Louisville Postgame Quotes
January 28, 2016 | Women's Basketball
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Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On subbing pattern in the first quarter)
"It was by performance, or lack thereof. We just turned the ball over two of the first three possessions of the game. It's not acceptable, so I just tried to get their attention and I thought the five that I put out there did well and really brought some energy and played well. I was excited for that."
(On Sam Fuehring starting for the first time)
"I thought Sam did well. I think Sam is going to be able to give us 10-12 minutes a game when Myisha (Hines-Allen) gets back to be able to give her a breather at times. I was really proud of her to step up and go 4-for-5 from the free throw line, which is an area that she has obviously been struggling in. She is as good of an 8-to-12 foot shooter as we have on the team. She especially loves that shot on the baseline from the elbow, so it gives us another scoring option. I just have to get her to continue work defensively. That's where her strength, or lack thereof, really gets exposed because she has to guard a 4. Every once in a while when we switch and she guards a 5, she has just been getting pushed around."
(On Fuehring starting to get extra minutes)
"I thought she played well at Syracuse. I think she played 11 at Syracuse and I think that is right now and she can continue to earn more, but I think with the performance she had at Syracuse and again tonight, we'll see how things progress the next two days in practice and Wake Forest on Sunday and hopefully she continues to improve."
(On increase in the number of assists lately)
"We're making the extra pass. The one three we got for Briahanna Jackson in the corner, we just made two quick passes on ball reversal and set her up well. A lot of that is Cortnee Walton though. The kid is relentless on the offensive glass of any player that I have ever coached. She just does not stop. She hit 2 or 3 of those offensive rebounds that lead to baskets and a few assists. If I could just get one or two other players to have her passion for rebounding, we can take the next step. We are doing a much better job of, instead of taking a good shot, finding a teammate for a better shot. My only concern right now is our turnovers. We have been really careless the past two games, especially tonight, just making terrible passes. We have to get those back to around 12 or 13."
(On what the next step for the team is)
"For us, we have to become smarter on the floor. We have to recognize who is scoring and how are they defending? Especially against the zone tonight. Like, BJ had hit a 3 and then a pull up, I think, and she didn't get another shot for four minutes and they are playing zone. I mean, all you have to do is dribble at her, throw the ball, call for it back, and then dribble away and throw it right back to her and she is wide open. You know, just simple basketball that we are struggling to grasp right now. That is a challenge for the point guards. I have to get Arica Carter, Taja Cole - they have to want to actually embrace in learning the game. They are so used to playing AAU and high school ball where it really doesn't matter. You're just better. You just run by everyone, you score and you look great. Well now, it's getting to the point where you have to understand what is going on. What are we trying to do? Why are we doing it? And that is my challenge to them, and if we can get one of those two to really elevate their IQ of knowing what we are trying to do, then we are going to take that next step as a team. So I am challenging both of them to try and figure out if they can both do it, great, but, if not, if one of them can do it, then all of a sudden they're going to be getting more of the minutes."
(On rough start to the season and if winning is helping teach this team)
“Oh yeah, you've seen me coach I don't think I let them get too comfortable. I didn't think we played great tonight. There were stretches that we shot it well and did some good things, but then we had some stretches it was just not pretty basketball. It's easy to go back and say we started off 1-4/2-5 because we didn't do what we're doing now. We didn't rebound the ball well, we didn't make the extra pass, we tried way too much one-on-one it's my way and now we're starting to share the basketball. It's real easy to make sure we don't get too full of ourselves.”
(On if this young team makes them the toughest to coach)
“They're talented, I mean we're young, but we have a lot of talent. I think it's really trying to get them out of their own way, that's part of it. If they'll give in to realize if I start doing what coach is asking me to do I'll get better. Instead sometimes they think they have all the answers and then you come out here in a game and they won't do what we're trying to get them to do, and then it's a turnover, then it's a travel. Once they get out of their own way and start realizing this is a different game than high school, I've really got to study it, I've got to know it. Once we can get to that I think you're going to see some really special things from these kids. We are talented, there's no question about it.”
(On defense being more engaged)
“We are, we're doing some better things but we still have to figure out a way to guard the ball. We let people drive right to the basket on us and that's something we have to get better at. Part of it has got to come from weak side help, we have to get people to help side. Once we can figure out a way to at least contain the ball and make people shoot over us, then defensively we're going to improve and it won't put as much pressure on us offensively.”
(On getting younger players more minutes in game tonight)
“It is, when I put them in there right after the first two minutes we went on an 11-0 run with them in the game. They were out there before it was out of hand, they helped get it there. I was really proud of them during that stretch when it was meaningful basketball. That's what I'm trying to get them to all understand, I don't care if you get in if we're up 20, up 30, you've got to go in like it's a two point game. If you can't do what we're asking you to do when we're up 20 it's not giving me the confidence when it's a two to four point game to throw you out there. That's kind of hard for some of them because you look at the scoreboard and start playing the scoreboard instead of doing fundamentally what you're supposed to do.”
(On if coach is being more patient with this group)
“That's not real possible for me. We have tried, I started off a little more patient with them and that's probably part of the reason why we started off 1-4. I should have demanded that it's done right. Instead I tried to coach them and say you have to do this and then they would make the same mistake and I put that back on me, that's my fault. Today's day and age you have to tell them this is how it's going to be. It's tough for some of them because they've never been told they're not the best player on the floor. Everybody is told you're just the best, well now all of a sudden they're not the best and they've got to work to become better and they don't like that. Well I've always been told I'm great, well they liked you. You were great on your high school team now all of a sudden everybody out here is on scholarship. They were all the best on their high school team, that's where now you have to figure out where do I stack up, what do I have to do to elevate my game.”
Sam Fuehring and Briahanna Jackson
(On interesting substitution patterns in the 1st quarter)
Jackson: “We didn't start off with the energy coach wanted, so we put in the second group. I feel like they did a good thing, we got on little run to get the game started. So it's good for them.”
(On Sam Fuehring's first start in a while)
Fuehring: “I kind of wasn't expecting to start, but I was already ready to come in and work.”
(On what Fuehring has improved upon since coming to campus and what she still needs improvement on)
Fuehring: “I think handling the ball and becoming stronger. As I was coming in here, he was like, 'You need to get stronger, because they're pushing you around.' So that's something that I worked on.”
(On how confident Fuehring is in her jump shot)
Fuehring: “I'm confident. If I wasn't confident, I wouldn't take the shot.”
(On what helped turn the season around after struggling early)
Jackson: “Going harder in practice was a big key to helping us get better to where we are now, umm listening to the coaches and following the scouting reports. That's really following the coaches leading us.”
(On how hard it is to stay focused in a blowout win)
Jackson: “We knew what we had to do and coming to the huddle every time coach was saying the same thing; so it's in our ear, we just have to go out there and do it. So it's not like we forgot what we had to do we just had to get it going.”
(On the assist numbers being up)
Jackson: “I think it is just something that's happening. We are starting to hit open shots and coach has us shooting 250 jumpers a day, so it is really showing on the court now.”
(On assists being up due to being comfortable with each other)
Jackson: “Yeah, definitely we've gotten more comfortable. I think that was part of the beginning, how we started so rough, we just had to get to know each other.”
