Post by Administrator on Nov 26, 2003 14:02:55 GMT -5
Head Coach Mickie DeMoss
On the loss…
“We shot the ball miserably tonight, that was no secret. We played a very, very good and athletic North Carolina team. We just didn’t come out and put shots down early. That shook our confidence a bit on the offensive end. We did some good things tonight. We focused on the rebounding because they had been killing everyone on the boards. They only out-rebounded us by one.
On the turnovers…
"In the first half, our turnovers got out of control. We cut down on the turnovers in the second half and we improved our shooting percentage. Until we can knock down shots against good teams like this, obviously, we’re going to struggle. I was proud that we kept fighting hard. We hung in there until the end.”
On the problems North Carolina presented…
“We saw some very athletic young ladies on this North Carolina team. They had a couple of inches on us at every position. In the first half, they shot over (Angela) Phillips and in the second half, they posted up (Jenny) Pfeiffer a few times. Athletically, they were just superior. So, it is a measuring stick. There are some teams in the SEC that are just as physical and athletic as North Carolina. It was a big test for us and it allows us to see the things we have to do and the things we have to improve on.”
On the whether the Kentucky players’ anxiety was a factor in the loss…
“I know our players were really anxious to play. At Rupp, we had a great crowd. I know they had some nerves. We missed some easy shots early on. I thought we got some good looks, but we just didn’t knock them down. Then we started hesitating on our shots. In the last two games, we had not gotten off to a very good start, and it cost us tonight.”
On whether she expected such an athletic Tar Heel team…
“I knew they were this athletic, but there was just not a whole lot I could do about it. They had great returning players, but (Ivory) Latta and Camille Little were their leading scorers in their first few games. They didn’t lose anything with those freshmen. They’re just a very athletic team.”
On whether North Carolina will help prepare Kentucky for conference play…
“Oh yes. A lot of SEC teams will have the same types of players. That’s just a matter of getting players in here that we can match pound-for-pound and inch-for-inch, quickness wise. We just have to learn from it.”
On what Kentucky did to combat North Carolina’s superior shooting…
“We tried switching our defenses. We tried a little (2-3) zone and that worked for a little while, but you’ve got to get in front of people. We were allowing them to post up our guards. Northwestern was an entirely different team than North Carolina. They spread the floor and used a lot of back cuts the whole night. So we just need to work on that and double-down some and do some things to counter height advantages.”
The player quotes
On the loss…
“We shot the ball miserably tonight, that was no secret. We played a very, very good and athletic North Carolina team. We just didn’t come out and put shots down early. That shook our confidence a bit on the offensive end. We did some good things tonight. We focused on the rebounding because they had been killing everyone on the boards. They only out-rebounded us by one.
On the turnovers…
"In the first half, our turnovers got out of control. We cut down on the turnovers in the second half and we improved our shooting percentage. Until we can knock down shots against good teams like this, obviously, we’re going to struggle. I was proud that we kept fighting hard. We hung in there until the end.”
On the problems North Carolina presented…
“We saw some very athletic young ladies on this North Carolina team. They had a couple of inches on us at every position. In the first half, they shot over (Angela) Phillips and in the second half, they posted up (Jenny) Pfeiffer a few times. Athletically, they were just superior. So, it is a measuring stick. There are some teams in the SEC that are just as physical and athletic as North Carolina. It was a big test for us and it allows us to see the things we have to do and the things we have to improve on.”
On the whether the Kentucky players’ anxiety was a factor in the loss…
“I know our players were really anxious to play. At Rupp, we had a great crowd. I know they had some nerves. We missed some easy shots early on. I thought we got some good looks, but we just didn’t knock them down. Then we started hesitating on our shots. In the last two games, we had not gotten off to a very good start, and it cost us tonight.”
On whether she expected such an athletic Tar Heel team…
“I knew they were this athletic, but there was just not a whole lot I could do about it. They had great returning players, but (Ivory) Latta and Camille Little were their leading scorers in their first few games. They didn’t lose anything with those freshmen. They’re just a very athletic team.”
On whether North Carolina will help prepare Kentucky for conference play…
“Oh yes. A lot of SEC teams will have the same types of players. That’s just a matter of getting players in here that we can match pound-for-pound and inch-for-inch, quickness wise. We just have to learn from it.”
On what Kentucky did to combat North Carolina’s superior shooting…
“We tried switching our defenses. We tried a little (2-3) zone and that worked for a little while, but you’ve got to get in front of people. We were allowing them to post up our guards. Northwestern was an entirely different team than North Carolina. They spread the floor and used a lot of back cuts the whole night. So we just need to work on that and double-down some and do some things to counter height advantages.”
The player quotes