Auburn vs. Kentucky Post-Game Quotes
Feb. 7, 2019 – Auburn Arena
Kentucky Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
On tough road victory…
“Huge road victory. Totally different way of winning the game that we have all season. The 3-point shot really helped tonight and the offense won the game. They were able to really play solidly and make enough plays. Auburn always comes back; it’s incredible that we were able to make plays to answer some of their runs because they just will not go away and really proud of the team.”
On Rhyne Howard…
“She was feeling it. She really shot the 3 well tonight. I tell you that it doesn’t always translate, but she shot it well yesterday in practice and really well today in practice today in Auburn Arena and it really carried over to tonight. I just thought the ball reversal and the 3-ball was incredible to start the game and bailed us out tonight because we really got in a spot there defensively. I don’t know what exactly happened in the second half; we did not play really good defense, but we played good enough offense to win.”
On managing the bench…
“I thought that was really key for us and I thought the pace helped us get into Auburn’s bench a little bit. Early on I think they had some rotations they weren’t expecting early in the game because the pace was set. We really got out on the attack with another great performance by Taylor Murray just attacking tonight, getting after it, and really driving the team.”
Auburn Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy
Opening Statement…
“I can never fault my team’s effort, but like I just told them, if we defend the 3-point line tonight, we definitely give ourselves a much better opportunity to win this basketball game.”
On Kentucky’s 11 made 3s…
“Lack of awareness — that’s all it was. There wasn’t communication. There wasn’t screaming ‘the shooter is over here.’ It was just total lack of awareness of where people were on the floor.”
On 2nd half adjustments…
“Second half we gave up two 3s versus nine (in the first half). Yeah, it was an adjustment that was made, and not a big one — just talking and knowing where they are.”
On being on the NCAA Tournament bubble…
“We don’t even think about bracketology and all of that stuff. We just try to continue to win and improve as a team. [We want to] be a Team of Excellence every single game. You have no control over that kind of stuff. We’re 17-6 and we’re not being mentioned at all.”
On motivation of not being mentioned…
“Don’t get it misunderstood, our goal is always to go the NCAA Tournament. It’s kind of like what Jon Gordon talked to us about — you can’t just focus on going to the NCAA Tournament. You have to focus on how we’re going to get there. One way you’re going to get there is by defending the 3-point line. You’re not going to get to the NCAA Tournament if you can’t defend the 3-point line. So we really focus on the things we have to do to get there. We know the big picture. We know what we want to do, but you can’t just say, ‘We want to go to the NCAA Tournament.’ It has to be steps that we have to take in order to improve to get there as well.”
On wanting to force more turnovers…
“We were playing our twin. Their defense was our defense. It was a matter of who was going to take care of the ball the most, and who could score the most. They had 17 turnovers. We had 15 turnovers. We had more steals. If you look at the [defensive] stats [in the SEC], it’s like Kentucky #1, Auburn #2, or Auburn #1, Kentucky #2. We’re both very good defensive teams. They won at the 3-point line. You take away the 3-point shot, we win the basketball game, because we were ahead in every other category.”
On wanting to take more 3s offensively…
“We haven’t shot the ball well from the 3-point line as of late. We didn’t shoot it well today as well. When you have a post player like Unique Thompson, our first goal is not to stand out there and jack 3s. She’s got to get the ball inside. She had 11 field goal attempts, she should have had at least 20. She should have got the ball even more than what we got it to her tonight.”
#20 Unique Thompson, F, So.
On Kentucky making nine three-pointers in the first half…
“Yeah, the first half really killed us, as everyone can see. But it wasn’t just about them making the 3s, it was more about us knowing that they were right there. And even if we were right there, we still dared them to shoot it. And obviously, they won the truth or dare because they made them. So as a team, it was more of a team effort. And we talked about it at halftime, and then in the second half we came back, and we made the effort. But it was just more about us adjusting and it still wasn’t enough because we still had to convert on our end.”
On Auburn receiving a lack of consideration for the NCAA Tournament being used as motivation…
“I mean, yeah, you can say that we use it as a motivational tool. But that’s not something that we constantly sit on. We more focus on ourselves, honestly, and what we can do because it’s really all about us. And at the end of the day, we know like we’re really the only ones who know that to believe in ourselves and our coaches believe in us. So, it’s more about proving it to everybody because we know what we are capable of. And even if we still prove it to everybody, we still know that they’re probably not going to believe in us. So, we just have to keep playing how we are.”
