NO. 10 KENTUCKY VS. NO. 5 SOUTH CAROLINA
SUNDAY, JANUARY 10, 2021
MEMORIAL COLISEUM – LEXINGTON, KY.
No. 10 Rhyne Howard, G, Jr.
On the difference between the first half and the second half…
“They definitely just outplayed us. You know, we stopped playing defense, we stopped playing Kentucky defense like we did in the first half, and they just kept driving it down our throats, and we couldn’t stop it.”
On how Aliyah Boston has progressed since last season…
“She definitely came out looking to play smarter because she did pick up two quick fouls in the first half, so she just continued to be a big body down there, which they need, and just, and I heard her telling her teammates a lot of stuff, so she was being a leader on the floor, so, I didn’t hear that last year from her.”
On beginning the conference season playing all of the ranked teams…
“Um, we learned that we can definitely compete with these teams. But, the margin of error, day-in and day-out, is very small, so we have to make sure that we’re on top of things, and we have to make sure that we’re on the same page in order to get the wins that we need.”
On struggling from the 3-point line the last few games…
“Um, I don’t think that there is anything wrong. I think they’re just not falling. We do get a look of good looks, and we take a lot of 3s throughout the game. So, they’ll start falling, I guess we’re just in a slump right now.”
On losing back-to-back games and how the team will handle it going forward…
“We’re definitely going to come together and bounce back. We’re not going to dwell on it too long. We’re going to go over the mistakes that we made and how we can improve on them, but we’re going to go over what we did right so we can continue to do it right, so we’ll be back next game.”
On if you’re the best player in women’s college basketball…
“Uh, personally, I do think I am the best in women’s college basketball and I also think that I have proven it to everyone over these last couple of games.”
Head Coach Kyra Elzy
On beginning the conference season playing all of the ranked teams…
“Well, I love the resilience of this team. We play together. We are tough. We have heart. What I told the players, you know, our margin of error is just so small. So, for three-and-a-half quarters against South Carolina tonight, against A&M, we played high caliber basketball. However, the small mental lapses cost us, and great teams expose you, so in order for us to take that next level, we have to be able to play for 40 minutes.”
On the positives from the game that will help you down the road…
“Well, the positives that we can takeaway, you know, we came here to win. We talked about that pregame. We were not going to play afraid. We were not going to play aggressive. Majority of the game, we did do that. Rhyne Howard continued to show why she is the best player, but you know, I like what we did offensively. We pushed the tempo. We played out of the ball screen extremely well. Rhyne hit some shots, but I thought we kept our offensive moving. We executed our offense a lot better today than we did at A&M, which is a positive. You know, even our one-on-one defense early, I thought we did some good things, forced them to take some tough shots. So, what we can take away from this, we are a very talented team. We have the pieces, we have a chance to really take this team to the next level. There are small things that we have to fix.”
On if it puts pressure on Rhyne Howard when other players aren’t making shots…
“Well, that’s the thing about having depth. So, Rhyne Howard, who obviously was scoring, but Dre’una Edwards who has not been playing well, I thought she came in and made some big plays. So, we have people that can score. So, I’m not worried about our scoring. We have playmakers on the floor, and it might be different people every game, and that is ok. Right now, I am more disappointed in our transition defense. We really didn’t step up as a guard unite, get the ball stopped, but once again, we are a work in progress and we have to go back to work. Unfortunately, it cost us tonight, along with offensive rebounds, but this is how you grow. You continue to learn, grow, get better and move forward.”
On if you’re disappointed no charges were taken…
“Well, of course we’re disappointed, we didn’t get the stops on the end. Like I said, South Carolina, a great team, our margin of error is so small, so the defensive fundamentals, one-on-one defense, building a wall when we help over, we have to take the charge instead of trying to block the shot, help the helper, but we’ll continue to get better. But make no mistake about it. We came here with the intensity that we needed, and we did fight. We don’t believe in moral victories. We have the intention, every time we take the floor, to win. But there are things that we have to do consistently for 40 minutes, and one of those things in transition defense and boxing out.”
On having someone like Rhyne Howard and how well the transfers are doing…
“I mean, it’s great to have Rhyne Howard. A lot of coaches would love to have Rhyne Howard. Um, she is a bucket getter, however, I will say this again, she can fill up a stat sheet. So, she does score, but she can rebound, she got down and played defense tonight, and her ability to create shots for others, I want to make sure people don’t miss that. And then, our transfers have been huge for us. Robyn Benton didn’t necessarily shoot the ball well tonight, but she came hard defensively, she came up with some steals, she will go get you some rebounds. Jazmine Massengill is another athletic guard that is big, a high basketball IQ, she hit some crucial buckets for us today as well. Olivia Owens, they just give us depth, so she is willing to come in, bang, get offensive rebounds, gives us some size in the post, so we’re going to need all three of those to help take us where we’re trying to go.”
On Dre’una Edwards’ improvement tonight…
“Well, she came in and watched film. Dre was pressing. She was trying to play extremely fast offensively, so she had the turnovers, and then it became mental, so she went back to the fundamentals, went back to the practice court, worked on her shots, slowing down, but majority of it is just mental, knowing that she can score when she needs to. But, we just try to bring her off the bench today, take the focus off just scoring every time the ball touches her hands, so we talked to her about going to get offensive rebounds, playing as hard as she can play, and allow herself to score within the offense and she did that tonight.”
On if the last possession was scripted…
“Well, we actually were going to go for a quick two. However,, you know, I trust Rhyne. She has great instincts and play off of it. If she’s open, I give her the freedom to make that read take that shot, and we can live with that shot.”