Louisville vs. Rutgers
January 08, 2013 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 8, 2013
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery
Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On the team's defense in the last 15 minutes of the game) "The last 15 minutes - I was really pleased. We got a great group of young ladies. It's just a little frustrating right now just to get them to follow a game plan and it's probably been the toughest that I've had in six years in getting a group to just buy into following a game plan and executing it. Our whole goal was: clog up the middle, make them make outside shots. [Erica] Wheeler can shoot the three, [Betnijah] Laney can make it two, but don't overcommit on her and they sat there and had 20 points in the paint in the first half of their 28. They throw the ball into the lane and then throw it to the corner. We run out on the non-shooter and she throws straight to the post and scores left. And it was just over and over. I told the kids after the game, `Guys, just believe in what we're doing. If it doesn't work, it's my fault.'
I did a bad job at the end of the first half, there's no question about it. We should've fouled. We had two team fouls. They were dribbling the ball. We should've fouled with five [seconds] on the shot clock, make them take the ball out of bounds, throw it in, foul them again because we had plenty of fouls to give and they even would've had the opportunity to get that shot off."
(On the team's defensive strategy causing turmoil for Rutgers) "That's basically what our plan was. For a few possessions, a few passes here and there, and then we would switch [to] man [defense]. Every on-ball screen, our goal was to try and double the on-ball screen and try to cause some chaos. I thought we really did a good job in the second half. [Monique Reid] came out and just rips the ball from the kid goes down and shoots a layup. Sara Hammond did a really nice job of rotating up. She gets a hand on the ball and we get a steal."
(On Monique Reid) "She played well. For her getting eight boards, that's what we need out of her. She got to rebound the basketball for us to be successful, especially with Shawnta' Dyer out. She goes out there and plays 38 minutes. I'm sure she'll be sore tomorrow, but I thought Shoni [Schimmel] played as well as she's played all year for us. I took her off the point, put Bria [Smith] at the point, which I thought gave her a little more freedom and gave her the opportunity to be a little more relaxed, and I think it paid off. It was by far the best game she's played and gave her some more freedom." (On the team's turnovers) "Everybody talks about the turnovers and we are good at it, but we only gave up six points off of our turnovers. So we turn the ball over 17 times, that's not very good. I'd like to get it down to 13 or 14, but the fact that they get six points off our turnovers, we turn them over 25 times and get 23 points off of them. That's the difference at the end of the game. The other thing I was really pleased with was our second chance points. We get eight second chance points and we only give up two.
(On confusion at the end of regulation) "`Mo thought we were winning. I think she thought Shoni's shot was a three. She comes up with a huge steal, a huge steal. But I think if she knew it was tied, Antonita comes streaking down the middle. If she throws that thing to Antonita, it's a layup to win the game. But she thought we were up and when the kid wasn't fouling her I was like: `Mo that should've probably told you. Why aren't they fouling me? She was running as fast I've seen her run with the ball to not get fouled - but it was a big steal. Shoni hit a big-time shot there to tie it up and had some flashbacks. That kid hits a pretty tough three with the shot clock expiring."
(On playing the same group of players for so long in the second half) "I just didn't feel the need. I thought we looked fresh and the way the game was on defense they were using a lot of the shot clock, so it's not like fast paced up and down, where we would need to get some subs in. Now it's not going to be like that all the time so I definitely have to make sure everybody is ready to play."
(On how Antonita Slaughter played) "Antonita has been the most consistent player that we've had all season. I'm excited for her, it's been three years where I've challenged her. I've pushed the kid because when she came in here she was strictly a three-point shooter and now she's going to the glass she's getting put backs. Seven boards, she's got one assist, 5 of 6 from the free throw line. I mean she played a big time game for us, a very, very big game."
(Since when did Bria Smith become a point guard) "Since yesterday, that's when I did it. Like I said, it just gave Shoni a chance to relax, and I think that's what we have to have. I have to make sure that I continue to give Shoni the opportunity to come off screens, and then she did a really nice job of using screens."
(On how tough every game is going to be in the Big East) "Every game is going to be a grind. Like I said before, I'm not sure what the Big East did, but our two double partners are by far the hardest that any team has to play, so I'm not sure if they were mad at us or what, but for us to have to play South Florida and DePaul twice is absolutely ridiculous. We're going to have our hands full and I've told our kids we have to take care of every home game, there's no question about it because if you don't win the home ones you're playing from behind. So for us to get this game right now it's a big win for us."
(On whether or not he thinks Rutgers will be an NCAA tournament team) "They'll figure it out, I have no doubt. They're a young team and they're going through some turmoil right now just trying to get some kids playing the way she wants them to play. It won't surprise me to see them roll off four or five straight wins in a row in this league. They're as athletic as any team we're going to play. They have five or six high school All-Americans on that team. They have a lot of talent, so - I expect them to be playing in the NCAA tournament."
(On the lack of fouls) "We didn't touch anybody, we did a really good job of that and that's what killed us in the first half. We just let them throw it in the post and they would turn and shoot a layup. I told them at halftime it's not good to have two fouls at half, you aren't doing anything. You have to be more aggressive, we needed to shove some people around and at least we fouled six times in the second half which was an improvement."
Louisville Junior Shoni Schimmel
(On playing the entire second half) "The five that was in the game for the last few minutes was getting it done. Coach had faith in us and even if we did come out we had backup. That's the good thing about our bench. No matter who you put in the game you're going to get good minutes."
(On Rutgers being the most physical team they've faced this season) "Well the BIG EAST is a physical conference period. For them to come out and be so physical with us at our house was kind of different for us since it was at our house. But we came back and fought at the end and got physical back with them."
(On controlling the overtime period) "We hit some big shots in the beginning and it kind of broke their momentum. For us to hit those two threes in the beginning was big for us and got us the momentum and we ended up getting the W at the end."
(On holding Rutgers to 10 points over the last 12 minutes of the game) "We just buckled down and played defense. That was our main goal. Coach told us time and time again to buckle down and that's what we did. At first we were letting the open shooters shoot. They had wide open shots that they shouldn't have had. We just have to learn the rotations and work together better on defense, which we did at the end. We mix our defenses up a little bit. We went man for a little while and then we went into our 2-3 zone. Whatever coach said we did and that was our game plan the entire time."
(On Bria Smith playing point guard and how it helps) "It gets me at the two, and I'm coming off a lot of screens and what not. I just have to wait for those screens. Even Bria will take it to the hole a couple times, and that's fine with me because she is scoring right there at the bucket. Either way it's a win-win."
(On the 17 turnovers for the game but only six in the second half) "It was less than our average, so I hope he's (Coach Walz) happy. It just shows that we can take care of the ball. He first half we had all those jitters and we finally get them out. So in the second half we are more controlled and take care of the ball. We learn that we need to take care of the ball in the end, because in the beginning we didn't."
(On her shot to tie the game 52-52) "It was just a shot I took, and I felt like it was going in. Nothing really special about it, I just shot the ball. I hadn't done it in a while."
(On how her jump shot felt tonight) "It felt good just to shoot the ball and have a good shooting night for once in a while. It's coming so I have to just let the game come to me."
(On if she thought her game-tying shot was actually a three-point shot) "It sounded like the guy said three so I just went with it. I think I was inside the line so I kind of understood that."
Louisville Senior Monique Reid
(On her health and playing in the game today) "I had the flu. I was really sick at DePaul. I don't even know how I did that. I just did everything the doctors told me to do. I was determined to play."
(On crazy finish in regulation) "I thought Shoni hit a three and then the girl before her clearly hit a two pointer. I really thought Shoni hit a three, but I got the steal so..."
(On overtime) "It was all about executing the game plan. We just try to do everything Coach Walz tells us to do. He told us if we did what he told us we would win and that's what happened."
(On how healthy she feels) "Knee wise I'm back, I'm just trying to get over this flu. I had an injection at the beginning of the season and had to take a week off, that's why I missed a couple of games. After that I've felt really good. This is the best I've felt in a long time."
(On her eight rebounds tonight) "(Coach Walz) told me I had to get more than four."
Louisville Sophomore Bria Smith
(On playing point guard) "Basically we just wanted to help Shoni with the ball more. She's been getting hounded so far. We wanted to help her with the ball and get some of the physicality off of her. It's helping our team."
(On how good this team can be)"We can be really good. I think that everybody just needs to step up. Mo' is just going out there and balling so if we keep this up we are definitely going to get far."