Murray State University Athletics
Adams Addresses Press Conference - Jan. 21
1/21/2008 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Murray State women's basketball head coach Jody Adams addressed the media at today's press conference.
On the current three-game win streak:
We'll take a win any time we can get it. I try not to look at streaks, losing or winning. Our team has done a good job, and a big part of that has been Shaleea Petty. She's such an important factor for us, being our leader, being our point guard. She has a presence about her, and when she communicates, the team follows; when she doesn't, the team falls back. When we have her in there, this team is a different team. She understands that she has about a month and a half before her senior season wraps up, and she has a choice: Either make the choices or don't. If she makes the choices, we can be something special. If she doesn't, we're probably going to be hit-or-miss.
In our last win at Martin, it was great to be able to play everybody. In the second half, we began to make some defensive changes that we probably should have done from the start. We were a little lax, going back and forth with the scoring, and didn't pose a presence on the defensive end. In the second half, we began to get after it a little bit, more along the lines of the way I think we should play defense. I think we score off of our defense.
On the upcoming game against Tennessee Tech:
Tennessee Tech has good speed. They have guards who can put the ball on the floor, and they mix their defenses up: You'll see them play zone or man, they'll go the full 94 feet, run and jump. They have a good inside player in Kristina Tyler, who they go to. They like to spread it out and get the ball inside to her, and they make a lot of touches. Their guards can shoot it; they're very athletic.
They're a solid team. They're scrappy and tough; they play hard, and they want close games. They hang in there, and they fight to the end. I like that about them. I think that (TTU head coach) Amy Brown does a great job with them and their staff. They play hard, they work hard, they're tough. We're going to have to be ready for a battle. Each game in this league, we have to be ready for a battle, no matter what. Nobody has separated themselves as "the" best team in the OVC. To be the best team in the OVC, you separate yourself each and every night.
On this Saturday's game against Southeast Missouri:
I thought our kids played well (at SEMO on Jan. 7). I thought they were hungry -- not just because of what happened last year (SEMO beat MSU 62-60 in the OVC Tournament championship game). You use that to drive the team, to remind them that they did take something from us, and they deserved it. They executed well at the end, and we had a chance, but we just didn't finish it. That was our opportunity, Now, we have another opportunity. Can we beat SEMO twice during the regular season? SEMO plays well on the road (6-0 in OVC road games). They just won at Tennessee Tech on Thursday. It was a close game until the very end. On any given night, anybody can beat anybody. I just hope that our team will be prepared to get another win.
On practicing early in the morning:
It is paying off. We're doing some things differently with some of our players. (Assistant coach) Rob Cross is doing a great job with Angela Brown and Pam Bell. He works with them separately. (Assistant coach) Carlai Moore and I take the forwards and (assistant coach) Kerensa Barr takes the guards. We just try to break it up into each group to pay a little more attention to areas that they need. I think the extra work for any player, the more repetitions that you get, the more success that you see and feel, your confidence is going to rise, so when they come to a game, they won't be shell-shocked. There's still some things that Angela has to work on. When you're 6-foot-5, you tower over everybody, you need to be able to finish right at the rim, and she does, if she knows that. She probably puts more pressure on herself than I do. I don't say a whole lot, except to encourage her. But, she has changed. You've seen the growth in the past couple of months, and I hope she continues to grow so she goes out at her best.
