Nov. 17, 2012

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Kentucky Head Coach Matthew Mitchell

Opening Statement …

“Good win for us this afternoon. I thought that we had some really good moments in the game and made some progress in some areas. We still have a lot to work on, but after the disappointing defeat Tuesday and only having a couple days of practice time to get ready for this one, I thought the team prepared well and performed well and I am looking forward to this upcoming week of practice. I think we are going to be making a big, big step this next week and we are looking forward to that. But glad to get the win today.”

On the team’s offensive performance …

“We had two days that we really broke some things down in practice and there are some moments out there that are frustrating because they are just not moving the way we believe they will eventually. But there were some moments out there that looked really good. It is just going to be a daily process, working every single day trying to find tune it and figure out who is comfortable where. I thought the offensive produced some good things today. We certainly need to shoot free throws better and make some of those layups around the basket and we would have had a heck of a day, but some good things on offense.”

On if it is will take time for the offense to click due to UK’s depth …

“I think so, and it is all new to them. Even a player like A’dia Mathies, this is very different than anything she has done since she has been here. So it will take a little bit of time but I thought they made good strides in two days. We turned the ball over way too much, but I think that is them not quite being comfortable with where people are or where they are going to be or they make think somebody is going to be somewhere and they are not. I think we will get that smoothed out, but 20 turnovers are way too much. Again, it is the third game of the season and we will keep plugging and I thought we had some good things happen but we will need some time to bring it together and get it looking the way we want it to.”

On A’dia Mathies’ play, especially working at the point …

“We are trying to work some kids in that position. Again, it is early in the season so I don’t know where it is going to develop. But A’dia was so fantastic today on the defense end that I just was absolutely thrilled with her game. I thought she had a great game and had a huge first-half scoring. Then the second half I thought she played a really good game and found some people and made some good passes. She got some open looks, but they didn’t go down. I thought that her defensive intensity was where we needed it today. Right now, I thought today we probably had seven or eight (players) that really, really tried hard on defense and they will see their playing time increase as we move forward.”

On Bria Goss’ play and if he expected High Point to play so physical …

“We had great respect for High Point watching them. They have a veteran team and two of the best players in their conference and those kids are tough. It was a physical challenge and they didn’t back down at all. We were expecting that kind of game.

“I think that Bria is playing too fast and trying to make too much happen. She needs to slow down and let some things develop. She is just 100 miles per hour everywhere she goes. One thing I feel confident about is that she will make whatever corrections she needs to make. She just got in such foul trouble today it really limited her in the first half. She is not somebody I am overly concerned about right now. I think she will bounce back and have a good game next Friday.”

On DeNesha Stallworth’s foul trouble and the cause of that…

“Yeah, footwork and just positioning. I think she is thinking too much and not playing nearly up to her capabilities. She is slowing herself down and we just got to help her find a way through that.”

On 44 points off the bench and Kastine Evans’ play …

“I was really, really thrilled for Kastine. We were kind of mired in a scoring slump there, stuck on 65 for a while and I thought that Kastine really ignited the offense and we were able to finish the game fairly strong. I thought the bench did some really good things and that Azia Bishop came off the bench and really did some nice things. What is great about Azia is she is not anywhere close to what she will be when she puts it all together, but at least now we can count on her effort and energy. That one loose ball she chased down in the second half was a quantum leap forward for her. That was a big, big momentum in her career and she needs to build on that. That was exciting for me. Kastine came off and did a good job. We had good contributions from our bench, Bernisha Pinkett was fantastic and I was really happy with her play. The 44 points off the bench was great, but their effort was even better.”

On if Baylor is one of the best women’s teams of all time …

“I have been in college basketball 12 or 13 years and I don’t remember too many point guards as tough and as aggressive and just with a will to win as Odyssey Simms. If you have that going for you, then you have a once in a generation, maybe once in a lifetime player in Brittney Griner, and then you add a bunch of good players around them that is a top-notch, tough team. I am really hoping that Odyssey Simms didn’t hurt herself badly in Hawaii. She went down early in the game against Stanford and they lost that game, but when she is full speed and everybody is full speed, they are one of the best teams clearly I have ever seen in my years as a college basketball coach. They are really, really good.”

Kentucky Players

#50, Azia Bishop, F/C

On the state of mind for this game…

“We just got back from a bad loss so we really wanted to come and bring it back this time.”

On the importance of this game and how practice this week was…

“This was a very important game after our loss. In practice, we just worked on the things that we messed up on in the Baylor game.”

#01, A’dia Mathies, G

On her determination to shoot…

“Just like in the Baylor game, even though I went 3-for-18, I could have easily gone 11-for-18. So I’m not just going to stop shooting just because some of my shots aren’t going in. I think that being aggressive opens up a lot of things for other people, so I’m going to keep shooting.”

On her different roles on the team….

“I’ve played different roles (my whole career) so I’m comfortable with it and if I need to play it I’ll play it. So whatever position coach puts me in I’m going to play it because I know he knows what he’s doing and that it’s going to help us out in the end.”

On whether or not the Baylor game shook the team’s confidence…

“No, the Baylor game didn’t shake us. Sometimes people fail to realize that even though we’re ranked top 10 in the nation, it’s still only the second game in the season and we still have a lot of work to do. But we’re working hard in practice so we can only improve.”

On today’s performance coming off Baylor…

“I think that we came out with a lot of energy today. They (High Point) aren’t a team that you can just beat on, so we definitely had to hustle and make shots and I think we did that today.”

On the team’s 20 turnovers…

“I think that when you play this style of basketball where you run and play defense a lot, you’re going to have turnovers. A couple of careless plays here and there, a couple of balls being thrown too far. But we got the victory so were just trying to focus on (improving) that.”

#10, Bernisha Pinkett, G

On the importance of the bench players…

“I think the bench players are very important because you never know when your number is going to be called. Everyone on this team can play so when coach calls, you just have to be ready and go out there and do whatever you need to do to help the team get the win.”

On this game after the Baylor loss…

“I think that even though Baylor beat us, we still know that we have a lot of work to do and that we’re going to be a good team when it’s all said and done. We just want to keep pushing and developing this team so that everyone is on the same page so that the next time we come across another big game we’ll be ready to go.”

High Point Head Coach DeUnna Hendrix

On what the team takes away from the game…

“They’re No. 6 for a reason. They’re a good team. It’s 40 minutes of defensive pressure. What we could take away, second half, we hung with him. We only lose by 11 in the second half. I think our kids responded. Even on the boards, we hung with them on the boards. There are some positives we could definitely take out of this, but again it’s No. 6 in the country.”

On what changed in the second half…

“We changed our press breaker. I think overall, you can practice that pressure all you want to, but until you see it, it’s shocking. In the second half, they saw it a little bit, they stay composed with everything and we responded in that sense.”

On what she liked about her team in the first half…

“Our pride and heart. I think they had a chip on their shoulder walking into here and we start the first eight minutes competing. It was just the first lull where we didn’t score, they forced some turnovers, and we sort of went away. We have a lot to learn.”