Louisville vs. UT Martin
December 28, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 28, 2011
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Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On first game back after break) "It was extremely frustrating. We have a week to practice before we take on Marquette and start our Big East play. We have got to get better, at times I thought we did some good things and then we just go brain dead. UT Martin is a very good basketball team; they do a nice job of moving without the ball. They have two really good guards, I was very impressed with their play. We didn't play with any urgency, we only had two second chance points the entire ball game. We couldn't find a way to get an offensive board and stick it back in. I keep telling my team, it doesn't matter if you get 13 offensive rebounds if you can only figure out how to get two second chance points. They get 16 offensive boards and get 15 second chance points. We have some work to do, and we are going to have to get after it and work extremely hard this week. We have a tough road in front of us."
(On rebounding) "We had a lot of loose ball rebounds. Percia Glenn kicked our butt. She had eight offensive rebounds, and just out-muscled us. She wanted the ball more and that is a concern of mine. We have to play with more urgency and get more passion involved. Tomorrow we are going to sit down and watch a lot of film to show our players what we are doing and what we need to get better at."
(On best combination to use during the game) "I'm not going to be able to play 12 or 13 players once we get going. I need a consistent four or five that I know will show up every night. Becky (Burke) is not going to continue to shoot the ball the way she has been. She is a much better shooter than this. When she shoots 1 for 10 during the game and goes 0 for 6 for the three point line, I'm not expecting us to win the game. It was a good team win, but I was really pleased with the way Cierra Warren played at times. When Cierra has that look in her eye then she is ready to compete and go after it. She is a special player I just need to see that more from her. I thought Sara Hammond did a nice job on the boards for us. I was encouraged with the way she played. We got some players that I just need to get more productivity from in order for us to have a successful year in the BIG EAST."
(On losing Monique Reid and Tia Gibbs and having a young team) "On the floor right now, we have one senior in Becky Burke, Asia Taylor is a junior, and Shelby Harper is a junior, everybody else is either a freshman or sophomore. We are missing some leadership when things start to get a little tough and there's some stress. It's a game-by-game season for us right now. We can't look past anybody and we have to prepare for every single game like it's our last."
(On the play of Jude Schimmel) "She really did some nice things; I just got to get her to cut down on her turnovers. She can't turn the ball over six times; she got caught a few times when trying to do a jump pass. Physically, she gets worn down some and she got tired. We have to work on her conditioning, but I was really pleased with the things she does. She can break someone down off the dribble and create for her teammates."
(On taking a long break between games) "You're playing a really good team and a well coached. They are a good basketball team that is going to win a lot of games. At the same time, we come back and only have one solid day of practice and then we are right back into playing. It's not ideal, but we have to do what we have to do. Now we have a good week to prepare for our next ball game. I'm hoping we will see a drastically improved team when we take on Marquette."
Louisville Guard Shoni Schimmel
(On taking UT Martin lightly) "We definitely did just because it was our first game back. We weren't sure of how to play them so we just went out and thought it was going to be an easy win for us. That kind of got to us in the end because we didn't play the game according to the game plan. This game was kind of just getting us back into the flow and gets us ready for BIG EAST play because it is the last game before BIG EAST play really starts. It was just a game to get under our belt and that's what we did. Now we have to get ready for the BIG EAST."
(On playing without Monique Reid) "The posts always work hard, but we need to get them going a little bit more and know that they can do what Monique did just in a different form. Giving them confidence is the biggest part right now to let them know they can do it. They are not used to this. They have to make sure they aren't trying to go out and play like Mo and play their own game. We just continue to grow as a team. Without Tia (Gibbs) and without Mo, yes it hurts us but we also have people like these two ( Cierra Warren and Sara Hammond). They can fill their spots; they just have to have the confidence to do it. We are a young team now that those two are both out but we'll just learn and keep going."
(On scoring six straight points when UT-Martin cut the lead to eight) "To be honest I didn't even know the score was that close. It just felt like we needed to get a bucket. It just happened to be honest. I just went and played and everything worked out. We got a few good buckets and we just kept building off of that."
Louisville Center Cierra Warren
(On Coach Walz playing several different players) "That's just how he coaches. He knows we have a deep bench and that he is able to rotate us in and out because he knows once one of us goes out we're going to keep the flow of the game. We don't drop down because we are all really good players."
(On there being room to grow now that Monique Reid is out) "There is because Sara and I both get more playing time now that Mo is out. We get to learn the game more and it's going to be quicker for us now that we don't have to sit down and watch. We actually get to experience it. I feel like experiencing is much better than watching."
Louisville Forward Sara Hammond
(On Coach Walz playing several different players) "That's another thing, the style we play we want to get up and down the floor and run on teams to get them tired. He knows how deep our bench is and if somebody is getting a little tired he can just throw another player in there and it won't stop the flow or the speed of the game."
(On Louisville possibly being rusty after the long break) "Obviously we've come off a break and we've only had a couple of practices before this game. The coaches try to prepare us by saying this wasn't going to be an easy game. Mentally, we kind of took it as another easy game preparing us for the BIG EAST, so I guess you could say so. Just ending up with the win we'll take it but we're going to move on and learn from this."
(On almost recording a double double) "Every day in practice he's been challenging me to be more aggressive and go after the ball offensively and defensively. I've gotten off to a slow start but he told us all in the locker room that the first half of the season is over with. You can't do anything about it. You just have to come out with a new attitude; a new outlook. If you didn't start out good the first half you can change that and that's what I tried to take from that. He's just going to continue to challenge me because he knows the potential I have and the rest of the team has. I did feel like today was a good start to the second half of the season."
