Louisville vs. DePaul
February 17, 2013 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 17, 2013
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | AP Gallery | Photo Gallery
Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On Bria Smith's free throw improvement and shooting 13-15 on free throws today) "Bria has been practicing. She's been putting time in the gym on her own. That's what she did in high school. She was a good free throw shooter. It's confidence and finally she is stepping up to the line more confident. She gets to the free throw line a lot for us so if she can continue to do that, then we are going to be in business."
(On the points in the paint differential of 50-10 in favor of Louisville) "I challenged Sara (Hammond), I said we have got to get a post game, you have got to get a presence. I thought she did a nice job and I thought Sheronne Vails did a nice job offensively tonight. She looked to score, she made a few nice baskets in the first half, and then we got a lot in transition there at the end. We were able to get a lot when they went zone by hitting the high post and then we'd cut one down and get a lay up. So, when you're getting lay ups out of it that obviously counts as a point in the paint."
(On the teams overall performance and if everybody played well) "I thought in the second half we really started to play some solid basketball. Antonia Slaughter, it wasn't her normal Antonita night that we all have grown accustomed to, but she gets nine points, five boards, one assist, one turnover, and one steal. That's not a bad night. But from what she had been doing it was probably not one of her better nights. Shoni (Schimmel) I thought did a really nice job with the basketball. I thought she tried to force it a little bit there in the first half and tried to force some shots up. But then I just told her at halftime, let the game come to you. Don't worry about it. If you don't get shots, you don't get shots. Beat them with your ability to pass. We did run that play for her to start the second half. We executed it great and she hits a three. If we can get her to pass the ball the way she did we are going to continue to have the chance to do some great things."
(On only being ahead six points at halftime despite holding DePaul to just 18% shooting) "We talked about it and had said we did a nice job defensively. The problem is second chance points they had 10, and free throws they had nine. That's 19 of their 23 (points) that were either from the free throw line or second chance points. If you box out, good defense is finished with a rebound and that's what we're trying to get our kids to understand. We are out there doing a nice job to make them take a bad shot, but then you don't get a rebound. It does you no good."
(On today's attendance) "I think it's great. I'm just really pleased and thankful to have the amount of support we have. Our fans have come out despite our men to be playing at one o'clock on ESPN and then for us to be at 1:30 p.m. I'm willing to bet there is probably two or three thousand that did not come, which is understandable because they are supporting the men. But we're still able to get 11,000 here. It's a big plus. It's a big plus for our players. It's a big plus for our program. And it sure doesn't hurt recruiting either."
(On Monique's (Reid) play and her injury status) "Mo's fine, she said she's fine. They told me she could've gone back in if she wanted. There was just no need to put her back in the game. I told her at the end of the first half, `If you're not going to try to score I'm taking you out of the game. You won't play.' Because she wasn't looking to try to score in the first half. She had a couple passes in the post and all she had to do was drop-step and shoot a lay-up but she passed up on it. She told me at halftime that she was ready to go. I thought she went in the second half and did a really nice job. We're going to get back to our minutes like we did in the non-conference. I'm probably going to play her 15 to 20 minutes a game right now. I'm not going to throw her out there and run her into the ground and just say, `hey, whatever happens, happens.' But, I know what she can do. She gets eight rebounds and eight points in 15 minutes. I think it says a lot about her productivity."
(On Sara's (Hammond) play in the second half) "Sara played well. Sara was aggressive, she rebounded the ball and I was just really excited for Sara. I challenged her before the game, `You've got to rebound. If we're going to win, you have to rebound.' She had five rebounds in the past two games combined; two against Pittsburgh and three up at Notre Dame. If she's not going to rebound the basketball we can't win and she did tonight. That's really a plus for us and she has to continue to do that. Bria (Smith) also gets seven rebounds though. She's our one guard who can get us between seven and 10 every night."
(On the difference in DePaul's play without Anna Martin) "They definitely miss Anna there is no question about it. She is a special player. She's got a lot of fight in her. That's the one thing I've been really impressed with from her. We tried to recruit her out of high school. You can't teach the fight that she has, she is a competitor. I don't think anybody thought she was going to have the opportunity to be a really special college player, but I think she's exceeded a lot of people's expectations just because of how hard she works. You can't teach it. You either have it in you or you don't. I think it says a lot about her. I saw her after the game and I told her I hope she gets back as soon as she can. I was expecting her to play today. I was surprised that she didn't to be honest."
(On how Bria (Smith) has responded to playing the point more) "Bria's done a very good job. I've been very pleased with how she's been playing. Again she had two assists and no turnovers. We are just now learning to value the basketball. If we can continue to value the basketball and get shots, good things are going to happen for us."
Sophomore guard Bria Smith
(On what she did to improve her free throw shooting) "Concentration on my free throws definitely. I just keep working hard in practice with the team pretty much."
(On having Monique Reid back on the floor) "Just her being a senior and being one of the players that works hard no matter what is just a real good thing for our team. Having her out there brings more energy for us."
Sophomore forward Sara Hammond
(On DePaul not having Anna Martin) "She's a big contributor to her team, I mean she's their leading scorer and she brings a lot of energy to her team. Obviously with her in the game it would of made a difference for them but coach said don't let that change our game plan. We have the same game plan, try to box there bigs out, out rebound them and keep their guards from getting to the basket and getting off shots. She's a big contributor but we were going to have the same game plan whether she was playing or not."
(On having Monique Reid back on the floor) "When she came into the game you heard the crowd, so automatically it just brings a spark to us and gets us going. She got a basket and a charge call so that really got us going out on the floor."
(On points in the paint) "When we do post guard breakdown we really worked on getting the ball deep into the paint and just getting layups on them. We tried to get there bigs in foul trouble because they basically only have two bigs. If we get their bigs in foul trouble then their game plan is thrown off. We took it as a personal challenge because Harry is one of the best rebounders in the Big East. We knew if we get her in foul trouble and get her out of the game then there rhythm is really thrown off."
(On what coach said to get them ready for the second half) "He was really upset with their second chance points especially in transition, their post were running the floor and once the guards missed layups the post would be right behind them just dropping it in. He just told us if you want to win this ball game you really need to hustle back on defense and stop there guards from getting up and down the floor. I think we did a really good job in the second half."
DePaul Head Coach Doug Bruno
"Louisville played great and we didn't play great. We didn't play great because Louisville didn't let us play great. I think you always have to talk about the opponent when they do that. I really felt good that we were only behind by six at halftime. We had a really hideous shooting percentage in the first half. We could have gone down four, but then the game really got away from us. They outscored us 12-0 to start the second half if I am not mistaken. Louisville did a great job coming out against us after halftime. Shoni (Schimmel) made her first one and they adjusted well after halftime. We have been playing wounded now for it seems three or four years, and I hate to think it is catching up to us. We survived last year, and the year before that. We have lost our best player three of the past four years and it is starting to catch up to us. I can't let that be our excuse, Louisville hasn't had all their players this year due to injury also. We are the same players that played Louisville on January 5th and beat Louisville. We are the same players, but we are not the same players because we don't have Anna Martin. Anna Martin didn't play today and Monique Reid for Louisville did. Even though it is only her first game back, Monique (Reid) is still pretty good too. Just having her competitiveness on the floor is important. We are in a scramble mode, in a band-aid mode, a one game at a time mode. This week we were able to get the home game with Rutgers that we needed, and now we have to try to go home and regroup and recover for Notre Dame next week."
(On adjustments you have had to make with Anna Martin out, and when is she expected to return) "We don't know when we are going to get her back. That is the aspect to this is that she is one of the most competitive players I have coached in my life. She really would play on one leg if she could play with one leg. I think it is a situation where we are going to know a day before the game. It was supposed to be 1-3 weeks and she is making progress. She is trying to run every day, and if she has pain or a limp then they won't let her cut and defend in practice. She has done everything she can do to put herself on the floor. We are still waiting and it is going to be a waiting game. We can get her out on the floor one day before a game I will be fine. I don't believe in throwing an athlete out there without at least one day of practice. We want at least one day of her out there practicing, so it could be Notre Dame or it could be another week after that. You mentioned the adjustments you have to make, I said to my staff I didn't know if we would rather have it like last year with five players out and we knew they were going to be out. Or like this year where we have one girl miss eight games then come back, then have another girl miss eight games and come back, then lose another one for eight games. You are always making adjustments, and constantly retooling. We had to adjust when we missed Megan Podkowa earlier this year when she was out with mono. Megan Rogowski played today and scored some points, but she still had a broken hand. If the doctors didn't clear her to play, then she wouldn't have played."
(On Bria Smith's play today) "She had a great first half, not that she didn't have a great second half but I think she set the tone. I thought we did a pretty good job of Shoni (Schimmel) in the first half. As bad as we were shooting the basketball in the first half, we shot 18 percent and we always want to give the opponent credit when it is that low, but we held them to 31 percent. I would take that against a good Louisville team any time. I thought Bria (Smith) did a good job of keeping them at a place where they had a 14-point lead. We then cut it to four but then don't get a stop to end the half. That is the little things about basketball. We didn't make a stop to end the first half, and then we didn't make a stop to start the second half and now the lead is nine. That was a five-point swing. I thought Bria (Smith) did a great job."
(On how good can Louisville be this year) "They have to get healthy too. As bad as the Notre Dame game might have appeared, they were still right there at the seven-minute timeout. They later cut it to seven or eight in the second half. Certain games have a numerical effect at the end. We got blown out today, but the most of it was in the second half. I thought the Notre Dame game was a lot closer then the score. I thought they were a lot better against Notre Dame then they were against us on January 5th and that shows their progress. I think coach is tightening things up a little bit and Antonita Slaughter is coming into her own. She is becoming a player, not just a shooter. Shoni (Schimmel) will be Shoni, and you saw how good Bria (Smith) and Sara (Hammond) played today. They are a good solid basketball team. There are about five teams that are behind Syracuse and Louisville still in the pack. Syracuse doesn't have the number two spot locked up, but they are playing strong basketball."
(on the KFC Yum! Center) "It's hard to say the greatest college center, college place because I haven't been to all of them. But of the buildings I've been to it's the best. It's awesome. It's a great place to play. It's a great arena. I love the place. I mean I don't love that the ball doesn't find the net quicker, faster and more often but that's nothing to do with the Yum! Center and the fact they serve bourbon. "