Kentucky-Missouri Postgame Quotes
Kentucky-Missouri Postgame Press Conference
Rupp Arena
Jan. 21, 2024
Head Coach Kyra Elzy
On Eniya Russell being nuclear in the second half…
“Before the game, I told Darren our radio guy, and Cami, I was like Eniya Russell is going to have a great day today. I thought she practiced well; she was steady all week and focused. She had great defensive intensity and was playing under control offensively, so I felt it all day today. When she came in, she was bouncing around defensively, I thought she took good on-balance shots but I love that she went to the offensive boards. We did run a couple of isos for her but that’s the Eniya Russell that we need and hope to see consistently, so proud of her and I want her to celebrate this, but she has greatness in her and we just need it consistently. Big day for her, and I want her to enjoy it.”
On the rebound from last week’s tough loss …
“It was a tough loss and we said it was a setback and we need to come back today and show the world what we were made of. Obviously, we were devastated and embarrassed, but we had to have a short-term memory and it shows the resiliency of this team. That’s hard to come off that type of loss and bounce back with a win. I thought they were relentless and focused all week, balanced scoring. We said we needed 75+ points to have Ajae Petty, Saniah Tyler, Maddie Scherr, and Eniya Russell, 4 people in double figures that’s what your offense needs. I thought everyone came in and made big plays, whether it was a free throw or extra pass in sharing the basketball.”
On intentional use of relying on the guards and the change since the South Carolina game …
“I think we approach every game that you want to hunt paint points, and they were changing up their defense so it’s also who you’re playing and how they’re playing you. They were switching it up between a three, two zone and a two, three so we still wanted to push and transition, get in the gaps of the zone, but they’re sagging so they forced us to hit outside shots. I like the ones that we took, and I’m proud of our players for stepping up confidently and hitting them.”
On what worked to keep the fight in the second half …
“Missouri is a great team. Coach Robin is an unbelievable coach, she’s had a lot of success and one thing we talked about is they weren’t going away. When you play a three-point shooting team, they’re never out of the game. A couple of threes, they’re right back in it. I thought we stayed steady, we talked about the time out, and answered the run, whether it was an offensive kill, three scores in a row, or three stops in a row to try and keep them present and not panic. We have been in a lot of close games this year, so I thought they were very confident in what we were doing.”
On motivating or challenging Maddie to get her ready for the game…
“Maddie is a talented player and when we met, I just wanted to free her up. Let loose, play basketball when the shots open, and take it. If it doesn’t feel good to you, trust your instincts on the court, I thought she came out aggressive offensively and we needed it. But I’ve really been challenging her to rebound, her ability to rebound really kept us in the game, I don’t want her to foul out, but we can go back and work on that. Her aggressiveness offensively, plus her basketball IQ, she knows when to calm us down and when to push, and she makes people around her better.”
On if you were trying to cut down turnovers…
“We talk about turnovers. Making the easy pass, not the home runs, and meeting the passes. We’ve had a lot of wall sits in practice for turning the ball over so maybe they are sick of the wall sits. I’m not sure what it is but I’m glad we are holding onto the ball. When we make good crisp passes and not home run passes, we’re usually pretty steady. That was one of our points of emphasis. You can’t run your offense or do what we need to do offensively if we are turning it over. Plus, it forces us into transition defense.”
On can you speak on your team’s growth in getting to the line and capitalizing on opportunities….
“I’m so proud of this team. We have been harping on free throws. We practice free throws nonstop. Getting 19 out of 24 was huge for us. Ajae Petty getting four out of four free throws today was a huge step forward for her. Our goal has been 80% all year but one thing we have been doing in practice is a lot of pressure free throws where you call one or two players up and if you miss the first one it’s a suicide, miss the second it’s a 22. Just trying to put pressure after fatigue. Another thing we practice is going ten in a row after one minute. I think it’s paying off but also what we are doing is working on crossing. Eniya [Russell] was able to get one today on the cross. It’s good to see some of the things we are practicing transfer over to a game.”
On your thoughts on Saniah Tyler’s growth this season…
“Saniah has grown up so much, she is so talented. She has the ability to score at all three levels plus how she can pick up the ball along with Brooklynn Miles. I want to give Brooklynn Miles a shout-out to her defense. Saniah is so hard on herself so we’re talking about the next play, and I’m so proud of her growth. Something maybe you all can’t see is if she makes a mistake her ability to bounce back in this game is huge growth for her and I know she will continue to get better.”
Player Quotes
#4, Eniya Russell, G, Sr.
On what worked for the balanced offensive attack…
“I think sharing the ball helped us a lot. We had a great week of practice coming off the loss and after we let that loss go, I feel like we took it as we can learn something from it. In practice, we just harped on swinging the ball defensively and I felt like we translated it to the game too. Moving the ball around, getting everyone involved, and moving past mistakes helped us a lot today.”
#22, Maddie Scherr, G, Sr.
On what worked in getting to the free-throw line…
“Definitely just keep pushing the pace. We’re a team that thrives in transition and you know we’ve been working on free throws at practice a lot, and because we’re a team that can get to the line and we capitalized on that today like you said. I think it’s just keeping, you know, getting out the transition and attacking and making them foul us.”
On the conversations in the huddle during the late game stretch…
“Yeah, we work on scenarios like that in practice all the time. So, you know, like Eniya [Russell] said it was just win, win at all costs. And you know, we were able to pull it out.”
On what was going through her mind when she fouled out late in the fourth quarter…
“I was very nervous. I was upset that I fouled out, but it was great to be able to cheer on my teammates too in that last second. I was going crazy when this one [points to Eniya] right here made that shot and then things went our way. So, when [Ajae] Petty got that big board at the end, so obviously don’t want to foul out.”
