Louisville vs. Temple
February 12, 2014 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2014
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Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On extra free throw shooting) "Why? What for? What else you want? We were trying to improve our rebounding stats. I figured the more free throws we missed the more opportunities we had to get some boards. We got out rebounded tonight by one, and the problem is when you miss 14 free throws there's 14 boards right there. When you really look at it every missed free throw, they get a rebound. If we go up to the free throw line and make free throws then you're not going to get out rebounded, but the same thing can be said for them, they go 1 for 9. It definitely wasn't a game you would want to bring your son or daughter to and say `hey watch how they shoot free throws, this is what you want to do.' I hope no one had the intention of doing that when they came tonight."
(On if poor free throw shooting contagious) "Its unbelievable, I've never seen Asia Taylor going 2 for 8 from the free throw line before. Shoni goes 6 for 10, its focus and concentration, so it's an area we are going to have to continue to get back in. They know that they have to make 50 free throws for every one that they miss. That's what we do, so Asia will be in there for awhile."
(On Temple playing them close both times this year) "We were up 21 or 22 with about eight minutes to go up there. So we actually had done a nice job. I wasn't going to call a timeout. I was trying to get our kids use to the first conference game on the road. Then they made a little bit of a run at us there and cut it to nine. Then we made some sloppy plays with the ball. I was just trying to make a point up there. Here, I thought we defended pretty well. We held a team to 50 points. If you look at it they have 45 with a minute left. Then they hit that three and layup. I thought defensively we did a pretty nice job. Offensively we just missed a lot of shots. Tia (Gibbs) had some great looks. She has been making those but unfortunately, they didn't go down for us. Asia (Taylor) misses two free throws and then we get her a nice little shot in the paint that went halfway down and popped out. Then Shoni (Schimmel) makes a great drive and throws it to Sara (Hammond) and she one dribbles and turns it over. She had a four footer that she could have shot. Those are the things we are going to show them and those are the things they can't do. You can't give people second and third opportunities, you have to be able to put somebody away."
(On if this is a game that in the past they would have lost because they did shoot well) "A year ago, a year and a half ago, yes. Now we are finally continuing to defend. I think they got it to four or six in the second half and we didn't panic. We just came out and defended. We did what we had to do."
(On whether there were a lot of shots passed up tonight) "Well, we did, we passed some up. I was getting on Antonita, I thought she was passing up a bunch of them. You know, you make three in a row, and you would think you would want to shoot the ball every time you touched it, but she shot faked, and passed. Our biggest problem right now, is when we do look to drive, we are driving around the three-point line, instead of to the basket. So even if you get a nice shot fake, if you do not attack, no one else is going to step up and have to guard you. So that's what you see with us right now. It looks like they're driving, but then when we kick it, the defender on the person they are throwing it to, never had to help on me, so once they catch it, they are right there on them. So we are going to continue to work on trying to turn the corner into the paint."
(On the response from the players after the UCONN game) "They responded really well in practice. I was really pleased with how we practiced the past two days. We went through film, looked at some really good things we had done, looked at some things we had to work on but unfortunately, did not see a big improvement at the rebounding end. That is something we knew up at UCONN that really hurt us. So I am disappointed in that, and that is something we will have to continue to work on, because we are playing a very athletic Memphis team. I know they just lost to Cincinnati tonight, so they are not going to be too pleased. It's going to be a battle."
(On closing the gap to the other great teams like Connecticut) "It is day by day. Do I feel that we have a very talented team that can compete with them? Yes. If we play like we did tonight, then no. Our players know that. We are happy to get the win but not necessarily pleased with how we performed."
(On not using the bench as much as in the past) "Well Monny (Niamke) played only two minutes because her groin had been bothering her, so if I didn't have to play her at all, I wouldn't have played her at all. I had to throw her in there to slow them down defensively. On Emmonnie (Henderson), I just have to get her to play hard. She can't look to shoot it every time she touches the ball. It is what I have been trying to get her to understand. She has got to let the game come to her. She made a great pass to Tia (Gibbs) on the wing for an open shot that we missed. Those are the things that when she understands and starts to do them more consistently, the rest of the game will come easier because it will be one-on-one, instead of teams double teaming her."
Shoni Schimmel, Sr., G
(On what they learned against UConn to take into tonight's game) "We definitely don't like losing so for us to have that mentality to go out there and try to put someone away. We tried to do it but it just wasn't working for us today. So this day off tomorrow is definitely going to help us re-gather and refocus for us to come back on Friday and be ready to go and make all of our free throws and to get a lot of repetitions up. It's going to be good for us. We don't like to lose and Sunday kind of beat us up, but we're going to bounce back and play the next game and continue to keep winning, regardless of who it is."
(on how important it is to do the little things) "Defense definitely gets us going on offense so that's our main focus- rebounding and defending. Coach Walz always tells us go out there defend and rebound and the offense is going to come to us. It's just something to learn from and I think we picked it up better in the second half. We defended a lot better than we did and it helped us get better offense."
(In the past this might have been a game you lost because of all the missed free throws) "Yeah, that's what Coach Walz told us after the game. We got lucky with this one because we missed so many free throws. We were just talking about how we missed free throws that felt good to us, we thought they were going in. Coach Walz told us we were lucky to pull this one out. Against a good team we could lose one like this,so we got to make free throws. Hopefully we will get in the gym tomorrow and work on free throws."
Antonita Slaughter, Sr., G
(On making her shots in the first half) "Just coming out and hitting my first one gave me a lot of confidence. Knowing that my teammates have confidence in me, when I make that first one the hole gets a lot bigger. So, I just knocked them down, that's what I do."
Asia Taylor, R-Sr., F
(On not going on a big run like most games) "We know we're going to have nights like that, where we're not going on that big run and stuff, but it's just about what you do in those times. Do you just quit and let them go on a huge run or do you just maintain and grind it out until you can slowly push your lead up? I think we did a good job of not folding and being like, `You know, our shots aren't falling so we're not going to play defense,' because that's when the opponent goes on a big run that you can't overcome."
