Louisville Postgame Quotes
February 18, 2016 | Women's Basketball
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Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On being pleased with shooting and rebounds in the game)
"I was very pleased. The thing about it was that we ended up getting 16 offensive boards, but we got back to our problem where we didn't convert them into points. We only ended up with eight second chance points. They end up with nine offensive boards and get 15-second chance points. So we outrebounded them on the offensive end, but they converted theirs, and if we converted ours, all of a sudden it's a 14- 16-point game in the first half, but I was very proud of our effort. I thought we gave a great effort. Cortnee, again, with seven offensive boards. Myisha did a really nice job going to the glass hard. You know, that's what we have. We have to continue to build, have to continue to get productive, positive play from everyone that comes off the bench. I thought Taja Cole played very well tonight in 16 minutes. She comes up with a big defensive stop with the charge, with the push off. You know, that's what she has to do. You know, Arica did some nice things; she didn't fill up the stat sheet, but she did a lot of nice things defensively. I just have to get them to lead more. I thought Taja did a really nice job there in the second half coming down the floor. She was calling some sets, telling us to get into some things and that's what I want. I want them to know what's working, who's got the hot hand, who's made shots, and if we can continue to develop both of those point guards into doing that, then we are going to have a solid duo with the point."
(On spurts where the team wasn't so hot, and spurts where they made a run)
"Yeah, we just couldn't sustain it. We just could not sustain it, and part of that is because of them. I mean, they're good. They are a completely different basketball team with Faith out there playing. You know, I feel bad for them, and I told coach there at the end, 'You know, I just would really have like to have seen what they could do with Faith healthy.' You go five-and-a-half weeks, about nine games, without her in the lineup, it changes things. They still have a run left in them. It's not going to surprise me if they really compete these next three they've got here and then they are going to go into the conference tournament with some confidence, and Faith is then going to have about six games under her belt after missing five-and-a-half weeks."
(On Mariya Moore's passing skills)
"She always had really good court vision. That's one thing she did in the summer, she did in AAU. You know, I'm just really going to continue to challenge her this spring and the summer to continue to work on her ball handling - her left hand, try and get lower, just a little more confident with it because she does see the floor so well, that if she can get confident going right and left, and with her ability to shoot the ball, it's just going to elevate her game."
(On Mariya Moore improving on her mid-range jumpers)
"Yeah, it was great. It's something that she's been working on and it's nice to see the kids reap the rewards of when they are working on their game. You know, I was excited for BJ to make a few shots tonight. She starts off 3-for-6 and then misses her next three, and the next three were just poor shot selection - twisting and turning - you know, you make one of those, you don't get like two points and then plus 3 for style. You know, just take the easy ones, and that's what I talk to her about, and I thought the second half she did that. She just took open shots, she made a big pull-up for us there as they were kind of making a run and that's just what she can do. Four assists, one turnover - you know, I was really pleased and I thought she did a pretty good job on Randolph because that was her main assignment again."
(On second-half adjustments)
"Well, we just really talked about trying to make sure we looked to go inside. You know, I thought we made the extra pass and then defensively of getting some stops. We get some stops and force them into some turnovers, we were able to get out and go in transition and that has been something that we have been successful with. You know, we've got 15 assists on 28 made field goals. We turn it over 13 times, and I'm fine with that, and I actually thought that we didn't turn them over as much as I would have liked, but with Randolph back, you've got three really good ball handlers that make it difficult. You know, just really, really pleased with the win. It was a gutty win by our kids and we will get prepared for Boston College now. You know, if you look at their (Boston College) scores, they haven't had the success in the conference play on the wins and loss column like I know that they'd like. Eric is a good friend of mine up there that coaches their ball club, but they've been right there. You know, you lose by one at Syracuse, you're losing by six to this, seven here. They are going into the last three or four minutes and it's a ball game. So I know we are going to have our hands full and I have to make sure our kids are prepared for that."
(On what needs to improve for ACC and NCAA tournaments)
“We have to get a little crisper at the offensive end. We have to do a little better job at screening, executing, and defensively we have to continue working at guarding the ball. We had some trouble tonight, off the bounce, getting beat. We've got to do a better job of making sure we're in help, make sure we don't help too early when it's not needed. It's some technical things that we'll work on and we'll show them on film that we have to improve. When you start getting into that first round, second round, hopefully Sweet 16, you can't have breakdowns, because if you do, somebody is scoring on you.”
(On if he's happy about where team is right now)
“It's better than 1-4. We've won 20 of our last 22 I believe, that's pretty good."
(On Myisha Hines-Allen's importance to team)
“She's extremely efficient right now. If you go back and look at her past eight or nine games, she is our leading scorer. I think the last seven she's averaging about 21 a game for us, but she's taking 14 or 15 shots. She's 9 for 15 tonight, she's 12 of 16 the other night, 12 of 17 the night before, so it's not like she's taking 30 shots to get 20 points. I think that's what has been so impressive is they aren't all layups. She's stepping out, shooting the 15-foot shot with confidence because she's been working on it. The accolades that come at the end are only going to come if we continue to have success. I say it all the time, Angel McCoughtry was the first pick in the draft in 2009 and it's simply because we were able to beat Maryland in the Elite Eight to go to the Final Four. Marissa Coleman or Kristi Toliver, if they win that game, in my opinion, would have been the first and second instead of the second and third pick. Your team success is what's going to determine your individual success. Our kids don't even worry about that; they aren't worried about am I going to be all-ACC, am I going to be an All-American. We're worried about if we win basketball games. Everything else will take care of itself.”
(On Asia Durr providing a spark off the bench)
“She shot the ball with confidence. She looked fresher; her legs looked like they were under her. I still have to get her to shoot the ball more. If I start a game three for my first four, I'm getting about eight more shots up. I mean coach is going to have to take me out, and I can't get her to do that. I'm fighting her to shoot the ball more, shoot it more. The kid works on her game as hard as anybody we have. She's got the ability to score in bunches, but if you don't shoot, it's hard to score and I'm trying to explain that to her.”
(On monitoring Asia Durr's minutes the rest of the year)
“Yeah, we'll sit there and play like we did now, which I thought was great. If we can get between 20-27 minutes in there, there might be a game she plays 30, that's great. We've got about a week and a half left here of trying to monitor things and then we'll get a break. Hopefully we can continue to finish this out and get a double bye in the ACC Tournament so we won't play until Friday. We'll play Sunday, I can give them Monday and Tuesday just some shooting, light stuff, practice Wednesday and Thursday, and then play Friday, Saturday, and then hopefully on Sunday. Three days in a row, so she's not going to be able to play 30, 30, and 30. That's why I don't start her; she's talented enough to start, but if I can take the first five or six minutes of the game and not have to even worry about it now I've taken that game down to a 34-minute game. Then I don't put her in until like the first five or six minutes of the third period, and now all of a sudden you're looking at about a 30 minute game, a 28 minute game. She's playing 23 of those 30 minutes, so she's on the floor a lot of the time that's available for her as I look at it."
Myisha Hines-Allen and Mariya Moore
To Myisha: (On her big second half)
"Honestly, it was probably the two fouls I picked up in the first half, where I had to sit the bench, like eight minutes after that. When Mariya is doing her thing, it's a lot easier for everyone to get their shots because the defense is focused on her. She makes amazing passes to the open person, tonight I was the open person and I was hitting."
To Mariya: (On Virginia being a different team with Faith Randolph in the lineup)
"Yeah, very different (team). She had 17 points, but she impacts the game in different ways not just scoring. She's a great passer, so when the guard gets beat, the post has to help on the shot and she makes a great pass to their post down low. So it's a different team with her because she's an all-around player."
To Mariya: (On her great first half and getting that quick start)
"So I had a bad second half? (jokingly) I'm told to shoot when I'm open so my teammates do a great job driving and then kicking to me. So I had to do my job and make the open shot. Since they're running so much at me lately I've been working on my pull up jumper. I think my first two were jump shots, so that's what I've been working on a lot. I just have to make the open shot when I have the shot."
To Mariya: (On her passing ability; natural or because of recent work?)
“I think Taja had the pass of the game today. I don't know why when I see someone, maybe it's just instincts to pass it as soon as I see it, but I had five turnovers so …”
*Myisha intervenes* “But five assists, so it evens out.”
To Myisha: (On playing with poise in the second half and what catalyzed it)
“With me I try to let the game come to me. If I rush it, that's when you see forced shots and I try to stay eased and let the game come to me. The free throw line jumper and the base line jumper, those are all somethings I work on so it just shows when I'm able to hit it.”
To both: (What needs to be done to make a deep run in the tournament)
Myisha: “We just have to keep our heads and play 40 minutes. Everyone has to come to play in the tournament, the ACC tournament as well, because we're trying to win a conference championship. In the NCAA tournament we all have to come play for 40 minutes. Even if you're on the bench you have to lift up your team. If we're down, who's going to be the one to get us all ready, like, 'Let's get a stop here.' So if we play for 40 minutes, I see no problem with us making a run in both tournaments.”
Mariya: I think it's just maintaining our composure, just maintaining what we're doing well. I think when we started getting up by more we started doing more of the fancy stuff and taking the good shot but not the great shot; so that gave them a chance if we missed to come down in transition and get a shot. I think it's just maintaining and playing hard for 40 minutes like Myisha said.”
