Louisville vs. Florida Postgame Quotes
December 02, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 2, 2007
Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On 1st half play compared to the 2nd half)
"We drew a play up at half time for Candyce (Bingham). We came out and executed it absolutely perfectly. We got Candyce a wide open lay up, she made it and then I think from then on our energy level was there. In the first half we were trying to do some pressing and we get a trap, and they would throw out of and we jog up the floor or to the trap. They had 5 on 3 the first 8 or 9 minutes, so we really didn't get a chance to make a run at them. But the second half we came out and scored, we pressed them some. We sprinted the floor in transition and did an outstanding job. So, we went on a big run and I think that gave our team a lot of confidence."
(On Keshia Hines's Performance)
"She came out and played that exact same way in our second exhibition game. Tonight in the first half we weren't getting much post play. I told our team that Chauntise (Wright) and Keshia (Hines), one of them has to come and play every night for us to really have a chance to win basketball games - because right now we don't shoot the ball well enough from the outside to be just a three point shooting team and we just have to have some post play and Keshia (Hines) came out in that second half and just played outstanding. She let the game come to her, attacked the basket, was out in passing lanes, came up with a few steals. She ran the floor in transition and got some lay ups. When she does that, she is a special player."
(On giving Keshia more playing time because of Florida's style of play)
"Not really, Chauntise has really worked hard and done a nice job. I went down to the end of the bench towards the end of the game and sat next to her and told her that this is one game. You didn't play as well as you would have liked to, and it happens. That's okay. Let's just get past it. It was a good team win and now we have to prepare for Xavier on Sunday. Xavier got a 6-6 player at the post, T'shia Phillips, who was a McDonald's All-American last year. They've got 6-5 Amber Harris in the post. I told Chauntise that on Sunday it's going to be important that she comes to play for us."
Florida Head Coach Amanda Butler
"Obviously we played well enough in the first half to win even though we had a lot of turnovers. We had 15 turnovers in the first half and we won the first half convincingly. I think the most important thing that the people that were convinced we us. More so than turnovers, fouls, lineups and shots falling in or not falling in is that when we're down 10 minutes in the ball game we have to believe we are going to win and for some reason we don't, we're struggling. We are talented enough, we work hard enough and we are capable enough to make it happen but we are still not believing. That was the story in the Florida State game, the Jacksonville game and this game. We don't believe."
(on making adjustments for next week) "I think it's a mental thing. We've done some good things in practice where it is equivalent to the last 10 minutes of a ball game and making them aware of it and saying we need to finish strong. But it is very hard to recreate game pressure and mentally what goes on in a players mind. We fixed some old bad habits, its going to be leadership and its probably not going to happen overnight. It is something that is very obvious and we've got to address it."
"We have the will to win, it's the belief. We are too dependent on if our shots are falling in or not. Because when we made the little run, when Sha hit her three all of the sudden we think we can. That is understandable but we are better than that. We're better than we are only going to win if Sha's hitting threes or if Depree Bowden is in foul trouble or not. We are better than that. We are a better rebounding team and in the first half we shot the ball a little better. We didn't shoot exceptionally but we got every rebound, we won every hustle play and we won every time there was a fight involved. Then in the second half we didn't for whatever reason, we weren't sure we were suppose to win."
