Louisville Women's Basketball Postgame Quotes
January 15, 2017 | Women's Basketball
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Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
(How did Miami get keep getting back in the game?)
“Well, they're a good team. I mean, they're a top 15, top 12 team, that's what's going to happen in this league right now. I'm sure Florida State was saying the same thing. How'd Louisville get back in the game? You're playing good teams. It's the way it's going to be. There is no just showing up and trying to hit a homerun the first three possessions and maybe get up 15-2 and think, 'OK, it's game over.' Teams are too good. Our league is too good. At one point in time, I think, we had seven teams ranked in the top 25. Virginia Tech just went down to Miami and lost. Miami goes to NC State and wins, after NC State just beats Notre Dame at home and at Florida State. Everybody, top to bottom, our league has gotten better. There is no walk in the park. Georgia Tech, I heard, beat Syracuse today. You have to show up and be prepared to play. That's what we're focusing on right now. We're really working on possession by possession and understanding 'stop-score-stop, stop-score-stop.' In order for us to get to that next level, that's what we have to be able to do.”
(What does a win today do for team chemistry moving forward?)
“Our team chemistry is great. It's nothing that I was concerned about. We're 16-4 right now. We've had three losses where we've been up in the fourth quarter, two of them with five minutes to go against top five, top six teams. It's not like we're not competing and have a chance to win. Now it's a matter of continuing to breakdown those last seven or eight minutes of games and showing our kids, 'Here's where we have to get better. Here's what we have to do.' I thought we managed the game extremely well at the end of the first half. Our players did a great job. That's a part of what we're trying to teach them is know how many fouls we have. How many fouls and team fouls do we have to give? Instead of letting them sit out there and then come off a ball screen, let's make them take the ball out of bounds twice, which is what our kids did. Then with 12 seconds, they're trying to enter it in on the side, and we come up with a steal. Then we get a chance to call timeout. They came out and pressed. We did a great job of hitting Asia [Durr] in the middle of the floor. Then I've got to give Mariya [Moore] credit. The one thing I'll say of her is when she wants the ball, she screams for it. Asia was going to go in and attack, which would've been a great shot, but Mariya screamed for it. She's wide open and hits her for a 3, which was a big 3 going into the half. We know what we're capable of doing, now it's a matter of continuing to get consistency from the entire team. That's what I keep challenging them on. Our bench is going to be important. Our bench is going to have to play, but I keep telling them, 'I don't have six minutes in any game to just throw you out there, and say 'Hey, let's see what happens.'' It's practice. Practice is where they build that confidence in themselves. I think a lot of players think, 'In order for me to stay in, I've got to score, I've got to score.' No come up with a stop, come up with a rebound, make a nice pass. Then when you get your opportunity, if it's around the basket or an open jump shot, then knock it down. Bionca Dunham has not played very much, but she's practiced well the last few days. It was at point where I was like, 'Hey, let's see what she can do.' She goes out there, goes 2 for 3, three offensive boards, did a great job for us. She took advantage of that opportunity, but she was preparing herself in practice. Our team chemistry, I think, is fine. The morale was good. They asked me on TV. Miami is 3-3 in the league. Look who've they've played starting off the league: Florida State, they've played NC State, they've played us, Virginia Tech. They're playing some pretty darn good basketball teams. If I'm Katie [Meier], am I concerned about being 3-3? Not at all because they've been in every game, and she has a heck of a ball club. She does a great job with them.”
(Is Mariya Moore a particularly good end of clock player?)
“I mean, she hits a huge shot. What Mariya does is she can knock down some open shots for us. She's not necessarily a create for yourself, but Asia (Durr) created the 3 at the end of the half and there towards the end, she made a great backdoor cut and BJ (Briahanna Jackson) hit her and she missed the lay up, but then we got it back, and Myisha finally got fouled. Then, Myisha (Hines-Allen) steps up and makes two free throws. Mariya moves really well without the ball. I just continue to challenge her to work on her ball handling, cause as you look, she came up four offensive boards, which is fantastic and she'd be able to get more if she could create for herself. But really happy with the way she's shooting the basketball right now. The past, I think two weeks, she's really came back to where she was and has been. Once we can get everybody just playing good, not great, we're going to be a really hard team to play against.”
(On how the trio of Asia Durr, Myisha Hines-Allen, and Mariya Moore played)
“Offensively, Asia (Durr) didn't play great. She did a really good job of rebounding the basketball. She had four assists again tonight. She has eight assists the past two games. She had 24 previous to that for the whole season, so she's doing a really good job getting others involved and making basketball plays. I've been challenging her to rebound the ball and she comes up with eight again tonight. I think everybody gets all caught up in scoring because that's all they do. You look at a stat sheet – it's fans, it's parents. If they're not able to be here, all they can do if they don't watch the game is just look at a stat sheet and be like, 'Aw man, she was 2 of 12. She must not have played well.' You can do a lot more than just score, and I thought she did that tonight.
“But for us, when we get all three of them just playing good offensively, we're really going to be tough to play against. I thought Briahanna Jackson played extremely well tonight too, not because she went 5 of 11, but she disrupted a lot too defensively for us. Four assists and one turnover – she's really doing a great job of just running the team.”
(On Mariya Moore's improved shooting the past few games)
“Well, she's been getting in the gym some extra and then it's all confidence. If you shoot it and pray it's gonna go in, it's usually not a good thing. You know, shoot it with confidence and believe it's going to go in. You know, I laugh with them all the time. I'm a big believer in prayer, but there's a few things that I do know. Before you take an exam, I advise you to study and not just pray on it. And it's the same way with basketball – you can go home and have a good devotion and pray on it, but if you don't practice it, it's not gonna go in, so let's do a little a practice and a little prayer and see what happens. I'll probably get in trouble for that. I'm not trying to hurt anybody's feelings. I'm good with everybody.”
(On how the Catapult tracking/monitoring system has helped the program)
“It's great because our players see the truth. They can say, 'Man, I worked really hard today, I was all over the place.' Then I show them their numbers, and it's like no you didn't, you know you can't fake it. That's the great thing about it is you can't fake it. Which for them though, it's a good thing too because then they can say, 'Man, I did go hard today.' I have to keep showing them that and if we go hard, we are a really, really good basketball team. Myisha Hines-Allen said after the Virginia game, 'When we play hard, we are really good.' I also said, 'You realize what you just said? When we play hard, we are really good.' That should not be something you have to say. You should always play hard and she's like, 'I got you.' We have great kids. They are great kids, They are high character kids. I was fortunate enough to bring my daughter (Lola) today for the entire day, my three-year-old, and the team is great to her. I mean they all come and say hi to her and play with her. They are fantastic young women we are very fortunate to have them in our program. We're always trying to teach them about life and about going hard and about putting yourself out there, the small things. I watched the New England and Houston game last night and the young man set the record and he was being interviewed at the end of the game, great interview, and then the female reporter said something to him and he said, 'Yes ma'am.' I googled his name because you don't hear that. I mean that's how I was kind of brought up, yes sir, no sir, yes ma'am, no ma'am. And to see that on national TV, a National Football League player. You don't hear about that. You normally only hear about the bad things. Boy, that was fantastic. I talked to my kids about it. I was really, really impressed that he finished off an interview with a yes ma'am.”
Mariya Moore and Briahanna Jackson
(On the final play, did you miss the second free throw on that foul play intentionally to get the rebound?)
MM: “No I was actually really mad that I missed that. He had been yelling at me all game about making a mistake and just continuing to play through, so instead of just standing at the free throw line, I decided to go get my miss.”
(You were up by five, and they kept crawling back into it. Was it mistakes by you or their ability?)
MM: “I think a little bit of both. We made some mistakes at crucial times, and they just capitalized, so just a little bit of both.”
(BJ is that a shot you practice often, the turnaround falling jumper?)
BJ: “Actually, I play one-on-one with Coach Purcell sometimes, so I've shot shots like that before. I guess yes.”
(What did you see on the rebound before the free throw rebound?)
MM: “I saw that she was going to shoot it because she had to, there was no time left. I think I was trying to find my person, but the other girl slipped through. I knew she couldn't get it so I just tried to just go wherever she was, and ended up hitting her back, which was good.”
(On Miami's guards)
MM: “In this league these guards are competitive and great every night. We knew coming into this game that they were the keys to their team, so we just tried our best to, I wouldn't say stop them, but limit their touches.”
BJ: “…Keep your hand up and don't let them get any easy buckets.”
(BJ what is that on your back?)
BJ: “It's a Catapult. It keeps count of all of your movements, jumps, and every kind of explosive movement you make, so it's how hard you play, basically.”
(How detailed is that?)
BJ: “Very detailed. They use the data to plan practices and try to keep us healthy and fresh.”
(What was the pregame strategy that you talked about, and how did you do with it?)
MM: “I think one of our main strategies tonight was rebounding. I think we did pretty well tonight. I think that's what pretty much what won us the game, our ability to rebound during the clutch times.”
BJ: “And play hard for 40 minutes. We haven't played a complete game - even this game wasn't 40 full minutes, but I think we got better tonight.”
(Do you like being measured like that?)
MM: “Yes and no. Yes, because they tell me things like if I'm hurt, they will know already because of my movements, so that helps me, because they know how to help me. Sometimes no, because they tell you when you're not going hard or when they need you to do more. So… technology is great.”
