Louisville Women's Basketball Postgame Quotes
November 19, 2016 | Women's Basketball
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Head Coach Jeff Walz
(Asia Durr in the second half just came out on fire, talk a little bit about that.)
“She really shot the ball well there to start the second half. We came out and ran a few things for her and the team executed great. She hits back to back 3s and then we come up with a steal and as I've always said, Mariya has got probably the highest basketball IQ of any player that I've coached. She's instantly bringing it down the floor, looking for Asia, like just knows the game, and she's hit back to back shots and gives her a little flip pass and kind of sets a screen for her at the same time; it leads to a third 3. You would think everybody would know that, but that's not the way it is. Her basketball IQ is really off the charts and I was really proud of her. She didn't shoot the ball very well, but I thought she came out in the second half and passed it well and defended well for us.”
(You had said going into this series that you were looking to play your freshmen as much playing time as possible. Were you able to do that as much as you liked or did the slow start kind of hinder that at first?)
“Well, the slow start hindered it some, but the way that some of our freshmen performed when they went into the game, that's the thing. You're going to get a chance to play but if you can't go out there and simply do what we ask you to do, then you can't stay on the floor. That's a challenge for a few of them right now. I'm color blind. I'm red, green, brown color blind, but I know if I was wearing a white shirt to throw it to the person who was wearing white. Unfortunately, I've got some freshmen where it was the like the bakery was open and they were passing out turnovers. We've got to figure that out if they want to stay on the floor and that's something that's a challenge for some of them. I'm giving them that chance and they have to take care of the ball. I know Jaz has four of them, but I don't know what to do for her. Maybe I've got to go back and reteach a pivot, but I thought you're allowed to jab-step and all of a sudden it's a travel. I don't know what to do for her on that and I don't know what to tell her. That was a really good basketball move. I think you're taught that in like second or third grade to jab-step and now they're calling a travel so I have no idea what to tell her. On the layup, I'm really interested to go back and watch that film because it looked like a 1 2 to me. She caught it and 1 2 (step) and laid it up. Now she may have traveled. I still have to go back and look at it but that looked like a pretty big time athletic move that maybe we aren't used to seeing in women's basketball and sometimes we get caught up in that.”
(They seemed to be, early on, getting some uncontested 3's, coach is that something you talked to them at halftime?)
“Well, we were not just closing out on shooters like we're supposed to and at times we helped ball side, which we've gone over for two days. You cannot help ball side on this team because they shoot the 3 so well. We got undisciplined in the first half in our half-court defense which led to open shots and they can shoot the ball. So it's something that we have to get corrected and we're going to have to continue to challenge our kids on it.”
(Out of this one, as you get ready for tomorrow, what takeaways positive and negative do you talk to the team about?)
“Well we continue to have to do a better job of rebounding the basketball. It's unacceptable. I think we give up one offensive board in the first half, I don't think it's many. And then we come out and just don't put contact, we just don't make contact. It's unacceptable. So we have to get that fixed or when we start playing teams that have some size to them, it's going to be a long night. I think we gave up one offensive board in the first half and then we give up 11 in the second half. That's a big concern of mine. Again, I'll go back and look at the turnovers because I know we end up with 16 but there's a charge call, pivot, the walk on the layup. There could easily be three of them there that might not have been charges, travels. So you wipe them off the board and all of a sudden we're at 13 and that's not a bad number for how we're trying to play.”
(On whether he puts Asia Durr in the same class as Shoni Schimmel and Angel McCoughtry)
“She's four games into her sophomore year. Before I sit there and tell you she's Angel or Shoni, let's give her a few more ball games. Is she talented? Yes. Does she shoot the 3? And what I'll say for her is right now she is being a lot more efficient than I think both of them were. She's getting points without taking as many shots. Now, Shoni passed the ball a lot better than Asia passes it right now just because her court vision was off the charts. You know she would drive and dish and she'd end up with a night of like 34 (points) and five assists. That's something Asia is developing as she goes. Right now, I want her to shoot. I told her that, 'when you get it, shoot it.' She's got a nice little drive and fade away like she showed tonight. Her teammates, everybody's looking for her and that's the thing that is so impressive about our group. There is no jealousy whatsoever. Part of it is because she puts all the time in. When you're working and your teammates see you, you can't get upset with somebody. But I'm really, really impressed with her effort at the offensive end. Now I'm going to challenge her. She ended up with two rebounds and think she had two rebounds in the first three minutes of the game. I've got to get her to get more aggressive rebounding the basketball.”
(Kylee Shook continues to come in and give you really valuable minutes when she's in there. You've to be impressed with what she's done for you this early in her career.)
“She is. I'm pleased with what she's done on the offensive end. I've get to get her to be more aggressive on the defensive end. She surrenders a lot. When she's guarding the perimeter and somebody makes a move, she just throws her hands up and watches them go by her which is not acceptable. We have to challenge her to get a little tougher on that end of the floor. Offensively, I don't think she's made a three yet this year but she makes them on practices. We've got to continue to get her in there because as soon as she can knock down that three and becomes consistent, she can do what in similar ways on the offensive end to what Angelina Slaughter did. Just being that trail 4 for us and knocking down those threes. But, Kylee is 6'5” instead of 6'2” so you've got a lot to gain on the defensive end because she can get in there and guard the post player. So we got a lot of good work from a lot of them. Brianna Jones, I was pleased with her with the minutes she played. I thought she did some really good things. So we are going to continue to hopefully get these kids some more minutes, that's my goal. But I need them ready to play so when they get the chance to play they perform.”
Asia Durr and Myisha Hines-Allen
(Asia you came in and made a statement talk about performance)
AD: “I can't really say too much about it. I don't know, my teammates found me. Every time we came down the court, they were just trying to find me and I knocked them down, so I'm thankful for it.”
(What were you thinking Myisha?)
MHA: “Just pass her the ball. It's amazing to watch, just from last year and to see how she's playing right now, and she has grown so much with her confidence. I knew she was a great player already, but just to see this, and actually playing with her on the court, it's amazing.”
(What was the feeling at halftime?)
MHA: “Well, he said he wasn't going to yell at us, and it was halftime, so you know he had a lot to say after that. We want to get to Dallas, and we have to pickup our game defense, both defensively and offensively. It was basically just principles. We know how to jump to the ball, and we know how to call switches and zones, so it's just basically principles and knowing who you are playing too.”
AD: “He told us we weren't playing that hard, and when shots don't fall we tend to get down. We just have to keep going, and keep playing hard no matter if shots are falling or not because that will come.”
(On Asia Durr having open looks for 3)
AD: “Teams I guess are playing us in a zone, so those shots are going to be there. We have great plays that give us those shots, we just have to knock them down.”
(On trying to get back into the game to break into the school's top 10 for points in a game)
AD: “No, I wasn't thinking about that. I just want to win. It doesn't matter how many points I score. I want a national championship, so I don't care how many points I score, and as long as we win, then I'm fine.”
(On coaching wanting to have freshmen get minutes)
MHA: “We have a bench this year, so it's a lot easier if someone messes up, you can take them out easier and tell them what they are doing wrong and the next person come in and keep that up. That's what you see a lot during the third quarter. You see a lot more subs, and we were still able to keep up that pressure with our defense. We have a bench now so if he needs to he will sub out and tell them what they did wrong, and they are going to get back in the game because you can't play 40 min hard. When you have a bench, you tend to just keep subbing.”
(On what the team needs to improve for Sunday's game)
MHA: “Still defense. We have to work a lot harder on defense. We are trying to average 8-10 turnovers, and we had 16 today. Bowling Green is a good team, but we have to learn how to cut down on our turnovers.”
(If you were a defensive coach, how would you stop Asia)
MHA: “I don't know. I'd just be face guarding so she can't touch the ball. We have other players too, like she said. If she doesn't score, someone else has to score. Like Mariya last game, but both of them had points. It's kind of hard when you have great players on your team. Pick your poison.”
