ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
KENTUCKY WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
No. 18/17 KENTUCKY vs. SACRED HEART
DEC. 29, 2018
MEMORIAL COLISEUM – LEXINGTON, KY.
UK HEAD COACH MATTHEW MITCHELL
Opening statement…
“Well, it was a good win today. We are really excited to get that victory over a tough Sacred Heart team. I think you have to give them a ton of credit for how hard they played and competed. They were really able to possess the ball today. Their dribble-drive offense they were able to really take care of the ball and we just had a hard time forcing turnovers. But, we made up for it with a big day on the boards and excited about that on a day when we didn’t shoot as well as we normally do. So, great win. It was great to find a way to win when everything was not clicking. Proud of the team and proud of this victory today.”
On rust coming out of the holiday break…
“Yeah, you never know. I thought the team came back with excellent focus and excellent energy on the 26th, 27th and 28th. They put in good work. I think more than anything today, it was difficult with shots not falling early and it affected us a little bit early on in the game. I didn’t think we really got on the offensive glass early and so we just had a tough time shooting the ball. Also, the way Sacred Heart played, one person tried to keep it most of the possession and we were trying to play clean and not foul. We just could not get them to turnover in the first half the way that we wanted to. So, we weren’t really able to create many points off turnovers. So, poor shooting. I thought we had good shots. I thought we executed well. We missed a ton of layups and that may have been a lack of focus there, so we’ll just keep working at it. The good thing about it is, whatever led to it today, we’ve got to correct what went wrong, stick with the facts, know what happened in the game, try to get some things improved and corrected. We will certainly work hard to do that.”
On Sacred Heart beating the full court press with long passes and how UK adjusted…
“Well, we talked at halftime about our defensive focus. Sacred Heart was a really well-coached team and well prepared, ready to go. Those plays over the top should never happen if you’re in proper fundamentals and in the proper position and you’re locked in and focused. So, I thought the team did a good job of correcting that in the game. Forcing 12 turnovers in the second half is more on schedule with what we we’re wanting to do. Those long passes really hurt us. But, that’s a positioning technique. With proper focus they need to be in the right position. So, we just lacked some of that and they hurt us a little bit in the full court press there in the first half.”
On how he will get the team ready for conference play…
“Well, we have done a good job of building our team and we know what we need to do to be successful. So now, we play to our strengths. We need to move the basketball, we need to really make defenses work so we can create some open shots. We’ve done a good job shooting the ball, and defensively you have to be fundamentally sound. Now there are no more games where you can kind of let your athleticism overwhelm the opponent. Now you really have to lock in. So, I think SEC play certainly is as much mental as it is physical, and I think our team is in good shape physically. I think we can move. I think we have enough athleticism to be successful. What we really need now is a committed, mental focus every day that we can come in with, pay attention to our preparation, know what we need to do to be successful. But also, really knowing your opponent and knowing what has to happen game-to-game. So, we just talked about it in the locker room, one game at a time here. It’ll be a great challenge, but we’ll be focused in and ready to go. Happy New Year’s everybody!”
UK STUDENT-ATHLETES
#24 Taylor Murray, Sr., G
On the mindset in the third quarter …
“As leaders, we didn’t really have a good start to the first and second quarters, so I think just by us bringing the tempo helps our team, also. Then, we just have to carry the team and do what we need to do offensively.”
On preparing the younger players for conference play …
“Just continuing what we’ve been doing. In non-conference, you get a sense of who you are as a team, so we just have to do that, stick together, wrinkle some stuff and just take it one day at a time.”
#4 Maci Morris, Sr., G
On the half-court defense today …
“Coach has really been emphasizing rebounding. We’ve been working on boxing out and trying to go to the boards hard. I’ve got to give a major shout-out to (Tatyana Wyatt) because she was crashing the boards like crazy today and keeping the ball alive. I was proud of us from that standpoint, we have 57 rebounds, so that was really good.”
