Feb. 18, 2013

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Kentucky Head Coach Matthew Mitchell

Opening Statement

“I thought that was a great basketball game.  Two really good teams going at it, played well tonight.  We were fortunate to win.  We have a lot of respect for Texas A&M and their program.  They are a very talented team.  There was a great crowd here tonight.  We had to really play well to win the game, and to our player’s credit, they did it.  I just thank the good Lord we had the strength to prepare for this game and come down here under difficult circumstances against a great team and win a ball game.  It was big for our team.”

On first half play

“When you lose your best player and your senior leader, you’re certainly concerned, but we had a lot of confidence in our team.  And I think that goes to show you that we aren’t really a one player team.  We have some really tough minded players, and I just thought it was a beautiful first half of basketball by our team.  They really moved the basketball and we talked about being patient offensively, and they were.  They made some critical defensive plays when maybe the momentum was getting ready to swing Texas A&M’s way.  It was just a beautiful half of basketball, and I was real proud of our team.”

On guarding Kelsey Bone

“That’s another credit to our players; their preparation and having the strength of mind over two days.  We played her very different than the first time.  I thought we were fortunate to win in Lexington with her getting so many shots at the basket and off the glass.  I don’t know how our players could have done a much better job.”

On losing big lead

“That was great composure, that was impressive I thought.  I thought it was a terrific crowd tonight; it was really thunder coming down on us when they made their run.  And as a coach who has been in these positions here before, I thought when we had it at 12 and kind of fiddled around a little bit and didn’t build the lead, it kind of had the feeling they were going to make a run, and I tried to get prepared for that.  I thought the bench did a great job, the players on the floor kept their composure, and you just need to make one play.  A’dia came off the nice little set we had for her, great composure, shot fake, let them go by, and stuck the jumper that got us back going.  Players have to make plays in this kind of game.  This kind of game to me is more about players than it is about any coaching you can do.  I’m just really impressed with our players tonight.”

Kentucky Student-Athletes

Senior Guard A’dia Mathies

On guarding Kelsey Bone

“We just tried to swarm her and tried to get as many defenders.  She’s big, and she had a good day against us in Lexington, so we wanted to push off the block as much as we can and tried to get some little guards for when she dribbled to try to swipe the ball out of her hands.  We did a good job tonight.”

Junior Center DeNesha Stallworth

On her own performance

“Just being confident and believing in myself, and I knew my team really needed me tonight.  I thought it was really important for me to step up, and I thought I did a good job.  Without my teammates, I wouldn’t have been able to do it because they never gave up and always believed in me.”

Junior Guard Kastine Evans

On keeping composure after losing lead

“I just think it helped being in some bigger games already this season.  We’ve been in a way where we had to come back against Arkansas, and then we’ve been up against Georgia and they come back and win.  So you just have to learn against experiences you’ve been in.  We don’t want to be in an experience again where we’re taking the loss.  I think our preparation also helped us a lot and being prepared for the game and running our game plan, executing throughout the stretch and finishing out the game strong.”