Kentucky Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
Opening statement…
“Well, all wins this time of year are outstanding and are great. But this one’s a little extra special, just with it being senior night and wow, did the seniors step up in a major, major way. All five of them really played some great basketball tonight to help us win. We needed the win badly and we certainly wanted to send them out on senior night with a victory. So, we’re a happy bunch of Wildcats tonight.”
On Jaida Roper’s impact on the program…
“Well, we would be here all night if I fully explained that, but to try to put it in a few words, she signed in that spring, 2016, and just believed in what she could get done here and believed in what we were doing here and it was at a time that we needed her. I can’t remember, we’ve had so many great players come through here and we’re so proud of all of our players that have come through here. But when I think of people who maximize their opportunity in every facet – as a person she has grown and matured and has become a really great leader for us and understands what the program’s about. She has been an excellent student and her basketball game has just grown an incredible way from the moment she walked in the door. So, she squeezed every single bit out of this opportunity and she’s playing at a really high level in the Southeastern Conference right now at the point guard position and we wouldn’t be nearly the team that we are without her.”
On a hard-fought contest with Georgia…
“Yeah, I thought the first part of that with Georgia, I just thought they were so determined tonight and they’re fighting for position in the league and they’re fighting to finish their season in the conference portion with some momentum and I knew they were going to be tough, they always are. Joni [Taylor] is such a great coach and they always play so hard and they were so tough tonight. It was a really, really tough battle. We were able to stretch it out two or three times and they never went away. So, you have to give Georgia so much credit, but I’m not surprised. That’s their program. They have a great program and we were happy to win.”
On Kentucky’s seniors…
“Having five seniors, the path that everybody took to get to this point, now, they are really a close-knit group and from different parts of the country and have really developed a sisterhood with the five seniors and with the entire team. I thought the team was motivated for them to win tonight. From my standpoint, you want nothing more than for them to walk off that floor with a victory and to be able to get that done tonight for those five, it was really special.”
On Rhyne Howard …
“I think what we need to refocus on down the stretch with Rhyne… Rhyne’s a great defender. We just got out of position a couple times tonight and when you get behind the play and you’re out of position then you are susceptible to running into someone or getting some of those fouls that she got. She can clean that up easily with just focusing on some of her fundamentals because she made some great defensive plays tonight when she was in the right spot. It’s a long season and there’s a lot going on trying to play your best basketball and trying to – you start to think about winning and sometimes you get some slippage in your defensive fundamentals or offensive fundamentals and so you just, as a coach, will bring our team back to that. That can be corrected easily there. We don’t need to make any major shift or adjustment there, but she was fantastic. That fourth quarter was just incredible. We’re all getting used to seeing those kinds of performances. She’s an unbelievable player.”
On Sabrina Haines’ performance …
“So happy for Sabrina. She really came out on a mission tonight and did a great job. I thought her energy, when she’s energetic and making shots and really into it, it’s powerful for our team. KeKe (McKinney) makes a three and then Sabrina goes down and just makes an incredible steal and then a more incredible pass to Rhyne (Howard) and I really thought that was where we were able to finally plant the flag in the ground that we were winning this game. So, she did it on both ends tonight. I’m really, really proud of her. Happy for her and grateful for her contribution.”
On the SEC tournament and possible double bye …
“It’s huge because we want to go win the SEC tournament. That was one of the goals before the season started. The stats don’t lie. It’s much more possible with a double bye than it is without it. I think two teams in the history have won it without the double bye. It is very precious, a very valuable prize to earn to get there. We’ve been thinking about it a lot. We wanted this game badly, not only for our seniors, but for positioning. It was critical that we got the win tonight.”
On Rhyne Howard’s injury status …
“Well we’ve been very fortunate. She’s healed great. She has been able to play with the splint, and now the splint is a little smaller than it was. She got a great report this week. If she continues to progress, we hope we play some basketball this season with her splint free. She needs to continue to progress, but she’s pretty good with it too.”
Kentucky Student-Athletes
#32 Jaida Roper, G, Sr.
On consistent performance at the free throw line…
“I kind of relax myself, that’s why I close my eyes. I kind of stole that from (Immanuel) Quickley. I just focus my mind to hit a shot that I practice almost every day, that’s pretty much all it is.”
On hitting the 3 in the fourth…
“That was a big 3. Shout out to Amanda (Paschal) for finding me. I didn’t see a ball go through the hoop other than free throws today, so that three was pretty big for me. It also capped off the night. It ended a great night.”
On what it meant to get this win on senior night…
“It was amazing. I know my teammates; they’re all fighting for us. For one, because it was senior night and two, because we needed this win. We were all dialed in. I think this team is pushing into another gear heading into the tournament. So, we’re all mentally focused, were physically ready and I’m ready to go to war with these girls.”
On potentially one of the last times being on this court…
“Well hopefully it’s not the last time, hopefully we get to host something. It was amazing. Memorial (Coliseum), that gym holds a special place in my heart. Big Blue Nation holds a special place in my heart, and I can’t thank you all enough for supporting us through our ups and downs through these four years.”
#12 Amanda Paschal, G, R-Sr.
On what it meant to get this win on senior night…
“Memorial definitely holds a special place in my heart, the fans too. I’ve never had this much support in my life. So, this means a lot to me. I thank Big Blue Nation.”
#1 Sabrina Haines, F, R-Sr.
On senior night and what it meant to you…
“I just want to say that coming to Kentucky was one of the best decisions that I could’ve ever made. I’m just so thankful for everybody taking me in; fans, teammates, staff, coaches and everybody. It’s just been an amazing experience and I’m just so happy that I’m able to represent this university for the rest of the year and for the rest of my life. It’s been amazing.”
On your performance tonight…
“My teammates just were able to find me, and they put me in good positions. The coaches gave me some early play calls to kind of help me get going. They fought for my rebounds and kicked it back out to me, I’m just thankful for them. They were able to give me those open shots and luckily I was able to hit them.”
#21 Ogechi Anyagaligbo, F, R-Sr.
On senior night and what it meant for you…
“For me it’s bittersweet. You step into Memorial (Coliseum) your first year here and no one knows you at all, you’re not from Kentucky. You don’t have much to your name and you’re a transfer. These people go to war for you, they fight for you on social media, they’re there every single game. Some people have told me, ‘Hey I took off work to come watch you.’ You have practice players that come in day in and day out and they work hard for you. That support is so crazy to me. It’s awesome. It’s just the best thing you could ever ask for honestly. Just having that support system and it doesn’t stop here, there are people who are fighting for you and here for your future endeavors. It’s a family away from home and I truly honestly appreciate it. I love that we could contribute to the win today and we got the win as we needed on senior night.”
On the academics at Kentucky…
“Academics are never lost; people are always here to help us. I would say oh my gosh, I’m failing, and have an 89 and be freaking out. They help me get a tutor and get the resources I need. They are always here for you on the athletic side as well. When you leave basketball, because at some point it’s going to end, you have to be able to do something with your life. They prepare you for that and the academics are just never lost. I have gotten so many research opportunities because of my coaches, because of the support they have given me here. They have helped me actually believe I can make it to medical school and become a surgeon.”
On nerves before the game…
“For me my mom hasn’t watched me play in person since my senior year of high school. So, her being here, I was so nervous. I just didn’t want to fail her and I’m just happy we got the win. For me it was just a weight lifted off my shoulders. I just really appreciated that we pulled out a win like that.”
#44 Nae Nae Cole, C, R-Sr.
On Support from the Big Blue Nation…
“So, exactly like they said, the support from Big Blue Nation, all the fans, the coaches, even my teammates is amazing. Transferring in I did not think that me only being here one year, that I would get so much love and support from everyone. Like people I do not know or have never seen before say, ‘Nae, I love you, we’re supporting you, we are here for you.’ That is just an amazing feeling for me, and I know we all feel the same way when it comes to the support we get every single day. We know that it’s going to carry on even when we graduate.”
On academics at Kentucky…
“I would definitely say coming in, academics were the first thing the coaches talked about. They said how we are a 3.0 and above team. So, coming in I knew I had to make sure I was on my academics, keeping up in class. Just like Ogechi ( Anvagaligbo ) said, I will have an 80 and feel like I’m failing the class. B’s are just not good enough for me, I have to have an A. That’s just the mindset that I’ve always had, and I know our whole team does too. It’s pretty much number one academics first then basketball.”
Georgia Head Coach Joni Taylor
On Kentucky making 10 3s in the first half and two in the second…
“Well, I think it’s both. Kentucky came out red hot. We weren’t locked in and to give them credit, they have players you have to defend every spot on the floor but we were giving them wide open looks because we weren’t guarding screens right, putting ourselves in scramble situations and credit them, they capitalized on it on it every single time. So, they really, really hurt us from the 3 and from the free throw line in the third and fourth quarter, and I think we buckled down defensively and got better with that in the third and fourth quarter and came out and played defense the way we are used to playing defense and tried to take away our opportunities to score from 3.”
On being down most of the game and how Kentucky held them back …
“They did a great job getting to the free throw line. I mean, every time we made a run, they made a run as well. They’re a tough team. They’re used to being in these situations and they played that way tonight. Every time we made a run, they answered and they responded.”
On how different it is to coach with someone like Rhyne Howard in the game versus out of the game …
“I mean, when she’s not on the floor they’re a different team. They’re really good, but they’re a different team when she’s not on the floor so you try to make sure you’re taking advantage of things offensively and then you can go do some things different on the defensive end as well in terms of switching screens, not switching screens. She just has a huge impact on what they do and how you have to prep for both ends of the floor.”
On facing Florida next and your thoughts on moving forward …
“Obviously, we’ve already played Florida once already. They’re a tough match for us and they play really well and they’re playing really well now. We’ll honor our seniors Ari Henderson and Stephanie Paul, who have been tremendous ambassadors for our program for the last four years, so hopefully we can send them out the right way. So, we’ll get back tomorrow and get to work on it.”
On if getting up and down the court quickly is customary for Jenna Staiti …
“Absolutely. Josh Rucci, our strength and conditioning coach, has done a great job of getting her in shape over the last three years that we’ve had her, and she takes advantage of those opportunities and is able to play long minutes and sustain those minutes at a high level.”
On her thoughts on Sabrina Haines and how she played tonight …
“Really well. I mean, the way you want to play down the stretch, lights out when she has an open look at the basket and just really stretches the defense. Really stretches the floor and makes it a tough match.”
On Kentucky’s fast tempo and if it was favorable for Georgia …
“Well they did (speed it up) at times. We had 15 turnovers and they got 22 points off of those turnovers so I would say they had success in that at times. We play fast, too. We want to do the same thing, so it’s not anything we’re not used to seeing. Sometimes when we had certain matchups in the game they were able to capitalize on it and then there were times we were able to capitalize on it as well.”
On Jenna Staiti being the leading scorer …
“Jenna has really come on. She’s been in double figures in the last six games in a row and seven out of the last eight. We’ve always known that she was one of the, or considered her to be, one of the best post players in our league and she’s finally playing that way. I think she just made up her mind to be consistent. She’s always had a game like this, but to string six together in a row, seven out of eight in a row, is where she’s just flipped the switch and made up her mind that I’m going to put this team on my back and I’m going to do more.”