UK ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
KENTUCKY VS. VANDERBILT
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022
MEMORIAL COLISEUM – LEXINGTON, KY.
Kentucky Head Coach Kyra Elzy
On getting more from Jazmine Massengill on the court…
“Well, it’s been a journey and there’s ongoing progress, but I think she’s giving more as you saw tonight. She pushed the ball in transition. Her ‘getting in a stance’ and playing extremely hard defensively, but nine assists, one turnover with 10 points. We’ve asked her to step up and score, be involved in our offense and that makes the defense have to play us honest.”
On the team wanting it more the last few games…
“We do want it more, and that’s good. We just say when we step on the floor, we have to lay it out there. We have to give everything that we have. Play with energy and intensity. We feed off each other’s emotion. I thought we made a run in the third and you could just see the energy of the bench, energy of the people on the floor, and that’s how we have to play to be successful.”
On the turnovers in the first 14 possessions…
“Early, I thought we were causal with the basketball. We talked about in shootarounds that we had to make hard flashes to the middle, meet the pass. I thought we were taking it up the sideline, and that’s an easy place to get trapped right across half court, which is just a danger spot, so I think we turned it over there three or four times. When we got the ball to the middle of the floor and we could attack, we made some big shots.
On what Dre’una Edward’s is doing right…
“She’s finishing around the rim, so she’s doing that right. But the other thing, Dre [Dre’una Edwards] is just so versatile. We could put her in the middle of the floor, you saw today, she got it off the glass. She’s being smarter because she’s not running over people. We talked to her, “if you see someone with a different color jersey, do not run over them.” She’s actually getting to the paint. She kicked one to Jada today- so she can get them to suck in and kick out. But her versatility, she can shoot the 15 foot jumper, so she does make us different.
Kentucky Student-Athletes
#44, Dre’Una Edwards, R-Junior, Forward
On coming off the bench and getting her team hyped up…
“I do like that, but it honestly doesn’t matter to me. It’s more about how we finish the game than how we started. So, we just have to go and get after it. That’s what I’m here to do.”
On a strong finish against Vanderbilt …
“It felt good, we just rallied together and told each other it’s time to play, we’ve got to win this game.”
On how Jazmine distributed the ball to the rest of the team really well…
“It’s amazing when you’ve got a point guard and you’re getting way more assists and you’re making turnovers. So that’s a great aspect to have on the team. We’ve got a great PG right here.”
On reflecting the number of turnovers …
“Just locking in, we know what we’ve got to do. We knew they were coming to be physical and trapping along with everything else. We just had to slow it down and play our game.”
#3, Jazmine Massengill, Senior, Guard
On rising to Coach Elzy’s challenge to be more involved…
“It’s been hard. She told me that I had more in me, it made me want to dig deeper and rise to the challenge. Her being hard on me made me grow and rise as a leader.”
On how she translates working harder in the games…
“I just had to be more intentional on both offense and defense, and just knowing what she’s looking for. I’ve been learning and watching film. It’s just about being intentional in every aspect of the game, making sure that I keep the intensity for all 40 minutes.”
On having all players ready to play…
“Having six players, it’s tough. It’s kind of draining. I’m glad we have our whole team back. It’s definitely a different feeling. We’re getting more rest, getting more reps with everything. It’s definitely better than just playing with six people.”
