Louisville vs. Vanderbilt Postgame Notes and Quotes
December 07, 2017 | Women's Basketball
Postgame Notes (Vanderbilt – Dec. 7)
- With the victory, Louisville improved to 6-8 all-time against Vanderbilt and 3-2 at home against the Commodores.
- Louisville is now 41-74 all-time against current members of the Southeastern Conference.
- Louisville's 10-0 start is the second-best in school history, behind a 15-0 open to the 2006-07 season.
- Tonight's win was the eighth by a margin of 13 points or more this season.
- Tonight's game was the seventh this season in which three or more Cardinals scored in double-figures. For Durr, it was her seventh double-digits scoring effort, the fourth for Fuehring and third for Carter.
- Fuehring (14) and Carter (15) both set season-highs in scoring in tonight's game. Both players tied their career-highs with their efforts.
- Hines-Allen and Durr tied the season-high mark in steals with four.
- By shooting 86.4 percent from the foul line, Louisville eclipsed 80 percent for the sixth time this season.
- With a 3-pointer at the 9:50 mark of the first quarter, Durr scored Louisville's first points of the game for the fourth time this season, tying her with Hines-Allen. It also extended her streak with a 3-pointer to 49 games.
- Over an eleven-minute stretch in the second and third quarters, Louisville went on a 28-0 run. The sequence was the most unanswered points scored in a row this season by the Cardinals, eclipsing a 19-0 run against Southeast Missouri State on Nov. 10.
- Vanderbilt's four points in the third quarter tied Michigan (Nov. 16) for fewest opponent points in a quarter this season.
- Louisville forced 26 Vanderbilt turnovers, the second-highest amount for an opponent this season (27).
- Vanderbilt's 26 rebounds tied Murray State (Nov. 24) for the lowest by a Louisville opponent this season.
Head Coach Jeff Walz Postgame Quotes
Q: That run from midway through the second quarter, relatively through the end of the third quarter, is that the best you've seen from your team this year?
A: Yeah, I thought on both ends of the floor. I thought we defended extremely well, we communicated, we talked. We came in here telling them that their two leading scorers, their best players are Rachel Bell and Chelsie Hall. I'm not sure if they heard us or not but after the first quarter I was, 'ok is there anything you don't believe?' Then finally we figured some things out and we made it more difficult on them. I thought we started off great. I was like, 'Ok, we jumped on them early, it's 10-2 and I was ready to see if we can't put somebody away, which we have in the past.' But, then we miss a layup, it turns into a pull-up jumper. Then we miss another layup, which turns into another pull-up jump shot. So, it's an 8-0 swing. It's four (points) we should have gotten, now it's four (points) they have and before you know it, it's 10-10. You know, and it should have been 16-4. We've got to clean that up, but once we got settled down and started to defend and communicate, we did some really good things. We made it difficult on them to score. We challenged and contested shots and then we executed on the offensive end. It's not that hard. When someone's open, throw them the ball and then when they're not, don't. But, unfortunately we're still trying to get better at that. That's one of the areas that I'm challenging our players. In that second quarter, we're 7-of-14 from the field, we miss seven shots, and we turn it over six times. It's just terrible turnovers. We had a chance to really go on a run and we throw it out of bounds, forcing it places when somebody else is wide open. We're going to have to show them some film. Which is what it's about. I know everybody wants a perfect game, it's not going to happen. We try to push the ball in transition. Seventeen turnovers is not a terrible number, but when I show them the unforced (turnovers), we can get that down to 13 or 14. If we're doing that, I'm fine with it because you're going to turn the ball over. If you want to play fast, you're going to turn the ball over some.
Q: Did you think Arica's performance tonight, and in the last few games, is indicative of her kind of finding her stride again?
A: I think Arica's finally gotten better with her shot selection. Good shots and bad shots, and I think she's finally starting to realize what it is. The threes that she took tonight, I think four of them were really good shots. There was one that I didn't think was a good one, but they were off ball reversal so they were in rhythm. It wasn't come down and shoot it quick. We don't need quick shots. Asia, I'll take a quick open shot, but even her, like in that first half, it's a transition fast break and here comes everybody down the middle and she crossed over right into everybody and we turned the ball over. She's too good to make that mistake. Those are things that we'll show her on film and I know she'll learn from and we won't make that again.
Q: 10-0 start. What's that mean to you and how has this team progressed from game one to game 10?
A: Well, it was a great environment. I thought our crowd was really alive and really active and good. We've made some strides, there's no questions, and then there's areas where we get sloppy. That's the part we've got to really address. I just told them in the circle that everybody that I had in there in that fourth quarter, that's the same group and combination that we had in when we were up 10 against Oregon. I've got Myisha and Asia on the bench and we go up 18. So ,it's not like they haven't played together, but defensively they were awful. Just giving up basket after basket. We didn't have hands up. We're letting kids that we said were 3-point shooters, shoot threes and that's the problem. I told them, 'I'm not going to give you a chance if this is what you're going to do.'Â So, unfortunately for some of them, it's going to come down to the opportunities they get because I can't put four of them on the floor at one time. I can't have the combinations I had if that's the result they're going to give. And that is a shame for them. I don't worry about the offensive end. If you miss some shots, that's fine. But, defensively, you know what to do.
