you got to see tonight. She ran in transition, she was so active defensively, proud of her defense, so she scored points off of her defense, she hit open shots, so it was a great night for Blair, and we hope to see more of that from her.”
On how important it was to get off to a great start…
“Well, it’s always great to get off to a great start and shoot the ball, obviously that gives you a lot of confidence, you’re not pressing offensively, so I thought we had a better offensive flow. We’re coming off of a big win against Indiana, and I was so proud of our fight and heart and resilience, however, you have to put that game behind you and move forward. What you do next is the most important thing, so I was proud that we stayed intense and we stayed focused in order to get a win tonight.”
On how to learn from your team in situations where the outcome isn’t necessarily in question…
“Well, you continue to challenge yourself and work on your deficiencies. You know, one of our challenges tonight was to hold Marshall to 55 points or less, that was a focus of ours. You know, try to stay intense defensively. We had a goal of 16 offensive rebounds. We got to 12, so we did not reach that goal, but you know, just making short term goals to help you move forward to get better as a team. Obviously, we have goals that we are trying to reach and achieve, and you have to get better every day.”
On transition defense…
“Well, Coach (Niya) Butts is right – transition defense, transition defense, transition defense. You know, I thought we started the game great. Chasity Patterson, we challenged her to pick the ball up early, everybody sprint back. You know, we did give up some easy layups when we had a sub, but some of those are newcomers or are freshmen that are still learning. But overall, I was happy about our transition defense. We still have to get better at one-on-one defense, too many straight-line drives. The intensity is there, now it is just working on the proper technique.”
On when Emma King and KeKe McKinney might return…
“Well, Emma is still out for COVID protocol, and KeKe, we look forward to having her back, but she is day-to-day right now with her shoulder.”
On Marshall cutting the lead to eight in the first half…
“Well, we took the timeout, we were not organized defensively. We were not, too many straight line drive, we were not playing in the proper position, as far as help, so we just really challenged them. One-on-one, go back to the things that we worked on in practice, so we took a step forward to actually getting to help, but then stepping in to take a charge instead of trying to block the shot, and then just challenge them offensively. All game, we wanted to push the tempo, really play in our early actions, try to get the step up screen, try to rescreen, try to go in our gun action, and try not to reset every time so we’re not putting as much pressure on our half-court offense.”
On where you see Nyah Leveretter fitting in this season…
“Yeah, well, it was good to be able to play our bench tonight. They will be an X factor. With COVID, you never know who you’re going to take to the court with practice or games, so preparing your bench to be ready when your name is called is important. Our freshmen are extremely talented, but they’re still lacking experience, but was so proud of Nyah tonight. She plays so hard as you can see. She’s like a pogo-stick, she can jump out of the gym, has a great knack for basketball, so just challenging her to slow down in the paint. Take her time. Try to finish. We challenged Treasure (Hunt) just to play hard defensively, I thought she tried to make some hustle plays, get some 50-50 balls. As you can see, Erin Toller is gifted offensively, she has great court vision and she can score, so I’m excited about the future of our freshmen.”
On how often you and Matthew Mitchell talk…
“Well, we always talk. We’re brother and sister, so we always stay connected. He sends wonderful texts and words of encouragement. He is always here if I need him. He is part of the Wildcat family forever, so he will always be involved.”
#10 Rhyne Howard, G, Jr.
On jumping out to a quick lead against Marshall…
“We knew we had to come out with high intensity and good defensive effort because when we get to tougher games than what we had tonight, it’s going to matter in the long run, so we knew we had to set an example from the beginning.”
On your performance coming off the Indiana game…
“I do definitely feel comfortable, especially being back out with my team, like you said. I feel like I made good plays, or I got everyone involved, or when I needed to take the shot, I took the shot. I think I am finding a groove, like you said, so I am really excited for the rest of the season.”
On how good it was to see Blair Green play like she did…
“It was great seeing Blair come out and play like that, especially when I’m looking to give it to her every time because she has the hot hand, that she can capitalize on it and make good plays, it’s great.”
#5 Blair Green, G, Jr.
On getting into a rhythm tonight…
“Yeah, this year I really feel like my confidence is up. I’ve put in a lot of work. The last game, I didn’t shoot very well, but it didn’t put my confidence down, I just knew I had to come back out and be more aggressive tonight.”
On how important it was to set the tone early, especially after the Indiana game…
“Stepping up to this game, I mean, we can’t take any game – I mean everyone is tough that we play, so we really wanted to make a statement that we’re supposed to be where we’re supposed to be and not back down from anyone. So, just coming out with all of the intensity and bringing our defense to the plate really shows a lot about us.”
On this team stepping up and scoring…
“Yeah, everyone on this team is a really great player. I mean, we can all score, we can all rebound. I think that is what makes us really tough and really dangerous about our team. We can all play, and every night is someone else’s night and it is even better when we can all pitch in and get in double figures.”
On Coach Kyra Elzy calling a timeout when Marshal cut Kentucky’s lead to eight points…
“She pretty much just told us that we’re not playing Kentucky defense, and we’re not playing the way that we’re supposed to play. We really took that to heart and we came back out with more intensity because we should not be within eight points of that team, so I think we showed up.”
On guards that can help you on a break…
“Oh, a lot. I mean, that’s what we work on in practice and that makes the game a whole lot more fun when we can do that. So, we take transition to heart, so when we can have runs like that, it makes the game that much more fun.”
On if the game is slowing down for you with experience…
“Oh, definitely. I mean, you’re mind just slows down and you just have to take a deep breath once you get that serious into it, and yeah, it is definitely slowing down, just through all the practices and all the work that we’ve done, so yeah, it slows down quite a bit.”
On transition defense…
“Yeah, transition defense is definitely something we try to take pride in and just picking up the ball and full-court press, so I think we did a great job with the intensity. A few times we let them get a few runs, but I thought we came back and really stepped it up and started playing Kentucky defense.”
