Post Game Quotes
12/3/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 3, 2012
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Tennessee-Martin Head Coach Kevin McMillan
On what was the difference in those last few minutes...
"If I'm looking at a stat sheet, I think Morgan Eye is going to want to come play us every other game. I told the girls at halftime that you would think that we hadn't even watched her on film, because she just sat out there and shot it and shot it and shot it. I thought there was a stretch right there, and I'll have to go back and look at it on film, but exactly what you are talking about with about five minutes to go. To be honest our two guards had about four chances to put the game, tip it on our side, and they didn't. Not only did they not on the offensive end, but on the defensive end they were the ones who broke down and gave up the threes. I told our staff we can't do anything better than to get the game to about five, four minutes to go and put it in those kids' hands - I mean that's the only way we can beat people because they are so hard to guard. They didn't do it and Missouri's kids did do it and that was the difference in the game. We kind of fought back again and got it back interesting with about two or three to go and it's down to three again and then, shockingly enough, those two made two more mistakes. That's all that we could ask of our kids but I thought that Missouri made the plays and we didn't. I don't think we handed it to them, I think they took it, which you take a little solace in that but not much"
On could you do anything about the night that Morgan Eye had tonight...
"Well, yeah the things that I told them to do we still haven't done. I told them just trail her; wherever she goes, follow her around screens and she will have to put it on the floor and she won't shoot the three and we have gone under every screen still and she is so smart. I mean she is a great shooter; she knows that as soon as anyone goes under the screen she is going to stop and she is going to be open and I just sat there and watched in disbelief as we went under, and we went under, and we went under and she shot and she shot and she shot. I thought eventually I was like, ok now, let's assume that we didn't tell you anything wouldn't you do something different and I got a dead look from everybody and so I thought she was fixed to shoot four more and she did. That's the only thing you can do is follow behind her and make her go to the rim and that's all because she is such a great shooter and they do a good job of getting her open. We definitely didn't get her off the three point line"
On finishing off the game strong tonight...
"I thought that in the last two-and-a-half minutes, we talked a lot about playing to win not to lose and finishing out the game strong. I thought we did that. That's something we weren't able to do in Cancun so I certainly think it shows some growth within our team"
On considering tonight's win a statement win for the team...
"I don't think it's a statement win but I think it is a great win for us. I think when you look in the growth of our team from a month ago to now, there are a lot of positives. Tennessee-Martin is much better than what their record shows. They've played an unbelievably tough schedule. We knew it was going to be a battle tonight. We talked before the game you know what our goals are and the importance of tonight's game. So it just felt like it was another great team win. Certainly a lot of areas we can get better at but I'm seeing a lot of improvement"
On how much of a focus was placed on stopping UT Martin's Jasmine Newsome...
"They've got a couple really talented guards, there is no doubt about it. Just to see how much they've improved from two years ago, it speaks volumes about their staff and those players and their work ethic. I think you know that their personnel is a hard guard for us. They've got a couple of kids, that although they don't get as many shots, they are able to knock down open shots and open looks so you really have to be assignment correct on personnel and rotations."
On seeing things in the UT-Martin program that she would maybe like to implement in the Mizzou program...
"I'll be honest with you, I mean we watch a lot of film but I know nothing about the inside of their program. So I mean from a win-loss standpoint they are doing a tremendous job there."
On putting in Kyley Simmons and Lianna Doty in together during the second half...
"I think we have been doing that quite a bit. I think from a defensive standpoint, obviously I think that makes us a stronger defensively and looking to score a little bit more in that two-spot more offensively. But I think we talked about this a lot; we cannot be a team that gets caught up in that line up. We can't get caught up in rotations. In any given night everyone has got to be ready."
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On her great shooting night...
"My teammates kept encouraging me to keep shooting the ball, and I said `Okay, sounds good.' They just kept feeding me and I kept driving it and had some really good open looks. It was a great team effort."
On Tennessee-Martin's trouble guarding her through screens...
"Coach talked a lot about how we need to look to get our teammates open, and tonight my teammates were really working to screen me. Coach has said that people are going to keep chasing me more, so I've got to try to keep reading the defenses better every game."
On getting in a rhythm early on in the game...
"Once they start falling, there's no hesitation and that's how I felt all night tonight."
On breaking the single-game scoring record...
"I'm from a small town, and news travels really fast in a small town. My aunt had been texting my mom, so I actually did know that I had broken it. I've actually been trying to been fight for the line a lot more. Coach has been trying to get me to do that a lot in practice. When you're in a rhythm you don't really hesitate, you just lock on that target and shoot."
Freshman Lianna Doty
On her aggressiveness and attacking the rim more...
"Coach definitely talked about getting out there and running the floor in transition. We try to set that tone early on in the game. Whenever you're getting to the basket, Kyley talked about how she had her choice of whichever shooter she wanted. We try to get teams falling back on our heels because we know we have great shooters."
On taking more open looks in the game...
"I'm in the gym a lot taking the three-point shots. Coach has been on me when I'm in on the two-guard, and even on the one-guard, to work on taking the open shot. It's been something I've been working on a lot in practice."
On the Tigers' passing...
"We're going to go up against a lot of teams like that. We're going to play over in the passing lanes, but we're going to get better at it as the season goes along. We need to get better at looking those passes off. It was a really good experience for us going out against a team like that."
