Louisville vs. Providence
January 18, 2012 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 18, 2012
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 
Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On the play of Antonita and Asia) "Antonita and Asia played really well, I was really happy for those two. Especially for two kids who didn't see the floor in our Rutger's game. That's the tale of our team right now, the good and the bad; we are just not getting enough consistency from people. That's the struggle of being a coach, trying to figure out who you are going to put in and who you are going to play. Antonita came in and did a really nice job; she was 4-of-6 from the field, two of four from thre three and scores 10 points. Asia on the other hand plays 14 minutes and grabs 10 boards. I'm just really excited for both of them. I thought Shoni had a nice floor game for the most part. She got frustrated there at times; she just has to learn to continue to take care of the basketball. You can't just crossover in front of somebody and if the ball gets knocked away you have to keep playing and go after it. For her to play 39 minutes and to have the pressure put on her the way they did, and record just three turnovers and five assists, I thought she had a really nice floor game."
(On the way teams are starting to play defense against Shoni) "Teams are starting to guard her and they know where she is. When she gets the ball the defenders are on the catch and that forces her to get shots up a little quicker. I think that is starting to show as we are going on throughout this year. If she can keep having the floor game like she did tonight and continue to do that, then teams won't be able to just chase her around all the time."
(On Shoni's shot selection) "I didn't think she took bad shots. They are just not going in, they are a lot of the same shots she took last year that went in. You just have to fight through and know that you are not shooting the ball well, but you can get other people involved. I think we have more scorers this year than we have had in the past."
(On going eight minutes without scoring) "We go eight minutes without scoring and then Antonita hits a three. It's 23-8 and that's the only thing that concerns me about this group. They just don't have that killer instinct; you have got to be able to put people away when you have them on the ropes. Then we turn the ball over on seven out of our next nine possessions. It's hard to score when you throw the ball to the other team."
(On turning the ball over) "You don't get a shot. I think there was one possession where we got four offensive rebounds and we couldn't make one of them. At least it gives us a chance to put the ball on the rim and see what happens. I'll take that, I thought that showed great effort. Asia had two of those offensive rebounds, Sheronne came up with one, we kicked the ball out and got some good shots, we just couldn't make them."
(On the loss to Rutgers) "I was encouraged the way our post players played. I thought our post players played very well in that game. I thought Shawnta' Dyer did some good stuff tonight too. Cierra Warren goes 2-of-3, she just wasn't as aggressive. She didn't take care of the basketball; she wasn't working as hard at the defensive end. We are at the point now, where if you're not working hard while playing teams, then you are getting exposed. Unfortunately she got exposed a few times and tonight she only plays 17 minutes. I thought Sheronne played hard, she gets out there and she gets after it. She had three assists, which is probably more than she had all year and I was excited about that."
(On the progression since the USF game) "I think we have taken a few steps forward. We are starting to get a little bit more offensive production from other players. We are still at the point where if I could just my three guards to just play average all on the same night. If they go 5-of-11 or 4-of-9 shooting the basketball, then you are going to start to see things from our team. By improving that, it will allow our post game to be a lot more effective. On Sunday against Georgetown, they will press us for 40 minutes, so we will not be able to run a set offense. We have to look to get the ball up the floor and attack the press and try to score. That's going to be our challenge and what we are going to work on for the next three days."
(On Bria Smith improving her foul line jump shot) "That's what she has to work on. If she can get that 15 foot foul line jump shot down, then it's really going to add a lot to what she does. She is so good to getting to the basket, that every time she touches the ball the opposing team is yelling `driver, driver'. So she has to continue to work on that jump shot, which will give her more diversity."
(On missing Tia Gibbs) "We miss Tia; she was the glue that kept everybody together. It would be hard to believe that we would go eight minutes without scoring if Tia was in the game. She might not be the one who makes the shot but she would get a stop for us and convert into points."
Senior Guard Becky Burke
(On shutting down Teya Wright) "We really just wanted to keep her off the boards. Coach emphasized that she gets most of her points off of offensive rebounds and put backs. We kept her a couple under her average so I think we did pretty well."
(On Slaughter and Taylor stepping up to score) "I think it's just a testament to those two. Asia doesn't play any minutes in the Rutgers game and she comes out and plays really hard at practice. I don't think you could say that about a lot of players. I think that shows a lot about her character. We have full confidence in Antonita coming in and hitting big shots. If she's open she is going to shoot it and that is a great thing for us."
(On the scoring drought in the first half) "It was the turnovers. We went eight minutes without scoring but we had seven turnovers in the eight minutes. So when you are not getting shots it is hard to score. We can't have lapses like that especially going into the Georgetown game and some of the more physical and aggressive BIG EAST teams. So you really just can't turn the ball over. I had a few of those turnovers and I can't do that."
(On keeping the momentum) "It was our defense. We did a better job talking on the defensive end and pushing the ball in transition. That's something that everybody knows that we like to do. So if we can keep pushing the ball in transition that will help. They were on Shoni good tonight so if we can keep that up it helps to take some of the pressure off of her."
(On how they defended Shoni Schimmel) "That's how every team has been playing Shoni this year. She's starting to get used to it and it's important that she keeps her head up. I think she had five assists tonight so she is doing really well and not getting down on herself and knowing that she can affect the game in other ways besides scoring."
Sophomore Guard Antonita Slaughter
(On confidence gained from Rutgers game) "We definitely had to comeback and work on things like rebounding the ball because that is definitely why we lost. We didn't get the important rebounds that we needed so we came back and worked on that and I think that carried over into this game."
(On providing an offensive spark) "Like the team said, they have confidence in me. They get mad when I don't take an open shot so whenever I have an open shot I'm going to take it."
(On other players stepping up) "Well everyone is not going to be on every night so we have to step up in some games. We have to step up and help out."
Freshman Guard Bria Smith
(On the scoring drought in the first half) "I think that in the second half we really picked up our defense a lot and when you do that it really helps you to pick up your offense and get easy layups."
(On Shoni Schimmel's development) "She knows now that a lot of people's key goal is to stop her. We have just been working on it in practice. Just trying to help her and show that other people can bring the ball up the floor."
