Murray State University Athletics
Weekly Press Conference
1/19/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Quotes from head coach Joi Williams during the weekly women's basketball press conference on Jan. 19 at Pagliai's restaurant in preparation for the Lady Racers' Ohio Valley Conference games this week against Tennessee-Martin on Tuesday at the Regional Special Events Center in Murray, and at Tennessee State on Saturday in Nashville.
Opening statement:
"We beat a pretty good Samford team last Thursday, and we knew they had a lot of weapons. They tried to do a lot of the same things their men do with the Princeton-style, motion offense. For the most part, especially in the second half, our kids did a lot better job of defending those back screens. I'm real pleased with that team win. We came from behind, and we battled the whole game. I was very happy and very pleased to see that. We got some good play from Stacy Holmes, and she played very aggressively."
"Saturday (against Jacksonville State) was very disappointing. We had control of the game at the end, but we just let it get away. We had one possession where we gave up three offensive rebounds. We also had the final possession on defense where we didn't match up in transition and gave up the go-ahead basket. There were just some things that were very critical that kept us from pulling out the win, and it's very disappointing. Our kids played hard again, but we've got to learn from those things."
"As we head into tomorrow against Tennessee-Martin, our kids worked hard again in practice yesterday, and I don't have any criticism of their effort. My concern is that we learn from our mistakes. We have learned from some of the mistakes, and we've improved in those areas. But, in some areas, we haven't improved from the mistakes and that's a concern for me."
On whether it's encouraging or discouraging the way the team is losing so many close games:
"I think there's a lot of good in it because in our last three losses, we've lost by a total of just six points. As we've watched the film, our kids have seen that it's not really anything our opponents are doing to beat us. The things that have beaten us are things that we're doing to ourselves. The biggest difference for this team is that they're just not used to winning close games. The team's that we're playing have more experience at winning at the end of a game, and they believe they'll win. That's the discouraging part for me because that just takes time to fix. I wish I could change their mindset and their confidence level right now, but I can't do that overnight. I'd like to hope that it'll be fixed this season and that we'll be heading to the OVC Tournament, but it's a day-to-day process."
On Tuesday's opponent, Tennessee-Martin:
"Tennessee-Martin is a team that's very scrappy. We probably match up as well with them as we do anybody in the conference, in terms of athleticism. They're a team though that knows how to play the game. They work very, very hard, and they're not going to quit. They will not stop fighting from start to finish. I think they return three starters, and all of those kids are very experienced. It'll be a battle. They've got some kids that can shoot it. We've got a big test tomorrow night, but every game in the OVC is big for us. It's a matter of us going out and being aggressive and doing the things we need to do defensively to win."
On the play of junior guard Brittany Park:
"Brittany is a kid that's very heady. She knows the game of basketball, and she grew up in Indiana. They live and eat and drink basketball up there. She is a person that we desperately need to play well for us to be successful. I'm not very pleased with some her decisions in the JSU game, but it's not a matter of her being selfish. It's all about her wanting to win so badly and sometimes she just tries to do a little too much. Overall, I've been pleased with her effort. She's shown that she can do several things besides spot up and shoot, though that is her biggest strength. She's very versatile. She went inside and posted up in the second half of the Samford game. That was something we felt like Samford would have a problem with because of the matchups. Then on Saturday night, she played a lot of point guard. Brittany can play pretty much every position, and I've asked her to do a lot and I'll continue to do that."
On the play of freshman guard Ashley Hayes:
"Ashley is coming along really well. The transition from high school to college has been tough for her at times, as it is for most players, but Ashley comes from a very successful high school program in Kokomo, Indiana. She really knows how to play. She has gotten a lot more confident as the season has gone on. She can really shot the ball and if there's one player that I'd want to get the ball to for a last-second shot, it's Ashley Hayes. She's a freshman, and I'm going to live with her mistakes down the stretch. I'll take those mistakes as long as she learns from them. I'm really pleased with her, and we're going to continue to help her develop."
On whether she believes the team's rebounding has improved over the last two games:
"We've gotten a little bit better. We outrebounded Jacksonville State, but that's a little deceptive because over the last three minutes or so of the game, we gave up about five offensive boards. That doesn't show up in the stat sheet. It just shows up that we still outrebounded them, but the key is when we gave up those offensive rebounds. We had a lot of offensive rebounds ourselves, but we didn't convert them into points. That's the other problem because when you get offensive boards, you have to be tough and strong and go back up. We need to either score, or we need to get to the free throw line and get something out of it. Again, I'm pleased with our effort, but we got to get better at the crucial points in the game."
On the addition of Vanderbilt transfer Rachel Brockman to the Lady Racers' program:
"She's going to be a tremendous help for us. When I think about our signees, I just smile. She is going to be a great help to our post players. She'll be a great help to all of our kids because of her attitude. She has a whole different type of attitude. It's not cocky or anything, but it is confident. She's used to winning, and she came here to win. She lets that be known in the lockerroom. Obviously, she's not playing yet, but she'll be a tremendous help just in practice. If our kids can go up against her and learn to defend her and play against her, then they can pretty much defend anybody in this conference."
On Saturday's opponent, Tennessee State:
"Tennessee State has struggled, but they really scare me because they're so athletic. We have struggled at times with kids that attack the offensive glass. If they have a night where they're hitting their shots, we could certainly be in trouble. It boils down to us doing the things fundamentally that we need to do, especially rebounding. They press a lot and play defense, and we've not handled pressure in some situations very well. They frighten me."
