Louisville Women's Basketball Postgame Quotes
November 20, 2016 | Women's Basketball
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Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On the team's rebounding performance)
“Rebounding was pretty darn good. You know, I was really pleased. I thought we went to the offensive glass hard. But now we got to be able to start doing it at a better clip, converting those into points. I think there was a possession there in the second half where I think we had four offensive rebounds and finally scored. Ciera got a put back that went in. You know four of our 28 were right there on one possession. We did convert it, which was good. Definitely, as we go through this, you would like to see about 1.25 to 1.5 points per offensive board. You know that's really what we're shooting for each time. You know, if we're getting 28 of them, we'd like to see about 35 points out of that. You know and right now we have 26 of them. Points off turnovers I thought we did a really nice job then trying to convert those into some layups. And that's what, if you want to be effective, you have to do.”
(On trying to get the entire team minutes)
“Well, I thought everybody got some quality minutes. Bionca Dunham was not feeling well at halftime, so that's why she did not play in the second half. You know, there's no reason to throw her out there when she's a little under the weather. But, for the most part, I was glad we had the opportunity to get some players some playing time. At the same time, you know, we're going to be getting into some contests now where you know tomorrow night is going to be a battle. Chattanooga is a very, very good basketball team. I know, as we continue to progress, we're probably going to have to have some kids get up in the 30 minutes. You know, I like to keep the max around 32 minutes a game because I think we have enough depth to give some players some rest. But, I've got to have the ones we're putting in step up and perform for us too.”
(On how Kylee Shook played)
“You know, I thought Kylee did some good things. I'm just trying to get her to be more aggressive. She's a great, great kid. Love her. I want her to become more aggressive in the defensive end and the offensive end. Not just looking for shots, but being a presence. But I thought she did a really nice job. I mean Myisha went out there quick. Just tweaked her shoulder a little bit, and I kept Kylee out there, I think, for the entire 10 minutes of that first quarter, and I thought she did great.”
(On Myisha Hines-Allen leaving the game)
“Oh, she's fine. Yeah she just said she tweaked her shoulder, but she was good to go. I thought she rebounded the ball extremely well. You're a little timid going after rebounds if you're hurt, but she went back out there and there was no concern at all. She played really well. I thought she passed the ball well. I was really excited for Myisha to come up with five assists and only two turnovers.”
(On points he emphasized before the game)
“Well, our goal was to come out and compete. Our goal was to come out and play hard from the start, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that. Now, you know we also talked about trying to win the fourth quarter, and again we couldn't do it. And part of it was we fouled there at the end. Jess (Laemmle) fouls. You know, it's like you got to be smart. You know, don't put them at the free throw line. But, we battled back. We were down 14-7 in points in the fourth quarter. Then came back and did a really nice job of executing some things and scored. Just have to be able to follow through.”
(On Sam Fuehring's one-handed free throw shooting)
“Yeah, we've been doing that in practice. She was 2 for 2 at Middle Tennessee, looked great, shooting them well, and now she's back going real fast. I'm trying to get her to slow down. She's got to get that thing in her shooting pocket and slow down for a second. She's pushes everything because it's so fast. You know, she makes them in practice.”
(On what type of production he is looking for from his bench)
“I'm just looking for them to do what we ask them to do. You know it's not that difficult. They all think 'Oh I've got to score. I'll go score.' No, I don't need you to score. I need … Like Syd Zambrotta, I recruited her first and foremost to come here and be a shooter. She gets the ball on the wing. She's open, and she tries to drive it. She gets called for a travel. Just shoot it. It's simple. She comes down the floor the next two times, and took two great shots. They didn't go in, that's okay. Just get in the gym and keep practicing, they're going to go. I need players to stop doing things because they think it's going to be a highlight video. Go do that someplace else. Go to the rec center. Join a sorority team. Take them to the hole all day long, score on them. That's not what I want you to do. I want Syd to shoot it. She's a great shooter. Then as your games develops, then you add more to it. Brianna Jones, I thought she did a really nice job when she was out there today. We've been working really hard on driving, you get cutoff retreat dribble, don't pick it up keep your dribble alive, then if they stand up attack them again. She did and she gets a layup. I'm looking for players who are coachable, and who are willing to do what we ask them to do. Sam Fuehring, I told her 'Sam stop worrying about scoring. Okay, stop worrying about scoring, rebound and defend for us. We need you to rebound and defend.' If you're in the game you've got a chance to score. That's something new that a few of them don't understand, on the bench it's hard to score. Can't quite do it, but if you're in the game there's a chance. I thought Sam goes to the offensive glass comes down with two of them, I think she converted both of those into baskets, and then Jess [Laemmle] threw her a great pass in transition for a close down layup. You can score if you're in there, so we need a few of them to buy in to what their role needs to be, then that's going to make our depth that much better.”
(On how he keeps the team grounded in large wins)
“We have to take care of what we take care of. Unfortunately, we turned the ball over 19 times. I think it might be the most, if not second most, turnovers we've had in our five games. It's pitiful. If you can't look at this and be like, 'Man, we have to get better,' I don't know what to tell them. The way you keep them grounded is there is a few of them when I look at this you're not going to play. You can't go in the game and turn it over, and they know that. Shoot it. My favorite line is shoot before you turn it over. Give us a chance to rebound. When you throw it to the other team it's hard to do anything with it.”
“Tomorrow's going to be a big ball game. Jim does a really nice job. Their kids play hard. They're going to have a plan. They played Indiana, a top-25 team, to a three-point game. They go up and win at Rutgers, which is a hard place to win at. I have no doubt that tomorrow's going to be a ball game. I like what our schedule has presented so far. It's given us a lot of different looks at the way people are going to try to play. Then we have played against some really good coaches too because they've attacked us in different ways. We've tried to figure out okay this is where they think our weakness is so we know we have to go back and start working on different areas of our game.”
(On whether the schedule for the tournament was set up to play Chattanooga last)
“I put the schedule together and because we're hosting the event we were able to say this is the way we would like things to work out. Who we play first, second, and third. We've got Chattanooga, South Carolina, Maryland, Kentucky then we've got Western Kentucky, South Dakota State. It's a stretch of some pretty darn good basketball teams and they're very well coached. It's going to be exciting. I'm hoping our fans recognize who we put on our schedule for nonconference because its not going to be 50-point wins, it's going to be some great basketball games and we're going to need them to be a part of it and to be out here cheering.”
(On whether the nonconference schedule thus far has prepared the team for a difficult stretch)
“I think it's prepared us. Could I tell you that anyone that we've played so far can emulate what South Carolina can do? No, South Carolina probably has got, if not the best starting five, one of the top two in the country. It wouldn't matter who we throw out here to try and play right now, they're going to present their own problems to us. Then we play Maryland who's extremely talented. Then we play a Kentucky team, who has Makayla Epps who's considered a first team All-American. It's going to be a challenge, and I'm not sure you can say anything's prepared you for what you're about to see.”
(So I guess you'll learn a lot about your team in the next two weeks?)
“So in the next two weeks…three weeks we're going to learn a lot about our basketball team. Is it going to define us? No. I mean, we could win them all, and I'm not going to sit here and tell you, 'Oh yeah, we're going to the Final Four, and we're going to win the national championship.' There are too many good teams right now. I don't think anyone is head-and-shoulders just that much better than anybody else. Well Brianna Stewart's not out there right now. Well she is, but fortunately for all of us she's playing for the Seattle Storm, I believe. At the same time, we could drop a few of these ball games. It's going to be a good test for us. We're going to have to be prepared and learn from things. But like I've told them, 'You've got South Carolina. Win or lose, you've got about two and a half days to prepare for Maryland. Win or lose, you've got two days to prepare for Kentucky. You've got to be able to move on to the next real quick no matter if you win it or lose it because the next one that's coming at you is pretty darn good.”
(On having a short memory)
“Yeah. You've got to move on and learn from it. You've got to learn from it. I always tell them, 'Don't forget about it, because if you forget about it, you're foolish because you always want to learn from your past experiences.' We definitely don't want to forget about it, but we don't want to sit there and wallow in a loss, or sit there and be elated after a win and not realize we have some things we have to get better at.”
(An update on Cortnee Walton)
“You know, I think four weeks comes up next Sunday. So, we will see. She was in practice the other day doing some things, but then it's like I told her. We would love to have her back but do you brush things back so she can maybe play against South Carolina, Maryland and then Kentucky and then have something happen and you miss her four the next month again? Or do you give it five weeks to heal to, you know, you get her back and now you give her that extra week and now all of a sudden she's good for the rest of the year. So depending on what the doctors say, how she's feeling, and then we will make that evaluation then.”
(On Myisha Hines-Allen contributing in other ways than scoring)
“Well, that's what I talk to our kids about there in center court after the game. We have so many that will get really into it if they are scoring. If they are missing shots, boy it's just the end of the world like, 'Golly.' As soon as we get mature to that point to where my shots are not going in, you know, what I'm going to do is defend. I'm going to be the rebounder tonight. I'm going to set my teammates up for shots. As soon as we get to that, then we are going to be really good. And some of them are a little further along than others, but we got to get more consistent at that because you're not going to make every shot every night but if you're not making shots can you be our best defender? Can you be our best rebounder? Can you set the best screen? The simple things, that's what I'm challenging our young women with.”
(On what coach Jeff Walz stressed during halftime)
MM: “Actually, he was trying to make sure we came out with the right amount of intensity. You don't want to take any team lightly, as a matter of who you are playing, so I have to come out big so at halftime. We were just focusing on us and what we can do better for the next half.”
(On Sam Fuehring having extended minutes in the game)
SF: “Of course getting minutes is what I want, but I'm trying to really work on my defense and just know it's not all about scoring, so I'm trying to get more time to work on my defense.”
(On having plenty of depth on the offensive side of the ball)
MM: “Yeah, it's a proud moment for upperclassmen to see when freshmen can make their own shots and create for each other without us being on the floor because it shows the maturity even in the younger group. Seeing that there is a widespread of scoring across – it doesn't matter who we get the ball to on our team, we can score it.”
(On the team's performance on the glass)
MM: “Yeah, we are happy about the advantages, but we are shooting for consistency, so not just today, but we will see how tomorrow looks and then after that. We just want to make sure that we continue to rebound the best we can.”
(On what the team looks to accomplish in games with large margins)
MM: “Personally, I strive to focus on areas that I lack like help defense, stuff that our coaches tell us that we need to work on like in our offense, retreat dribble, and limiting turnovers. Then, as a team, like (coach) said, rebounding, just making sure we own the glass, boxing out, and making sure that no matter what the score is, we are still talking and keeping each other engaged in the game. It doesn't matter if we are down or up by a lot, we still have to respect our opponent and keep cheering for each other.”
SF: “Personally, for me, it's defense all the time. With Cortnee (Walton) being out right now, coach always says I have to fill her shoes and she's a really good rebounder and defender, so that's something I'm trying to work on to fill that spot. “
(On how having more height on the team helps)
SF: “Having bigger people around, it makes me feel more confident.”
MM: “I think it's made her better.”
SF: “Yeah, it's definitely made me better. Playing in the post, you would have to shoot over them or get around them somehow. They are so good, they are talented, and by them being talented, they help me get better.”
