Vicky Graff Photo
Here is what coach Kyra Elzy said Thursday night after her Kentucky team gave up 21 or more points every quarter and lost 95-73 to Vanderbilt in Rupp Arena.
Head Coach Kyra Elzy
On three Wildcats scoring in double figures…
“I’ll start with Brooklynn Miles. We really challenged her to attack the paint and finish, which she did. 5/6 tonight with 11 points. When she’s scoring, the defense has to play honest. It was good to see Maddie [Scherr] return offensively with 20 [points]. I thought she looked for her shots from the outside, but also attacked at the rim and got to the free throw line. She was 6-6 there. Then, Ajae Petty with another double-double with 23 points and 21 rebounds. I think a lot of people are looking at the score, but it’s fantastic—what she’s doing. Her ability to rebound the ball—21 rebounds—it doesn’t matter who you are playing. In this conference, to get 21 rebounds in one game, it tells you what she is doing to work.”
On her disappointment in her team’s lack of defensive intensity…
“I’m beyond disappointed. One, in front of our home crowd, and two, we have to hang our hat on the defensive end. We scored 73 points, which is enough to carry you, but if we had any type of defensive intensity—I mean we gave them 95 points. They did not feel us defensively. I did not think we had a passion, energy, or heart for it today—for whatever reason. I’ll have to figure that out and go back with the staff and watch. I’m disappointed with our effort defensively and it showed—they had 29 assists on 38 field goals.”
On what her defensive message…
“We always work on our defense. We spend a lot of time working on our defense, which is what makes it disappointing. The message today was “We needed to fly around. We needed to make plays. We couldn’t bail out on charges. We had to get our hands on the ball and sell out defensively. When we did, good things happened. We just did not do it consistently enough to my liking.”
On Maddie Scherr playing all 40 minutes…
“She did play forty [minutes]. We train all of our players to be able to play forty [minutes]. The SEC is big girl basketball. There are a lot of top players playing a lot of minutes. That’s where you rely on your training, your strength coach, and your athletic trainer. Obviously, we watch our loads with the Catapult, so we know what our loads are. If we have to decrease in practice or do different things, we do that. At the end of the day, she’s a senior trying to win. So, that is what it is.”
Photos by Vicky Graff
