Louisville vs. UT Martin
December 28, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 28, 2010
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On Shoni Schimmel) "I'm real pleased with the way she's playing right now. I thought she did a fantastic job of taking care of the basketball. The one thing we've talked about was just trying to cut down some of her turnovers. She's always going to have three or four, that's just part of the way she plays. But at the same time, you don't see a lot of kids get 12 assists either. You've got to be willing to accept some of her turnovers, knowing there are so many positives that are going to come with her having the basketball."
(On Schimmel's only turnover of the game) "She does a very good job. She has very active hands. She does a very good job of getting in the passing lanes. The one time on the fast break she took the ball from the girl as she was going up for a layup. She has great court vision when she's out there on the floor, not only offensively but defensively. She can see where the next pass is going to be made and that is something that you don't just teach. You've got that from playing hours and hours and hours, and years of basketball. That's one thing she has that not everybody does."
(On Schimmel's biggest transition from high school to college basketball) "I think part of it is just the speed of the game. She's really had to adjust, and she has done a great job of adjusting to the quickness. It's going to be another adjustment now once we start BIG EAST play. We're going to face quicker and stronger players, but there's no doubt in my mind she'll continue to adjust to it and continue to improve."
(On UT Martin's three-point shooting) "They're a three-point shooting team. I wasn't pleased with the way we defended the three-point line in the second half. [Heather Butler] was 2-7 in the first half and then went 5-7 in the second half. It's not like it was a big surprise who was going to shoot the ball. That's something that we've got to get better at, is to know where our shooters are. Antonita Slaughter, twice, got beat on the same play. The first time shame on me, the second time shame on you. That's one thing that she's got to start doing a better job for us defensively. She gives up back-to-back points. That's six points she gives up. Then she makes a three, and that's great, but we're still down six to three. Hopefully she will start to figure some things out because we need her to play some minutes for us to give our guards some more breaks throughout the game. She does shoot the ball extremely well. She has to figure out how to defend for us."
(On preparing for St. John's) "I've been watching film on them already, trying to get prepared. We'll come into practice tomorrow. We'll do twice tomorrow, 10:30-1:30 then 4:30-6. We're going to start preparing for them. They're a great rebounding team. They shoot the three, but it's not what they really like to do. They have two players that can shoot it well, but they do a great job of getting to the basket and drawing fouls. We're going to have to spend an entire week on figuring out how to guard their offense. Fortunately for us, when we've had a few extra days to prepare for games, we've done a nice job of coming out and executing the game plan. Hopefully we'll be able to do that."
(On the team adjusting to playing with Schimmel) "It really has not been that hard of an adjustment, it has actually made things easier for them. We're at the point where we're getting a lot of open shots because she can see the open player. I can't tell you the last time we've had a player, in the four years I've been here, get 10 or 12 assists in a game. It's been a long time. She gets 12 assists and 24 points, but only takes 16 shots. I really don't think she took a bad shot the entire game. It's not like she's forcing things. She's always looking to pass. If she can continue to play that well, I'm not expecting her to go 10-16 from the field every night, but she has the ability to get six to eight assists every night. As a team, we have to work on finishing in the post. We probably missed at least six layups with a little bit of contact. You have got to finish them if you're going to win in the BIG EAST."
(On the team's practice with Schimmel) "It's just a matter of making sure when you're running the floor, you're running with purpose. That's something that Monique [Reid] is learning. Mo had 20 [points] tonight, but the first five minutes she was awful. She was jogging up and down the floor, she wasn't defending anybody. That's what I'm trying to get Mo to understand. We need Mo to play about 29 minutes a game, but you can't take four of them off, especially now that we're starting BIG EAST play. Mo's got to be able to get us 10 boards a night, which she can do. She's going to have to put a body on somebody. Mo's going to have to continue to get us 16 to 18 points. She's done a much better job. When she runs the floor now, she knows she has a chance to get a layup because Shoni will throw her the ball. Mo last year, if you go back and look at her stats sheet, she was getting 20 points, but she was taking 22 shots. Now, we're getting to the point where Mo is able to score 20 for us and only take 14 to 16 shots. That's the efficiency we need from her."
(On if Monique Reid will continue to come off the bench) "Yes. It gives her a chance to see the game. She's still playing 26 to 30 minutes a game, but again it gives her a chance to see the game, see how the other team is defending, and try to see where the open areas on the floor are. I really think it's helping her get adjusted to things."
(On a drop of defensive intensity in the second half) "I was really pleased with the entire first half for the most part. We got up 27-5 and we put some subs out there. We had some combinations that we probably wouldn't have normally, with as many substitutions at one time. I was pleased with the intensity for the first half. I thought the first two minutes or three minutes of the second half we came out with intensity. I think we scored the first six. After we scored the first six, we just got off like this was going to be a piece of cake. Then we give [Heather] Butler an open shot, she hits it. We give [Jasmine] Newsome an open three, she hits it. Before you know it, it's back to an 18 point game. That's something we'll address, and we've got to continue to improve on."
(On the young team being prepared for the BIG EAST play) "We don't have much choice. I'm pleased with them. The key to our BIG EAST season in my opinion is going to be our post play. Keshia Hines, Sheronne Vails and Monique [Reid] are going to have to play for us. We're going to have to get some scoring in the post. If we don't get consistent scoring in the post, it's going to be a problem. That's just my gut feeling on things. Teams are not going to let us sit out there and shoot horse shots. They've got size. They're going to say okay, Keisha Hines you have to be able to score one-on-one in the post. Sheronne Vails, you have got to be able to score one-on-one in the post. If we can't do that, then it's going to make things a lot more interesting because our guards are going to have to score a lot of points with a lot of pressure."
