Louisville Women's Basketball Postgame Quotes
November 13, 2016 | Women's Basketball
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Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On if the two runs in the first half broke it open)
"No, it didn't. I thought Belmont came in with a plan. That's one thing I told our kids, that the first two opponents, UT Martin, and Belmont are very, very well coached. There's a reason they are picked one and two in their league. They won't have a plan defensively, and they really did a great job of clogging it up in the paint. They were going to make us take outside shots, and they did that. Fortunately for us, I thought Asia really came out aggressive, Mariya [Moore] did a really nice job of shooting the pull-up, and she passed extremely well. When we were patient at the offensive end, especially when you play someone that is going to pack it in like they did, you can't just shoot it off of the first pass. When we actually were patient and got the ball reversed, or made two or three passes, we actually got some great looks and scored. Now when we went into our lulls, is when we tried to go in there one on one right off the first pass, and we haven't even made the defense shift. You don't make the defense shift, then you are playing right into their hands, and that is when we had had our struggles. Overall I was very pleased with how we passed the basketball. I thought we took care of it well, which is something we talked about. Free throw shooting, again it is just something we have to continue to improve on. Now Ciera Johnson goes 6-for-9 from the line, I'm pleased with that. That's something that is not bad, but I have Sam Fuehring 0-for-2 and Jess [Jessica Laemmle] 0-for-2, they can't do that. You have to be able to come in and knock down free throws. So those are areas that they are going to have to work on, but Belmont did a great job of not fouling too because of how they play, so there weren't a ton of free throw opportunities that there were for us, but overall I was pleased."
(On working on the rebounds)
"We have to get better at it, no question. Ciera [Johnson] had 18 points, plays 19 minutes, and doesn't get a rebound. You have to work, and Belmont did a great job. Their opposed kids, they are physical. McCabe [Sally McCabe] and Wright [Maddie Wright] do a great job of finding someone, put the body on you, hold the box out, and we get hit, and then we'd settle. It's like 'hey coach I tried.' No you have to give a second and third effort. Those are the things I am going to talk to Ciera, and all of our post. I think Myisha [Hines-Allen] came up with eight defensive rebounds in 15 minutes, but we only came away with four offensive rebounds. Offensive rebounding is effort. You have to give effort, and I didn't think we gave great effort at the offensive end and going for rebounds. Getting out rebounded by 20's."
(Has Asia [Durr] changed her shot?)
"No. She could always shoot the basketball. She went through a year, last year, injured. Playing her wasn't going to hurt her anymore. It's just the rehab process. She had to get through the whole thing. We had talked about redshirting, but she was like 'Coach, I came here to play. I plan on playing, and when I'm finished up I want to have a chance to play at the next level.' So I said okay. We talked to mom and everybody and they were like 'yeah this is what she wants to do.' We took things slow. She never started. I watched her minutes the entire year to hopefully get her through it, and she did. Now she had an entire offseason to get 100% healthy. She said she feels great. I think she looks great. That's who I recruited. That's what I want to do. I want her to attack. I want her to shoot the basketball."
(What went into your defensive approach to force 23 turnovers?)
"Well, that's what we try and do. I think we forced 31 on Friday night. We're going to continue to try to play up-tempo, and try to disrupt the opponent's offense as much as we can. We have to do a better job converting those turnovers into points. It should be at worst one-to-one. Unfortunately, we didn't quite get to that mark, but I was pleased with how aggressive we were. Belmont did a good job. When they were trapped instead of throwing it out of the trap sometimes they'd get a five second count. They stepped out of bounds a few times. They had a lot of dead-ball turnovers, which makes it a lot more difficult to score because they get to set their defense up."
(Have you already seen the added benefit of the length of your team?)
"There's no question. We are a lot taller, longer. Jazmine Jones, she played 13 minutes, not as much as I probably would have liked to have played her, but she looked winded. She looked tired. She's one that could really give us a lot at the defensive end of the floor with her athleticism. At the offensive end, she's got a remarkable pull-up jump shot. Our freshmen have done a really good job. I think Taylor Johnson, the fifth year senior that came in, four assists and one turnover, really impressed with the way she played."
(Why are you all passing the basketball so well?)
"It's nice when you have the talent that we have. If I'm getting double teamed and somebody's open just throw somebody the ball. Everybody is a threat to score on this team, and I think that's what helps us. I'm waiting to see as we continue to get going who is somebody not going to guard because we have a lot of scoring options. It's fun. It's a lot of fun to coach this group."
(On Myisha Hines-Allen's limited minutes)
"I wanted more from her. I thought she rebounded the ball great, but I thought the ones that we had in there - the great thing about this team right now is I've got options. As a coach, I've got options, so if you're not playing up to where you're able to play, I can put somebody else in, and if they do, it's going to affect your minutes. At the same time, she didn't play in the fourth period. I've got a lot of kids that I didn't play in the fourth quarter, that I have to start doing. I never want to run the score up, that's not what we do, but I've got to start getting them an opportunity to get some more game minutes under their belt because we're going to come up and play somebody and they're going to have to play 30 minutes possibly. And if I'm only getting them 15 to 18 to 20 minutes every night then it's going to be difficult for them."
(On next year's class that is coming in)
"We're very excited about the three young women that will come in here next year and be a part of our program. I thought we signed three players that helped fill needs. Dana Evans at the point guard spot, especially with Taylor [Johnson] and B.J. [Briahanna Jackson] graduating. Hopefully Arica Carter will get back and be in that mix again. Hopefully we can get her healthy. But, we definitely needed a point guard to be able to come in and hopefully take over some of that responsibility that those two are carrying right now. Lindsey Duvall, out of Bullitt East, is a scorer. She's got a great pull-up jump shot. She loves the game. She's a gym rat. She's tough. She'll come in and I think compete at the wing for us, which is what we need. And then we've got Loretta Kakala who's 6-foot-2, 6-foot-3, great footwork, scores around the basket, very agile, strong, is going to give us some depth at the post when Cortnee [Walton] graduates. We were able to fill some needs. Which is what you want to make sure you're doing with recruiting. So, yeah. Very excited about those three young women."
(On the staff's recruiting over the past three years and the trajectory Louisville is on)
"We're thrilled. We're really, really excited about what we've been able to do recruiting wise. Not only are we getting very talented players, but we're getting great people, and that's really what you want to put into your program. They are wonderful, young women who come to work hard everyday, but then represent, not only their families, our women's basketball program, but our athletic department and our city the way you expect someone to do that is playing for a top ten program. When they go to the mall, they're signing autographs, and they understand that but they embrace that. They want those little girls to want to come to our games, and I think that's what makes this place so special as it is. Not only are we out there competing to win basketball games, but we're also providing role models for a lot of little girls and boys throughout this city."
(Asia, your shots were kind of falling in the first half. Did you feel good in the game and practice this week? What kind of set you up for a strong game?)
AD "Well, I've been in the gym all week. Practicing on my shot. I felt very confident, too. My teammates were able to find me as well so I think that helps."
(Does it help starting, instead of last year coming off of the bench?)
AD "It does, yeah. You get started quicker as well. I just get excited being out there."
(It was pretty tight there. You hit threes on back-to-back possessions there in the first quarter. Do you think that kind of got the team going?)
AD "I think so. We got two quick baskets as well. So any time we score, that can get us going."
(On 18-point performance in the first half and less offense in the second)
AD "The difference, I wasn't aggressive enough in the third. C (Ciera Johnson) had the hot hand though. We kept trying to feed her the ball. As long we are scoring I'm fine. I don't care if I'm not scoring, as long as we are getting some baskets. I'm fine with that. You know, I just want to win."
(Ciera, does it help when they are feeding you the ball in the post and you're consistently getting the ball inside?)
CJ "Yeah, but when you have people like Asia and Mariya and Myisha and BJ (Briahanna Jackson) hitting outside shots, it makes it a lot easier because they can't really poke in so it's more like one-on-one in the post."
(Durr's thoughts on Ciera Johnson's performance)
AD "Dominating. You know, she's just got to keep on building on from here. Nobody can stop her. She's tall. She's strong. Especially, down there on the block. You've just got to feed her the ball. She'll put it in there."
(Kind of for both of you, Arica was out, Cortnee was out, is this kind of a good game to show the depth that you all have, especially with the depth you were building towards, especially towards the conference play?)
AD "Definitely. Coach Walz, he preaches on that a whole lot. He tells us that we have two players out. This is a great chance to step up and show him what we can do."
CJ "Most definitely. Cortnee, she does a great job of telling me I'm doing the right things so she has been very helpful through the process as well. But we're praying they get back quickly."
(Ciera, first regular season game were you nervous or anything?)
CJ "I wouldn't really say I was nervous, I was just being passive. I wasn't being aggressive enough, strong enough. I wasn't playing strong enough but my teammates did a good job of getting me the ball"
(You weren't playing hard enough in the first half or when?)
CJ "Just the first regular season game I wasn't playing hard enough, I wasn't being aggressive enough on the offensive end. I wasn't posting hard or anything, I was being soft"
(So how did you play today?)
CJ "I mean I think I played better, I played a lot stronger. Coach Walz told me I have to jump more so when I get the ball down low, I actually tried it and it worked."
(Asia, just talk about the 3 point shot. Has it evolved for you? You have always been good at it but you look so confident in it.)
AD "It's weird because me and my dad were just talking about this this morning and I told him thank you because growing up we spent so much time in the gym and just trying to work on my shot and now it's starting to pay off. I think it's just staying in the gym, getting those shots up and staying confident."
(Two wins to start, especially kind of when you look at last year was a little bit of a slower start, do you feel that difference now in your second year? Kind of the team mentality with this year compared to last year?)
AD "We've been working so hard and I think last year we started off slow because I think we thought it was going to be handed to us. This year we've been practicing so hard and it feels good to start out strong. Now we just have to keep going and we have to build off of this."
(How different is it having two 6-foot-5 girls for everybody in there either just one or both of them? How different is that for you as a guard to know that the middle has some post players now that are a little taller?)
AD "It's different, it's huge because now we have posts that are tall and also can dominate especially on the block. That helps us guards out a whole lot because if we drive they will be down there for a dump pass and even they can clean up boards as well. It's a huge difference"
