Kentucky Women’s basketball Postgame Quotes
Kentucky vs. Virginia
Rupp Arena – Lexington, Ky.
November 15, 2018
Kentucky Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
Opening Statement …
“Well we are excited to win, really proud of the team for giving good effort tonight. Enough effort to win. I thought Virginia made it very difficult on us to score in the first half. Really played tough defense against us and had us out of rhythm. And to our player’s, credit them, we were about playing tough defense, disruptive defense. That was the goal going into the game. We weathered the poor offense showing in the first half to really come through with a hard fought victory. We need to improve, there’s no doubt about it. But, so proud of the team to hustle their way to victory.”
On how to defense was not effected by miss shots …
“It was very encouraging. I thought it showed a lot of growth from a lot of players. We have a lot of returners on the team, who I think, a year ago would have been very deflated. Offensive struggles really deflated us from playing hard on defense last year and it was a problem that plagued us all year long. We have worked hard to correct that and so really proud that the highlights of the game were some defensive tenacity through a difficult offensive night. We need to get better offensively and we need to continue to improve defensively. A lot of good, good effort tonight, good hustle, lot of things we did right on defense and proud of the team. A good example of that is Maci Morris, this is a little bitty thing, she got a really good denial and deflected it off the other player and there was a turnover. It probably didn’t look like a whole lot to the people in the stands but the commitment she has made to improving her defense has really been so helpful. Maci and Taylor have taken that leadership role of improving their defense and showing a great example of defensive effort. I am really proud of our two seniors and our team hustled tonight, proud of ’em.”
On Kentucky’s ability to create turnovers …
“Well I think what happens is when you can create a pace of the game that can force opposing players into things that maybe when you’re looking at it on the film, they shouldn’t do. It’s different out there on the court so I thought our tenacity and intensity, our commitment to disrupting what they wanted to do was very evident to me. I was very proud of the players. At halftime, we already created something like 19 turnovers and that point in time 18, 19, and shot such a poor percentage and were still in the lead. I think we did a lot of things right tonight and we need to get better. There is no question about it, we need to improve. I think everybody has some room for improvement. Pressuring the ball and our rotations can defiantly get tighter and our traps can get better. We are a work in progress but we did a good enough job tonight to get the job done.”
On turnovers created by Kentucky’s press …
“32 shots they took and turned over, we don’t get too concerned about the rebounding margin, but we do look at the offensive rebounding stat and it lets you know that we were hustling and got some numbers on the board tonight.”
On Virginia’s defense and length posing a problem …
“There was such a big presence down there if she (Felicia Aiyeotan) got it there cleanly, I just don’t have an answer for that, so we had to disrupt them tonight, were going to have to be a defensive team if we’re going to win. We’ve got great size, but we don’t have a singular presence. We have to use our athleticism, length and our, we also have to couple that with desire and hustle with effort. It a high character group of players who want to win.”
On Kentucky’s first half …
“We would want to settle on an early rotation. People are building trust and confidence, so it’s still early and were not a finished product. We would love to have some depth and be able to keep tempo and disruption going, we got to fight for it, cannot talk about it. Be thrilled to be able to play the people tonight and to settle on a rotation.”
On progress for games ahead he saw from tonight’s game …
“Tonight, Virginia’s defense just wasn’t letting us go, we needed to use our brain a little bit, and were just not there yet. Were still working on our mentality and aggressiveness and we just can’t get it all done. We have to give it time, but we have great offensive weapons. Tonight, was a really unusual game. Great game for us to learn from, we just need to keep plugging and get better. I would say our offence had a lot to do with Virginia and how well they played defensively. We lost a little poise, but it was a beneficial game. It’s awesome to get that especially when we have a victory.”
On Ryan’s Howard impact…
“It was a great game. Great game for all of us. Where you get out to a hot start against a couple teams that played really hard that we have a lot of respect for but we were the more talented team. Now you get into a game that the speed of the game increases, the physicality of the game increases, and so this is nothing but a learning opportunity for Ryan. I thought she had a great game from the standpoint of seeing what can take you out of your rhythm and if you don’t pay attention to the details, like in the first half, and I thought she responded to coaching and tried to do some of the things that we asked her to do. The thing that’s going to help Ryan, that’s going to help Blair (Green), help any of our younger players is just repetition and just getting in games like this. She is supremely talented and can be a really, really great player and so tonight was a great game for her to learn and grow and I am excited about that. Now we can really give her some examples of what it’s going to be like. Those first two games are not what SEC-caliber teams are going to be like. This is going to be a great, great learning opportunity for her. Real proud of her to keep hanging in there and make some positive plays tonight.”
On Jaida Roper’s role in the game…
“I just thought her energy, her defensive tenacity, the energy in her feet. We’ve been working with the team to try to clean up our defensive footwork. I don’t know anybody who has worked harder or who has come a longer way or improved more than Jaida. Jaida has to play with great tenacity. She’s not going to physically overpower you but she is so intelligent and she has such a high basketball-IQ. She knows what needs to happen and so when she plays at maximum effort, she really can impact us in a positive way and that’s exactly what she did tonight. I thought that she didn’t let the energy drop when possibly we could have gotten frustrated and started to hang our head because of the offensive woes. I thought she gave us a great shot of energy and just kept talking, kept working, so she had a very good night. One of the best games she’s played since she’s been here.”
On second chance opportunities …
“I thought it was great at halftime that we could point to the effort. So, we had a lot of offensive boards, we created a lot of turnovers and we didn’t do that standing around, we had to work to get that done. And so all night when the ball’s not going in the basket like it did in the first half, it was so beneficial that we were able to go in and encourage and we weren’t making it up. We could say, ‘listen, we were hustling out there,’ we just had to focus a bit more on offense but I don’t remember many of those offensive boards being ones that just fell into our hands. They were really flying to the boards tonight. It gave us a little shot of energy and Taylor had a big one at the end of the game to kind of seal it for us. A lot of players giving great effort on the offensive glass and it is important. You know, on the rebounding margin, when you’ve got a plus-20 turnover margin it’s hard to get a lot of defensive boards because thats 32 shots they didn’t take, they turned it over 32 times so you don’t get real concerned about the rebounding margin but you do look at that offensive rebounding stat and it lets you know that we were hustling on the boards tonight.”
UK Student-Athletes
#4 Maci Morris, G
On responding to bad shooting tonight compared to last year …
“Just knowing the difference on how we would’ve responded last year compared to this year gives me hope for this team. I was really proud how we fought through the adversity and continued to play hard on defense.”
On adjusting from not shooting well from outside …
“Obviously that’s not who we are. I feel like any other night we would shoot better than we did but I’m proud of the team for finding other ways to score and I think our defense helped out with that by getting steals and turnovers and giving us more opportunities to score the ball.”
On learning from this performance and moving forward …
“Tonight was a great game for us. If this ever happens again, if we’re ever in the situation of not shooting well we can look back and see that we won this game and that our defense is what carried us through the game and got us the win.”
#24 Taylor Murray, G
On responding to bad shooting tonight compared to last year …
“I think in the first half we didn’t shoot very well but in the second half we said as a team together we just kept finding the open person and attacking which led to easy points for us.”
On scoring 1,000 career points …
“It feels really good and I just want to thank my teammates for pushing me everyday and I wouldn’t have made my 1,000 point without them.”
On the length down low from Virginia …
“It didn’t affect us that much, a lot of our points came from transition so when we just attacked the basket she (Felicia Aiyeotan) either helped in or we kicked it out to the open shot.”
#14 Tatyana Wyatt, F
On the frustrations of not shooting well but getting turnovers …
“Our defense this year is really good and it will continue to get better, but when the offense comes, it’s strong.”
Virginia Head Coach Tina Thompson
Opening statement …
“I just think we turned the ball over an unimaginable amount of times, and you can’t give yourself a chance to win when you do that.”
On her postgame message to her team …
“We’ve got to keep at it. We have to first take care of the ball. We turned the ball over a lot in both games and some of it is due to the fact that we have people playing positions that are not their normal position and a little bit out of their skillset, but it’s the reality of where we are. A lot of the times we are turning the ball over, they are unforced. So, we have to be a little tougher. And we have to value the importance if our possessions.”
On comparing Mississippi State’s pressure to Kentucky’s …
“We played Mississippi State in our first game, who pressures, I believe the best in the country. Yes, we faced it, and we turned the ball over a lot less, so I’m not exactly sure that I have the answer to your question. I do know that some of the times we turned the ball over, it was because we just made very bad decisions.”
