	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

February 1, 2016

Bobbie Kelsey

Madison, Wisconsin

THE MODERATOR: Women's Basketball Head Coach Bobbie Kelsey is here. We will have some opening comments and take questions.

COACH KELSEY: We were happy to get the crowd we had yesterday for a very good cause, something a lot bigger than basketball. The community came out and really supported us in our "Think Pink" game, supporting the initiative to bring more awareness and funding for ending breast cancer, so we were very happy to see as many people as we did at our game, staying to the end and supporting us to the end.

Obviously we are on a little skid here with our production and our ability to get a win, but our kids are fighting hard, and they're encouraged by the fact that they will continue to play as hard as we can and those shots will fall. We have had good looks at the basket numerous times, and we just need to knock those shots down, which we know they can and have done and will do again, so I will take any questions you may have.

Q. Can you talk about Dakota's performances in Big Ten play? She has kind of stepped up for the team.
COACH KELSEY: Yes, Dakota has done a good job in leading us in that area, being at the point guard position. She can score in many different ways, she can shoot the three, obviously she will -- her pull up is there. She didn't come in as that kind of shooter. We were chuckling about it in the locker room yesterday before the game. I was telling Chelle and Michala how Dakota when she came in she didn't have a really good shot, but she worked on it and got it to now where she can pull up, shoot the three, and obviously she can get to the basket. She has done a good job four us, and we look for her to continue to do that on a consistent basis.

Q. Talk about Avy's development this year. She struggled but now is in the rankings in the Big Ten for rebounds?
COACH KELSEY: She has done a nice job for us. I know she struggled yesterday. She was upset after the game she wasn't able to finish around the basket like she had done in previous games. We depend on her to get some rebounds and to keep the ball alive, especially on the offensive end. We didn't do a very good job yesterday of rebounding. I've never seen that before, that's something that we haven't experienced before, not hitting the boards like we have in the past.

I think the kids realized that and just noticing that instead of everybody running back, which we only have two people getting back, three should be on the boards every time, and that's different people depending on where they're standing, so that's something we're going to have to get back to our rebounding prowess here and making sure we're not having that kind of margin for our differential in rebounding. I think our rebounding is about 26, I believe, which we haven't had that happen since -- I can't remember the last time that happened -- if it's ever happened, not sure.

Q. Have you looked much ahead to Ohio State? Because it looks like Ohio State and the Maryland are the top two in this league right now?
COACH KELSEY: Oh, yeah, they're definitely juggernauts, as far as scoring is concerned. They have some prolific scorers on each one of those teams. Ohio State has Mitchell and Austin. They lead the charge. 27 points in conference for Mitchell, 19 for Austin, so those two alone can do a lot of damage but they have some other ones over there, too.

This is another big challenge for us. It's how you play the games; you always come out and believe you can win. We're going to give them confidence and then motivate and inspire them to keep pushing forward. It's tough when you lose this many games, and it's not for lack of effort. It's just we have to figure out how to get all three of our big ones scoring at the same time, Dakota, Nicole and Michala, because each one has given individual performances, but Nicole being the most steady of the three. But we need those other two to come along and really push in the last month and a half of the season, or two months, however long it lasts, to assert themselves. And all of them are seniors so, you know, you don't have too many games left, guaranteed games, obviously if you keep winning postseason, you keep playing, but the clock is ticking for those guys, and we want to make sure they are leaving everything on the court and giving their all and they're doing that.

We are in a rough patch right now, so we appreciate all those who have stuck with us and supported us because it's easy to jump off the wagon, but everybody wants to be on it when it's going well, so...

THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Coach? Thanks, Bobbie.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297