Louisville vs. Mercer
December 28, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 28, 2007
Junior Chauntise Wright
(On her performance tonight)
"Not to underestimate their size, but when we do scouting reports, I do look at heights."
(On her three-point attempts)
"It looked like they were going in. Coach calls the play, and I know I'll be the one setting the screen and then I pop out for the shot."
(On Patrika Barlow's assists)
"She makes my job easy. She makes good passes, I think she's in the top five in the country in assists and when she does her job, she makes my job easier."
(On Patrika Barlow's leadership on the court)
"She's in charge out there. Our coach has confidence that she can call out any play and we trust her when she does. We look up to her."
Senior Patrika Barlow
(On her leadership on the court)
"My job is to lead the team out there, keep everybody up and playing hard - and when something goes wrong, not to get my head down and keep everybody else's head up."
(On paying attention to her assists)
"The only thing I worry about is making sure I have more assists than turnovers."
(On taking control of the game early)
"We came out and played hard and had fun. I thought we executed and did what we needed to do."
(On her first half performance (14 points) and Angel McCoughtry's low scoring game)
"Angel does so many other things we don't worry about her scoring, because her scoring is going to come. I thought what was great was that everybody else stepped up. We had a freshman have her career night tonight. I was happy with her, she was getting me assists. A lot of people stepped up tonight, Angel will get her points, so that doesn't really matter."
Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On whether defensive pressure was the key to the game)
"I wasn't pleased with the way we guarded today - that was probably the most frustrating thing for us tonight. I thought we scored it well, I thought we shared the basketball and passed it extremely well. We just started to trade baskets there for about eight or nine minutes. I really don't care who is in the game, but when LaToya Jackson hits about three three-pointers, you'd think I might figure out that she could shoot it. But unfortunately it didn't click with us until she ends up 6 for 9 from the three-point line. We'll get back at it tomorrow - we'll work on it because our game on Sunday will be a battle. Middle Tennessee is up three I think right now at half on LSU. They'll put up 35 threes. If we don't defend the three-point line, a lot better on Sunday, it could be interesting.
(On Laura Terry's performance)
"She shoots the ball extremely well in practice. She has confidence, she has the green light to shoot it. I tell her each day that they recruited her to be a shooter. She's not going to blow by people off the dribble. I think now she's buying into that and when she gets open, she's taking shots. She's got the confidence and tonight she got a bunch of open looks and I think if she continues to do that, she's going to help our entire team out. That's the best I've seen her play in practice or a game."
(On whether Angel McCoughtry's low scoring output bothered her)
"I don't think she really cares about that. I watched her on the bench for the last nine minutes of the game and she was excited and cheering for everybody else out there. Angel is all about the team and I've been really impressed with her about that. I've told her that. She wouldn't be an All-American if she's pleased with how she played tonight. I'm sure she's frustrated with how she played, but I know that the ultimate goal for us is to win. When we can pull out a 25-point win and she goes 4 for 13 from the field, I think that says a lot about this team."
(On Chauntise Wright, Laura Terry and Candyce Bingham helping the team develop more weapons)
"Of course, the more scoring threats we have, the easier it's going to be for Angel - they can't come out, box and chase her. Tonight, if you noticed, there were times they had three on her. When she had the ball, there were three kids flying on her, Laura Terry got 11 shots and I guarantee that if you go look at it, a lot of them where when Angel had the basketball and they were focusing on Angel. So if they're going to do that, you have to let somebody shoot the ball. She stepped up tonight and shot it well. Chauntise has been playing better for us and tonight she attacked and I was thrilled with that. Our most consistent players through 12 games are Candyce and Angel. If you go back and look, Candyce Bingham has played well for 12 straight games."
