Kentucky Women’s Basketball
Postgame Quotes
Kentucky vs. #3 Louisville
Memorial Coliseum – Lexington, Kentucky
Sunday, December 17, 2017
UK Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
Opening statement …
“Well, that’s a tough game, tough loss for us today. You have to give Louisville a tremendous amount of credit. Just a really good basketball team. Play hard, play well, play together, well-coached and just really have a great team. We let it get away there in the last 12-13 minutes of the first half. I thought the end of the first quarter was bad and then obviously in the second quarter, we didn’t do what we needed to do to hang in there. So, we’ll just continue to try and work hard and get better.”
On what changed in the second half of the game …
“I thought offensively we played with a little bit more poise. I thought we were really frantic – and you have to give that credit to Louisville – they play real hard and did some good things defensively. But, I thought when we slowed down defensively we tried to focus on execution and it went better. Defensively, we are not operating at a very high level and that’s my job. I have to get that corrected and we did not box out today and they are a more athletic team. You really have to be a very tough and sharp team and there were too many second-chance points. We have an opportunity tomorrow to get better and that’s what we will focus on doing. We are a smart enough team that working on boxing out and rebounding, we can work on that tomorrow. We will try and get better at that and just work on some defense.”
On how he keeps three losses in a row from becoming worse …
“I think everything right now that we’re doing is not just terrible and horrible. You just cannot overreact or panic. I think we’ve got some time here now, we don’t have another class until Jan. 11 and so it will be just a good dose of teaching and giving the team some motivation to do the right thing. If they’re not doing the right thing – so for instance, if you miss a box out, there are going to have to be some consequences for that, because that’s effort. If it’s an effort issue or a hustle issue, we will really push there. If it is a competency level, we will just really push for patience and continue to teach. I don’t know that we want to screw up ball-screen coverages, but we are screwing up ball-screen coverages. So how much of that is effort and how much of that is low competency. I think as a coach, I’ve got to find that good balance of pushing them and prodding them in matters of effort and patience and teaching in matters of their competency. That’s the line you have to walk. Tomorrow, we don’t have a thing we have to think about as far as classes or final exams. We just came out of final exams and that was a heavy load on their mind. So we will just go to work and get better tomorrow. That’s the thing I’m heartened by. You can see the things we need to work on and all of it – the team is capable. Look, we are not a good team yet. Yet. That’s what I told the team. We’re not there yet, but we have our sights set on being that and I absolutely believe we will.”
On leaving Taylor Murray and Maci Morris in the game all 40 minutes …
“We just were trying to get better. We had a rough first half there and we are counting on those two and we’ve got to play better and do better. Also, they are two really strong competitors that want to win. This is a big game and there is a lot of pride on the line there. We were trying to play our very best and those two never asked to come out, never asked for a break. That shows you the type of warriors they are. After that really tough second quarter, our mind was set on trying to come out in the second half and get back, chip into the lead and see if we can cut it to 10 or so, get it under double-digits and get ourselves back in position to win. So, that’s the way we coached that second half. We were trying to get back into the game and win the game. That’s the statement that we were trying to make. We were just trying to play our best basketball and we didn’t today, but there are brighter days ahead.”
UK Student-Athletes
#4 Maci Morris, G
On what they’re doing to keep from getting discouraged from three straight loses…
“We just got to stay together and must remember that we’re still learning. We are a young team and we see different pieces every game that we played and every game that we lost. And we don’t look at it as losing, but as learning opportunities, so we just have to take those pieces and learn from them. Hopefully there comes a point in time where we can put all those together and it’s going to work for us.”
On the challenges Louisville created on defense…
“I think it was more of us, they were making us rush a little bit. Once we settled down in the second half I feel like we executed a lot better. Once we were poised, finding the shots we wanted and they were going in. But they did a good job in the first half, just speeding us up and making us take quick shots.”
On Kentucky taking quick shots…
“Yeah, Louisville is a great team. They were getting open shots and they were knocking them down. So, that increased their lead a lot and I think what we have to learn from is when teams go on runs, we can’t just panic and just try to catch up right then and there, we have to just slow down and chip away from those leads.”
On just focusing on basketball without the load of finals…
“I think it took a whole lot from us. Just knowing that we can focus strictly on basketball and don’t have to worry about class, homework or anything like that. So, now, we can just focus on basketball and come in and be ready.”
Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
Opening Statement…
“Coming into the game today, we knew that they’re a very good basketball team. Maci Morris and Taylor Murray are dynamic guards, two kids that can take the game over and we were concerned about that. We knew that they loved to drive right and unfortunately during the first few minutes of the game, we let them drive right. Then they scored and we finally made some adjustments about four or five minutes into the game, forced them to go left. We had help on that side and defensively we did a lot of good things. I mean you look at our stat sheet and I tell people all of the time, we are one rebound away and one assist away from having four players with doubles-doubles. I mean, it’s not just one player. Asia (Durr) shoots the heck out of the ball. When she scores, her teammates do a great job of finding her in open space. We execute, I mean, I was really impressed with us. If you watch that ball game, I mean Asia scored a lot in the half court. You know, because we took the time, we set good screens and found her. Now I say it all of the time, she has to knock the shots down and she did and then I think the start of the game Sam Fuehring gets an offensive board and scores. You know, so we set the tone and I told them in the locker room that you got to rebound the ball in order to win. If you rebound the basketball, you got a great chance to win the game. So, I’m really proud of them. It’s a good win, but now we’ve got to get set for the next ball game. There’s a lot of bigger things in front of us and we know that, and we’ve got to continue to improve to get better.”
On having teammates that can really help Asia get going and being able to pick up the slack…
“Well, I think that’s why she’s able to do what she’s doing, you know. It’s hard to box and chase her. It’s hard to face guard her. It’s hard to just say, hey we’re going to hold in on her because then she does a great job of coming off the screen. You know, if you’re not going to come of the screens well, we’ll give the ball to Myisha (Hines-Allen) down in the paint and then she comes off and she scores. Having balance and depth is something that we haven’t had at this level of it in the past. You know, it makes life a lot easier for her when players can step up and hit open shots. I thought Arica Carter was big. Arica was big in the first half because now you have to challenge her to make open shots and she did, you know, and we did the same thing. I got to give a few of their kids credit, we double off ball screens when Morris came off of it. I mean it goes back to (Keke) McKinney, she hits a three. Tatyana Wyatt hits a 3, you know, so they had some kids step up and makes shots too which you have to have when you have players of the caliber of Asia and Maci Morris and your kids can compete against.”
On Sam Fuehring’s effectiveness as a rebounder…
“She doesn’t stop. That’s the one thing that I will give Sam. She moves without the ball. It’s really hard to find that anymore. You know, players like to watch. Shots go up; players like to watch. Sam moves without the ball. I say it all the time, it’s hard to find players when shots are taken they will figure out the trajectory of the ball whether it’s short or long. Then if it’s long, just get to the other side. And if it’s short, stay on your side and I think in our game it wouldn’t be basketball because don’t necessarily play as much pick up. Just going out and playing, you know, you don’t get as many reps with just playing basketball and I think that comes from that and Sam has a knack for it. The shot goes up, she can tell if it’s short or long and then she goes and hunts the ball. She was big tonight. I mean, I thought the way she offensive rebounded really set the tone for us.”
On encouraging Arica with her shot more…
“I told her as long as it keeps going in, keep shooting them. I thought she took one bad shot and that was in the end of the first half there with kind of like two minutes left there in transition where she fired up an off balance bank shot on the left side that did not go in. You know, I told them that you’ve been killing them on reversal and stepping into your 3, like don’t start doing more than what you’re really good at. Then she missed that one 3 in front of our bench there late in the game and I told her to shoot when she was coming down. Now what she can’t allow to happen is that Maci Morris goes down and hits a 3 right in front of her. You know, you have to defend but you AC has put the time in. When you put the time in, and you work on your game, it’s amazing what happens. She did not make one 3-point shot her freshman year. Not one to where she is now, you have to respect her. You have to guard her.”
On the game philosophy against Morris…
“Our whole game was to force her left, but you can’t give her any. When she drives left, she goes to the basket for layups. It’s what she does. Every time she goes left, she’s going all the way to the hole. When she goes right, she’s really good. She’ll size you up. She’s really good at the step back. She does a really great job, so our goal was play head up and if she’s gonna drive make her go left but then we fouled. You know, she got to the line some there in the first half which I thought was a problem for us. Then she started to back off, but I was really pleased with how we defended.”
On the depth of Louisville’s defense…
“Well, I think defense was good too. We have players that can come in off the bench. I mean Bionca Dunham normally gives us more. She’s been really good this year. Now she fouled well. Four fouls in three minutes, that’s pretty impressive. I mean that’s not easy to get done especially when you’re not trying to do it. She normally comes in and can rebound and give us presence. Kylee Shook offensively has come along more than Bionca, but Bionca defensively is further. So, they both have areas that we’re going to work to get better that they’re both better at.”
On the fast break style of play…
“Our whole goal is to get the ball out as quick as we can. Look down the floor but don’t force it. I’m trying to get them to pick the tempo up. Push it to the free throw line as quick as you can. If it’s not there, bring the ball up, reverse it. I don’t want them stopping at the 28-foot marker and just holding it to set up the offense, that’s not what we’re trying to do.”
Louisville Student-Athletes
#25 Asia Durr, G
On her confidence level shooting tonight even while being pressured…
“My teammates give me confidence; they find me on the court. Coach (Jeff) Walz calls great plays and if I don’t have the shot there, I know I have my teammates to count on. They always help me get hype, things like that. It’s my teammates who get me going. It’s so much fun playing out there with them.”
On the team’s pace tonight, locking down on defense and forcing turnovers…
“Coach Walz talks about it all the time – tempo – and that’s what we’ve been trying to do better as a team. This past week we’ve bene working on scoring and then sprinting back on defense. Because Kentucky, they don’t waste any time getting the ball out the net, they go, so that’s what we had to work on this past week.”
On Louisville’s 20-5 run to end the first half…
“We stayed hungry, we stayed aggressive as well. Coach Walz kept saying they weren’t going to back down, even during halftime, that’s what he said. We just had to stay hungry and get comfortable. We knew that we were up by 15 to 20, but we had to keep on going. He didn’t take his best two players out for the whole game, so he was trying to make a statement.”
On Dana Evans developing in the last couple weeks…
“It’s always tough coming from high school to college. You’ve got to make that adjustment. We’ve been trying to help her in practice. She’s coachable, very coachable. She wants to be great. Anytime you have a player like that who wants to be great, that starts to show. I think in big games like this, fans and players are really starting to see what type of player she is.”
#2 Myisha Hines-Allen, F
On Louisville’s transition game tonight…
“Really well. We were able to rebound the ball and that’s where it all starts, just rebounding at the defensive end, then going in transition. That’s one of the things that we’re focusing on, too, as a team.”
On the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry and what it means to her…
“It means a lot since it was my last one, I just wanted to come in here and do whatever I could for the team so we could get the win. But it’s a big one. You know what it means to Kentucky and you know what it means back at home. It was just good that we were able to get that win. I think it was some years – I don’t know how long – Coach Walz mentioned it before the game that we weren’t able to ever win here in some time.”
On the difficulty of getting rebounds against Kentucky…
“They’re a very aggressive team. They were always in the paint. Their guards rebound the ball so well. Taylor Murray had seven rebounds, so I mean, their guards rebound so well. Then, say we did get the ball, they would come, they’ll be right there. I know I got one poked away from me. Their guards are really aggressive. Their post players are just so big, they’re able to get up there and get the rebounds too. So we just have to be strong with the ball.”
On her confidence when Asia Durr gets on the wing…
“A lot. Once it gets in her hands and it’s up, I just want to run back down, but I know I’d probably get in trouble if I did that. I have so much confidence in her. Over this past summer, playing with her at USA trials, I really got to see what Asia is capable of doing and now I think everyone is seeing what she’s capable of doing. I’ll say it again; I think she’s the best player in college basketball. I’m just happy that she’s on my team.”
