UK ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
#14 KENTUCKY VS. RV DEPAUL
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2021
RUPP ARENA AT CENTRAL BANK CENTER – LEXINGTON, KY.
Kentucky Head Coach Kyra Elzy
On celebrating Matthew Mitchell tonight and the impact he made on her…
“It was great to honor coach tonight. It was good to have him back in the house. He deserves it. He’s done so much for Kentucky women’s basketball. He put this program on the national scene. But, he has taught me so much coaching-wise as far as sticking to your standards, how you run a practice and surrounding yourself with great people. I love him. He’s my brother, friend, mentor, and forever thankful for him and he will always be a Wildcat.”
On defending DePaul’s speed and pace…
“Give credit to DePaul. I thought they played really, really hard. Didn’t have our team ready defensively, but we’ll go back to the drawing board. I thought our one-on-one defense failed us. They drove, they had points in the paint easy, [thanks to] our transition defense, so, I’ll take that. We’ll go back to the drawing board, get ready in practice.”
On the decision to sit Dre’una Edwards and how Jada Walker played in her first start…
“I thought Jada stepped up big for a freshman. She started, I thought she brought the energy, she played downhill. She’s fearless. I love the way that she plays. I love the way that she competes, and she’s going to continue to get better, but I thought she stepped up to the challenge when her number was called. As far as Dre’una, she did not meet the academic standards of this program. She’s had her one game suspension, and we’ll move forward from there.”
On where Treasure Hunt can be the most effective on the floor…
“Treasurer is an unbelievable stretch four. She’s skilled offensively. She can play inside and out. She’s a hybrid. I thought she had some great looks down low, drew some fouls, got some rebounds. She did miss some bunnies, but some of that is just repetition, but she’s highly skilled offensively. She’s still getting in the rhythm, but the best is yet to come for her.”
On Olivia Owen’s stepping up in place of Dre’una Edwards…
“I thought Olivia was solid. We asked her to come in be a post presence. Take her time when she got the ball in the paint, which she did, she was three-for-three. But so proud of Robin Benton. I thought she competed all night long. She scored 22, 11-for-15, but I was so proud of how she hustled defensively, so I thought she competed.”
Kentucky Student-Athletes
#1 Robyn Benton, Senior, Guard
On how she thinks she played, given her season-high points..
“Well, I played alright. You know, it just wasn’t good enough to get the win.”
On the difficulty not having Dre’una Edwards on the court…
“We definitely missed Dre (Dre’una Edwards) tonight. We just missed her presence and her energy, on defense and the offensive end. I hate that Rhy (Rhyne Howard) got in foul trouble. It was just hard for her to get into a groove with those fouls.”
On what role Coach Mitchell played in her coming to Kentucky…
“Well, as you know, I am a transfer, so I definitely talked to Coach Mitchell before I made my decision to come here. I like the way that he ran his program, and I liked the way that he was with the girls, so that just made my decision really easy to come to Kentucky. Mitchell, he’s a legend. You know, the most winningest coach in history of UK. I’m thankful for him, thankful for what he’s done for the program.”
On having their second seven-day span with three games so far this season…
“We do have a tough stretch but we’ve got to get our minds right. We know this is a rivalry. We know we’ve got to have our minds right for this game. We’re going into a hostile environment and we’re just looking to bounce back at Louisville.”
#11 Jada Walker, Freshman, Guard
On her first collegiate start…
“It was really last minute. I didn’t really know I was starting until last night’s practice, so I just had to prepare myself for that. I felt like we could have played better and came out with the dub.”
On the low the team lacking 3-pointers…
“I feel like we were just more aggressive offensively- getting to the basket more than shooting 3s, so we used that to our advantage. It was just getting stops that was the problem. “
On how difficult it was not having Edwards on the court and having Howard on the bench…
“Yeah, I feel like we were missing a lot of rebounds without Dre (Dre’una Edwards), but we could have made up for that with a better effort to rebound, especially us as guards. With Rhy (Rhyne Howard), calls just weren’t going her way. I’m not going to say that they were flopping, but I think something like that was going on, and Rhy couldn’t get going, but I think she’ll bounce back next game.”
On what changed in her play between the first and second half…
“I just feel like in the third quarter I really couldn’t get going. My shot wasn’t falling but that’s not an excuse. I tried to get stops on defense. I feel like I could’ve done a better job rebounding, or something other than scoring to help my team win. “
DePaul Head Coach Doug Bruno
On when he found out Dre’una Edwards would not be playing, if it affected game plan…
“I found out sitting there watching the pregame shootaround, the players come on the floor and started shooting, and she came out with sweats on. That doesn’t always mean the players not playing. We’ve seen players come out with sweats on before and end up playing, so you don’t know. There was never any real formal announcement, but as the warmup continued and she stayed in her sweats, we figured she wouldn’t be playing. We had contingency plans for if they went with the other big, or if they went with Walker, so we were prepared for them either way. But she’s a good player, very talented player, and very important for the Kentucky team.”
On the defensive strategy against Kentucky forward Rhyne Howard….
“Well, our strategy, I don’t know if it worked or not, was just to try to limit her touches. The less time Rhyne Howard touches the ball, the better it is for us, because she’s a very, very hard match when she’s got the ball in her hands. So, we’re just trying to reduce her touches as much as possible. Foul trouble helped, and that was an advantage for us. That’s something that happened in the game that was to our advantage, that she got in foul trouble. That reduced some minutes, but she still had plenty of minutes on the floor. We were just trying to keep her from catching the ball as much as possible.”
Closing statement…
“Our athletic director, Coach Peevy over here, I call our AD coach because he coaches his coaches. But he’s from this place, and we’re thrilled to have him. As we are with Taylor Stapleton somewhere out there, if he’s here, but Taylor came from Kentucky also. We’re lucky at DePaul to have a couple people that are doing a great job for us at DePaul who learned to apply their trade here at this great institution, it’s a great win for us. Thanks for covering women’s basketball, we appreciate it. Thank you.”
