Louisville Postgame Quotes
February 08, 2015 | Women's Basketball
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Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On starting Sheronne Vails)
“Shawnta' (Dyer) just came up to me the other day, came up to coach (Stephanie) Norman actually, and just said she's not real comfortable staring; she prefers to come off the bench. So it was one of those, 'OK, let's give Sheronne the start.' And I thought Sheronne did some good things for us. So there's really nothing behind it, just trying to put the kids in positions that they're most comfortable with, and if she's more comfortable coming off the bench, then that's what we'll do with her.”
(On making Brianna Kiesel uncomfortable)
“I thought we did a really nice job of making sure we were there on the catch, and any time she came off a ball screen, we doubled her. She does a really good job of getting to the free throw line, and part of that is she's very, very good at creating contact. So what we worked on for the past two days is when she drives, stay vertical. Do not swing down, do not try and block a shot. And because we did that, I thought she was looking for the contact, but it wasn't there so she wasn't finishing, because in that game the other night against NC State, I think she was 12-of-12 or 14-of-14 from the free throw line. So, we knew we had to keep her off the line.”
(On whether teams are game planning against Mariya Moore)
“Mariya had some open looks, she just missed them today. Pitt does a great job with their scout reports. They have a way they play, and they follow it. They're going to make you make outside shots. It's not our strength. So today, Jude (Schimmel) had some great looks from 3, one in front of the bench that I thought was going in, but you know you make one or two, and then all the sudden it loosens things up, but unfortunately we didn't. And then the area that we've struggled the most with, which I know we can do, is that 10 to 15 foot pull-up jump shot, which we had a lot of pull-ups from the ACC right there at the free throw line that you have to be able to knock down. You make those, and all the sudden it changes the way they try to play.”
(On Emmonnie Henderson's play)
“I thought Emmonnie did some really good things. The shot she missed at the free throw line, that's a good shot. That reverse throw up that she tried to make in the first half was a terrible shot. And that's trying to just get her to understand the difference of a good shot and a bad shot. And when she figures that out, she's going to have a chance to be really good. It's just right now, when you're playing in games like this where it's one possession here, one possession there, you can't afford bad shots. So hopefully she'll continue to grow because she does a great job of rebounding for us.”
(On holding Pittsburgh to one made field goal in the games final seven minutes)
“I hope (Pittsburgh's Brianna) Kiesel is OK, but when she is in the game and (Pittsburgh's Monica) Wignot is in the game, you've got two great 3-point threats. So as soon she went out, we were able to switch to zone and just really focus on (Wignot) and make sure that she didn't get an open 3, and make everybody else take tough shots. That's one thing that we had talked about. Our whole goal tonight was not to let (Wignot and Kiesel) beat us. Somebody else was going to have to step up and make a bunch of shots for them. I thought we did a really nice job of contesting some. (Pittsburgh's Yacine) Diop made one or two in the first half that were nice shots, but we were fortunate that we got her to continue to look to shoot, instead of putting the ball in those kid's hands that we knew were scoring threats.”
(On whether or not he anticipated a low-scoring game)
“I knew it was going to be a slug-fest. I knew going into it, especially with how things were up there. They do a very good job defensively. I'm just really impressed with how they came out and guarded us. If you can add a three-point shooter or two to our ball club, now all of the sudden you can't pack it in every time. When they double the post like they do, you've got a shooter to kick to, and now you've got them scrambling. Unfortunately right now, we didn't make any tonight, and we don't have three or four that can stand out there and knock them down consistently. We found a way to keep fighting. I was proud of them. You look at the stat sheet - it's everything we have to do. We give up 30 points in the paint compared to their eight, we turn it over 14 times, but they get two points off the turnovers. We get 15 off of their 17. Second-chance points, they get 15 offensive rebounds but only get two points. We get 14 and get 11. So the things that we have to do for our ball club to win, we did tonight. Are we going to win many games scoring 48? I don't think so. I hope this doesn't become a trend, because I don't think we'd get a bunch of fans to come back either. But hopefully they all stayed there because I thought the last play was fun to watch when we finally got out in transition. Their ball club, they're only going to send one or two players to the offensive glass, because they don't want us to get out in transition. That's why they're not going to have a bunch of second-chance points.
(Closing remark)
“I appreciate everyone coming out tonight. I thought it was a great crowd, a great environment.”
(On holding Pittsburgh to just seven points in the final 10 minutes of the game and Brianna Kiesel out of the game)
“With (Brianna Kiesel) or with her out, we just had to continue executing on defense. The whole game we were just trying to make her uncomfortable, because if she gets going early, she's one of the top scorers in the ACC. If she's feeling it, she's going to get buckets. I think we did a very good job mixing it up and getting her out of her comfort zone. She did a tremendous job of finding her teammates. We didn't box out and we had to help up on her and they got offensive rebounds. I'm just proud of our team for grinding it out and stepping up defensively the last five minutes.”
(On the game plan against Brianna Kiesel)
“Just make (Brianna Kiesel) feel uncomfortable; whatever it is - when she comes off ball screens, double her and make her get rid of the ball because the less she has the ball in her hands, it makes somebody on their team feel pressured to score. She's their go to, so they are going to look at her every time. She brings the ball up the floor. She is tremendous defensively. She is just an all-around great player. I'm sorry that she got hurt there at the end, but hopefully she will be all right because she is a great player. But it was just to get her out of her comfort zone and keep the ball out of her hands and not let her have any touches, and when she does get the ball, make sure we have somebody on her contesting shots and not fouling.”
(On the game being a defensive struggle for both teams)
“You know their coach did a tremendous job of scouting us, but of course they played us before. When we went up there, they did a tremendous job of making us feel uncomfortable the whole game until the last five minutes. Their coach was working the sidelines the whole game. I heard her the whole time. Credit to them for the way they scouted us, they took away some of our strengths. You know we got rattled a little bit; we didn't so much execute our offense. We started individually trying to do our own thing, breaking the defensive players down. Coach (Walz) says it all the time, we're not a team that can just roll the ball out there and beat people one on one. We have to stay together as a collective group, run our offense, make great passes, and get the open the person the ball. About a five-minute stretch there, we didn't do that. But once we just settled down and calmed down, what we could do was to get in the post and hopefully get an easy basket or get to the free throw line. We just did that late in the game and got our transition going.”
(On the transition from being a high school player to one at the Division I level)
“I think it is a big transition from high school, where they don't have scouting reports. We are facing teams that have a game plan and I think we have to match their game plan. Sometimes we have to adjust, especially offensively. I think that is one of the hardest things transitioning to the college game.”
(On what the week of practice was like following the loss to Duke)
“Personally, I was motivated to come play Pitt. We lost against a good Duke team and I think we just got out worked. It says a lot about us. Pitt was excited to play us and I know some of the players were making comments about the last time we played them, it was just a blemish. It says a lot. We wanted to come out here and punch them in the face the first go around, because at their place, it was rough and I think we have to send them a message early so we can get our game going too.”
(On what needs to change between now and the rest of the season on running the correct offense)
“I think what needs to change first and foremost is that we need to trust our coaches, trust their game plan, and trust their scouting reports. I think they know what they are talking about obviously. Coach Walz has a caliber; he has been to Final Fours and national championships. I think if we put all of our focus on their game plan and put all our hopes in the coaching staff - because what they do, they do really well. Once we trust them and their game plan, everything will work out.”
(On whether she expected Sheronne Vails to start the game)
“We have been trying a lot of things, and we have been trying to find a way to come out strong, because the last eight games, well the last eight out of the nine games, we have played we have trailed. Our question was what can we do to have the energy at the start of the game instead of the end of the game. So it really wasn't that surprising. I think Sheronne did a great job today matching the energy.”
