Feb. 3, 2013

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Kentucky Head Coach Matthew Mitchell

Opening Statement …

“You have to give credit to Georgia today. They just played really, really tough and they were in some really tough spots today and faced some deficits today that a lot of teams may have folded and they didn’t. They were really tough and they played really strong. Credit goes to Georgia today, they clearly wanted the game more than we did.”

On snapping the home winning streak …
“Yeah, you have to learn from it. I thought we had some opportunities to win this game but when you draw back and look at it, over the total period of the win streak, there was a lot of good play by a lot of good players. I just wanted to make sure the alumni knew they were appreciated today and you do that whether you win or lose. We were glad they were back, just sad we didn’t honor them with a victory.”

On what changed in the second half …
“Well, I thought that they were just outstanding at guarding us at the rim and we got to the rim a bunch and weren’t tough enough to make it and then didn’t hustle back on transition defense and they really took advantage of us there. Khaalidah Miller made some big 3s in transition that helped them and then we had some one-one-one situations that we knew Georgia was going to try to isolate us. Usually we are a good defensive team but today they were a better offensive team than we were defensive. I don’t want to say that we played poor defensively. We will look at the film and figure it out but you obviously had some players on Georgia that did some things today that they haven’t done. They made some great plays and made really critical baskets when they needed to. They never gave up or quit.”

On the gameplan on the final play of the game …

“Well, we were trying to get a down screen for A’dia (Mathies) and then if she had a 3 take it, if not, drive it and Jen (O’Neill) come back behind and then have DeNesha (Stallworth) over for a couple of options. That was indicative of what we did down the stretch when it was tough. We had a lot of opportunities I thought to stretch our lead out in the first half I thought we had a chance to really extend our lead but we were just very, very sloppy with the ball and that was just a microcosmic of the whole day. Just weren’t aggressive with the basketball when Georgia turned up the hit.”

On if some players were gassed at the end of the game and if he thought about taking them out …
“It was not (talked about) because I thought they (Georgia) was as tired as we were. We were getting the ball to the rim and not making shots. There are just some days were, as a coach, you have to go back and look at it. I can’t tell you know, but I thought when they scored they were in the middle of the court and we were running by them and then you don’t go down there and make plays. At that time we were up against the media timeout I think, so I thought about it, but then the media came and I thought it was a tie ballgame with 3:41 left and I thought we could beat them in a four-minute game. We didn’t.”

On UT losing and if it frustrates him more knowing UK could have evened up the conference standings …
“You will drive yourself crazy if you worry about everybody else and wishing things would happen. The thing that is frustrating to me is that I didn’t do a very good job with this week of holding them to a high standard. I thought maybe they needed some rest. I don’t think it is rest that they need. I think they need a good dose of going back to fundamentals and what has gotten us to this point and having the opportunity to be a great team. I am just really frustrated with how I coached them this week and I don’t think I had them ready to go today and more than anything else that is what I am disappointed in more than anything.”

On Georgia trapping Jen O’Neill up top and if he expects to see more of it …
“If she plays the way she did today then I would expect people to do it a bunch. That is what I am saying. We worked on that in practice. She wasn’t super sharp with it and that is not her fault that is mine. Teams do what they want to do and it is my job as a head coach to make sure that we are ready to go and we were not ready to function in this game when it really mattered. That is very disappointing.”

Kentucky Student-Athletes

#1 A’dia Mathies, Sr., G

On the winning streak of 34 games in Memorial Coliseum coming to a close …

“I just really wish we could have gotten the win. We have talked about how important this gym is and the people who died to make this gym and make it Memorial Coliseum, and every time we go on that court, we go in to get the win. I am just down that we went in and lost today.”

On what she thinks went wrong in the second half when Georgia went on a 14-4 run…

“I think a big thing was getting back in transition and being able to match up on long rebounds. Also, not getting hit by screens, set plays, and just being tough all over the court. I think we had a lapse on that and they came on a big run, which ultimately hurt us in the game.”

On if the fact that Georgia scored 45 points in the second half happened because of something Georgia did differently or UK didn’t do…

“I think mostly everything was self-inflicted. We worked on transition defense and matching up and if it is a long rebound, we should be able to talk to each other and recover. We just have to do a better job with that and I think we will work on that in the practices coming forward.”

On what the team had planned to do in the last play of the game…

“We were going to try and get a 3-pointer with me coming to the top and just get a point. And if not, try to work with that and if anybody was open, they could shoot it. They did a great job of getting deflection and staying out the end and sealing the game.”

#0 Jennifer O’Neill, R-So, PG

On what changed after she hit a big 3-pointer at the end of the first half …

“I really don’t know. Georgia just came out hitting shots and that’s it. That’s all I can tell you.”

On why taking this loss personally…

“I think we had a chance to win the game and bust the game open. We didn’t do that. Just looking at the stats, the amount of turnovers I had is just unacceptable. That last play today, we had a chance to win or tie the game and it was unsuccessful because I had another turnover, once again. I am definitely taking this personal, but it is something I will work on in practice.”

Georgia Head Coach Andy Landers

Opening statement…

“I just think that we were both fortunate and tough. I don’t know how good we were but we were tough to have beaten a very good Kentucky team today on their court. Kentucky is very, very good. We ran into some difficulties with fouls and some situations at times with our younger, less experienced players’ decisions that really put us in a tough position for most of the game but we were tough. We stayed the course, really proud of our basketball team for staying the course and coming back and doing what they had to do and creating an opportunity to win because, as you know, Kentucky led the entire game.”

On whether his team changed anything in the second half…

“We said, at halftime, I told J.J. (Jasmine James), ‘Why don’t you go out and get a couple of quick fouls so I can set you down and have to move Khaalidah [Miller] to the point because I’m feeling 3s from her.’ How bizarre was that? No, a couple of things defensively we tweaked at the half and then we made a decision about what we were going to do the majority of offensively in the second half and I think both those things served us well. We eliminated the guard 3s to some extent as compared to the first half, second half, with the defensive tweak and then eliminated some turnovers with the tweak that we made offensively. But, not a whole lot of adjustment. Just trying to keep people on the floor and playing a little tougher, maybe, than they started the game playing.”

On the trap Georgia played on Jennifer O’Neill in the second half…

“Yeah, that was a tweak defensively. We had hedged and went under the first half and she had stepped back and knocked down a couple of 3s. We wanted to it, really, we made the decision with about two minutes left in the first half but we had such a mixed lineup out there and no real good time to discuss it with the kids dead ball-wise or timeout-wise so we just sat on it until halftime.”

On why he believes Miller tends to succeed at Memorial Coliseum…

“I don’t know. It seems like she’s trying to win a trophy up here. If you all would give her a trophy, maybe, today it would cool her off the next time. You know, I told TV I wouldn’t want to be her the next time we play Kentucky. She’s not going to get any air. But she played very, very well. Not only that, but we moved her to the point, as you know. At times that was shaky, as I expected it would be, but at times it was adequate and got the job done, which is all we could have hoped for in that situation. So, she really did play well.”

On whether he felt like there was a momentum change with one of Miller’s 3s…

“Well, all of them gave us a pick-me-up but I know the one you’re talking about. Is that the one that hung on the rim? Kind of bounced around? At that point, she was kind of playing with us. She wanted to keep us on edge but, you know, all of them were big because when you drop behind 10-12 points, it’s a little harder to get back if you don’t drop a couple of 3s. She was able to do that for us. The neat thing, I though, about her 3s today, her teammates found her at times at the end of transition and in broken sets and I thought that was great on their part. Almost every time, I think she might have had two shots tonight where she didn’t have to shoot it a little bit quicker than her normal rhythm is. She was putting them up pretty quick and she would like not to do that. I watch her every day in practice, yet she still hit them. And then, so we’re finding her, and then we run a couple of things, a fade screen, and she’s knocking those down too. And then the big one, she took it to the basket a couple of times on top of all of that so it was a good day for her. It was a good day when we needed somebody to have a big day and she had it.”

Georgia Student-Athletes

#1 Khaalidah Miller, G

On Kentucky’s defense…

“They are a really good defensive team. Their defense was really tough on us tonight, but once we went into the huddle during the timeouts we kept saying, ‘Keep fighting, keep fight we can come back,’ and we did that. I am really proud of my team.”

On how she played in today’s game…

“It was a team effort. I would not have been able to play the way I played if it weren’t for my team finding me in open spaces.”

On taking over the point guard position…

“Coach had me practicing at the point the past couple of days, I knew it would eventually come, but I didn’t expect it to come so soon. I just had to step up and play the position. I was really nervous though. I played the point and wing in high school, but I hadn’t really played it since then. I have always just looked at J.J. (Jasmine James) to control the floor.”