Louisville vs. LSU
November 14, 2013 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 14, 2013
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery 1 
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Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
(What was the key to the 21-0 run) "We came out in the 2nd half and I thought we did a great job of defending. That's something I've been challenging them on. We're not necessarily a team that can go out and play straight man-to-man, so we keyed on a few players, trying to make others take shots that they might not like to do. And we did a really nice job for about a six-minute stretch of rebounding the basketball. Then it was fast break after fast break and we started scoring in transition."
(Was it a pre-game plan to go to the basket because you felt you were quicker) "Well, it was just matchups. When they're bigs came away from the basket, we used our athleticism to go around them and a few times help came over and we kicked for shooters. The kids did a great job. I've said it all along, we're not a basketball team and we might not ever be one here that can just roll the ball out and say, `Ok, your five versus our five' and not have a scouting report. We take great pride as a staff in going through film and making sure we find whatever we consider a weakness of an opponent and we attack it, because that's what we have to do. We aren't the quickest team, we aren't the tallest team. But the one thing our kids do is follow a game plan. I tell them all the time, `If you follow the game plan and we lose, it's my fault. But give me a chance to screw up. That's all I ask you. And I thought tonight they did an unbelievable job of following everything we were trying to do."
(Some of those big wins last year...you're known for hitting three's. You were 3-14 tonight, but won by 21.) "Because we did a great job of attacking. We pushed the ball in transition. We got a bunch of transition baskets. We're 12-4 on fast break points, but probably eight of them were during that run. I thought Shoni played a tremendous basketball game. She drew so much attention that she allowed our post players to drive. She allowed our posts to get big time shots, and our kids stepped up and it knocked LSU down."
(On the crowd and the effect of the promotion) "I think the crowd was great. I thought it was fantastic. I'm hoping that we got a lot of people out here for the first time. It wasn't just a beer, it was a soda or whatever they wanted to get. It's a way to create some buzz and it's definitely done that. I mean I'm sitting there watching the Clippers play Oklahoma City last night and at halftime I switch it over to Keith Olbermann and he's got a picture of me up on the TV trying to remind me of the 10 cent beer day I guess in Cleveland back in '74. Well, look at our fan base. I'm sorry, we're not a bunch of baseball fans out there boozing for nine innings. We average probably 30 to 40 college students per game. But our crowd is adults. Our crowd is adults that bring their children or seniors that want to come. You know, it was just a little bit of a thank you for what you all have done for us the past seven years. We're one of the top programs in the country because people come out and they support us. So, after seven years that's the least I can do is give some back. Believe me, we didn't anticipate that it would blow up as big as it has. But, I'm not going to complain about it because whenever you get your name out there the way that we did, and then to play the way we did tonight, I'm sure there's going to be more talk about it now. I've been fortunate enough to be here for seven years. It's a place I plan to retire at, or get fired, as I like to tell recruits. I'm not going anywhere and just to be able to give something back to our fans - I mean it wasn't that much. It's one drink ticket for a soda or a beer. A lot of people sure appreciated it."
(On Asia Taylor's performance) "It was great. The redshirt year really helped her mature and I think that's what you're starting to see is just a mature Asia Taylor. You know I tell people all the time, in '09 when we played for the national championship, Candyce Bingham was a fifth year senior. Angel McCoughtry went to prep school for a year out of high school, so she was really a fifth year senior. In women's basketball if we had enough scholarships I'd be all for redshirting every freshman. If you get that year to mature it makes a big difference. If you look at the top programs they'll probably have a fifth year senior."
(How important is having experienced players with scouting reports) "It is big, it's big. Honestly we played a defense in the second half that we haven't played for one day. Now we ran it all the time in the tournament last year, and I was trying to wait a week or two to put anything in, but we had to do it. They all remembered what to do, and that's where it is not fair to Emmonnie (Henderson) because I can't play her or Monny (Niamke). We will teach it so they understand what is going on. We are really excited about the five freshmen we signed in this year's class. Next year there will have to be a lot of teaching done. We are not going to be able to just go out there and throw things in during a game."
(On the upcoming recruiting class and who may provide immediate playing team) "They all have the ability to come in and play. For us, I am not concerned on where our class is ranked or I am not concerned on who is a five star or who is a four-star. We recruit players that we think fit what we are trying to do here. We want high character kids who come from really good families and support systems, and are excited to come be a part of Louisville women's basketball. We have built something here and we are going to continue to build it on high character kids and that is what we are all about. "
(On wanting to recruit a 6-4 tall player, but being able to sign the more versatile 6-1 type player) "It has worked for us. As I was once taught, why fix something that is not broken? We will try to tweak it and make it better, but I am not going to try and reinvent the wheel." (On Myisha Hines-Allen) "Yeah, depending on what scouting service you look at. Myisha (Hines-Allen) is a very explosive player, very strong that can play on the wing and in the post. She will be able to give us some versatility and go inside to out." Senior F Asia Taylor
(On tonight's game) "I felt great out there, it was a good game. We knew it was going to be close, we went hard on the scout, going over what we should expect from them, and just grinded it out. Coach had confidence in me, my teammates did too, and I just looked for my shot and tried to get other players open."
(how does it feel to have a game like this after sitting out last year) "It's a long time coming, five years in the making right here. It's just working hard. I work on it everyday in practice, and my teammates that's why they have confidence in me. Just to have something like this and for us to come out with a win, if we didn't win today it means nothing."
(did you ever think you might not play again) "Probably for just a little bit. When I heard I had to have the surgery that was going to put me out for sixth months. I kind of got down for a little bit, but just my faith and my family kept me up and positivity from my teammates."
(on the difference in size) "I really think it was, we capitialized on the mismatches. At first when we were going over things, they're 6'4 in the post, and they're big bodies so you really don't want to drive in there. Once the game started, we saw that we could get around them because they were kind of lazy on defense. We knew we were either going to get a layup or get our teammates shots. That became the focal point for our offense."
Senior G Shoni Schimmel
(On Asia's night) "It's really awesome. Especially with her having to sit out and not being able to play last year. I really enjoy playing with Asia, I played with her my freshman year and a little bit sophomore year. It was a lot of fun seeing her get out there and just enjoy it. We mesh as a team well, adding Asia with us we're just 10 times better."
(on what she saw on defense) "We knew that they had some post out there who weren't fast feet, and we know Asia is a little quicker with the step so we were just getting her the ball, and getting her to the rim. We knew they couldn't stay with her because she has a quick step on them. We were just looking to get her in there especially with Derreya Youngblood on her. It helped us a lot, Coach Walz has a great scouting report on LSU, it helped us a lot."
(on getting the lead back from LSU) "To be honest with you I was just playing basketball, I wasn't thinking about anything, just enjoying it, it just came natural. For us to just get things going, especially coming off that first half, up by four, we had that play at the end and almost went up by six. We came back with that energy in the second half and it helped us a lot."
(on the second half run) "I think just playing basketball, feeding off each other. It didn't matter how we were going to score, we just did. We got the post going, we got the guards out there shooting three's, we had the kick outs and what not. Everything just started flowing better in the second half. We kind of took a deep breath and went back out there and got our feet under us. It just worked out for us." (on the defensive change) "We mixed it up a little bit. They expected us to be in five or just a straight zone, so coach Walz mixed it up a little bit. We just mixed it up to claw and one and they really didn't know how to respond, so for us to mix it up they really had no answer for it."
(on bouncing back from Monday night) "Thank you for mentioning that, I was 7 for 11 today. No, I mean I was just letting the game come to me today and I wasn't try to push anything, I mean you can't make every shot as coach Walz says. It was just an easier game for me tonight."
Junior G Bria Smith
(on the scouting report)"It wasn't the scouting report that they had slower feet, you have to give the credit to the shooters on our team. They open up the lanes for us to drive to the basket. You can't just suck in or we'll just kick it to Shoni, Antonita, or any of the great shooters on our team. You have to pick your poison for our team."
(On the 21-0 run) "The key to the run was they got a lot of second chance points and we just took the weak side rebounding away from them. That just pretty much stopped their offense because they just like to rebound a lot and get second chance points so we stopped that and then we went on our run."
