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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS & FINALS: KANSAS CITYMarch 28, 2010A'dia MathiesMatthew MitchellAmber SmithKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI Kentucky – 76 THE MODERATOR: Coach, congratulations. Your comments about tonight's game? COACH MITCHELL: Very proud of our team. I thought they did everything asked of them tonight. We just wanted to play with a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of energy, a lot of effort. It's been our formula for success all season. We were up against a tremendous basketball team tonight, so really proud of our players, and we will be working hard to try to advance on. Q. This is for A'dia. Could you just talk about the team's perimeter shooting? It seemed like with your three-pointers you got a lot of uncontested shots. A'DIA MATHIES: Fortunately we got left open a couple times, and we knocked down some shots. I'm just glad that they was falling to be able to give us momentum to be able to pull away in the game. Q. For both of you guys, just what this means to you guys, the fact that you got a big win over a top seed in this tournament and now you're moving on to the Elite 8, what that means to you. AMBER SMITH: It means a lot, and we're definitely not satisfied, but we're going to enjoy this win tonight. Nebraska was a tough team, and obviously they're No. 1, but we didn't come here looking at seeds. We just came here just ready to play, and I thought we did tonight. A'DIA MATHIES: Yeah, it does mean a lot to us, just to know that they're a 1 seed and we can compete with the best in the country. It just gives us a lot of confidence knowing that we're still hungry and trying to take it even further. Q. A'dia, how important was your team quickness tonight? A'DIA MATHIES: It was very important, especially every game. We tried to push the tempo and tried to just feed every team we play up. That's part of Kentucky basketball, and I think we did a good job of that tonight. Q. Amber, how difficult was it in the first half when you guys were playing so well to have to fight through all the foul trouble? AMBER SMITH: It was very tough. You know, we just had to stop just reaching and play fundamental defense. That's what Coach preached us at halftime is don't play with our hands, move our feet. So I think we adjusted in the second half and we did better. Q. A'dia, what changed for you in the second half? I think you had four points in the first half. What changed for you? What opened up for you, I guess? A'DIA MATHIES: Personally they left me open a couple times. I was able to knock down some shots and get more confidence and get some momentum, and as I kept shooting they just kept falling. I think that helped me out tonight, and it helped our team out. Q. Amber, what went through your mind when they cut it to seven? Was there any panic? What went on in the huddle? What did you guys do? AMBER SMITH: Coach just told us to calm down and stay focused and take care of the ball and just be ready to shoot free throws and be ready to make them. So he just told us to run our stuff because we've practiced it every day, going through that type of situation. He just told us to focus and take care of the ball. THE MODERATOR: Ladies, congratulations on a big game. We'll see you tomorrow. Q. Coach, obviously last week you guys had the "home court advantage." What was the atmosphere like out there and was that difficult at all for you guys to fight through? COACH MITCHELL: It was very difficult at times when Nebraska could get some momentum, and I was so impressed with our players in that atmosphere because it was tough. It was loud. I thought the Nebraska fans did a great job of trying to give their team energy. And I thought we made some pretty tough plays to answer some big shots that they made when the crowd was really trying to get behind them. So very impressed with their support that Nebraska received from their fans, and it was a tough atmosphere to play in. Q. Can you just, I guess, how important was the way you started the second half? You kind of created a cushion. It was big enough to hold on. COACH MITCHELL: It was a big key. We went into halftime, Nebraska went into halftime on a 4-0 run, and I was really concerned coming out of halftime that if we let them get going, it was going to be tough. So we talked a lot about the first four minutes. You know, you try to break it up into four-minute segments. It's been successful for our team to sort of narrow our focus at times, and so the first four minutes was critical, and I was thrilled with that start. That was a tremendous start to the half and allowed us to get control of the game. Really impressed with our players to be able to do that at this point in the tournament. Q. Connie Yori talked about Kentucky's quickness advantage. Is that a common occurrence against most teams, and how did you see that manifest itself tonight? COACH MITCHELL: Well, I just -- first of all, you have to realize how hard these players have worked to get into the physical condition required to play this tempo. I just can't thank -- our athletic trainer does a great job, our strength and conditioning coach does a great job, but these players have to commit to what you're asking them to do. And we are pretty much all in right now with that type of commitment. So you can't overstate the importance for our team. We are not tall. We don't have a lot of size. We do have good, well-conditioned athletes, so that's our whole method of playing. We have to play with quickness. We have to use the speed to our advantage. And I think the way it manifested itself tonight is very deep there in the second half, we were still quick inbounding the ball and running it back at Nebraska, and you can't do that if you're not in shape. So I thought the pace of the game was where we wanted it tonight, and it was a big advantage for us. Q. In what ways do you feel like your schedule, especially playing a perennial power such as Tennessee, has helped prepare you for this tournament and reach this point? COACH MITCHELL: Well, our league is fantastic, and we had -- you see four teams in our league advance to the round of 16. You know there's some really quality teams and quality players. And so I think the Southeastern Conference prepares you well for whatever you might see in this tournament. I think that's invaluable that you can kind of find out what your personality is as a team and what works and what doesn't. I think the conference play really allowed us to establish an identity, and it's been good to us. Q. When you got up by 16, 18 points, did your strategy change? The kids really seemed to work the shot clock down like you wanted to, which was the opposite of quickness. COACH MITCHELL: Well, that's a tough situation to be in. At times you're coaching some kids out there that are only human. They know what the score is. We're trying to tell them to keep pushing. Then there's times when we're telling them to be smart with the clock. You had to know that a team as good as Nebraska with those players that we have so much respect for, you had to know they were going to make a run. And so I was just hoping that we would remain aggressive. I thought we got a little passive there when they made their run. We looked like we had not practiced much press offense there, and those things happen. You just see teams all the time in that situation. It happens. We'll work real hard to not have it happen again, but I was real happy with the way the team played today. Q. Can you just talk about what this means for the program? You guys keep going further and further in kind of an unprecedented run this season. COACH MITCHELL: Well, we've had that question a few times, and it's not time for us to attach meaning to or significance to this win. There will be time for that. What we need to do is put our energy into whatever confidence we can gain from tonight. We need to get that and take it into the next game. So there will be a time when we can look -- clearly this is a special group, special team. I love this team. But it's not time for that right now. But when the time comes, obviously this will be a significant victory. So really proud of our players tonight, thought they gave a tremendous effort, and you can see they're one of the toughest teams in the country. Q. Can you talk about Amani Franklin's play? She didn't score a lot of points, but she had some huge rebounds and big steals at all the right times. COACH MITCHELL: So happy for Amani and Lydia both. I just think they are playing with tremendous urgency. They are playing with tremendous purpose. If you could see what I see as far as the growth both of those young women have made as people and as players, it's really something that is special to me. So happy I get another practice with those two. So happy we get another game to play with those two, because they are huge for our team, and they're not always huge statistically, but they both played with tremendous heart tonight and tremendous focus, and they were both talking in the huddles about what we needed to do. So it's a great thing to see those two playing the way they are, and we are certainly a better basketball team because of the improvements that they've been willing to make. THE MODERATOR: Coach, we'll see you tomorrow afternoon. COACH MITCHELL: Thank you very much. Appreciate it. End of FastScripts |
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