Murray State University Athletics
Felton Addresses Weekly Media Conference
12/18/2006 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Lady Racer head coach address the weekly media conference, discussing yesterday's game against Samford and the upcoming Jacksonville State contest.
Opening statement
It was a great game yesterday. We're very, very excited about the win. Somebody asked me yesterday about being 3-0 and being undefeated in the conference. We're excited about it; there's no question about that, and I don't want to take anything away from what our players have done so far, but we've got a long way to go. It's a long season, and we've got a lot more games to play. We are fortunate that we can make the mistakes that we've made and still win the basketball games and be able to learn from those mistakes.
We had a great team effort yesterday defensively. I thought we did a pretty good job of buckling down. We had some breakdowns and Samford took advantage of those, but against a team like that, you're going to have some breakdowns. The offense that they run is very disciplined.
They do a great job with that, and I think we did a pretty good job of switching our defenses up and limiting their looks at the basket, the clean looks. We gave them some open looks, and they can knock those down.
We did a good job of not fouling. That was a big concern coming in. They averaged 21 free-throw attempts a game, and to only put them on the line seven times was a small victory in itself, and we did a good job at the free-throw line ourselves. We did a good job to commit only 10 fouls, and that is something that is a credit to our defense.
I'm just really, really proud of what we've done, and hopefully, we won't have a letdown tomorrow. Jacksonville State comes in, a team that is really scary. We played Samford, and they are one style, and Jacksonville State is at the opposite end of the spectrum. They are very, very athletic on the perimeter. They have kids who can shoot the three, and they can attack the rim. It's going to be a challenge for us defensively; they have no conscience. They have four players averaging double-figures, and three of possibly the best guards in the conference that we'll see as far as athleticism. We'll have our hands full because they are a scary team. They had a seven-game losing streak, and then beat UT Martin by 15, and played a pretty decent game last night (at Southeast Missouri). I don't know how much defense was played. It was a 90-83 ball game, so there were a lot of points scored, so they can put points up. Our defense has to come tomorrow night, or we'll be in trouble.
Talk about the biggest upside of your recent success.
We've got quite a few areas to improve on. We did a better job of taking care of the ball yesterday. Our turnovers were a big concern; in our first two conference games, we averaged 22.5 turnovers a game. We had seven yesterday, and two of those came in the last three minutes when we had that letdown. Our rebounding: we've got to continue to get better on the boards. We had some breakdowns there, and with this game tomorrow and the upcoming games after the break, we face some good rebounding teams, so we've got to get better at that. We continue to try to get better and execute our offense.
We can talk about every area, but the positive thing is that our kids are gaining more confidence as we go, and I think that's really important, to play with confidence. Right now, we're making mistakes, but they're making up for it. They're playing with a lot of poise. The players who have experience are really showing that experience, so that's the positive side of it all.
The way the team has reacted in its previous OVC games shows that they are paying attention to what you're working on.
I wonder sometimes if they're listening to me (laughs), but I guess they do sometimes. We have to get their attention sometimes without talking, so to speak. They did respond, and they know that's the one thing that has been good, is that they are paying attention and they realize that we've got to get better at taking care of the ball, because those turnovers (at Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State) were unforced, which is a good thing, because we can take care of that. It wasn't anything that Eastern Kentucky or Morehead did; we just didn't do a good job with traveling calls, things like that. They did a better job of taking care of the ball. And, with the rebounding, we did respond after that game. That's good to see, and I hope we can continue that from game to game.
Last year, it was obvious that Ashley Nichole Hayes was a gifted athlete, but she struggled early this season. Right now, she's shooting lights-out. What caused that transformation?
Ashley has had that in her all along. Her outside shooting did improve over the summer. She spent a lot of time in the gym and shot a lot of shots. Ashley is very, very valuable, and we've been trying to get her to go all year. She started out kind of slow and really has come into her own. She's playing with a lot more confidence, and she really feels more comfortable playing inside. Last year, as a freshman, she just felt like she was a guard, and she wasn't really confident playing inside. Now, she's very confident if she has to go inside or out. What I told Ashley was "We might have a disadvantage height-wise, but you have to remember that our opponent has to guard you, too, and that's a difficult assignment for a post player to guard you. And then, for a person 5-7 to guard you, you can post up, and then, they're in trouble." She really is feeling good about herself, really feeling good about her game, and she's got the green light to shoot it when she's open and attack the rim whenever she can.
You talked earlier about finding a complement for Joi Scott. It certainly looks like you've found that with Ashley, the way she's shooting, and Amber Guffey. Do you still feel like you need a little more from other people?
Yes; we always need more. I need for Erica Gordian to really step up a little bit more, and we talked about that. She's coming off of a foot injury, and it's been difficult because she has not been in game shape. It was hard for her, but she just had to sit out and do nothing. Erica's doing better in practice, and we need another presence in the paint. Our other kids are freshmen, Jasmyne Thornton and Shanice McElrath, and we're still trying to get them ready. By mid-January, they'll be ready to go. We certainly need all the help we can get inside, because Joi can't do it by herself. When she gets in foul trouble or people double-team her or triple-team her, we have to have other folks who can step up and fill the void.
Do you feel that the team is having to deal with its recent success, since they didn't have a lot of it in the past? Like, when they get a 22-point lead on somebody, the "kill" instinct, that they wonder what they need to do?
We talked about that last night, trying to develop a killer instinct, because this is something new for this program. It's something new for our kids. We want them to be excited about it, but we want them to realize that they want to play well every time. When you smell blood, you've got to finish the game. We have to develop that as a team.
If you look at last year, we had seven new players, and now, those kids are in a position where they're on the other side; they're winning games. We can't have letdowns. You look at yesterday, we had a letdown, and a team like Samford, who can just knock down shots -- that's scary, with three minutes to go, that's a lot of time. You can't let up. I don't want something like that to be a trademark, that they're going to go out hard, and then, they're going to stop playing. We're learning that, and I think it will come with experience as we continue to get better and get more experience. I'm glad that we can learn that lesson and still win the game, but that's something that we definitely have to work on.
Looking at scores and standings, are you surprised at the way the league looks?
Not really. As far as standings right now, it's still very early. Tennessee Tech -- a lot of people are buzzing about that because they've lost some games early, and they're going to be good. They almost beat Clemson last night, an ACC team, and lost it right at the end. Southeast Missouri is going to be very good. They've got some junior-college transfers -- they have them every year that come in and make an immediate impact. So, not really a whole lot of surprises yet; it's still early. I think it's wide open.
