Louisville Postgame Quotes
January 14, 2015 | Women's Basketball
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Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On the Cardinals 20-point first half run)
"I thought what we did was we passed the ball well. We ran our offense, we didn't rush shots, we got the ball moving, and executed. I thought we looked good. We adjusted to how they were playing us. They weren't guarding a few players, so they were just baiting you to shoot. We go on that 20-0 run, and we took some very poor shots, we rushed shots, we didn't finish around the basket on some easy ones. You can't do that. We got it at 17 points with five minutes to go in the first half and lose all focus. It should have been a 20 or 25 in the first half. And then the last minute and a half, we allow back-to-back threes on uncontested threes by the wrong players; the kids that we know can make them. We're going into halftime, they cut it to 13 and have some momentum because they just hit two threes and they're a very good three-point shooting team. A lot of their offense depends on that."
(On what he said to his team with the lead cut to four points in the second half)
"I didn't say much. There wasn't much to say. It's all about effort. I think they scored probably on six or seven straight possessions. If you can't get down and guard somebody, it's tough to win. I sat there and I told them over and over, `You've got to use the ball screen. Make them go off the ball screen.' On back-to-back plays they rejected it and drove to the basket. I subbed people out. You've got to be coachable is what it comes down to. You've got to follow a game plan. Unfortunately we didn't do a very good job of that tonight, but we were fortunate to find a way to win. Hopefully we'll find some players that, you know, because I told them, they have to look themselves in the mirror tonight and say, `What am I willing to give to this team? What do I want to do?' Unfortunately right now we've got a few who make the same mistakes over and over. I plead to them, make a new mistake. Stop making the one you know is not good and try to make a new one. Unfortunately we've got a few that are just set on making that same mistake. I told them, I said, `Playing time is really going to start to be a factor for some of you. I can't afford to put you out there knowing you're going to make the same mistake, because everybody has scouted us. They know what you're going to do. They know where they're going to beat you. They know where your weaknesses are.' We have to do something as a individual and as a player, to be coachable so that we can diminish those weaknesses."
(On the play of forward Shawnta' Dyer)
Shawnta' has been solid all year. I know what I'm going to get from Shawnta'. Her free throw shooting, I know it's not very good. She's got to get herself in the gym, because she's going to get fouled. I know she's going to give me great effort. I know she's going to defend. I know what she's going to do. That's why she plays. You have to be reliable, and that's a problem that some of our kids have right now. They're not very reliable. I don't know what I'm going to get day in and day out. So I put them out there and you get two or three minutes and if you're making that same mistake I know, okay, tonight's not the night. You're not going to help us. So, they have to change. We have some kids that have to change in order for us to be great."
(On if he expected Shawnta' Dyer to be playing this well after her injuries)
"She sat out long, but I'll be honest with you, from every injury she's come back, she gives you the same thing. You never question her work ethic, you never question how hard she's going to go. And when you're that type of kid, that eliminates half the questions. When I know you're going to bust your tail and get up and down the floor and you know when we're doubling a ball screen, you know when we're hedging a ball screen or jamming a ball screen, when you can sit up here and do that every time, you `re going to play. I've got some that they can't...we can't play the same way every game. We played a lot of zone against Wake the other day. You can't play zone against NC State, they shoot the darn ball too well. So we can't come out and play zone. So now we have to figure out, we're going to try to hedge ball screens, then they start beating us on that, so we try to go and double the ball screen, then we tried to switch the ball screen. And as a player, you've got to be able to adjust, and unfortunately, I've got a few of them that just haven't figured that out yet, and that's really hurting us because we need a few of these young ladies that come off the bench to give us more lift. You can't have goose eggs across the board."
(On if shutting down Miah Spencer was a part of the game plan)
"We tried. We tried on (Len'Nique) Brown and Spencer, two kids that I was very impressed with. Their guards are just really good. They can beat you off the bounce, they can shoot the 3 well, but unfortunately, we didn't do a very good job on Brown in the second half. We had hands down and she made 3s on us. They're a talented group. I told Wes (Moore) I like how hard his kids play, and because they can shoot the 3, they're always in the game."
(On the incoming recruiting class all being McDonald's All-America nominees)
"It's special. I'm excited for every one of the kids. They work hard. It's an honor to be nominated for that team, now it's going to be fun to see who makes it. But what's even more exciting is there's going to be a lot of holes for us to fill next year, and I really feel confident with the kids we have coming in. They're going to be able to put some pressure on some of our returning kids. That's the way this game is. You've got to work on your game in order to play. There's no guarantee at all because you're a junior or a senior you're getting playing time, it's never been like that here. If you're a freshman and you're good enough to play, you're playing. So I'm excited because I think we're going to have some kids that come in here as freshmen and are playing a ton of minutes for us."
(On the play of center Sara Hammond)
"I thought she did a very good job. She took care of the basketball, she didn't force any shots. We've got to cut down the three turnovers. She did a good job offensively of not trying to rush and not trying to do too much. She did a great job of rebounding the ball. What we have to do is we've got to get more rebounding from Myisha (Hines-Allen). I know she was a little limited in her minutes because of foul trouble, but even with 12 minutes of play, she can't come out with one rebound. We've got to get some more from our guards. Our guards have to do some more rebounding."
(On his impressions of the ACC having played four games)
"It's tough. It's exactly what we thought it was going to be. You've got to show up every night. We've squeaked out the last three games and not played extremely well, but it's going to get a lot more difficult coming in here on Sunday with Virginia. Then we're going down to Florida State, then you've got, I think, Miami coming here, Syracuse coming in here. If we don't change things, we could very easily lose five straight. I'm trying to get my kids prepared for that. If we don't change the way we're preforming in games and our mental approach. It could be a rough stretch."
Sara Hammond, Sr., F
(On going on a 20-0 run in the first half)
"We just wanted to come out strong. Our last two games, we went up to Pitt and then Wake Forest on the road, we came out really flat, and coach challenged us today. Being on our home court, we've just go to come out strong and we can't let a team get going early because it gives them confidence. It started well for us tonight, but we've got to learn how to finish."
(On what allowed NC State to come back in the second half)
"That's the ACC. Every night, you're going to get the opponent's best, and that's why we wanted to be in the ACC, is we wanted to play the best. For us, we've just got to go back to practice before the game on Sunday and we've got to learn the scouting report and defense. Coach said there at the end they kept turning down ball screens, and we kept saying, `Make them use the screen, make them use the screen,' and two times in a row there, we didn't guard and we let them get to the basket and they got an and-1. I think it's just mental toughness there at the end and realizing that we've got to hold our composure, not take bad shots, and get stops on defense."
(On what she learned about holding off the rally)
"We are fortunate. We're glad we got the win tonight, but we're not satisfied, we're not content with letting them have a late rally there the last five minutes of the game, and scoring six possessions straight in a row; we're better than that. Defensively, we know we are, but with some young people out there at the end, they kind of aren't used to those kinds of situations. We're just kind of learning as we go, and hopefully, in the ACC, it's going to get better from here. We're not going to play the Wake Forests and stuff like that, so we've just got to continue to get better in practice, work on our 1-on-1 defense, and getting mentally stronger as a team, as a collective group, and hopefully we won't have to deal with that late into the game."
Shawnta' Dyer, r-Sr., F
(On if there is a target on their back now that the team is ranked No. 4)
"That's kind of a tough question, because for us, we have a different perspective. We want to play our best basketball in March - that's our focus, that's a big, big main focus. But I know our opposing teams, they see No. 4 and they're going to want to go at us, because if they beat a team that's top five, that's good for them. They're NCAA tournament-bound. I know that being No. 4, we're not taking that heavy, we're not taking it lightly either. We're just going to play basketball."
(On her mindset when Myisha Hines-Allen went out with two fouls)
"I joke with Myisha a lot, because sometimes I think she can bring more for the team and it kind of frustrates me that sometimes after going in there - she's a great offensive player, I tell her all the time that she can't foul; we need her. She's an offensive threat, and I think a lot of post players have trouble guarding her. So we joke around a lot."
(On what Coach Walz said in the huddle in the last four minutes)
"He says a lot of things. I think the thing we have to focus on is sometimes it's our team. Coach relies on us. We have that weight on our shoulders because he can't go out there and score; he can't go out there and play defense. It's up to us. So mostly, we have people on the bench trying to get us going, trying to get us to get stops. It wasn't acceptable."
