Louisville Postgame Quotes
November 15, 2015 | Women's Basketball
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Head coach Jeff Walz Postgame
(Opening statement)
“First off, thanks for coming out here everybody. I thought it was a great environment. Our fans were fantastic. You know as I said, in my pregame interview, I told you, from this team, you are going to see a lot of ups and downs within the same minute of the game. You know, you come up with some great steals and you throw the ball out of bounds. It's where we are right now. You know, I thought Briahanna Jackson really stepped up. I thought she really has a chance to hopefully mold into our leader. I don't think anyone on our team can question that she plays harder than all of them. You know, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to see that. So really excited with that, and we got a few that, as I like to say, laid an egg. So we are going to get back in the gym and work a little bit harder. And hopefully we will start to see some progress.”
(On Louisville's defensive effort with forcing 27 turnovers)
“I mean I know that's great, but if you don't convert them, why does it matter? If you steal it, and throw it away or miss a layup, who cares? So it's kind of like the offensive rebounding. You know a few years ago, we used to kill people on the offensive glass. You know, 18, 19 rebounds and get six points. But if you keep getting them and missing them, it doesn't matter. So if we can get steals, that's wonderful, but if you can't convert them, who cares? And that was really our Achilles heel tonight. I thought are defensive end was great. I thought we really tried to mix things up, cause some chaos out there, but unfortunately we couldn't convert them.”
(On third quarter run)
“I know. And don't say quarters. Periods. And it is intermission, not halftime. Did they dim the lights on and off for everyone to come back to their seats when intermission was over?”
(On the run in the third period)
“Well we had more energy on the defensive end and we were actually converting. We get some steals and turn them into points. We get tied 46 all, and we had three opportunities to extend it. A three on one fast break, we threw it out of bounds and killed a poor cheerleader, I think at the one end. A horrendous pass. You know it's like guys you have got to be able to finish. You have got to be able to make a jump stop and make a pass. It's something we have to work on. You box out the weak side. I can't tell you it's been three weeks we have sat there with our post players and told them you are not going to out jump anybody on Cal's team. I promise. You know you got to push them back; you have to rebound it in front of you not over you. And we tried several times to rebound it above us, and it turned into a put back in crucial times, in the second half especially. We got them taking some bad shots, some quick shots. And we, our guards even would stand behind them on the weak side and not think they are going to make one footer. You got to work to get around. And as I have been telling them all week, you can't be a one effort player. You can't sit there and attempt to box somebody out, and then when they don't quit, you have to keep working. And at times we were one effort. We put a body on somebody and they would continue to try to get around us. We stopped doing that. So we are going to come back here to work tomorrow. It's going to be a fun day.”
(On adjusting to flow of the game with periods)
“It's not bad. It's not an issue at all but trying to get your players to understand is like you have to be aware of the time and score. As a point guard, you have to know what is going on or the minutes to go in the third quarter. They had no understanding of time and score. And that's part of our youth and that's part of something that I hope is going to get better and better. You know, we are trying to score there at the end, and we drive baseline trying to pull up for a jumper, then I watch my point guard go back on defense with 14 seconds left. That's what you do during a regular game, first period, second period, third period, you send one back. It's like we are losing and there is 14 seconds left, and they don't score. I don't care how far back you are, you got to go rebound. It is little things like that that we are trying to teach them. You can't simulate every single game situation in order for us to get there. You know I thought we did a really nice job of executing the timeout and advancing the ball up. You know, you get a chance to run a quick hitter, we score off of it. I was really pleased with a few things we did.”
(On attacking in the paint in the second half)
“Well, they are very long. They are extremely long and do a great job of getting in the passing lanes. We were picking it up one dribble too early in the first half. We weren't creating that passing angle to either hit to the corners or look inside and then we addressed that and I thought we did a much better job, but you still have to do a better job of having a post flash to the three point line. We did in the second half, but we missed wide open 15 footers, 12 footers that you have to make. I teach them all the time, 'You're on scholarship for a reason. Let's make that wide open 12 footer.' We are going to have to get back to the gym and some of them are going to have to get back on their own and spend some time shooting the basketball. Briahanna Jackson had been really struggling shooting the ball for the past few weeks. I just asked her the other day, 'When was the last time you got in the gym on your own and made 400 shots?' 'Well I haven't.' 'Well no wonder you're not making any shots.' You can't just go home and pray about it and hope the good lord is going to put it in the basket for you. If you want something, you actually have to go out and work for it. And she did spend some time these past few days in the gym and I think it showed.”
(On expectations for fans the next few months)
“Well it's going to be interesting, there's no question about it, but I don't think we had smart effort at times. But I thought the kids played hard. I don't think if you leave here today you can say that they don't play hard. I don't think that is an issue, we just have to play smarter. That is going to be our challenge to get our kids to know what they are doing. Then there is times when you want to take a break. Well, you can't take a break at this level. If you're in the game on the floor you can't take a break. And we have to get in better shape, there is no question about it. I mean you've got Cal sitting here with 36, 39, 32, 30, and 38 minutes. We aren't where we need to be and that's my fault. That will change. There's no question about that.”
(On free throw differential)
“Seventeen. Not that I was counting. We just didn't get to the free throw line. We didn't draw enough fouls, I guess. I mean it is something that we will have to look at and try and figure out what we can do better. I thought we did a pretty good job of attacking the paint. And then all of a sudden a few fouls get called here and there and it's like it doesn't really matter now. But it is something we have to continue to work on. We didn't do a very good job defensively. Our post defense was terrible. So we have to get back to work on that. There are some people we are going to play where size is an issue for us, but it's been that way in the past and we seem to do okay, but you have to be tougher. You know Sara Hammond and Shanta Dyer were tough. They wouldn't let you get wherever you wanted to get in the paint. And that is something that Myisha, Cortnee, Sam Fuehring, and Erin DeGrate are going to have to learn.”
(On Briahanna Jackson's play)
“Well, I mean, so was I. That makes two of us. You get 6 steals, 3 assists, 1 turnover, had 21 points, 2 of 5 from three – she filled a stat sheet, you know? Mariya Moore offensively I thought she did some good things, shot the ball well. I have to challenge her on the defensive end to take that next step. That is where BJ really helped us. Taja Cole is going to be somebody who really steps up for us here in the next few weeks I believe. It's game by game. This was not a good game for some of our smaller guards. We really had some trouble. We got in the paint a few times and should have shot pull-ups and tried to pass it. Even if they catch it, now you're trying to shoot over 6'7” instead of just shooting a wide open jumper. So it's stuff that we will show the on film.”
(On Asia Durr and her injury)
“No, she was. There's no question. Twenty-three minutes is about what I wanted. I didn't want much more than that. I would've loved to have had about 30, but she's just not there yet and I am not going to try and put her in a situation that isn't going to benefit her. Right now, I think she's probably about 80 percent of what I think we can expect, but I think it's the mental side of it that she is really trying to push though right now.”
Redshirt junior guard Briahanna Jackson
(On her first crowd reaction)
“It was amazing … the fans are great. They really helped pick us up when we weren't doing so well. They definitely gave us an edge on defensive end when we got stops. I had a great time playing.”
(On whether there was a moment when she realized this was why she came to Louisville)
“From the tip. From the tip I felt real good. A lot of good energy. I've been feeling good playing with my teammates. I've been having a great time here, and I really wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
Sophomore forward Mariya Moore
(On Cal's height advantage)
“We knew going in that it was going to be a battle height-wise. We could have done a better job boxing out, pushing back, but I think we were just focusing on other things and we shouldn't have been.”
(On second half changes when things were rolling their way)
“Just energy and focusing on defense, because if you focus on offense but they're still scoring, then you're still going to be losing. So, it's just focusing on getting a certain amount of stops in a row so it can gives us momentum on the offense end”
(On being young team making mistakes)
“We could use the excuse that we're the young team, but a mistake is a mistake no matter how old you are. We just have to go back to practice and work on it and lessen those mistakes for the next games”
(Playing against California's height)
“I think it was a good experience, because I don't think there will be another team we play that has six-foot something across the board. Yeah, it's different looking out onto the court as opposed to being on the court with them. They're definitely really big, but I still think we did a pretty good job.”
(What's coach's message to you all after the game to just move forward and correct the mistakes?)
“Just being a whole. We can't have certain players more energized and willing to give their whole heart, with every play, like BJ (Briahanna Jackson). We just need it from the whole team. We're not going to win big games unless the whole team is in it, and that's not only physical, but mental. So, the few mistakes of not boxing out, or fouls, we're not penetrating when coach says, it's not a physical, it's a mental mistake. Since we only lost by, I think it was, four? Those mistakes could've been points. He just told us we're going to work on it in practice and just make it up on Saturday.”
(On having to step up as a leader late in the game)
“Yeah, very important, because they really don't know what to do at this level yet without our guidance. I mean, it's tough sometimes, because we're very young. Like, we don't have any seniors, but I think they still understand and respect what we're saying, because we have played a college game before, a college season before, and done these things. It has its days. Some days it's really hard, some days it's easy, and it's just a working process.”
