Louisville-Syracuse Women's Basketball Postgame Quotes
December 29, 2016 | Women's Basketball
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Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On the third quarter run where you scored more points in the third quarter than in the first half)
“It was a pretty impressive quarter of basketball and it all started at the defensive end. It's hard to get out and run in transition, if you are not getting stops. At one point in time, I think that we came up with four or five straight stops. And then you are able to attack Syracuse in transition. But we did not do a very good job in the first half of taking care of the basketball, so there were a lot of dead balls where they were able to set up their press and then their defense. But I thought in the third quarter, we did a much better job of rebounding the basketball, contesting shots and then we were able to get out and run.”
(What was the difference for Asia Durr in the second half after scoring only two points in the first?)
“I didn't think that she looked to score in the first half, it's kind of hard to score if you don't shoot. She looked scared and I have no understanding why and I told her that at half time. I was like, 'Asia, you're catching the ball at the free-throw line wide open and you aren't even looking to score. She is a scorer - and that is what she has to do for us and I thought in the second half she finally started to attack. I thought her teammates did a really nice job of finding her several times on wide open shots and she knocked them down, give credit to her.”
(On Mariya Moore's triple-double)
“I thought Mariya continued to fight. Right now, she's still in a little bit of a shooting slump from that 3-point line, but she always has the green light to shoot it. We've just got to get her in the gym to keep getting up shots. It's not something you can go to bed at night and pray about and think that it is going to fix. You have to get in the gym and keep getting up hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds of shots to get your rhythm back. But 10 assists, 11 boards and I thought starting the third quarter she went in and rebounded for us which got us going in transition. I think she got the rebound and then came down the floor and made a great pass to Myisha (Hines-Allen) for a layup that cut the lead to one. So I was really happy with how we played the second half. Now, the last three minutes of the third quarter to the first two minutes of the fourth quarter weren't very good. We had break downs, and when you're playing a team like Syracuse you can't have mental breakdowns. We gave (Alexis) Peterson back-to-back looks at the 3-point line because we're worried about a ball screen that might be coming and then she just stops and shoots it. We're switching the ball screens, so it shouldn't matter, don't worry about it. If you hit it, then your teammate is going to pick her up. Really pleased to get this win. Q [Quentin Hillsman] does a great job with that ball club. Peterson and (Brittney) Sykes are two of the best guards in the country, there is no question about it. I told both of them, that I'm really impressed with them, not only as players but as people. Every interaction I have had with those two young women has been nothing but polite. Just good, good people and it speaks volumes for what Q is doing with his program.”
(How important was it to close the score gap at the end of the second quarter?)
“It was really important. Our goal was to try to get it under 10 going into half, and, I thought, those kids did a really nice job of competing and fighting out there. We did not start the game well at all. I could sense it in the locker room. We just did not look engaged, did not look excited, which I can't understand why. You only get so many games to play in your entire career and before you know it, it's finished. So you should love to get the opportunity to come out here and play, especially playing in front of close to 9,000 people. 'Don't take it for granted,' is what I keep trying to tell them, because before you know it, it's finished. I tell them all the time, you recruit high school players, they can't wait to get to college. I'm like 'enjoy high school, people. It's not a bad gig.' Then when they get to college they can't wait to graduate. Then I'm like 'the real world is about to kick you square in the butt.'”
(There were a couple of player who were in the second quarter, but didn't get in the second half?)
“I thought the way we started the third quarter and we kept going, there wasn't really a need to try and break things up. Then Myisha got a little tired so I put Sam [Fuehring] out there. I thought Sam did a fantastic job. The one thing I'm not going to just sub to sub. If we've got a rhythm going, I'm going to try and keep with it and keep going. This was a game that I anticipated Ciera Johnson to play more, actually, at the five-spot, but when they got their two post players in foul trouble, all a sudden they kind of went five guards, went small and then now that caused us a match-up problem. Cortnee [Walton] being a fifth-year senior has the ability to go out there and switch on ball screens and defend on the 3-point line. And Ciera is just not quite there yet. It's tough for a freshman, if you're a five, to be trying to guard on the 3-point line. We just went with what was working.”
(What was the most surprising thing about Sam Fuehring scoring?)
“Sam played hard. Sam's actually had two really good days of practice. It's hard to get players to understand that if you practice well, it means you're going to play well. So come to practice and value what you're doing. I was really happy for her. Sam can play for us. Sam can help us, but you have to show the consistency. Jaz [Jazmine Jones], we're going to need her. Jazmine picked up three fouls in seven minutes. She's got to be able to defend without fouling. We're going to need our bench to give us more. Kylee [Shook] was out tonight with a sprained ankle. She twisted her ankle in practice two days ago. That's a day-by-day thing. We're not going to be able to play our starting five 30-plus minutes every night. It's just not going to work, but when you get down like we did, and then all a sudden go on that run, like we were… I don't like to break things up if things are going well.”
Myisha Hines-Allen, Mariya Moore, and Asia Durr
(You scored 33 points in the first half and ended up scoring 36 points in the third quarter alone. What did coach say to you at halftime?)
Myisha Hines-Allen, Junior, Forward
“It's a game of runs. They're a great team, but we had to stick with it. He wanted us to be down by two or three points going into the fourth quarter. We played extremely hard, defensively, and getting stops, so we were able to get a lead going in to the fourth.”
(On the triple-double performance)
Mariya Moore, Junior, Forward
“I didn't realize until the end of the game and I was trying to get every person that was making shots open, which was Asia [Durr] and Myisha [Hines-Allen]. I just think it was a team effort and I'm glad we were able to come back and pull out the win because it wouldn't have mattered if we would have lost.”
(Asia Durr had two points at halftime, ended with 36, that bucket must have looked as big as a manhole cover to her out there.)
Myisha Hines-Allen: “She's a great shooter, so shooter's got to shoot, basically, that's our motto, and she's a shooter, so we had to keep looking for her. It didn't matter how many points she had at halftime. We've just got to keep giving her the ball, because we know that she's capable of making them. She's showed us that she's capable of doing it. So, we know that we just got to keep giving her the ball and she's going to knock them down. She showed that tonight.”
(They were dropping an incredible amount of 3s in the first half, what type of defensive strategy did you make to knock that back home?)
Myisha Hines-Allen: “Well, we started off playing zone, and they were just hitting 3s, so we tried to go man. Then, we just had to keep switching up defenses. They are a great team, like I said, and they're capable of knocking down 3s. We just had to get out on the shooters and try to stop them.”
(Up by 20 points at one time, they pulled within five…. It was a topsy-turvy game. What were they doing to turn that thing back around at the end there?)
Mariya Moore: “I think they were just capitalizing on our mistakes. Coach just made sure we knew that's what they were doing, so we needed to make sure that we lessened out mistakes and just hop back on top, and made sure that we were playing the same way we were when we got the lead. So we each had to play defense and get stops. That most important, not the scoreboard.”
(Alexis Peterson quite the competitor. Talk about how she played against you all tonight.)
Mariya Moore: “She plays the same way against us every time. It's always hard, always 100 percent, and it's efficient. Some players go 100 percent, and they're not efficient, making shots, but she was 4-for-8 from the 3-point line. Everything she does is great in every area. So, we just had to stop her as best as we can, and then try to make other people on her team score.”
(Takeaways from this one as you get ready for a tough trip to Duke? What did you do well? What do you need to improve on?)
Myisha Hines-Allen: “How we started the game, I would say. We started off pretty slow, sluggish. Well we knew, felt like we knew out scout, it was just capitalizing even more. Duke's a great team. They have a lot of shooters on that team too, so it's basically, kind of, the same scout.
Mariya Moore: “I think it's also, keeping in mind, every play matters, and also we're not going to be at home this time, so we need to make sure we stay together as a team on the road.”
Asia Durr, Sophomore, Guard
(What happened in the third quarter?)
“My teammates found me the ball. They found me on the court. I don't know, I was very disappointed with myself in the first half. Coach and the whole team was, and I knew I could do better. I just tried to come out and play hard. I feel like in the first half, I wasn't playing as hard. And I knew if I played hard, it would take care of itself.”
(Mariya Moore with a triple double tonight. A lot of people giving you a hand out there, weren't they?)
“They were. Mariya [Moore], she's a great player. She can't just do one thing. She can pass the ball, shoot the ball, defense as well. She's a great player. I'm just very proud of the team. We fought back hard, and that's one thing we have been trying to practice on this whole year. Getting down, we have the tendency to just stop playing, stop playing hard. I was very proud of the team.”
(You all started the second half on a 21-2 run. What things did coach talk to you about at half time to try to get started on that?)
“It all comes down to heart. Who wants it? We know that this is a very great conference. Every game is going to be a ball game from here on out. That's what Coach Walz has been trying to tell us each day. We're not playing these teams that we can beat by 30 now, so we are going to have to come out and play for all four quarters. I think tonight, we played for a half. The first half, it was terrible, but I'm glad that we bounced back and showed our heart tonight.”
(Do you know how many of your assists came from Mariya Moore?)
“I don't know, Mariya [Moore] and Myisha [Hines-Allen], between those two, they were finding me, and I was very thankful. I'd do the same thing for them”
(This guard combination of [Alexis] Peterson and [Brittney] Sykes that you ran into tonight, maybe one of the best you've seen this year?)
“They're very talented. [Alexis] Peterson, she leads the conference in scoring, so we knew we were going to have our hands full. [Brittney] Sykes, as well, she can jump. She can't just jump; she can do it all. Her 3-ball really increases well. We knew that we were going to have to stop those two, so we knew that it was going to be a long night as well.”
(Did you think you reached a new plateau tonight, or does this make you feel better about the rest of the season?)
“It gives me more confidence, yes, but I'm not the type of player where if things don't go well, I'm not going to shut down. I love this game too much just to stop. Things aren't going to go well all the time. It's how you bounce back.”
(Do you think that eight-day layoff lead into that slow first start?)
“No, because I still kept on doing things. I just didn't take eight days off. Just play hard, that's all it comes down to. It's not, you know, if you have set days off, things like that. We've still been practicing. I've still been in the gym as well. It's just playing hard. It's all up here. That's all it is.”
(How much of an adjustment was it, even though you all knew Syracuse was a good 3-point shooting team. Did it kind of catch you all off guard at the beginning? Maybe you all felt like you had to answer back right away, and just fall behind there?)
“I don't think it caught us off guard. Coming in, we had a great game plan, but, like I said, we didn't play hard, and that's all it was. Then, the second half came, and we came out and started playing hard. We got stops, and that's what led to scoring.”
(How are you going to prepare for a tough match-up against Duke coming up in a couple days?)
“It's a team thing. We can't just have five players keyed in, we have to have the whole team. I think we have enough days of practice to be prepared for this big game. It all comes down to who wants it. How bad do you want this game? That's all it comes down to.”
Syracuse Head Coach Quentin Hillsman
(Opening statement)
“Well, I guess we've got to say 'Asia Durr.' My goodness, what a tremendous performance by her. She came out in the second half and really just took the game over. Just a tremendous job by her taking open shots. We had some really tough breakdowns in the corner, just giving the ball to her, she was making open shots, just give her a lot of credit. That was a good adjustment they made against our zone to get her open the second half, so give Jeff (Walz) a lot of credit for making that adjustment. I thought the second half was just one of those halves where they just made a huge run, but we cut it to five or six or whatever it was and we got back into the game. Basketball is a game of runs and Louisville's not No. 8 in the country for no reason. They're a great team and Jeff does a good job with them there – a lot of talent. I give our kids a lot of credit for playing hard and getting ourselves back in the game – that could have very easily been 40, very, very easily. Our kids competed and had a couple of chances, had it down to five and got a steal, turned it over and got it down to five again and gave up a layup. It was just one of those things where we've got to continue just to grind and play through runs and we did that and got back into the game to make it a game. We've just got to give our kids so much credit, but obviously give Asia (Durr) so much credit for taking it personally in the second half, coming out and putting her team on her back and they just did a good job in the second half.”
(You hit a lot of 3-pointers in the first half, what happened in the second half where they just kind of flattened off?)
“It's funny, I think we had eight in the first half and five in the second half or something like that? I think in the second half, we kind of got sped up in our offense. The first half we were able to come down the court, get set up and run some sets. The second half, we took a lot of quick shots. We took a lot of shots that probably weren't in rhythm. That was the biggest thing for us, we've got to make sure that we take shots in our rhythm – I thought we took some quick ones.”
(This time last year, you took another large loss to Louisville and you turned it around and ended up second-best in the nation. What's the motivation and is there the talent on the team to do that again?)
“Hopefully we do the same thing again. Louisville kind of got us going last year when they beat our heads in. Hopefully we do the same thing again. It's one of those things where it's a tough matchup for us. We've had times where we've played them obviously and we won big and there have been times when obviously they've won big. It's a tough matchup as always – a game of styles and a game of players and they had one player tonight who stepped up really big for them.”
(What was the hardest thing about guarding Asia Durr tonight?)
“We just lost her when they were getting the ball into the high post. One of our rules is we don't collapse on the high post and they ran some overload action with Asia on the weak side and our weak side forward kept collapsing on the high post and we left her open. Obviously she made seven threes, it felt like she made 25 of them. She was just – every shot she got, she made.”
Alexis Peterson, Senior, Guard
(You had 31 points tonight, what were you seeing against Louisville?)
“I just wanted to come off and attack their switches. We knew they would come and try to switch on five, so coach just talked about coming out, being aggressive. I was able to pass and get it back and able to knock down some shots and attack.”
