March 21, 2014
Mike Bradbury, Wright State, Head Coach:
On if he grew up a Kentucky fan…
“I did grow up a Kentucky fan. It’s kind of weird because the family is split down the middle and you have to be careful where you want to watch the game and stuff when Kentucky and Louisville are playing. It’s really not that big of deal now, but when I was growing up I did pull for Kentucky.”
On if he will try to beat Kentucky playing their game or if he will make some adjustments…
“We’ve got to make some adjustments. They’re very talented. The biggest thing is, most teams we played against were more athletic. That’s not the case tomorrow. I think we’re as athletic, but they’re bigger than us at every spot. We can’t just do it the exact same way.”
On trying to force Kentucky to play small…
“They’re going to play who they play. I don’t know that we can force them to play small. They’re as athletic so there’s not a huge advantage there in athleticism. They’re going to play to their strength and we’ll try to play to ours. I don’t think we can change them.”
On loss of KC Elkins …
“We talk about it all the time. We’ve had people miss a couple of games from time-to-time throughout the year, and it’s kind of a football term, but next man up. It is what it is. We beat the best rebounding teams in our league this year without Taylor Stanton. She didn’t play in that game and if you would have asked me before that game, I would have probably said that we wouldn’t have had a chance. It’s next one in line. We will just keep on going. She obviously affects us. I don’t want to downplay that. She’s a big part. She hit 10 3’s against Valparaiso on her senior day. She’s a capable player, and she’s not playing and it is what it is. We have to continue on.”
On talking with UK head coach Matthew Mitchell …
“Yeah, we talked for a minute this morning. Just normal stuff. Not about this anyway. I don’t have a good story for you there, sorry. We talked for maybe two minutes and that’s it.”
On how to combat with UK’s size …
“You’ve just got to compete. I mean, we’re not going to get any bigger and they’re not going to get any smaller, so we just have to compete. We have to get five people competing for defensive rebounds and do the best we can. There’s nothing magic about it. We’ve just got to get in there and compete and do the best we can and make it as hard as possible.”
On if the players know the historical nature of this game …
“They’re just going to play. I don’t think they think about a whole lot other than that. I try and talk to them. I try to think like they think sometimes. They’re just going to play. They just know what we show them and what we tell them. I don’t even know if they know who the other two teams are in here. We’re just going to prepare for Kentucky and that’s it.”
WRIGHT STATE PLAYERS
Kim Demmings, Wright State Guard
On playing in the NCAA tournament …
“I feel like it is exciting. It is a great opportunity for our program. So we are going to prepare and be ready.”
On whether the preparation has been different than regular season …
“We do what we normally do – take two days to prepare and get ready. It has pretty much been the same as what we have been doing all year. I think we should keep it like that. It has been working, so why change it.”
On Kentucky’s size advantage …
“We are going to have to compete a lot on rebounding. They have a couple of bigger post players but that shouldn’t hurt us too bad because we are competitive and we will compete for rebounds. If we do that, we should be fine.”
On what she expects in the game …
“We are expecting a high-intensity game, a real competitive game. We are expecting to get out and run. We are going to go out and play our game and see what happens.”
Ivory James, Wright State Guard
On playing without KC Elkins …
“Casey was very important to this and I, being a teammate and a friend, will go out and play hard for her. I know she really wanted to be here. I’m pretty sure we’ll all do what we go to do to get this win for her.”
Tay’ler Mingo, Wright State Guard
On playing on the road …
“I feel like we worked hard all year and being able to be here after all the hard work we put in, it’s humbling but it’s also fun at the same time and we’re just ready to play the same basketball we have been playing all year.”
On their style of play …
“We’re a fast-pace team and we like to get it out in transition. We also like to turn people over – that’s our main goal. The more we turn people over, the more we can run and get into transition.”
On Kentucky’s height advantage …
“I don’t want to say it’s a concern but they’re definitely just like us. They like to get it out there, they have really great guards and they like push it and pressure a lot. That’s basically what we like to do, I think if we can get the score up to where were used to averaging it can be a really good game.”
On experience against teams with height advantage …
“Throughout the year, we have been undermatched and in our conference we didn’t really see it as much as in our conference but our nonconference (schedule) gave us a taste of what it is to play with girls that are bigger than us.”
On missing KC Elkins …
“Honestly, you don’t miss a player till they’re gone. With Casey being gone it makes a huge difference, I don’t know if you guys know but she was our two-guard, she gets us matched up and she communicates very well. She knows the system like the back of her hand.”
