Kentucky Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
Opening statement…
“Well, it’s a big game for us this Sunday against a very good Mississippi State team. They’re playing well and have done well so far through their portion of the conference schedule. So, a very aggressive team, very talented and well-coached. It’ll be a tremendous challenge, but we’re working hard to get ready for it.”
On how Rhyne Howard is recovering from injury…
“She’s doing better. She’s doing well, and she had a great practice yesterday. She continues to improve and is still trying to work her way through it. She’s not 100 percent, but she played with tremendous effort and energy in practice, and she looked really good yesterday. So, she’ll give us everything that she has, and I thought that was a good experience for us at Arkansas on Sunday to learn what she can do and how to work around the hand brace. I thought she did a great job, so we’ll just keep plugging along the best we can and do the very best we can.”
On Chasity Patterson becoming a big part of our offense…
“Sure, yeah. I think she’s proven that she can do a number of things in the offense, so she can lead the offense and get them into plays, and she can deliver the ball to other teammates, makes some really good assists, does a good job of improving her defense. So, her scoring, you can see, when she takes a good three-point attempt, when her feet are set in offense, she’s shooting a very high percentage. She’s had to learn what’s a good one and what’s one you can pass up and get something else. I think she is learning that as well, and everybody can see how good she is with the ball, off a ball screen, the change of pace, change in direction, can create a very explosive jumper, can get to the rim, too, she also makes her free throws. So, she’s a very valuable scorer for us and continues to grow and integrate into the team, and she’s only a couple of months in. So, she is progressing really well. We absolutely have confidence in her being a top-level scorer for us.”
On what to take out of the Arkansas game…
“Well, I think you have to start with giving Arkansas a tremendous amount of credit. They just make so many plays, and there are certainly things we could’ve done better in the game, but there were a bunch of plays where we were in fairly decent position, and they made plays. They hustled, they were aggressive, and we let them separate in the third quarter. It wasn’t a total collapse by our team, but they just played better. They won that game and you have to give them credit, and learn what we can learn, and know that things that are important for Kentucky to win games are tremendous hustle, tremendous tenacity, grit, and find a way to play like that to win, and we didn’t get that done last Sunday. I give Arkansas a ton of credit, they really did a great job.”
On the bye week ahead of Mississippi State…
“Yeah, as I am sure a lot of teams are, we are really banged up right now. So, it was good to have a few days where we could try to respond, feel better, and I think the time off is beneficial. We are also able to get some good work in too, so it’s been a good week for us.”
On preparing for Mississippi State…
“Well, I think you have to start with how explosive they are, and you have to be ready to play a tough game and a mentally sharp game, because they feast on your mistakes and they create a lot of those if you’re not tough or sharp. So, to me, it’s so much about how we show up on Sunday prepared to play against a great team. Because, they’re doing such a great job of creating turnovers and turning those turnovers into points. We’ve had moments where we’ve been able to do that. So, I think that’s a really big part of the game. Can you be tough enough to take care of the ball. Can you score at what will be an extremely physical approach by Mississippi State. Can you be tough enough to play through that and to score points. They’re talented in every position. They’re really fast on the parameter, they have one of the top freshmen in the conference who is such a dynamic player, their postgame has a lot of size and athleticism there. So, they’re a complete team and playing well right now. They’re on a great roll. So, it will be a tremendous challenge for us. I think it’s really about how we show up and bring our very best preparation and focus in the game, and be really tough on Sunday.”
On Kentucky’s dynamic scoring performance this season…
“Well, it’s been certainly fun more nights than it hasn’t been, you know, when we’ve had people put the ball in the basket. So, we worked really hard leading up to the season to try and be a team that can score points. We have had a bunch of games where that has been fun to watch, and they continue to work. I think on a given night, we’re explosive and can really get going. So, it’s good to have those options. It’s good to have players working hard at it. We’ll just keep plugging along here and see if we can put our best foot forward.”