#21 KENTUCKY VS. #15 GEORGIA
THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 2022
MEMORIAL COLISEUM – LEXINGTON, KY.
KENTUCKY HEAD COACH KYRA ELZY
KENTUCKY HEAD COACH KYRA ELZY
On what Rhyne Howard did in the closing moments…
“I’m just so proud of this team overall. I thought they brought the intensity, the energy and effort, and they did it together. Rhyne [Howard] had some big buckets down the stretch, but let’s not leave out Dre’una who carried us a lot of the night, and Jada Walker, who was fearless. But Jasmine Massengill, she was the coach on the floor. I thought her intensity and her basketball IQ helped us get this one tonight.”
On the late-game situation tonight compared to their tilt at Louisville…
“I thought we were more composed. We were very clear on what we were looking for. Like I said, Jasmine Massengill was the coach on the floor. I thought we played more patient, made Georgia work defensively, and we didn’t settle for quick shots down the stretch which helped us.”
On Massengill scoring seven points in the first quarter, as opposed to her pass-first style…
“Yeah, I like that she was aggressive. We needed her to step up. I thought that made Georgia play honest defensively, so they started rotating. We started kicking out for some open shots. I mentioned Jazmine Massengil, but Jada Walker. Every time we’ve asked her to start, man, has she answered the call. I thought she played fearless, hard defensively, but she stepped up and made some big shots.”
On settling in defensively after Georgia started well, making their first four attempts…
“Early, I thought we missed those defensive assignments, but we adjusted, and we talked about having to stay the course. They were going to make some runs, we were going to have to make some adjustments, which we did. One of the things that I liked, our press, I thought we forced some turnovers, and even when we didn’t trap out of it, we forced Georgia to start their offense with 18 Seconds or Less and that’s what we wanted.”
On what earning a win tonight, despite outstanding circumstances, means heading into Sunday’s matchup at South Carolina…
“We talked about this team being resilient all year long. We talked about being able to control the things that we could control, and that was our energy, our attitude, our effort. They were hungry, they were excited to play, and overall, I thought our whole team stepped up and they were locked in.”
On the team’s defense on Georgia center Jenna Staiti…
“I thought Dre’una really tried to stick to the game plan. Push her out. Give credit to Staiti. She is a handful. I promise I look back to the coaching staff, every time she touched the ball, I wanted to bring all five players to her, because I felt like she scored every time she touched it. But she’s very skilled. She’s one of the best in this league for a reason. I thought we gave a solid effort. Obviously we’ll go back and evaluate the tape and see where we can improve. But, yeah, she’s a handful.”
On what the team did to win, despite statistical disparities in the box score…
“In the fourth, I thought we pushed in transition offense. I thought we got some easy scoring opportunities. I thought when we had to buckle down, we got some defensive stops and some big rebounds, key rebounds, even though they outrebounded us, I thought we got some key rebounds at crucial points in time. But, overall, I liked the effort. I liked the energy. Obviously, we’ll go back and watch the film. There’s always room to improve. But we celebrated this one in Memorial, it was only us. So, we had our own party at Memorial Coliseum, and I’m sure Big Blue Nation cheered us on from home.”
KENTUCKY STUDENT-ATHLETES
#10 Rhyne Howard, Sr., G
On how big finishing the game was despite its challenges…
“It was super big for us. Our first SEC game like he said, our first game back in a couple of weeks. So, for us to come out and make a statement like this, and be able to fight and be able to hold our own is just big for us and I’m just so proud of everyone and how we’ve battled back from all the adversity that we’ve been facing.”
On her free throws late in the game to push Kentucky’s lead…
“It was just about stepping up and being able to finish out the game and continuing to go hard so that my teammates will follow behind me. I have to be able to make those 50/50 plays like tying the ball up or the hustle plays, because those are things that don’t go on the stat sheet. So, making those is just as big as you know, hitting the game winner or making free throws like he said.”
On how her and Jada Walker complement each other…
“I’ll be like Jada, go get a bucket right quick,” because she’s so fast. It’s like, you blink, and she’s gone. She’s at the basket scoring. So, I find her, she finds me. I just have to be on the same pace as her and just make sure I’m sprinting and being available for her as she needs to be for me.”
On if she feels there has been a mentality switch in regard to not having as much pressure…
“The 30 tonight is just what was coming to me. Obviously, I went to go get some of those buckets, but the game really came to me. My teammates found me, like Dre and all the post players set really good screens. So, it was just about staying in rhythm and just making it easy. Work smarter, not harder.”
GEORGIA HEAD COACH JONI TAYLOR
On her team’s defense …
“Extremely disappointed in it. We gave up 84 points. You can’t give up 84 points in this league to a good team. Rhyne Howard is obviously who Rhyne Howard is. I just didn’t think we did a really good job of getting stops, take her out of it. She’s capable of going for 30 and us still getting the win. We just weren’t very disciplined, we weren’t very sound and we’ve got some experienced players making mistakes that they should not be making at this point.”
On Jordan Isaacs …
“I think she came down on somebody else’s foot and rolled her ankle. It is her ankle. I have not gotten an update since the game ended.”
On Kentucky’s zone press …
“A couple of times, we threw it up and we waited on the ball to come to us instead of running through the pass. They were soft passes, so you’ve got a soft pass and the person who’s meeting the pass doesn’t go meet the pass and that’s a problem. Then, I think when we did beat it, we just exhaled instead of attacking. Once we beat their press, we’ve got to attack and put some pressure on them and we didn’t do a very good job of that tonight.”
On Jenna Staiti …
“Obviously, Kentucky is very good. They’re used to playing undersized, so it’s not new to them. We wanted to try to get the ball inside to Jenna. We would have done that no matter who we were playing. But we did know that we had a distinct size advantage. I thought for her, this being her first game back, she came in and she did what she does.”
On the environment …
“The first thing I’ll say is, I hope people not being here means that they’re home and they’re safe. The weather was pretty bad today, so I hope everybody is safe. The second thing is, we’ve got to create our own energy. Just like when we go play in front of 10,000 (fans), we’ve got to drown out the noise and hone in. We have an experienced team, we have a mature team. Not having anybody in this gym is not going to be a reason why we don’t do what we’re supposed to do. That is a bail-out that I’m not going to give them.”