Louisville vs. Rutgers
January 11, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 11, 2009
Louisville, Ky. - Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On tonight's win)
"It is without a doubt a big win for us to get to 3-0 and win at home. We are trying to get our program to the next level. In order for us to do that we are going to have to win games like we did tonight. This game could have gone either way. I told them to enjoy the win tonight and tomorrow we will get back in the gym to prepare for South Florida."
(On full court pressure)
"It is frustrating because we practiced that against our scout guys. We knew exactly what we had to do. We had two or three possessions where we broke it and thought something good was going to happen, but then we traveled with it, threw it out of bounds, or carried the ball on our hip. If someone is pressing us we are going to try to shoot a lay up. Unfortunately, I thought we got a little panicked and backed off of things. Then we would run the long play and shoot the lay up for Candyce (Bingham). That was a sigh of relief for our kids. They did an outstanding job on that and we will have to get to work on it because I am sure everyone will press us now."
(On Epiphanny Prince)
"She is a big time player. The kid scored 103 points in a high school game. I watched her in high school while I coached at Maryland. She is a big time player. She is a lot of their offense right now. When things are going good for her (Prince) I think the rest of the team clicks. In the second half I thought Kia Vaughn was the difference for them. She is a big time player and I was concerned about her the entire night. I thought they did a great job on her. In the second half we could not keep the kid off the boards. Epiphanny is a big time player and Kia (Vaughn) is big time player. They also have some great freshmen. All of those kids are going to be outstanding players for Coach Stringer."
(On Becky Burke and Brandie Radde)
"I was trying to get Brandie and Becky out there. I needed one of them to just take care of the basketball. She (Burke) was playing hard. She took care of the basketball except for one time the ball bounced off her foot. Then the kid steps up and makes two big free throws. They have to be prepared to play every game because of the opportunities they can create. Becky played 19 minutes in this game, Brandie played 16, it is going to come down to which one of them plays well and who can separate themselves. Which ever one can separate themselves will get playing time. That is when you know you are becoming a good team. Your players have to compete against each other. The great teams, if you take two days off practice, someone has taken your spot. Our players know that the person behind them is trying to take their spot."
(On halftime message)
"I did not need to warn them. They missed a lot of one-footers in the first half. They had things that just did not fall for them. They had great shots. I told our kids they are not going to miss those all night long. Kia (Vaughn) came out with 10 offensive boards. She really hurt us towards the end of the game to really give them a chance to stay in it. We had to stay focused for 20 more minutes. I thought we played hard, but we did not execute when they started to press us. I said on the radio I have never been more proud of a team."
Rutgers Head Coach C. Vivian Stringer
(On start of the game)
"We just played for lack of a better word, a little soft. So we just shouldn't build this team up so much. I find that you need to tell them the truth. The biggest issue that we have is psychological. I think that if we would've played the first half like we played the second, things would've been a lot better. We might think that it's just an arrogance or confidence and that's probably the truth. This team doesn't know that they are the Scarlet Knights. We played scared, and that's the way we played very cautious, and that's what happened."
(On Angel McCoughtry)
"She didn't do it as much today, but we do know that she handles the ball much better and attacks the defense. She is an outstanding player, just a special young lady who is going to call for the ball, she doesn't back down, she's going to be a quick, and an aggressive leaper. She's special at 6'1 and her ability to drive and get to the hole."
(On defensive pressure)
"I thought that we were fine in the man. We had more problems offensively, in executing our offense, it's amazing. That is why I played freshmen for longer periods of time. We could've played the press perhaps a little bit longer. Coulda, woulda, shoulda, I definitely think it's something we can use the next time we play them."
(On being 0-2 in Big East)
"It's interesting because the players wrote nothing to lose. I wondered about that because I never saw that marking on shoes. But you do have a lot to lose, you have your self-respect and that's much more important, and much more valuable, than any amount of clothes or any kind of locker room that you have. So we need to understand that. So there's a lot of learning that's going on, teaching and learning from a lot of different sides. If you learn anything from this game, it may be that what we saw and how we responded. We responded to a mirage, if we all understood about what it means to be a Scarlet Knight then we would not have played the way we did. And so where do you go from here? Unfortunately, I think our next game is Villanova, and Villanova is no joke. Of all the teams that I dread playing including Connecticut is Villanova. Because they test you, we love to play defense but not like that, because of the movements that are involved. But maybe we will get on track. Because what we continue to recognize is that we are capable."
