Photo by Britney Howard | UK Athletics
The UK Women’s Basketball team raised its record to 4-0 on the young season with a Sunday victory over High Point, 71-49.
After the game, Wildcats Head Coach, Matthew Mitchell, and players Maci Morris and Blair Green, were available for post game comments. Here was what they had to say about the win.
Opening Statement
“Well, we’re happy to win today. I think High Point has a very good team and they’re going to have a great season, so I’m happy we were able to get the victory. It’s important to get that accomplished today and we have a big, big week ahead of us. We’re headed down to the Virgin Islands and we’ll need to pull everything together through these first four games and learn the lessons we need to learn and just continue to improve, continue to get better, and we’re just happy to get a victory today.”
On some of the lessons the team has learned from the last four games with emphasis on today’s game…
“Today, when we played with energy and payed attention to our fundamentals and were focused in we really did a nice job. I thought we lost focus in that second quarter. They got to the line a lot, ten points when we were not guarding them, free throws really hurt us—allowing that— and I just didn’t think we were real focused there in that second quarter. So, a great learning opportunity for us to understand that we are not going to be a very powerful team just because we walk on the court; you really have to focus and get it done. That’s what I was telling them in the second quarter. You know, we’ve been able to create some turnovers, not because we just showed up and talked about it, you have to go do it every game. And so, it’s just not going to happen for you. And, I just thought that we’ll have some excellent opportunities to just show what it looks like when you’re a step slow and you’re not real focused and be able to compare that to times in the game, like we had a great rotation there when Maci (Morris) turned it over in the fourth quarter. It was a really good trap and a really sharp rotation. So, you get to show some of those contrasting energy moments and I think that will help the team get better. We’ve got to be more consistent with our energy and our effort.
On whether the seniors did what they were supposed to in moments of team inconsistency…
“Yea, well I thought that Maci (Morris) got off to a really hot start for us and then I thought Taylor (Murray) really played with tremendous pace in the first half. It was impressive, it helped us build a lead there at halftime. I thought she was relentless in pushing the ball. And, I thought our seniors had some great moments today and led the way on a day where we were a little uneven across the board. So, they did a nice job.
On whether he expects Tatyana Wyatt to play at the tournament in the Virgin Islands…
“She’s day-to-day right now. It’s just foot issue, but we feel like it’s cleared up. Today, she really needed some time off. She was off Friday, Saturday, Sunday; we won’t practice tomorrow. And then, we’ll see how she feels. We’re hopeful that she’ll be ready to go and we don’t think it’s anything that’s going to have her out an extended amount of time, but we just won’t know until she gets on it Tuesday.
Statement on the trip to the Virgin Islands…
“We are headed to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. It’s the Paradise Jam and it’s one of the premier events in the world. It’s just an outstanding event. We’ve been so fortunate to be able to travel there just about every four years. It’s a real treat for our team, our fans and our family who are traveling down with us. It’s an outstanding tournament. It will be very challenging for our basketball team – three consecutive days of play, three high-level, top opponents—University of South Florida the first day, UCLA the second day and North Carolina the third day. So, our work is cut out for us to go down there and we’ll get a chance to really play some top-level competition. It’ll be a challenging stretch for us, but I’m looking forward to traveling with this team. They’re a great group of people and we’re looking forward to our trip down to the Virgin Islands.
On any concerns regarding three games and three days…
“It’s a great opportunity for the players to find out some toughness about themselves where if you let that psych you out and you approach it the wrong way, it can kind of weigh you down. Or if you approach it that we’ve really worked so hard on our conditioning that we need to embrace this opportunity and make sure that that shows up and counts for something. And on that third day, we want to be stronger than our opponent because of our conditioning. So, this will just be so many opportunities to learn – tough, tough teams and just what we need right now, just go down there and battle, try to get three victories and try to grow as a basketball team and we’ll have plenty of opportunity to do that.”
UK Student-Athletes
#3 Blair Green, Guard
On what she expects next week playing three games in three days…
“Yeah, I think our conditioning will really help. We have been in the gym conditioning really good. Our mental toughness is a big key going into these next three games.”
On what it’s like being a coach’s kid…
“I think it’s fun. I don’t want to know what they say to each other. There is no telling what they say to each other.”
On how much of their dinner table conversations growing up involved basketball…
“I mean it used to be a lot, but then we just came to a point where when we came home we tried to not talk about it because we lived it enough.”
#4 Maci Morris, Guard
On if she feels (as a senior) obligated to pick up the slack when things aren’t going well…
“I mean yeah, me and Tay (Taylor Morris) have been in these situations before. It’s our job to not only pick up slack, but also get everybody on the same page. We have to do a better job of that. We talked to them after the game and just made sure that they know we need to rest our bodies and get ready to go for these next three games because we really need those wins. We will make sure they are ready for these next three games.”
On what went well for them in the first quarter…
“I think just defense intensity. When we get the other team going fast we get to feed off of that and we get more opportunities to score, we are pushing in transitions, which is one of our advantages. Once we get them to turn the ball over we get steals and rebounds and we can go. I think that is really what helps us and makes us have more energy and people feed off of that.”
On if being a coach’s kid gives you a built-in benefit…
“I think so. I think it gives you a better IQ of the game. We have gotten to see and learn from a different perspective than just being on the court. We get to see where coaches come from as well.”
On the competition they will be facing this week…
“It’s going to be really good. We have South Florida, UCLA and UNC which are all great teams who are all basketball schools so it should be really good competition. We will be looking forward to it and just need to be focused and ready to play.”
