Louisville Postgame Quotes
November 20, 2014 | Women's Basketball
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 1 
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Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On coming back from being down early)
“The first few minutes, we didn't do a really good job of communicating at the defensive end. We were sloppy with the ball the first two possessions at the offensive end, which allowed them to get two open shots. They're a really good shooting team if you give them time to get their feet set. Once we figured out it wasn't a good idea to let them shoot open shots uncontested, I thought we really got the tempo of the game in our favor... really put a lot of pressure on them. I thought we passed the ball well in the first half and got some easy looks and then we were able to put the ball in the basket. We were able to get in to our press. I think we turned them over 20 times in the first half. If you're able to do that to somebody, then you're going to get a lot of easy looks yourself.
“It was good effort from us. I was very pleased with our effort. We ended up with 14 turnovers. You take away the three charges, which they were charges, but that's something we 've worked on for a month now...jump stop, jump stop, jump stop. Hopefully, we might figure out that running somebody over is not a very good idea. You're down to 11 turnovers which is kind of what we've been at. For us to have three games of under 15 turnovers, that's a huge plus for us because I'm not sure that we've ever done that in my eight years here. I'm really pleased with how well we're taking care of the basketball. We stepped up again for back-to-back nights and shot the ball well from the free throw line. Those are the areas that we have to continue to get good at.”
(On Mariya Moore playing a lot of minutes tonight with no turnovers)
“She's very efficient for us. When she was fresh out there, she did a great job at the top of our 1-2-2. She caused a lot problems. She's not lightning quick. She's not out there with the best handles of anybody on the floor, but she just figures out a way to get things done. And that's really what impresses me most with her right now. When she's out there, normally I've got her going hard. And when she plays hard, good things will happen for her.”
(On Emmonnie Henderson's performance)
“She's getting in better shape, that's the whole thing with Emmonnie. All last year, she couldn't have played 14 minutes, because I couldn't have kept her out there for more than one minute before she couldn't make it up and down the floor. Now she's finally realized that when you're in shape it's not as hard to play this game. So, we're still getting her in better shape, and that's our goal. I think tonight it was a game where she was able to see that success. I think she's going to want to continue to work so she can have more of it.”
(On Shawnta' Dyer's and Megan Deines' play off the bench)
“I was very pleased with Shawnta', I think she is probably our most efficient post player we have. She does the best job of getting low and sealing in the post, trying to make easy shots. Instead of trying to score over someone, Shawnta' does the work early so she can drop step and shoot a layup. She is our best post defender. she'll get out there and move her feet on a guard if we switch. She really understands it. I was proud of her, because I thought she played hard and I thought she played some pretty long stretches which is what I was trying to do tonight with her.
Megan tonight did some really good things. She has to continue to think the game. She's got to bring her mind to every night we play and not just her physical skills. She's just as athletic as anybody out there. I think tonight she had a one-handed tip-in, you just don't see that very often in women's basketball. If she can just bring her mind and make good decisions with the ball, then I think good things can happen for her.”
(Can you remember the last time you played a team that didn't shoot a free throw)
No, and I think part of it is because they drove by us so much that we never fouled them. When we went man, we didn't guard anybody, they just drove by us so it was hard to get fouled. There was a stretch there in the second half that they did drive some and they missed some layups, but half of their shots were threes. When you're shooting 26 threes out of 52 shots, you're not going to go to the line a bunch. But I can't remember the last time I played somebody and they hadn't gotten a free throw attempt.”
(On speaking with Belmont head coach (former Louisville assistant coach) Cameron Newbauer after the game)
“I talked to him after the game and before the game. He has a good ball club. We overwhelmed them with our athleticism and our length. I think we just caused them a lot of problems. They are picked to win the league and there is no doubt that they are going to do well. It's just going to take them some time and they'll go through some games where the score might be like this. But you're talking ACC, SEC games where I think those are the only ones that can possibly go at them where he's just outmanned right now.”
(On Jude Schimmel leaving the game early)
“She's fine. She just bumped her knee on the ground. She says she's good to go. If we had to play tomorrow she'd be fine.”
(On what the team gets out of such a big win)
“I thought we played well. I thought we played for 40 minutes. I thought we didn't quit. I don't mean that in a bad way, but when you get up by 40 sometimes, your kids kind of start to think it's over... we're going to win. But we kept attacking and that's what I wanted to see. We did a really good job of continuing to make it difficult for them to score. A lot of times you get in a situation where you get up big and you give up a 10-0 run where you're up 40 or 50 and all of a sudden it's 30. Not that it's going to matter but you hate to see that as a coach. So I was pleased with our mental approach for all 40 minutes.”
(On if that is the best the team can play early in the season)
“I thought we looked awfully well. We didn't shoot the ball particularly well from the three-point line, but 3 for 9 is not bad. I'm not really pleased with the way we rebounded the ball. I think those two areas we can definitely improve on, but it's a win. Nobody really cares at the end of the year if it's by one or by 60. We don't get to carry the points over.”
Emmonnie Henderson (Sophomore, Forward)
(They hit two threes while you were on the bench, did that wake the team up?)
“Yeah in the scouting report we talked about how we couldn't help off of their main shooters. It's going to kill us in the long run when we stop following the scouting report.”
(You held them to as many three pointers as two pointers, is that a testimony to your defense?)
“I think it is probably the best game we have played defensively, if you ignore the two threes in the beginning. We have to just keep working hard in practice and focusing on the scouting report.”
(How would you compare this year's team to last year's team?)
“The competition is a whole lot better even with just these first three games then the competition from last year. Obviously this is a totally different team, we don't have the 3-point shooters we had last year. Mariya is getting her game together, especially on the three-point line. We're just going to have to learn to drive and kick and stay in the gym.”
(Have you ever been a part of a game where the other team didn't shoot a free throw?)
“They didn't shoot free throws? I don't think so, because normally I would foul them if they came in the lane.”
(On the difference in her game from last year)
“I understand the game more. I understand where to be at a certain time and I'm not trying to run over to make up for something after being where I'm not supposed to be. That's what mainly caused my fouls. I'm really just trying to keep my hands up and not swat down.
Mariya Moore (Freshman, Forward)
(You've played so well your first three games, talk about how it's going?)
“It's going well. I'm definitely trying to pick it up in practice so it can transfer over to the games. I'm just trying to play hard for my team.”
(Did you expect a tougher game from Belmont?)
“I wouldn't say a tougher challenge... we watched them against Vanderbilt. It definitely seemed like it would be a challenging game, but we have had a week to prepare and learn their tendencies and to try to shut them down as much as possible.”
(Talk about the run in the first half after you were down?)
“I just feel like we all knew we were better than that and we had nothing to lose. There was no reason for them to be able to come out there and do that after all of our preparation for this game. We just came together and tried to give our all on defense.”
(Talk about how you found holes in the defense to score?)
“I just try to do what coach says because he can see more than we can on the court. He just kept saying the middle is open, so just pass and cut.”
