University of Kentucky Post Game Quotes
University of Kentucky Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
(Opening Statement) “We were extremely happy to win that game. I thought our players really
fought through some adversity during the game and that was caused by a fine Liberty team. I
couldn’t be more impressed with how they played and how hard their kids competed today. We
definitely have a lot of respect for Liberty. Their coaching staff did a great job of getting them
prepared and I thought they played a fantastic game. I’m proud of our team for beating a very
good team today. That was a good basketball game. We didn’t always have things going our way,
but to the players credit they were able to get it turned around and did some really good things.
We’re thrilled with the win and excited to be advancing to the second round.”
(On A’dia’s game) “I definitely think there were varying degrees of nervousness. I wouldn’t begin
to tell you I know exactly what A’dia was thinking or feeling. I think that she handles it a little
better than a lot of people do. I just think she has that ability. She sort of has that quiet confidence
about her self. She cares so much for her teammates. I think she understands how valuable she
is. Great players can sense when they need to raise their level. She really kept us in it there. It is
remarkable to see a freshman with all the potential pitfalls she could have fallen into. Being back
at home, being a freshman, and playing in her first NCAA Tournament game; you could find all
sorts of things that could’ve thrown her off, but they didn’t. I’ve said this a bunch of times, but I’m
glad she’s wearing a Kentucky uniform.”
(On rebounding) “I was disappointed in the rebounding. It is something that you’re trying to get
prepared for going into the game. That was an area of strength for them. It’s been at times for us
an Achilles heel of sorts, and then we’ve had some performances when we were able to rebound.
I’m disappointed that we didn’t do a better job, but I’m telling you that these kids are human
beings. They are not machines that you can just turn on. There was a lot going on out there
today. I told them I didn’t know what to expect. I thought that we looked like we hadn’t played in a
while. We showed some rust and some nervousness. Early on, the way they were crashing the
boards, that’s a team from our standpoint who is not in tune and not doing what they needed to
be doing. I think that means they were a little distracted with the situation. Hopefully we will get
over that and do better. I thought Liberty just came to the boards all day long. They’ve done it all
year and they are the best in the country statistically. It’s not a huge surprise that they had a good
day rebounding.”
(On Keyla Snowden and her confidence) “I appreciate her honesty because this is a big stage for
her to be on. It is refreshing to me that she can admit to being nervous. That is something that
you can move forward from. It shows that she worked herself through that. I was talking with a
good friend of mine who is a coach and has been in a lot of tournaments. It’s funny because this
particular coach was talking about what a weapon Keyla could be. It would take her two or three
shots to really impact the game. I thought that was a big key to our team today. She was trying to
stay positive and I could tell that she was nervous. I just tried to help her stay settled down and
not crawl all over her or get on her real bad. I just told her she could do it. Those three pointers
were huge that she made. It just takes her one generally to go down to get her going.”
(On nerves before the game) “I wasn’t real nervous. I just had a really high level of anticipation
and curiosity, wondering how we would react. I’m trying to do everything I can to keep them
loose. That’s what I thought this team needed to do to go in and not feel the pressure. Maybe that
was okay. I’m not going to sit up here and tell you I knew exactly what was going to happen. I
was ready to get out there. I was very excited to see the crowd. That means a lot to me and
reminded me how fortunate I am to be able to coach at Kentucky. When I walk down that tunnel
and I heard the crowd when our team hit the floor, it was an amazing feeling. Once we got out
there it was a battle. I have a lot of respect for Liberty. It was not that much different from my
perspective from any other big game we go into play.”
(On attacking the basket and getting to the free throw line) “We were real concerned at halftime
that Liberty was more aggressive. A lot of that had to do with offensive aggressiveness and
driving to the basket. I thought we were standing around in the first half. We talked about some
things defensively, but offensively we wanted to see if we could get ball reversal. That means that
we were running our stuff and trying to execute. At some point people were going to have to start
going the basket and A’dia and (Lydia) Watkins did it. Everybody got into the act. I agree with
Carey (Green), I think that was a big key for us being able to get the lead. We were able to drive
and get to the line and stretch the lead a couple of times. I think that was an important turnaround
for us in the second half.”
(On swarming second half defense) “Today was a little bit different for us because I thought we
were inconsistent with our pressure. You could see when we went down early in the game; we
really had a stretch there that was pretty impressive. We got several turnovers. Then we had
another stretch I think at the end of the half. I was disappointed that we didn’t sustain that. We are
going to have to play a little more consistently defensively. That was a pretty good question. We
look to see that on Monday because that is our identity. We need to be able to create some
havoc for the other team. We need to be able to pressure them to speed them up and create
turnovers. That is definitely part of the plan going in. We need to do that a little bit better. I didn’t
think Amber Smith, with her ball pressure, had one of her best days. I don’t know if that was
because of the long layoff or what, but I’d expect that she plays better Monday.”
(On getting first NCAA win under his belt) “I thought it was a great result for us no matter how it
happened. We could have lost that game. There is no question that Liberty was good enough to
beat us today. I’m not sure that they are a 13 seed. I think that is a good basketball team. We
just found a way to step up and survive and advance. That old adage holds true. I’m going to try
to do what I can to put this one behind us and get ready for the next 40 minutes; the only 40 that
is guaranteed to us. I’m really happy to win this game today and extremely proud of the players. I
think for us, we hear so many times how great of a team we’ve had and how great we’ve been
and how special we are. One of the things you worry about is them saying ‘We’ve done enough.’
They did not do that today. They could have said we’ve done enough and we’re not going to rally
here and come together and win. A lot of credit to the players. I’m happy for them that they were
able to find a way to win.”
Freshman Guard A’dia Mathies
(On how it felt to play in her first NCAA Tournament)
“I didn’t know what to expect. Some of my shots were falling in the first half. That gave me a
boost in confidence and helped get our team on a roll. We were being aggressive and I think
that’s what helped us get the win tonight.”
(On her first game back home in Louisville) “It means a lot to be able to play another game for
Kentucky in front of all the fans, friends, and family. I think this will give us a boost in confidence,
especially since none of us have been here before. This will really help us out in the long run. I
didn’t know what to expect so I just went out there and played. I heard somebody yell my name
when we were warming up. I didn’t want to look in the stands, but I took a quick glance. It was
one of my best friend’s mom. There were quite a few people out there and I’m glad they came to
support us.”
Sophomore Guard Kelya Snowden
(On her game today) “I have to give a lot of credit to my teammates because they found me when
I was open. I know a lot of them were saying that they weren’t nervous but I think that kind of
affected me in the first half. My teammates stayed with me and my coaches encouraged me and
that helped me loosen up and get going in the second half.”
Junior Forward Victoria Dunlap
(On being nervous early in the game) “In the beginning we weren’t playing Kentucky basketball. It
looked like we hadn’t played basketball in a long time the way we were running around, not
making shots, and missing lay-ups. I think we got into ourselves and told ourselves we needed to
get it together. The coaches were telling us to stay positive and not get down on ourselves. I don’t
think we were nervous. I just think as a team we weren’t there mentally. A’dia was scoring for us
early. I don’t really know how to explain it but we just weren’t ourselves.”
(On A’dia Mathies play)
“She helped out a lot. She has the ability to score outside, inside, she can get the basket. It’s just
the type of player she is. She wasn’t going to let anybody stop her.”’
(On the teams defense in the first half) “I can’t think of anything specific that he said. He was
really talking about rebounding because they were killing us on the boards. He kept saying that
we needed to box out and keep them off the offensive glass. We needed to keep them from
penetrating to the basket. That helped us get our mentality where it needed to be on the
defensive end.”
Liberty
Head Coach Carey Green
(Opening Statement)
“First of all we would like to congratulate the University of Kentucky and the lady
wildcats. They had a great season and we want to wish them the very best on into the
tournament. As far as our team goes I couldn’t be more proud than I am now of this
team. One of the objectives we try to do every time we come out is to honor God and
glorify him with our efforts and our intensity. We feel like that is a strength that the
University of Kentucky has, they show a lot of intensity, a lot of effort, and brought a lot
of energy. I thought that we matched that this afternoon and I’m very pleased with the
effort. We hung in there and had an opportunity to win, and I’m proud of each one of
these young ladies.”
(On the play of A’dia Mathies)
“She is a very explosive and determined player. I think the people in this area have seen
throughout her high school year. She goes into her first year of the SEC Conference and
gets awarded with the Freshmen of the Year. She does a great job of attacking the basket
and getting to the free throw line, I think that was the difference of the game. The free
throw line was the determining factor of the game and Mathies definitely got to the free
throw line.”
(Early run that UK went on in the first half)
“This team has been growing, developing, and maturing all year long. About half way
through the season I just shared with them where my heart was and that was that they
were an immature team and they needed to start growing up. Then about two-thirds
through the season they started becoming more mature, but they are still not there yet but
the team certainly has improved. When the run came I called a timeout and they just
needed some help. That’s what I think a good coach would do, sometimes I question
myself because I’m too stubborn and don’t call a timeout, and that’s my problem it’s not
the players problem. I need to give in and call that time out so we can refocus and get the
girls on the same page and not hit the panic button. I thought that they responded very
well. This game was a game of runs and we jumped out pretty well and they came back
and we fought for the remainder of the first half. Then during the second half the game
started to slip out of our hands a little bit, but w still had an opportunity. This team wants
to be successful and we want to honor and glorify God with our efforts, and good things
are going to happen when you do that. God bless is hard work period.”
(Pace of the game)
“I got a lot of confidence in my team. I think we can play different speeds; we are just
not one particular team. I think we got some speed too, we just might not show it all of
the time. As a coach I want more structure and discipline in my offense and defense, my
team is flexible enough to change to the pace of the game. I think we were confident, I
think we were loose; Liberty is going to play with freedom in Freedom Hall and we
played that way. We just didn’t get the job done; once again the Lady Wildcats did an
exceptional job at getting to the free throw line. I mean we get more shots, we out
rebounded them; we had more points in the paint, more second chance points, and my
bench outscored them. So there were a lot of positives things that I’m going to take from
this game. We got beat, but a few breaks and we are right there in the game. “
Senior Forward Avery Warley
(Was the pace what you expected?) “We hadn’t played at that pace all season but we were definitely
prepared and knew that they liked to pressure teams, get turnovers and create easy baskets. We definitely
knew that coming in. I feel that we got back and played some good defense but they just hit shots. (What
did you think of A’Dia Mathies, she had a career high 32 points?) “She is a very good, all-around player.
She can do it all. She is an all-around player and just got off tonight.” (What was going through your mind
when UK went on their second half run?) “We knew coming in that they like to pressure and create
turnovers, so we had to stay together and play Liberty basketball. We had to just overcome those obstacles
and play the game. Just like they went on runs, we went on runs and the game has its ups and downs. You
have just got to be a greater player and move on to the next play.”
Red-shirt Freshman Guard Devon Brown
(What broke down in the second half to give UK good looks?) “We left their go-to shooter open. She
knocked them down. We came back strong on defense and tried to defend it but she just got the open
shots.” (What did you think of A’Dia Mathies, she had a career high 32 points?) “She is a good player. She
can shoot it and attack the basket. I have to take my hat off to her. She is a good player.” (What was going
through your mind when UK went on their second half run?) “Stuff like that happens; they are going to go
on runs. We just hope to be able to adjust to that and I think we did a good job adjusting to coming back in
15 seconds.”
Sophomore Forward Kylee Beecher
(What did you think of A’Dia Mathies, she had a career high 32 points?) “We knew coming in that she
would be a threat. She is definitely a good freshman and has a big career in front of her.” (What was going
through your mind when UK went on their second half run?) “We had to stay in a great mindset. We had to
stay in a “don’t get down, just keep pushing manage your emotions and go to the next play” mindset.
That’s what we have been really focusing on the whole year. It’s just something we really had to put into
effect during that point in the game.”