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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 5, 2010Victoria DunlapA'dia MathiesMatthew MitchellDULUTH, GEORGIA Kentucky – 65 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Kentucky head Coach Mitchell and student-athletes. Coach, if you could make an opening comment. COACH MITCHELL: Well, we're extremely happy to win. Auburn played well here at the end of the season. A tough matchup for us. I was particularly pleased that our players could come out and play a little bit closer to our identity that we've been able to create this season. Thought we started with good energy. It was not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but it was certainly a good performance. We were just thrilled to win, and are just going to try to wake up tomorrow and stay as close to our identity as we can and see if we can win one more. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions. Q. Victoria, Coach Mitchell has a reputation as a good game planner. Did he do anything different from the first Auburn game to this one? VICTORIA DUNLAP: No. He just talked about how last game we didn't come out with the right energy. Just told us that we had to come out and play. It was nothing different with him. Just stayed intense with his momentum. Just getting on us just about everything. Our mindset had to be right for this time for the game, and he was really good with that. Q. Victoria, it seemed like you wanted the ball more when KeKe was out for Auburn. Were you looking to take advantage when she was on the bench? VICTORIA DUNLAP: Whether on the bench or on the floor, I think my mindset was just try to attack the basket anytime I could. That's what coach and them were telling me. Last time we played them, I was hesitant with KeKe, with all the rest of their post players. So this time I was just trying to have the mindset of just relaxing, taking the ball to the basket or getting the ball to my teammates. Q. A'dia, how important was it to stop the losing streaks? A'DIA MATHIES: It was very important for us to do that. We knew that we had a turn it around, because we didn't want to keep getting down on ourselves. We knew we had to continue on what we started at the beginning of the year. I think this win in particular is going to help us when we move up to the next tournament. Just taking it game by game. So this win was a story of just us bringing back what we had at the beginning of the season. Q. A'dia, what are you guys going to do to give Alli Smalley a tough time after she had such a big game yesterday? A'DIA MATHIES: We just had to stay with her everywhere she went. Whether switching out, chasing over, just being aggressive with her. Just keeping the ball out of her hands as much as we could. We knew if we could do that, it make other people score points and then we had an even better chance of beating them. So we just tried to play aggressive and stay on her all night. Q. How important was it for you to get a win and get over those last two losses and refocus? COACH MITCHELL: Well, I think for our team's mindset, clearly you don't want to experience any kind of losing streak. But after you've created so much positive momentum -- and we really have not had a rough patch all season. We have not had a losing streak all year. We bounced back from every loss with a win. So we're concerned about their mindset, especially just the way that we played at Auburn. It was not a good indication of what they're capable of doing. So I just thought it so important today, not only because we have a chance to compete for this championship, which we have so much respect for, but just for our team to be able to get back and play with some energy and effort and sort of out play our opponent through hustle plays. That's our identity. That's what we have to do. I thought this was a huge game for us today. We needed to come out on top. I'm just thrilled that the players did. Q. There was a point in the first half where you called a timeout. I think you said something to the effect that, You're giving it to them on the defensive end. How did you see them respond from that? COACH MITCHELL: They did much better. When the ball would go in the post, we were turning around and just standing and watching that. Auburn was doing a great job of just cutting us to the lane. We were losing a good relationship with the ball. It was just a fundamental breakdown. Our team has to play fundamentally sound. We aren't going to make spectacular plays. We're going to try to wear you out by just being in the right place at the right time all night long. That's what we need to do. So they were getting a lot of easy looks. You cannot give Auburn a lot of easy looks or they'll make you pay. So I thought they adjusted well. I thought that A'dia and Victoria there in the last seven minutes of the first half, we went from five down to seven up. I just thought both of those players sitting up here now made some tremendous plays. Defensively, they're both so strong. We have a chance when they're really locked in and doing a good job on the defensive end. Q. A'dia, I was wondering about your first experience here. Did you know they were going to say, 'freshman of the year'? A'DIA MATHIES: I didn't know what to expect. Actually, I didn't know they was going say it. I was just waiting for the 5'9" freshman from Louisville, Kentucky. When they said that, it put a smile on my face, though. I think it helped us all out, you know, in the tournament and being aggressive out there playing today. COACH MITCHELL: We didn't know they were going to say it because they never said it before. We didn't have any idea about that one. They never said that before, so we just didn't know (laughter). Q. Can you talk about Victoria's performance today, especially coming off the loss at Auburn. COACH MITCHELL: I did a poor job with Victoria last Sunday just when I got upset with her and down on her. So I didn't help her last Sunday when she was struggling mightily. I just told her today before she went to the center circle, to tip, she didn't need to get down on herself, I was not going to get down on her, and I was going to be there encouraging her as much as I could. She played like a Player of the Year in a very, very important time for our basketball team. And so it was not Sunday. I just told her. She didn't score four today. She did a great, great job. I'm really, really proud. As I said many times about both these players, extremely fortunate to coach both Vic and A'dia. Q. Coach talks about the identity and the hustle play. How much of his personality carries over into how you play? VICTORIA DUNLAP: It carries over a lot. We have a lot of energy with practice and just him as a person. And just the feeling I just get. He just gives out a lot energy and stuff, and he just passes it along. It's kind of hard not to get along with him. He just gives so much energy, so you want to be energetic too just to have fun. So it's great. A'DIA MATHIES: His energy does rub off on us. He's very enthusiastic. It's what he expects of us. He expects us to play our best. That's what we try to do. Q. What are the plans for watching the game that determines tomorrow's opponent? VICTORIA DUNLAP: I think the coach is going to watch the game. We're not going to worry about that until tomorrow until the coaches get that settled in. We're going to go back to the hotel and rest. COACH MITCHELL: Sleep. VICTORIA DUNLAP: Not just to rest, but to sleep. First we'll get food and then sleep. I'm pretty sure the coaches got that covered, so we're good. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. End of FastScripts |
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