Nov. 15, 2008
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Kentucky Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
Opening Statement…
“It was a very poor performance for us today and not the way that you want to start the season. We had a lot of areas that were exposed and give Michigan a lot of credit defensively because our shooting performance was not good today. We have to find a way to become a better scoring and shooting team. It was very disappointing today.”
On the poor shooting of the Kentucky guards…
“We didn’t shoot very well today. As a coach, what you have to do is try to find some better areas on the floor for your players to be more effective. As a player, at some point, you have make lay-ups, stay focused and finish. We have worked on that in practice. Other than that, you have to find some courage inside of you as a guard and make some shots. I thought that we got some open looks today but we had a miserable performance.”
On Kentucky getting in foul trouble early…
“Michigan is a very good offensive team from a movement stand point. They move their players and move the ball in a very effective manner. It is hard to stimulate that in practice and we tried our best to let our players understand that they were going to have to move their feet a lot. We got a lot of holding and hand-check calls early in the game and we never adjusted. That is something that goes back to what we have talked about before about trying to become a team, trying to have personal responsibility. Our players have to understand that you have to make an adjustment to how the game is being called and take feedback from one possession to the next so we don’t make the same mistakes over. At one point we grabbed a player’s jersey and held her, and that is not anything that we teach here at Kentucky. So we have to figure out why we made those kinds of mistakes and try to correct them. Foul trouble really caused us problems today.”
On Victoria Dunlap’s play…
“I thought that early in the game Michigan did a good job defensively of switching on a lot of screens that we were setting and getting us out of our offensive pattern. We talked about spreading the floor and creating some penetration opportunities and Victoria took that to heart and was very aggressive today. I think that she can be a 19-point and 10-rebound player every game. That was definitely no early season cupcake we played today. Michigan is a good team and has a lot of NCAA tournament aspirations, and they were much more effective in execution today and that’s a credit to their players and coaches.”
Kentucky Players
Victoria Dunlap #34
On Kentucky’s foul trouble…
“We were definitely not in sync with one another throughout the game. We had a couple of little fouls called on us and that led them to score a bunch of points from the free-throw line the whole game.”
On trying to make more hustle plays this year more than last…
“I definitely agree that we have been hustling this year. We have just been trying to know each other. For example, when the ball is going out-of-bounds we just need to know that someone is going to hustle to it and get it. It’s definitely one of our strong suits but we still need to work on it.”
On the biggest difficulty on the defensive end…
“The main thing was that we weren’t talking. There needs to be a lot more talking with one another and with what is happening on the floor. Also, we just need to stay in a defensive stance. We need to stop people from dribbling baseline and getting direct drives to the basket.”
Michigan Head Coach Kevin Borseth
On the pace of the game…
“I think the pace of the game was in our favor. We have some really good athletes and when they can get out there and go, they make a lot of things happen. I thought particularly the pace in the first half was really in our favor. We did everything we could to try to minimize some of the athleticism Kentucky has. We hit some shots when we had to which really helped us. Obviously, their rebounding hurt us. They had 25 offensive rebounds. We knew that they can go to the glass and get it; that was the point of concern for us.”
On Courtney Boylan’s performance as a freshman…
“She listens to what you tell her and puts time in at the gym. If you put time into anything, your chances of success are going to be really good. I’m not surprised she did really well in this game.”
On Kentucky ‘s performance…
“Kentucky ‘s No. 1(Eleia Roddy) is a tough match up. She did a really good job so we tried to keep it out of her hands. We played against No. 34 (Victoria Dunlap) last year and she’s a great player.”
Michigan Players
Courtney Boylan #20
On if there was any hesitation in shooting the ball…
“No, there wasn’t any hesitation (hitting shots). I think I just saw an opening. I think the opening was actually created by people penetrating and going to the basket.”
On their first win of the season being played on the road…
“It felt really good, especially after exhibition because we knew we could play a lot better than we had. The game was pretty close for most of (the game) until we broke away at the end. It was an awesome win for us. (The win) will be good for us going into our next game.”
