	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

January 11, 2016

Bobbie Kelsey

Madison, Wisconsin

THE MODERATOR: Head Coach Bobbie Kelsey is here. We will have some opening comments and then some questions.

COACH KELSEY: We had a good game yesterday against Penn State, came out really strong, Had some good-- a lot of great things happen in the game, very positive. So we're very happy about the win yesterday, but we know these games come really fast. Two or three days then a game. You can't celebrate too long, you can't sulk too long, you gotta get on to the next opponent.

We celebrated last night. Now we're working on -- who are we playing again? No, I'm just kidding. We are working on some things that Iowa does to take you out of your game, to get you kinda off your rhythm. They're a great team, they're an NCAA team. Obviously they lost a lot of players but they still run great stuff. Lisa Bluder is a really good coach so they're going to do the usual stuff, shoot, drive to the basket, hope you foul them and make their free-throws and three-point shots.

I will take questions if you have them.

Q. At the start of the year you had a minute count on Michala. She's picking up her minutes and what have you. Can you tell, is she getting maybe back to the form she was a couple years ago or no?
COACH KELSEY: I've seen flashes of it. I won't say she is 100% back. I think anytime you have multiple ACLs, this is her third one, it kinda puts your mind in a place where you just -- you're still a little bit afraid. She says she's not, but I've had two of them myself, so it can be a little psychological. You gotta get through that part of it, but I think as she plays and she sees that she can explode off her legs and get up and make change moves and things like that, she is getting more confident every day.

So we're still pushing her to show 100% the old Mich, but it's a lot with these injuries, so we're just hoping that she continues to improve and show that she is a Big Ten player, First-Team All Big Ten player.

Q. What's the difference between scoring 41 at Rutgers and scoring 82 yesterday? Obviously you probably shot the ball better, but was there anything else besides that or was it you just shot the ball better?
COACH KELSEY: We just shot the ball better. We executed a little bit better. Rutgers is a very different team than Penn State. Penn State is down some players. They have some kids sitting on the bench, that, you know, for no other reason than being injured, they would be out there. Moore is really good, Sevillian is good, they had another post player that got hurt, Green, and unfortunately a kid got hurt in our game, so I'm hoping she is okay.

But Rutgers, they have a different -- they're a different beast and they make you have to put it on the ground, because they're quick and athletic. We did miss some people that were open. I'm looking at the film, if you drive and they help, you've got to be able to kick the ball out and hit shots, but we didn't hit 'em. We missed a lot of bunnies. I can remember ten layups that I saw, and it could have been more that we missed, just wide open.

Marcia had one, Mich had one, I think Dakota had a couple. You're not running anything different, we run the same stuff, you have to execute then finish. I tell the kids execution is not that you didn't run the play right, but executing all the way through is making the shot. You get the shot that you want and all is for not if you miss a bunny underneath the basket.

Q. How does your history of ACL injuries impact your judgment, your dealings with Michala?
COACH KELSEY: You know, it's something out of our control, it's not just something that happens to people that are not strong in their legs. You have football players tearing their ACL, an NFL guy tore his the other day and he's probably one of the best receivers in the NFL. It's a hard injury, one that we don't understand fully why it happens. I know Penn State had three kids with ACLs and they were all contact injuries. The ones I've seen, and mine, nobody touched me! I was running out, turned wrong and the knee just went. So with Mich we have a great strength coach in Renee and she does a great job of making sure that their bodies are balanced as far as your core.

There is a lot of science behind being strong just in general, but when somebody has that kind of injuries, you don't want to do too much to aggravate it, but her balance is often strength, and that's what they're trying to do is get that leg, the one recently repaired on par with the other leg because sometimes there is imbalance, and now you're using one leg more than the other, and we all know if you're right or left-handed, you're dominant on your legs, too, so that's my little two cents, but, hey, I'm not an exercise science major person so I don't know.

Q. Do you find yourself being more empathetic, being more accepting of whatever her mind-set is or might be right now?
COACH KELSEY: In the beginning yeah but not now. I'm like, come on Mich. Because she has been out there, this is our 14th, 15th game, so we're past the point of kinda being scared, but, again, I've had it, and everybody is different, but I don't think that's her issue. I think getting back in the flow, it takes a while. Then when you have had multiple ones, it probably takes a little longer. But she is fine, she feels strong, I've asked her in the beginning do you feel like your legs are balanced out, and we get reports from the trainer about her numbers and things like that, so -- but it's only so much science can do. You just gotta get out there and play. She has done that, and I think she is finishing a little bit better around the basket, making stronger moves, catching the ball and going up strong, so we depending on Mich. We've got to have her out there and she's got to be playing hard.

Q. Coach, an update on Tessa and how much her presence has been missed?
COACH KELSEY: It has been missed. You know, Tessa doesn't score a whole bunch but she does so -- she is the "glue" kid. She is a kid that if somebody is in the wrong spot she is clear across the court yelling hey, get over there! That kinda thing. She can hit shots, she screens, she guards the better offensive player on the other team, she is not afraid. She just does a lot of things that maybe some of the young ones aren't ready to do, and she is another guard sub. We need another guard sub.

So it's going to be nice to have her back and get her back in the rotation, but it's given Kayla an opportunity to play more, it's giving Chelle an opportunity to play more, so they've got experience now that maybe they would not have had if Tessa was still out there, because you go with what you know as a coach. The young ones always say, well, Coach, we don't get a chance, because I don't know what you're going to do. You probably going to throw it to-- I don't know. So even though the older ones are making mistakes, they got more built up in the savings account. They can withdraw some money. The young ones don't have nothing in there. It's insufficient funds over there on their side, so when they -- I explained it to them. It's not that I don't want you out there, I just have to -- as I get you out there more, I can believe in crunch time, when there is pressure, that you can be out there.

I teased Kayla the other day. We were playing -- I forget who we were playing recently, Indiana, I think, and Kayla got the ball. Of course you kinda want Nicole to have it because you know she can make free-throws. And I said, "Kayla, pass it," and she was like, "Coach, I can make free-throws," I mean, she was really offended that I told her to pass the ball to Nicole when she -- they fouled her, she believed she could go to the line and make 'em.

So I love that about Kayla. Chelle, she has ice water in her veins. The kid is our there in our Michigan State game when we really need a basket, she shoots the three as if she is a senior, so that bodes well for the future that your two guards coming up, when your seniors leave, they have the experience and the know-how to help the freshmen coming in next year, so it's nice. Those two are really bright for us, real bright.

Q. Nicole's two-point shy of a thousand for her career. Did you see that when she stepped on campus here?
COACH KELSEY: You know what, I didn't know, because when we got the job they were seniors. So we -- we kind of snatched her. I mean knew after the fact that she wanted to come to Wisconsin, but that's the Gatorade State Player of the Year, and you just get the job. You don't know her very well, she doesn't know you, so for us to get Nicole to come, now knowing she wanted to come anyway, that's nice. And then she could always shoot in high school, always had a high motor. Nicole doesn't do anything slow, sometimes that hurts her, like slow down. But you would rather them go fast, because it's hard to speed kids up. When they slow, they just can't go fast. So I kind of saw flashes of it. She has gotten a lot better with her shot, her range, obviously last year being second in the country in three-point field goal percentage, but Nicole is just a worker, so it's not surprising, but I'm happy that she is here to do it with us, and being from Wisconsin, we want the Wisconsin kids to come. So Wisconsin kids, come on! We need you! (Chuckles.)

To have her here and her family is close, she can showcase her skills. Maybe she didn't even believe she could be this good at this point, but she is a baller. She does everything. She is glue, too, we need her.

Q. You shoot 66% yesterday from three-point range, tie a school record with 12 three-pointers
COACH KELSEY: Is that a record?

Q. Yep.
COACH KELSEY: We set another one, yes!

Q. Has that kind of becoming the identity for this team? You lead the Big Ten actually in conference only games as well?
COACH KELSEY: Oh, nice. We did it last year. We shot really good last year but we did lose some seniors that were good shooters, Jacki being one of them, Ann Marie being another. But we try to encourage the young ones, get in the gym. I told Chelle, wherever Nicole is, that's where you are! Go where -- if she is out on the court, you out there with her. Because it's an example of what you can do when you work and put in the time. Kayla same thing, Marsha same thing, Liz the same thing. The young players, if you see somebody successful copy what they're doing. So it's just like, coaches when we see a good play, you better believe I'm stealing it. Good play! I don't care if they came up with it. Naismith did all the work! He invented basketball, Pete Carrillo, all the old heads, they invented basketball; all we gotta do is copy it. We encourage them to work on their shot. Kayla was not a shooter when she came out of high school; she played the post. Now she doing step-back threes. I don't like to see them all that much, but she has proven she can shoot 'em, so we kinda we let her do it every now and, again.

You just try to encourage them to improve, improve, improve; that's what our motto is here. You come in one way, you won't leave the same; you're gonna improve.

Q. Speaking of somebody who wasn't a shooter, Dakota out, of high school she was definitely not a shooter, yesterday 5 of 7 from the three-point range. What has been the change in her?
COACH GARD: You know I said yesterday in my press conference, Dakota, when she first got here and was shooting, you thought you needed eye protection, because the lights were going to be shattered because her shot was so high and so crazy -- no offense to her coaches in Canada, but it was not pretty. But to her credit she worked on it. So now she has three phases to her game.

All young players need to have a finish game at the basket, a pull-up game, and then a three-point game. Dakota has all three, and her handles are tight, so if you come up on her she is going to go by. If you don't, if she's on, she's gonna hit it. If you back up, and she is backing you up, she can pull up. Now we just trying to get her to be a playmaker now. Yesterday she had 7 assists. So that's like, add 14 more points, it was just two's, because you can't get an assist unless somebody scores, so I try to get them to think, get an assist; that means you got two points. You have to look at it that way, otherwise you're so worried about scoring, you're not dishing the ball, and you're taking bad shots, and I think Nicole had 9, she had 7, because we had 22 for the game. So when you are scoring and you are assisting, now what's the other team going to do? They got to pick somebody to leave, and if you're shooting well, you're just going to make it. So we try to do that every game, because it puts a lot of pressure on the defense.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Coach?

COACH KELSEY: This is the most questions I've ever got! Thank you!

Q. Nicole obviously knows she is two points away, she has known for a while she is close. Have you seen a change in her game or is she just taking care of business?
COACH KELSEY: No, Nicole doesn't care about that stuff. And I wasn't going to put her in when we are up 20 so she can turn her ankle, and then I look stupid, and y'all asking me why was she in the game, and I'm, you know -- so she'll get it. She'll score two more points this year. It will be all right. She was up at the scorer's table, too, and I thought, oh no, no, no, because I could just see something happening.

But Nicole doesn't care about it. It's an accomplishment. Anybody that gets a thousand points in college, that means you have done good work to get yourself to that point, but she wants our team to win. So if she had 800 points she wouldn't care. Did we win or lose? That's what she cares about, and that's a good thing to have your best player -- one of your best players care more about us winning and losing than points.

I don't know if she knew, I don't know if she knew or not. I didn't know. We don't get into stuff like that. They tell us, great, if they don't, whatever. We just tryin' to play to win the game.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297