UK ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
NO. 13 KENTUCKY VS. AUBURN
MONDAY, JANUARY 27
MEMORIAL COLISEUM – LEXINGTON, KY.
HEAD COACH MATTHEW MITCHELL
Opening statement …
“Well, great win for us tonight. It was tough to earn and you have to give Auburn credit for playing so tough in the second half but that’s a hallmark of their program and how they play. We knew we were in for a fight tonight so we did so many things well tonight and then learned an awful lot about just hanging in there when things were not going well. So, really proud to get this victory and it’s a really good one for us.”
On his initial thoughts when he heard the news about the tragic passing of Kobe Bryant …
“We had just finished practice when we first got the news and it was a stunning blow to just the basketball community, but also the sports community, and it’s been amazing to see how influential and how many people were inspired by what he did with the game of basketball and what he was doing in retirement. So many of our players were influenced and inspired by Kobe and it’s just really sad. We’re so sad for his family and they’re certainly being prayed for and we are just proud of our players for just trying to honor him in some small way tonight. He was definitely so influential to so many and we’re very sad for that development and we just hope that his family can find some strength going forward.”
On KeKe McKinney’s return and matching her career high of 13 points …
“Just an amazing performance on a night when we needed it and we’ve been missing her. That’s been a tough four games without her and was proud of how the team rallied because she’s so significant to us. Proud of her too for stepping in because she’s not played for a while. It was a tough, physical, physically taxing, mentally taxing game and she really showed up big for us and had as good a game as anybody. Proud of KeKe. She said she was tired after the game but she’s excited we were able to get the win and so she’ll just continue to try and progress to make it back to full speed. It was tough sitting out, you lose a little sharpness and it doesn’t feel quite as comfortable as when you’re in rhythm and just her performance after coming back from that long layup was just amazing and we would’ve had a hard time winning without her.”
On how many times have you seen a player seal the game with one hand …
“Yeah, I was a little in the dark there. I thought she could dribble a little bit with the left hand, so that was bad coaching to throw her the ball there, but she somehow got to the free throw line. That was tough and she was tough. She is in some pain right now, so we will have to see what happens and get an x-ray. She got her hands in there trying to tie the ball up, and the player took it away, so it hurt her pinky finger there. So, we will see what happens and go from there, but boy she really came back in after getting some treatment and made some huge plays for us.”
On Sabrina Haines hitting 3s when you need them …
“Again, tonight, its’s just huge for us. You know we were really back peddling that time. They had wrestled the momentum from us. They had just really come out and we were not a confident bunch at the time, and we were not mentally sharp, and I felt like it was maybe slipping away from us there. She just stepped up and made some huge plays for us. You know when that momentum changes, and you’re on the wrong side of that, it is not a good feeling and you have to find some strength somewhere and we just kept telling them we were allowing Auburn to take that from us with just their intensity and their hustle, and you’ve got to give them credit, but we needed to buckle down and match that and make some tough plays. And boy, she really made some big shots for us to steady the ship and get us in with a victory. So, I’m real proud of her.”
On moving forward …
“We are coming from some time off, so we’ll be smart with it. This time of year, you know we have put in an awful amount of work. We just have to be true to who we are. We aren’t staying out there two or three hours and practicing, we know what we need to do. I think we’ll handle it well and two of the next three are at home. We don’t have any control of the schedule; you have to play the games as they come to you. We talked about it in the locker room and this was a huge victory for us tonight. Now we have to clean the slate and get ready for a tough Missouri team.”
On tonight’s strategy playing against Auburn’s Unique Thompson …
“We were trying, and we were very effective with the press in the first half. They caused a lot of turnovers. I don’t know a lot of teams who can guard her, but we were late a couple times when helping our post players. I thought our post players had so many good plays in there, 14 shot attempts. She just had an incredible night making big shots. But it’s tough to guard her and we just have to keep working on guarding these tough post players.”
KENTUCKY PLAYER QUOTES
#3 KeKe McKinney, F, Jr.
On what you learned while sitting out for four games…
“I think you learn more about the game in general. I learned a lot more about my teammates and how we play for real. When I was on the bench, I thought about what I could do that I didn’t see my teammates doing. I learned about our team, the other team, and the game in general.”
On getting back on the court…
“It was great, you know, I was tired getting back in the swing of things but it was good getting back on the court and seeing my shot go in and play with my teammates again, so it was great getting back out there.”
On playing 29 minutes…
“I think I surprised myself actually. I didn’t know I played 29 minutes, the dribbling was going, but I was still very much tired believe me, but yeah.”
On if it was tough to play 29 minutes…
“Well, I mean, I’ve been out longer than this before, so I knew it would be tough getting back in game shape, I knew it was going to be hard.”
On the death of Kobe Bryant…
“For me, personally, well not for me personally, literally everybody, it’s crazy how much you feel like you have a connection to somebody that you don’t even know. He was a legend, a goat, he was everything to everyone so it was a big loss for everyone in the basketball community so that was very tough to hear.”
#1 Sabrina Haines, G, R-Sr.
On the first and second half…
“I think we just kind of… well number one we struggled hitting shots and we could not stop turning the ball over and you know, it’s hard to gain momentum when you keep doing that, so the shot opportunities we actually had, it was kind of like surprise, ‘Oh we’re open, we have this,” and then weren’t able to hit it. But, I mean, just like a testament to how this team perseveres through all that because the fact that we went, I don’t know how many minutes without a single field goal, and we were still able to kind of bounce back and to get everything kind of back rolling, it’s amazing to me. They did have a great run and they’re a great team, but luckily we were able to pull it out.”
#10 Rhyne Howard, G, So.
On your shoe being untied in the fourth quarter at the line …
“The ref was like, ‘Your shoe is untied,’ and I looked down and then the ref said, ‘You sure you’re going to be able to tie that by yourself?’ and I said, ‘Nah,’ and then he said, ‘Well I’m not going to bend down and tie it for you, you better get one of your teammates.’ Shout out to Amanda, she got me right.”
On your finger injury…
“I dislocated my finger.”
On if you’ve ever dislocated your finger before…
“Never in a game.”
On battling in the fourth quarter while your fingers were wrapped…
“It was really hard for me, but I knew that my teammates were going to stick it out, and they had been playing their butts off the whole game and stepping up and just hitting open shots and playing like how they know to play, so I had all the confidence in them to pull it out while I was out.”
