Louisville vs. No. 19/21 Pittsburgh
January 27, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 27, 2008
Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
"We came out and started off extremely well. I thought we played hard and got on the offensive glass and got some putbacks. We did a really good job on the defensive end of the floor and then we started given up second chance opportunities. We weren't boxing out and then they blew by us for layups. We built a 21-6 or 21-8 lead because we defended, because we are actually making it hard for them to score. We were dictating to Pitt what we wanted them to do. Then we get up by 15 and we think its over and start to relax and get driven by for layups. You can't beat good teams if you aren't prepared to play for 40 minutes."
(Was your performance from the free throw line typical?)
"Well considering that we are about a 51 percent free throw shooting team in conference, I would say it was typical."
(Do you think their younger players playing well sparked them at all?)
"We are up 21-6 and we're playing well, we're playing hard and then we just decide to pack it in. I don't know what else to say. We just stopped guarding people. They drove by us for layups and we gave up second chance opportunites. We aren't a talented enough team to just come out and pick our times when we are going to make runs at people. We don't shoot the ball well enough. I mean when you have a team where you get 51 of your 67 points from two players - that says enough. Obviously they don't have to guard too many other players."
(Did early foul trouble cause problems?)
"No I'm not sure that affected us much at all. She (Keshia Hines) comes off the bench and normally plays about 18 minutes a game and today she played 13. We are in a situation here that if we don't learn to play 40 minutes a game we won't beat anybody in the upper half of our league. We are going to have a battle with everybody in the BIG EAST. So hopefully these kids will make a decision to start working just a little bit harder."
