Dec. 30, 2008
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Kentucky Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
Opening Statement …
“That is about as pleased as I have been after a game in a while. Our playerscertainly played well and did a really good job tonight. We played a really goodteam, with good players and they were well coached and I am pleased with this win.I think we competed in a complete way tonight and we haven’t done that muchthis season. This was a very encouraging win.”
On what he attributes the late first half run by his team …
“We were able to create some turnovers by switching defensives and that gaveus a spark. That also slowed them down some, too and we were able to get into thepassing lanes in our man-to-man defense and had several steals. That helped to slowtheir offensive down, because instead of them just passing freely they had to thinkabout every pass they were going to make because we are in the passing lanes. I wasvery concerned about this game because IUPUI has played some good teams this yearand beaten some good teams this year. They have a couple of players who are difficultto guard and for us to get a big lead at halftime was something that I was extremelyhappy about.”
On what he told the team at halftime …
“I told our team at halftime that I was proud of us getting that big lead.I was thrilled with our performance in the first half. I don’t think my speechworked well at halftime because we struggled for the first couple of minutes in thesecond half. It is a tough situation when you are a team that is has struggled abit from time to time and then to have a big lead and keep that intensity up. I wasreally thrilled the way we were able to come back and increase our lead after thatslow start to the second half.”
On if he feels that Kentucky is over the early season shooting woes and slow starts …
“I think tonight was a huge step for us as we move forward. For us to score82 points, the second most we have had all year, shows that especially coming offa bad start. We have had a lot of bad starts this year and we haven’t alwaysbounced back. If we are able to repeat this performance for the next couple of gamesthen I would say that we are over the hump and that’s an encouraging sign.”
On the play of Amani Franklin …
“She had a terrific game. In the first half she had to play 19 minutes becauseAmber got into foul trouble and I thought she had her best performance at point guardtonight. That is not an easy position to play to start with, especially when it isnot your natural position. I was very pleased with Amani and her presence on thefloor was great. It was an outstanding performance. One thing we did talk about beforethe game was IUPUI is a very good rebounding team from the guard spot. We told ourguards that they weren’t going to be able to stop and watch the ball go upthey were going to have to get their body on people and compete tonight. For Amanito have 13 rebounds, she obviously listened and did that.”
On the play of Brittany Edelen …
“We knew at the beginning of the season that people were going to have to stepup and operate in roles that they weren’t use to (playing). Brittany Edelenhad practiced great since coming back from Christmas. I wasn’t pleased withher before Christmas and I didn’t think that her attitude in practice was whereit needed to be. She has come back after Christmas and just been lights out. I talkedto her before the game today and told her to do what she has been doing in practice.If you noticed tonight she played very under control on the offensive end and withreckless abandon on the defensive end which caused her to have a terrific game. Shestill made some mistakes tonight, but her positives heavily outweighed her negatives.If we can get that kind of play from Brittany we will be an even stronger team.”
Kentucky Players
#1, Eleia Roddy, Sr., C
On the game tonight and Kentucky’s big win …
“IUPUI is a good team. They had a very good center and other players that Coachkept trying to get us to realize that we needed to minimize their production. Itwas a good win and we are happy.”
On if she thinks this is the best game that they have played this season …
“I would agree with that. I was impressed with the way that everyone playedas a team. I said at the beginning of the season that it wasn’t just goingto be one or two people who did all the scoring, but that we are going to have abalanced scoring attack. I think that now we are finally getting there.”
On Amani Franklin’s play …
“I think that Amani is playing with a lot more confidence now. She has realizedthat she needed to step up with Carly (Ormerod) being out. She knows that she hasto step up. I think that is the main reason why she is playing better is becauseof her confidence. I think that she is great. She has a lot of talent and athleticismand she can be an unstoppable guard, especially with her size.”
#25, Amani Franklin, Jr., G
On what has changed in her play lately …
“I have just started to make some shots. Last game I was able to knock downsome shots early and not so much in this game, but I was still able to get into arhythm. I am having more fun and I think that we are starting to put it on teamsearly. That is giving us more confidence and we have all glued together as a team.”
On what it was like to go on the big run late in the first half …
“Everything was clicking and it feels good when you are able to do that. Asa team, we need to continue to do that because it will help us with our confidenceand to finish off and win games.”
On Coach Mitchell saying that he has changed his coaching approach to her and if she has noticed it …
“Yeah, he is a lot more positive and encouraging. He gets on us when he needsto but he has been more encouraging lately. I think that we feed off of that. Wego out and execute and just make more plays.”
IUPUI Head Coach Shann Hart
On the game…
“I thought Kentucky shot the three-point ball very well. It is probably the best they have shot from beyond the arc all season. I thought Coach Mitchell did a great job in planning and in preparation for this game. We are used to rebounding the basketball they way Kentucky did tonight and we certainly did not do a great job of rebounding tonight. I hope we didn’t make history in the wrong way by giving up 24 offensive rebounds.”
On getting off to a quick start in the first and second half…
“I felt the game was a very physical game. It would have been very good to see us step up and play as physical as Kentucky did. I don’t think we ever matched the intensity of the play. More importantly, we missed too many easy shots. We cut Kentucky’s lead down to single digits in the second half and I felt like Kentucky had no cure for what we were doing defensively. Then we missed four straight uncontested lay-ups. That was a huge difference in the game. If we would have made those shots then we could have the cut the lead to around four with about 11 minutes to play in the second half. Our second half effort was much better. We were very concerned about Amani Franklin to begin with. Franklin played exceptionally tonight.”
On Julia Whitted picking up two quick fouls in the first half…
“It certainly hurt our game plan when she picked up those two fouls. We are a lot like Kentucky, in that our post offense is our strength. Having to have her sit down for a long length of time made us do a lot of things very differently. It hurt us and allowed to Kentucky to jump out to a big lead once she was sitting down.”
