Louisville vs. Valparaiso
December 08, 2012 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 8, 2012
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Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
"It was a great effort. I was really pleased. I thought we came out and really played with a lot of heart and passion to start the game. That is what we have to do. I know a lot of our fans would love us to press and run against every opponent, but you can't do it. We are not in a situation right now where we can do that, so we have to pick and find out how we are going to win games. Can we score 98 every night? No. If we can win 96- 40 then that is what we are going to do. But if we have to win 47-45 then that is what we are going to do too. That is what I am here to do as the coach. I have to evaluate what is the best position to put our players in for a chance to win a basketball game? That is what we are going to continue to do here."
(Emphasized turnovers and free throws in the off week?) "Yes we certainly did. We only had two turnovers in the first half, which is the reason you get out to a 55-19 lead. Free throw shooting, we go 18 of 20, that is 90 percent from the line, I told our kids that is great. But when you are up 20 it's not as hard to go up to the line and make them. I have to continue to put them in positions at practice to put pressure on them. Where there will be a consequence if you miss it- we are running, if you miss it we are doing this. It is a great start. It is nice to know that we can make them. There is no question about it, our kids can step up to the line and knock them down. Now we just have to get them in a position where when there is pressure, they feel the same way at the free throw line."
(On Bria Smith leaving the game early) "Yeah, her knees have been bothering her. I have to try and get her to calm down and try to get her relaxed. We are going to need her to come out and play. But I saw her running up and down and she missed her first few shots. I could see she looked like she was limping a little, so I got her out of the game. At the same time, Antonita Slaughter has been playing well. The thing I like about this team is they are going to push each other. They are friends off the court, and they are friends on the court. At the same time, if I am trying to take her playing time- they all want to play. That is the encouraging thing. I tell them you have to compete with each other if we are going to be a really good basketball team." (On how big a victory this was after the loss to Kentucky) "It was nice. Again, I know you all get tired of me saying it but I am just going to tell you we play one game at a time. I have done it for six years, and it is not like you can say it is the first time I have said it. We play 31 regular season basketball games. If you get all tore up or too excited over one game, it is going to be a long, long season. Then that makes for a long life trying to do this profession. Once we got that out of our system, I watched game film four or five times and we worked on some things, then I moved on. It is like this win here tonight. Sure it is a great win and I will enjoy it, watch film and pick out things we can do to improve, but then I have to get ready for Colorado on Friday which will be a tough game."
(On Colorado as the next opponent being 7-0 and with a tough RPI) "I think they are 8-0 now. They play Tuesday night at Denver I believe, which could be a good game but I know they are favored to win. They could be 9-0 or 10-0 going into our game. They are a team that should be ranked in the top 20. They are not for some reason. It is a big challenge for our team to go on the road. We have played some teams on a neutral site with Gonzaga and Oregon State. This is by far without a doubt, our toughest road game of the season. We are going to have to come prepared to play. It is not going to be a walk in the park."
(On what has been the difference with Antonita's play) "Its focus and her approach to the game. I had a great talk with her mom one night and her dad tonight. If she would just dedicate herself to saying, `You know what coach? I am going to be a 40 percent three-point shooter.' She could do it, without a doubt. You have to get into the gym. She needs to be making 200 or 300 threes a day. The problem is, I can't put that in my practice plan. I can't just say, `Antonita you go over and take all these threes.' That's when you need to come in before practice and after practice. Right now Sara Hammond is the one player that's a consistent for us getting in the gym shooting. I told our kids the other day in practice there is a reason she is having the most consistent year so far, because she works at it. It's not a secret, but it is touch. We try tell them,they could go into their exams this week and the professor could tell them you could answer "A" for every question and it is going to be a 100 (percent). They'll go in there and take that exam and say, 'I think it's "C", I'm putting "C" down.' They'll miss it and they'll be shocked, like what do you mean it's wrong? Well the professor told you to put "A" for everyone and it's a 100. That's kind of what we do. We're trying to give them the answers and then we sometimes won't take it. We'll try it our own way and that is where we are trying to get them to know that we are all in this together. When we tell them something it's for the better of them. I'm hoping they'll take this and continue to grow with it."
(On Dyer's confidence right now) "That is how she practices; she practices hard every single night. The most exciting thing for me is that she is getting six assists and two turnovers. I told her on the bench I think that is as many as she had all last year. So that's a big step for us, we have to get better post passing. If our post players will continue to work on their passing then we really have a shot to cause some problems, because if we can go inside-out and get a guard a good looking shot, it's a lot easier. The best shot for a guard to take is the one that comes from the inside-out because you're stepping into it."
(On if his different starting lineup was indicative of challenges in practice) "Well Sara (Hammond) didn't start. She is having some family issues she is taking care of. She actually went home and I was not sure that she would be here for tonight's game, but she texted me and said she would be here by about 6:45 or 7:00 and she made it. That's really what's going on there. I put Antonita (Slaughter) in the lineup because of what she did the past two days in practice. She's been practicing extremely well. We've come up with a little new philosophy. We don't have captains for the season. We're doing game-by-game captains. So depending on how you practice and what you get done off the court. Are you making your meetings on time? Are you showing up for your training room appointments? We're going to figure out what two or three players we thought had the best few days before that game, and they are going to our captains for that game."
(On if the play in the Pac-12 is any different than what they have seen) "No it's the same way. They are a very good basketball team. They have a really good post player that averages like 18 points a night. We're going to have our hands full. They're point guard is talented also. It is going to be a good ball game. It is one that I am concerned about."
(On what changed the lackluster play to start the 2nd half) "I just subbed all five out. That's really what it was. You can't do that. If you are going to be a really good basketball team you have to come prepared to play. We turned the ball over on the out of bounds play, then we sit there at half court and Shoni (Schimmel) got picked; I mean things that doesn't happen if you're focused. I thought that the group that went it really turned things up."
Sophomore Shawnta' Dyer
(On her performance in tonight's game) "Everyone on this team has a role and I know my role on the team is to defend, and rebound, and I tried to do that to the best of my ability. I know that's one of the reasons we had a big win today."
(On leading the team in assists) "Coach made the comment that it was the most that I've ever had in a year and last year combined so I'm really proud of having six assists."
(On what practice has been like since the loss to Kentucky) "Coach has realized that it wasn't only a team loss, but he realizes what he has to do for the next game to come. He was looking at himself in the mirror and realizing what he had to do and we realized what we have to do. I think we executed well but there's always things that we can work on. I knew were going to have a tough practice especially after a loss to Kentucky but were just going to keep working hard."
(On the team's biggest strengths and weaknesses) "Obviously, our biggest strength is transition. We love running the floor, the post [players] love running the floor, the guards get wide, and we have a lot of options, which is is tough on our opponents. There's obviously a lot of weaknesses that we have, which we are trying to work on in practices to come. We turn the ball over way too much in the past games. That's also what we're working on. We're just trying to hold ourselves accountable every game, even though we play teams that aren't up to our caliber. We're still going to play like we play every team."
(On assuming a victory during a blowout game) "We always say at halftime it's 0-0. We have a goal of how many points we're going to hold the team to. It's not about winning anymore, it's about executing our game and sticking with the game plan - running our offense, not turning the ball over - little things like that. We still have to keep in mind what our main focuses are."
Junior Antonita Slaughter
(On what she learned from tonight's game) "Being a top 10 team we can't just come out, we have to roll over these kind of teams. We did a good job of executing our offenses and defenses today."
(On what practice has been like since the loss to Kentucky) "It's been tough, we kind of realized that we handed Kentucky that game and were still regretting it so we're just coming and working harder and harder every practice because we know that we can meet up with them again in the NCAA tournament so were going to be prepared next time."
(On what it means that Shoni Schimmel only scores two points but the team still wins by 56) "It means that we have a lot of weapons, on nights that they come out and guard Shoni somebody else has to step up like Jude was saying. I think we have a lot of different players that can step up and do that."
(On being more assertive and aggressive over the past few games) "I think I'm confident and I think my team has confidence in me, so I just come out and perform every night knowing my team has my back."
Sophomore Jude Schimmel
(On how comfortable she is playing) "Like I said last time I think it's just my confidence is boosted a lot and I'm more confident in myself, so I'm able to do more things that I haven't been able to do in the past."
(On why her sister (Shoni Schimmel) only scored two points) "I think she had a few chances where she was looking for her shot, but they were trailing her the whole time and sometimes they had two people on her, so in games like this where they're trying to guard her real hard we have to look for other people."
