Kentucky-Murray State Postgame Quotes
UK ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
Kentucky Head Coach Kyra Elzy
On if consistent slow starts are fixable …
“It’s something we’re going to have to fix. We can’t just have a slow start every game. Whether I have to change up the lineup or what we’re doing, but we have to get off to a better start offensively and defensively.”
On if you were trying to send a message with the changes in lineups …
“At this point, when you’re down, you have to try to find something that is working. Find a punch, try to get a spark off the bench, a defensive stop, someone who can score. When you’re down, you have to try what you can to put yourself in a position to win. We didn’t have it tonight and that’s on me. I didn’t have them ready to go. We’ll go back and go to work.”
On the four attempted free throws …
“That’s part of the not attacking that we have to do a better job. We’ll go back work against the zone, show them where the gaps are and how to get into them. We did not push the ball in transition, so we’ll go back and do that. We also didn’t give ourselves any easy scoring opportunities but that shows that we didn’t attack.”
On whether or not playing again in two days is a good thing or a bad thing …
“Well, (it’s a) great thing because you have a chance to (play again). You have to have a short-term memory. One-day prep and you’re back on the floor. You have to find a way to bounce back and get us going. There’s an intensity that I’m looking for, a motor that I’m looking for that we just didn’t have. I thought we were flatlining again. That’s on me and I’ll go back to work and get them ready. There’s a prize for this program. We’re going to play for the name on the front of the jersey, which we did not do tonight. So, I will take that and when we roll back on the floor there is a different Kentucky team that needs to take the floor.”
On Maddie Scherr putting her best foot forward in tonight’s game …
“You know, I think Maddie and this team there they are competitors. It was a rough night for us, but you know I thought Maddie tried to fight. Get some stops and look to score. I thought Robyn Benton, late, hit some shots to try to get us going and then back into striking distance. But at the end of the day, we did not have the focus and intensity that we need and that’s on me as a coach.”
Kentucky Player Quotes
#1, Robyn Benton, G
On the team’s slow start …
“I think it starts with our intensity and coming out too relaxed. It’s definitely fixable and we should see a change next game. We are going to emphasize that. As a team, we have to do better. This loss is unacceptable.”
On moving forward …
“I think it’s a wake-up call that we’re not there yet. We have to do better, be better. We have to be better on the board—we keep saying it but we’re not doing it. I think this game will make a drastic change (to our team).”
On your fourth-quarter scoring …
“I’ve been scoring late in the past couple of games. I need to try to get going more early in the game. We only had like 20 points at halftime and that’s not who we are. I knew we needed scoring and we kept running the same play. They weren’t stopping it, so I kept scoring for my team.”
#13, Ajae Petty, F
On gaining motivation for the next game …
“I don’t think it motivates anyone to lose. Motivation—it comes and it goes. It [the loss] shows us our weaknesses, things that we need to work on, and things that we really need to lock in and focus on, so we are not getting the same result over and over again.”
On the quick turnaround …
“I don’t think it matters. We just want to get better and do what we can to show Kentucky that we want to play as hard as we can for them.”
On what you need to do differently defensively …
“Lock in. Understanding what defense we’re in, committing to stopping the next player and being tougher than I’ve been.”
