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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: WACOMarch 17, 2017Kim MulkeyAlexis JonesNina DavisWaco, Texas Q. Alexis, how are you feeling, and how much are you looking forward to getting back on the court? ALEXIS JONES: I'm feeling a lot better, and I'm excited to get back out there on the court. It's me, Nina, it's KK and Prince's last go-around, and I'm just happy and blessed that I'm able to come back and play again. Q. Alexis, what have you seen from Joyce Kennerson, and what's key to slowing her down? ALEXIS JONES: The key is stopping her in transition, staying in front of her, not letting her blow past us, and not get easy lay-ups to the rim. Q. Nina, every year you've gotten to play home games in the NCAA Tournament. I know this never gets old for you guys, but talk about how different it is for you this year. NINA DAVIS: I don't know if it's really different. I guess the only difference is just knowing in the back of my mind that it's the last go-around. It's my last two games in the Ferrell Center to play in front of these fans that have been amazing the four years I've been here, so we just want to go out here and play hard and get these two wins in front of them because we owe a lot of credit to them. They travel all across the country, and they support us whatever we do. Q. Alexis, obviously she says she feels good. Just talk about the confidence you have that everything is good with her, and how your team has responded without her in this last month or so. KIM MULKEY: We only lost one game without her, and I'm not sure if she was playing we would have won that game anyway. West Virginia was just that good that weekend. Alexis's knees have always been a problem for her. I haven't noticed in the days that she's practiced since being cleared that she's any different than she was before other than maybe a few more turnovers in practice where she's hanging on the ball too long trying to make a spectacular pass. But conditioning-wise, I think she's about the same. Shooting, she looked to shoot the ball really good. I'm just happy she's back. I'm happy for her personally, and she makes us even better. Q. What do you see on the defensive end with Texas Southern? I believe they're top 30 in field goal percentage defense. KIM MULKEY: Well, we're pretty good with our defense, as well. I don't know where we are today. We've led the country a long time in field goal percentage defense. Everybody is good when you reach the NCAA Tournament, and is this their first trip, I think, so they're extremely excited. I would be. I remember our first trip, and I anticipate it'll be a game where we will be much bigger. We're much bigger than a lot of teams. But that also can create problems because I'm sure they'll spread the floor on us, and our post will have to guard smaller players. They like to run. Kennerson and I think it's Palmer shoot a lot of threes. We see that a lot in our league, so we'll be prepared. I hope we're as excited as they are because it doesn't get old. We're very blessed at Baylor that women's basketball is a priority. Q. How much do you think Alexis is going to play? Will it be back to the normal amount that she would have played before? KIM MULKEY: I would think so. Q. Will you work her in a little bit? KIM MULKEY: The game will dictate that. I would expect her to be good to go. I'm not sure I'll start her, but she's good to go. There is no limits on how many minutes. I think that will just be the flow of the game. She'll play both point guard and 2, which helps Kristy, relieve Kristy some when she gets tired. But she's good to go. Q. Playing at home, your first two games have kind of become a routine around here, but I know it's something you guys don't ever take for granted, but talk about how your teaming approaches that and how they've taken care of business, and it sounds like you don't have to tell them anything different about, hey, this is something more than just a regular game. KIM MULKEY: You don't have to tell them that. I'm assuming they understand that it is a privilege to be selected to host the first and second round, but that privilege came from what you did all year. They don't just give it to you. I think it's also a blessing that Nina said it: We're in a part of the country where women's basketball is valued, and people on fixed incomes, people who have money, they make sure that they support these players, and it does matter in women's basketball. Just I've always said, it does us no good to put these things in arenas where TV shows no one in the stands, and I was all for going back to first and second round games on the home courts. We're just really blessed that our fans support us, and we've been able to continue recruiting good players to come here. Q. I know Kristy Wallace is your energizer bunny; she played a ton of minutes in the Big 12 tournament. How much does it help she won't have to do that going forward in the NCAA Tournament necessarily? KIM MULKEY: I don't think that it helps Kristy. Kristy could play all day. She just has the body composition and makeup to where she never tires, and usually the first place you see it in a guard if they get fatigued is the legs, their shots start falling short. She's been on a roll hitting mid-range jumpers. It doesn't probably affect her. Maybe me a little bit. It may be that you think she needs a rest, but she really doesn't. She could play 40 minutes every night. Q. Kim, obviously it's the first time in a long time you guys are going to the NCAA Tournament coming off a loss. What did you want to see in your team and how they respond? KIM MULKEY: I want to see them start out faster than they did against West Virginia with a little more -- I've always believed that your teams take on the personality of the coach, and to put it simple, I'm fiery. I'm passionate. I pump my fist, and I want them to do that coming out of the gates, and I didn't think we did that in the last game until the fourth quarter. Well, we've got to do it in the first quarter, so that's what I'd like to see is them put four quarters together, and they've done that for the most part. I mean, my gosh, we're 30-3. Look who we've lost to. But it would be fun to watch them try to do every game these four, six, whatever we get to play, and see how good we really are. Q. You're obviously no stranger to LSU; what's it like to kind of get to host that program this week. KIM MULKEY: Well, it's interesting because Kramer playing there, I just left there last weekend, and I saw Nikki Fargas in the head coaches' meeting, and I was looking for my son, and I said, y'all didn't bring him? Growing up 30 minutes from LSU, I visited there as a player and then chose to go to Louisiana Tech, which was four and a half hours north. All I ever knew was LSU and Tulane. But I chose for basketball reasons at the time in the early '80s, Louisiana Tech was the powerhouse, and yet who would have thought many, many years later my child would be going to LSU seven hours away. But it's been a blessing for him. I'm always going to be a Louisiana girl. I've told people that from day one, and I don't care where I am, I'm Louisiana, and I always want to see Louisiana schools do good. And because Kramer is there now, you have more of an interest because of being around the school more watching him play and being in the stands than I did when I was a player because I never went to Baton Rouge, I was always in north Louisiana. I want to see him do good. If we meet Monday, I don't want to see them do good. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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