Louisville vs. Cincinnati
January 18, 2013 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 18, 2013
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery
Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On the defense forcing 31 turnovers) "I was really pleased. Our goal tonight was to cause as much chaos as we could with our length and try to trap their guards all over the floor and really not let them get into a rhythm offensively. They run a very nice offense. You give them a chance to run it and then it's really hard to defend it, so we wanted to get up there and cause as much chaos as we could."
(On holding Cincinnati to 10 offensive rebounds) "It's toughness. It's what it comes down to, it's a will. We give up six in the first half and we only get five, which is not very impressive. Now, we did shoot the ball extremely well in the first half. Then in the second (half) to only give them four offensive rebounds and then we end up getting 10 - I think Shelby (Harper) got four of them. It's just a testament of what hard work does and just the will to compete."
(On calling a timeout very early in the game to celebrate Sara Hammond's first rebound) "I told her in the locker room that the first rebound she got we are calling a timeout because we're going to celebrate it and it's an important moment for us. Because we need her to rebound and get on the boards and I thought tonight she did a really nice job."
(On the success of the 3-point shooting) "That's just how it worked out I thought. We always try to get the ball in the post first. That's what we're trying to do. We're trying to go inside out. We made the extra pass. I was really pleased with how well we passed the ball, how crisp we passed it. We got the ball reversed quickly, and when you do that it gives you a chance to get your feet set and get a shot without having to worry about a hand in your face. We have some really good shooters - Antonita Slaughter, Shoni (Schimmel), Megan (Deines), Jude (Schimmel) - they can all shoot the three. But we are not good when we're rushed. So when we finally got the ball moving we got some wide open looks."
(On holding Cincinnati to 33 points, well below their average of 68 points this season) "I really didn't have a number on what we were trying to hold them to. Our goal was to come out and compete. We really wanted to set the tempo and get things going in our favor."
(On how the team is performing in BIG EAST play) "I'm pleased with how things are going. Our game at DePaul is one where I just don't feel like we came out ready to play the way we needed too; especially on the road. I'm pleased at 3-2. Of course I'd like to be 4-1 or 5-0. There are no easy road games in this league. I don't care who you are, you have to come prepared to play. It's real simple. You look at South Florida who takes Notre Dame to overtime at home. Then they go to DePaul and lose by 20. Then DePaul goes to Villanova and loses by 20. Road wins are hard to come by in our league. I mean they are really hard to come by. It's a challenge but it's something we've learned. If you can get four wins on the road, that's big time. Right now we have one, so we're trying to find three or four more of them."
(On the game at UConn) "She (Stephanie Dolson) really did a nice job. Dolson is a very talented post player, inside and out. But when I watch the film, sure she did some really nice things, but we just missed too many open shots. When you're playing them you can't miss open shots and expect to stay in the game. We had good looks and we handled their pressure well. They actually didn't press as much because we attacked them when they did and scored. We just have to continue to get better. I love my email because fans email me all the time. I think it's great. They keep asking me when we are going to get a 6'6" post player. I promise you people, we're all recruiting them. But when you look around there aren't a ton of them out there. I think Sheronne Vails played well. I was excited for her. She went 0-3 but she got four rebounds and she did some good things. I'm excited for her and her progress. She needs to be a big factor. I've tried to tell people when Sheronne first came here she had a heart condition that didn't allow her to lift more than the bar. It's hard to get stronger when you can't lift more than the bar. That condition has taken care of itself and now this past summer was the first time she's been able to lift weights and she's put on about 20 pounds. When you're talking four years of college and you only get to lift your last two, it sets you back. I've been pleased with what she's done and excited for her. It's a process, that's what it is."
(On Antonita Slaughter's consistent play) "No question about it. I pretty much know what I'm going to get from her every night. As a coach, when you can get that it's awfully comforting to know. I'm just pleased with all of them. Antonita goes 5-9 and scores 13 points. Shoni goes 4-6 and gets 11. Megan 3-9 and gets 10. Jude goes 3-3. We distributed the ball and that's what you have to do. We got good shots for players in position and that's what you have to do. "
Sophomore Sara Hammond
(On whether there was a plan to limit Cincinnati's offense) "I don't think so. He just wanted us to be really aggressive on defense tonight because in shoot-around and the past couple days of practice, he knew that we had the size advantage and athleticism to make them. They want to slow it down and get you in a half-court game and run their offense and run the shot clock. Coach just said we need to make it hectic and crazy and make them throw the ball a little faster than what they want to go and it worked to our advantage tonight."
(On Coach Walz calling a timeout in the beginning of the game) "I've been struggling the past couple of games with rebounding. I haven't been doing what I was supposed to do, especially as a post player. Coach said before we came out, `The first rebound you get, I'm going to call a timeout and we're all going to celebrate,' and I didn't know he meant it literally. I thought he was using it as motivation so he just called timeout and we just jumped and celebrated for a few seconds."
(On the positives of a lop-sided game and taking them to the next game) "I think definitely our defense and forcing them into turnovers. I know Marquette is a lot bigger than what Cincinnati is just personnel-wise. It just shows defensively, we're an aggressive team. We can force any team to an amount of turnovers that we want to, it just depends on how much energy and how much effort we're going to bring that night. So I think definitely our press defense and just the defense overall and I think we did a good job moving the ball tonight. Coach told the guards and even the post [players] not to occupy the ball, not to keep dribbling, to get it out of your hands, and cut and move - and I think we did a pretty good job of that. We got our three-point shooters open and they shot the threes tonight."
Junior Shoni Schimmel
(On the team's BIG EAST record) "We kind of hoped we would've done better than we did but it's [the] Big East, you never know what's going to happen. There are teams out there winning by 40 like us tonight and then you play another team and you barely win or barely lose. It's the Big East and for us to go 3-2 right now, it's good for us but we just got to continue to get better. We still got the rest of the season to go."
(On the team's motivation after last year's game against Cincinnati) "I think the game we played against UConn was more of the motivation. I mean, last year was last year. But the game against UConn was more of our motivation just because we had just played UConn at UConn and we lost by 14. That was our motivation for us in playing against them last year. [Monique Reid] got hurt last year so for it to be a close game - it shouldn't have been as close as it was just because we did lose Mo' but we came back and fought and ended up winning."
Junior Antonita Slaughter
(On the team's three-point shooting during the game) "It just came to us, whatever was open. Inside-out, that was open a lot. [It was] just reversing the ball and moving the ball and getting it to the open person."