Louisville Postgame Quotes
February 28, 2016 | Women's Basketball
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Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On key to hot start)
“Well, I thought we passed the ball extremely well. I thought we moved well without the basketball. We didn't stand and watch the person that had the ball, made the extra pass, and when we step into our shots, we're a pretty good shooting team. I was pretty pleased with how we started the game.”
(On Myisha Hines-Allen saying the team may not need a shootaround prior to games)
“Well, that's why I really don't listen to her very much.”
(On why Hines-Allen has been so effective recently)
“I think it's her efficiency. She's not taking bad shots. She's a very good shooter, she stays within herself; she's been shooting the ball really well from 12-15 feet, which then brings people out. Her ability to drive and finish, she's just a real tough matchup right now for a lot of people. If you're getting 25 points on 14 shots, that's pretty darn good. She's been scoring in the 20s, but she hasn't been taking 20 shots. She's 12 of 16, 10 for 14; when you're able to do that, your teammates don't get to upset either because it's not like you're shooting it every time. Now, the five turnovers tonight is something we'll address tomorrow.”
(On update of Cortnee Walton)
“I think she may have dislocated her (left) pinky. As I told her, she's got 10 fingers, so, you don't need all 10. No, she told me, if we would've had to play, she would've gone back in, but we're fortunate that we didn't need her. We'll get her evaluated today and figure it out. I'm sure she'll have to wear a splint, but it's on her left hand, it's her non-shooting hand, so hopefully it won't affect the way she continues to rebound the ball for us.”
(On Briahanna Jackson's recent play)
“She's really been doing a nice job. Again, she's been doing a much better job of taking balanced shots. You know, the reverse layup where she goes to the other side and finishes are shots she can make. It's just the ones where she starts trying to spin around, do cartwheels, and different things that just aren't very pretty. So, she's eliminating those and now all of a sudden she's being much more efficient with her shots and that's what we need. We don't need people taking 18, 19 shots and going 6 for 18. We have too many players that can score on this team, so take good open balanced shots and there is a good chance that we're going to make them.”
(On how the team went through ACC play after rough start)
“You know it says a lot about the young women on this team. You know, we start the month of November 1-4. It could've gone either way, and as I said in the message to our fans: we're down 16 or 18 to IUPUI with six minutes to go in the third period and it could've gone either way right there. We have unbelievable fan support; they got loud, they got behind us, and we figure out a way to pull out that win; and it's not like it just changed. We go down to Charleston and it's a two-point game with a minute left. So, it's not like all of a sudden it just switched there but that was a big win for us. Over Christmas break, we were able to have two-a-days with our freshmen. I think that really helped a lot of them start to learn more about the game of basketball, and that helped us defensively. Since then, we've really done a tremendous job of guarding and that's something if we want to advance in the ACC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament you have to do.”
(On this team's identity and rebounding mentality)
“Well, that's what we have to do. We have to rebound the ball. Yeah, there's no question. We have to defend and rebound. We have to win 50-50 balls. That's one thing we have talked about. I've just been really pleased. I mean, we have to continue it now. There's still room to improve. I mean, you saw our second half, and it wasn't very pretty, and that's where I challenge our kids. If you want to be elite, you can't play the score. You've got to just come out every (time), and play and play the clock. How much time's left? You know, I've got eight minutes to bust my butt, and unfortunately, you know, we at times started to play the score, and try to get too cute. Trying to do too much with the ball. Things I hope we wouldn't do if it was a two-point game. So that's my challenge to them, because we have it in us. But, it's the next level.”
(Thoughts on Star Wars night)
“Oh, it was great. I went up before the game and took pictures with people. I thought they really embraced it. It was just a great environment; it really was. As I have said, we are very fortunate here. We don't take it for granted. I don't take it for granted. Our players don't take it for granted. We have a very loyal fan base, and I just want all of them to know we do appreciate it. There's nothing that we take for granted because, like I said, it's not the norm. I mean, it's just not, so I appreciate our fans. I appreciate the fact that they embraced the theme for today's game.”
(On his favorite Star Wars character)
“R2-D2. I mean, come on.”
(On his comments to the team at halftime after being up 42-10)
“I was trying to challenge them. We started a half at 0-0, and it's hard to get them to stay that focused, but if we want to be elite, then you have to. You know, that's my challenge to them. We just got a little sloppy with the ball; they came out in zone, and we missed some open shots, but we started to foul on the defensive end. We put them in the bonus, the double bonus there early in the third period. Just things you can't do. We're going to look at the film and look at some things, but overall I'm really, really pleased with the way we're playing right now.”
(On whether the team struggled in the second half with Walton out)
“It does hurt us, there's no question about it. She really does a great job of anchoring our team, our program, what we're trying to do on the floor. You know, it's not that she's scoring 20 or 30 a night. It's the fact that she's out there defending, she's rebounding, she's doing all the crap that nobody likes to do and nobody gets recognized for. You know, she does a lot of things that you don't see in the stat sheet. I think she's a first-team, all-league player. You know, she probably won't get that because she's not scoring. I mean, she leads our league in offensive rebounding, and that's effort.”
(On Taja Cole's play)
“She's been playing well. I'm challenging her and Arica (Carter). I mean, one of the two have to try to step up and say, 'Hey, I'm going to take this team over.' And if they can both do it, then great. Then they'll both be getting 20 minutes a game, 21 minutes depending on who's playing well at that time. Overall, I thought during that first period, I thought she passed the ball extremely well; she did a lot of good things. Defensively, she was active, so yeah, I'm pleased with her progress.”
Briahanna Jackson and Myisha Hines-Allen
(On first half of the season on the way they started)
Myisha Hines-Allen: “I would say yes, one of our best first halves. Our second half was horrible; I'll put it that way. It was really bad, but our first half was really good. We played with energy, we had a lot of emotion, and we were having fun out there, so that makes everything better when we're having fun.”
(On how it affects team with Cortnee Walton out for an extended period)
Myisha Hines-Allen: “It affects me a lot, because now I got to rebound (jokingly). I handled it today, but we're going to need her back. She should be good for postseason play.”
(On how special it is to get this play this well before the tournament)
Briahanna Jackson: “Anything can happen in the postseason. We're excited to be reaching out peak towards the end of the year. We hope to make a run to the Final Four.”
(On Jackson's defense since South Florida and last couple of games)
Briahanna Jackson: “I haven't really thought about offense; I think that's what's happening. I don't really dwell on missed shots, I just focus on getting the ball back and letting the game come to me.”
(On Star Wars night instead of senior night)
Myisha Hines-Allen: “Heading into the locker room, I saw the performance in full costumes.”
Briahanna Jackson: “They looked straight off the movie.”
Myisha Hines-Allen: “Yeah, straight off the movie. It was pretty cool, because we don't have any seniors, so they had to put a twist on it somehow. I like the L1C4orce. We were laughing at it earlier. It was clever.”
(On Hines-Allen's scoring and if she takes it for granted)
Myisha Hines-Allen: “No, I don't take it for granted. For instance, last game I could not hit a jump shot, it was just free throw line basically and that's how I was getting all my points. This game, I came out and was hitting jump shots; it's a lot easier when I'm hitting jump shots. You can't really take anything for granted, because you don't really know what can happen.”
(On what Hines-Allen needs to do to take the next step)
“Shooting the 3 and ball handling. I had five turnovers today, so I need to work on ball handling and not over penetrating – that's what Coach Walz was talking to me about a lot. I would just dribble way too much in cramped spaces, but ball handling and becoming a better shooter all around.”
(On what got the team going early on)
Myisha Hines-Allen: “We had a lot of energy coming out, we were ready to play. We didn't have shootaround (this morning), so everyone was happy we got to sleep in a little bit. We had to show them [coaching staff] that we don't really have to have shootaround; well, we need shoot around …
Briahanna Jackson: “Show them that we could handle the situations.”
