Dec. 6, 2008
Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
Opening Statement …
“That was a great win for us today and we needed it badly to bounce back from a couple of losses. I was very concerned this morning in our shoot around because we had to go over a lot of things and we didn’t practice yesterday. We felt that not practicing was the best approach for us to take physically and mentally after those tough road games. I was concerned that we had a lot to cover this morning and didn’t think we practiced particularly well but the players changed their attitudes and used the gifts the good Lord gave them to play well today. It was a good win for us.”
On only having seven turnovers in the game …
“Turnovers were something that hurt us on the road Tuesday and Thursday night. For us to be a good team we will have to take care of the basketball and I thought our players made better decisions today. I am very pleased with that stat.”
On the health of Lydia Watkins …
“She is struggling with her stress reaction that she has had the whole season. Some days are better than others. She really tried hard for us Thursday night and anybody who watched the game could see that she was just not explosive and could not really go. We are hoping that some rest will give her a chance to bounce back and hopefully she will be ready for East Tennessee game.”
On the offensive performance today …
“We were well balanced today. I thought that it all started with our defensive energy and everybody played really hard. We didn’t have a lot of time to go over Furman’s offense and we really had to communicate today. I think that our defense fueled our offense today and we were able to get transition baskets. Overall, it was balanced and it all started on the defensive end for us.”
On the guard play today and playing without Carly Ormerod …
“What we talked to them about the last couple of days about playing to their strengths. Everybody is going to have to do that because we are short handed right now. We are expecting to get Carly back down the road, but this is a time when the rest of our players need to improve and hopefully this will be a blessing in disguise for our players to get better. I think that Amani Franklin running the point guard position is making her a better player. Amber Smith was much better today not getting the quick foul like she did Tuesday and Thursday night. All these things are important, but we sure look forward to getting Carly back down the road.”
Kentucky Player Quotes
#5 Carly Morrow
On being more comfortable on the court…
“I have played a lot more minutes than I did last year in the first games. Defensively is where I needed a lot of confidence and I’ve been able to get that. I’ve gotten a lot of encouragement from my teammates and the coaches. They haven’t given up on me and that’s helped me.”
On playing without practicing the day before the game…
“It was tough because they ran an offense that we weren’t used to playing. It wasn’t really an offensive set, so it was a big mental game for us today. We had to concentrate on defense and recognize what positions they were playing.”
On being frustrated with the previous losses…
“It has been frustrating. We haven’t shot the ball well and we have not finished lay-ups. We know we are a lot better than that, especially when we play the type of defense we play. We have to carry the offensive game we had today into the games next week.”
# 24, Amber Smith
On coming off of two losses…
“Coming off of two losses, we basically just wanted to be more aggressive. We wanted to run them (Furman) as much as possible.”
On missing easy lay-ups…
“I got on them, but I know they can finish it. I am going to keep passing it to them because I know they can finish it even though they missed. I have faith in my team. I will keep passing it and they will fall.”
On playing without Carly Ormerod and Lydia Watkins…
“It was tough. Carly Ormerod brings a lot of leadership and Lydia Watkins brings spark. I am just so proud of Ormerod and I told her that. She has stepped up big for us. For the guards, we knew we had to play big minutes. Carly (Morrow) and Amani (Franklin) had to play some point-guard rolls when I went out. It’s hard for us, but I know people can step up every night just like Carly Morrow did today.”
Furman Head Coach Sam Dixon
On what improvements the team has to make when playing on the road …
“The number one thing we have to improve is rebounding. We’re giving up way too many second shots on the road. Our defensive field goal percentage is fine but it would be even lower if they weren’t getting shots. We would cut out some of the free throws and then we would get more shooting opportunities. We’re not a bad shooting team; we just don’t get as many opportunities. So if I were to pinpoint one thing, it would be rebounding.”
On Kentucky’s defense …
“I thought they did a great job. From all the tapes I’ve seen, this is one of their better games that they’ve played. They shot the ball pretty well. It was probably the best three-point shooting they had. I thought they were really aggressive. They got us out of our offense and out of our spacing early in the game. That put us in the position where our drives were too far away from the basket. We missed some opportunities because of the pressure they put on us.”
On what returning home will do for their confidence …
“I hope it enlightens them. When everyone else has come home, they’ve gotten better so hopefully we get better when we get home. We had some bright moments here. I just think we need to build upon those things. We played some really good teams on the road so I think this was a learning experience and an opportunity for us to grow.”
