Kellie Harper press conference: "I'm super excited that our basketball team's 2-0"

by: Kyle McAreavy8 hours agoKyle_mcareavy

Mizzou women’s basketball coach Kellie Harper met with media Monday after her Tigers started the season 2-0.

Above is the full video, and here is a transcript of everything she said.

Opening statement

Harper: “Yeah, obviously, I’m super excited that our basketball team’s 2-0, we’re just trying to keep up with the men, you know. Congrats to them for a great start of their season as well.
You know, obviously, we talk a lot about growth with our basketball team. I think we’ve seen quite a bit of growth in the first couple of weeks, so we want to continue to see that trend.

“You know, we always want to progress every day. I know we, we’re proud of what we did. We also try to correct things at the same time. We try to find ways to get better after wins as well. And hopefully we can carry it into another big week.”

Question: After the Averi (Kroenke) injury, point guard is a huge question mark. Going into Tulane, how did you guys adjust without having a true point guard?

Harper: “Yeah, for us, we’re having to slide some folks over to play different positions. And for us, that immediate, immediately meant, Shannon (Dowell) and Chloe (Sotell) were moving from the wing to the point. Lisa Thompson is a point guard, so she’s just getting more minutes. So, those three have done a pretty good job filling in the gaps in the past couple weeks.”

Question: You’ve got the Kansas game coming up this weekend. You have a lot of transfer players, so they might not understand the rivalry aspect of this. How do you make sure you’re really bringing that understanding of the rivalry?

Harper: “Well, I’ll tell you what, all of us new folks, right, that, that may not have ever experienced it prior to this year, we experienced the football game. OK?

“You have to have no emotions at all to not understand what just happened there. I think, honestly, that was about as good of a tutorial in the rivalry as we could have ever asked for. So, we were all at the game. We know what it means. We understand it’s a big deal.”

Question: After the exhibition, you said you were challenging your team’s competitiveness. Over the last two games, have you kind of seen them tackle that challenge? What do you still want to see?

Harper: “Yeah, I think we in the last two games, we had to make plays down the stretch to get the win, and we did. And I think that shows a level of competitiveness. I think it shows a level of focus and a little level of growth for our team. You know, I’m still pushing them in that area that we’re doing that in, in practice daily. But I liked, I liked our demeanor, I liked our poise. I liked our level of confidence in the last two games.”

Question: In the Tulane game, some of those 3 balls finally started to fall. What was it like to kind of get the monkey off the back and start to see some of those deep balls going in?

Harper: “Yeah, you know for us, we need to be able to shoot the ball well to get wins. We know that we need to make 3s. We expect to make 3s. We also have to have a plan B if they don’t go in. But I think for us, we knew it was just a matter of time before they started going in. We have good shooters taking good shots and that, that’s, that’s what you want. You can’t draw it up any better than that.”

Question: What is the difference in the offense or the shot profile when Jordana (Reisma) is on the floor versus when she’s off?

Harper: “Yeah, I think, you know, we want to play through the paint. We do want the ball to touch the paint. Now you can do that a variety of ways. You can get there with cuts. You can get there with drives. You can get there off the pass. She gives us a presence in the paint. When she’s not in the game that then belongs to Grace (Slaughter), which that’s also a good option for us. I think we, we really move Grace around a lot. She’s, she’s getting to play the high post, the low post, the 3-point line.

“I think that’s good for her, and it’s good for our team, because we can utilize her versatility. So, I don’t know that it necessarily changes what we’re looking for, because we still want to make sure we get those looks in the paint with Grace.”

Question: With Grace, what’s been the learning curve for her? Her 2-point percentage hasn’t been up to what they were, what’s the learning curve for her in that role?

Harper: “Yeah, you know, I think she’s getting good looks. You know, she’s just got to be a little bit more powerful off of two feet at the rim. You know, she’s, she’s just missing some that we know she’s going to be able to make those.”

Question: The SEC has been completely dominant this year. And Mizzou has been competitive with a lot of these teams. As you gear up for SEC conference play, how are you going to adjust and make sure you’re competitive with these teams that are destroying teams?

Harper: “Well, when we get there, we’ll figure that one out. You’re jumping ahead quite a bit. We’ve got, I mean, goodness, we’re day-to-day right now, and we’re really just focused on our next opponents, which is Arkansas State. And what you’re going to see from that team, they’re about to press us for 40 minutes, and they’re going to really do a good job of getting 3s off.

“Those are two things that you know you’re going to see from this basketball team. It’s not, there’s no surprises when they step out on the court. So this will be a huge challenge for us. So for us, you know, I may be paying attention to what’s going on nationally, but I’m focused on what’s going on in our next game.”

Question: Without giving too much away, what is the plan to defend that deep ball against Arkansas State?

Harper: “Well, I think one, you’ve got to know that that’s what you’re doing. You’ve got to know that you’re going to get out and contest 3s. A lot of times their 3s are coming off of quick transition, so they turn you over with their press, and they’re looking to kick out and get quick 3s. So, you’ve got to be prepared to transition quickly. And I think that’s the first thing, you know. We’re not going to do a lot schematically different. We don’t want to give up easy 3s, period in any game we go into.”

Question: Saniah (Tyler), Sydney (Mains), Hannah (Linthacum), what is their status?

Harper: “Yeah, nothing’s changed for us. We’re still where we are with them and kind of evaluating them daily with our athletic training staff.

Question: With nine available players, Reka Toman has played a little bit of a bigger role. What have you seen from her?

Harper: “Reka is uncomplicated on the court. She’s actually very easy to play with. She doesn’t, she, she typically makes the easy play. And if that is just a, one more pass to get an open 3, her timing is good. She actually also, she has very long arms, so her contest is a little bit higher than some other folks, because she does have some pretty good length. And she just, she gets it, she just, she’s very productive. Whether it’s getting a deflection, tipping the ball to a teammate, the little things that don’t show up on the stat sheet, we feel like she’s been doing a good job of in practice, and when she gets in the games.

Question: You’ve mentioned growth a lot the last couple of weeks. What do you see as kind of the next step in that growth over the next week or two?

Harper: “I think for us, handling, we’ve got to get a little bit more consistent with the basics. For us, and that we have seen a lot of growth there. We’re not quite there. We haven’t quite checked the box off. So that’s going to be the first thing. And then once we see that growth, then that allows us to expand our scouting report defense. It allows us to expand our packages a little bit more.

“So, I think for us, you know, being able to check some boxes now is going to open up some things later. If that makes sense.”

Question: “I think every 3 you have made this season has been assisted at this point. Is that a coincidence or something with the way you want to set up those?

Harper: “I think the way we play offensively. We want to move the ball, we want to share the ball. So I’m not surprised. I think that’s how we’re going to get the majority of our 3s off as well.”

Harper: “Yeah, we’re, you’ll see us in a in a four-out. You’ll see us in a five-out at times,
using ball screens, off screens. Whether, whether we’re getting some stagger action, some handoffs, we want to, want to make sure we’re fluid and the ball is moving. We don’t want to be ball stoppers. We want the rhythm flowing. I think that’s when we’re going to get more 3s. We’re going to shoot better 3s. We’re going to be able to find drives. We don’t want ball stoppers. If the ball stops and the ball sticks, then the defense gets set, and then you lose some rhythm, and you lose some offensive advantage.”

Question: Is there any advantage to kind of having these close games where your team is kind of seeing this diversity so early? Seeing how they respond to these kinds of things?

Harper: “Well, you know, as a coach, it’s a lot easier when they’re not close games. But at the end, if you have one more point than the other team, yeah, we’re getting a lot of teaching, we’re having a lot of teaching moments right now. We, whether that is teaching in the moment or with film later. We’re, you know, the close games also kind of challenge you, you know, test what you’re made of, and allows us to maybe address and address some issues, but also really learn about our team.”

Question: Shannon has played really well, she has been a consistent threat. Talk to me about her game and where she can step it up in some areas.

Harper: “Shannon is very aggressive, and that’s who she is. When she catches the ball, she plays downhill. I think she’s done a really good job offensively of really pushing the ball. She does, when she gets defensive rebounds, which she’s done a great job of defensive rebounds. When she defensive rebounds, the ball is in her hand, she moves the ball up the court really quickly. She gets two feet to the paint pretty consistently. We need that. She can knock down the open shot. I think consistently, consistency is an area that she could grow.

“If Shannon wanted to be a defensive stopper, Shannon would be a defensive stopper. She has, I think that’s an area that she could grow in as well. So, I mean, we’re excited about her. I think she’s, she’s been exactly who we thought she would be in terms of giving us what we need, athleticism on the perimeter.”

Question: Arkansas State can go stride for stride with you guys when you are pushing the pace with Shannon. How do you make sure that you slow down the game when you’re playing this team?

Harper: “I think the biggest, the biggest challenge for our team is going at our pace and not their pace. And we do want to push the ball, we know that. But we want to do it because we want to, we see something and we want to go. So, I think that’s discipline. We worked for a few days here with our press offense. And there is, there’s going to be a very important read that we’re going to make every possession.

“Is this a read to attack? Is this a read to set it up? And I think we have to have both. We’ll help them as much as we can as coaches, but in real time, we’re going to have to have players making decision, the right decision.”

Question: How do you handle that press without maybe some of your natural ball carriers?

Harper: “I think for us, we’re trying to get the ball in the hands of our guards is important. And then putting our other players in position to help is also very important.”

Question: Coaches emphasize things every day. If I ask your players what they hear at know when they go to bed and hear your voice, what would they say?

Harper: “That’s a good one. There’s so much, so much. I, a lot of it is the defensive scheme, I think for us talking about where we’re, where we’re sitting on the offensive player, I think that’s the first thing. Pace is the second thing. They’re hearing that a lot. They hear that word a lot. Pace, pace, pace, pace. And it’s not just running down the floor fast, it’s playing fast in the half court, that’s where we really try to pick up our pace. I’d say those are the two, two big words.

“Loose balls is something that we challenge them with daily and getting two hands on the ball. So, you know, just teaching, teaching moments. So, you probably got one thing offensively, one thing defensively, and a hustle play as well.”

Question: You’ve got the KU game at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, what does it mean to play on a neutral court in a larger arena?

Harper: “Yeah, I think it’s a good game to have on our schedule. I think playing it there’s cool, you know, we meet halfway and, you know, get after it. So, I think it’s good for our players to play some neutral-site games as well. You know, it’s what we’re going to do in tournament play. So, I don’t know. I mean, I’m just really excited about, really excited about the opportunity that we have to go there.”

Question: And as a follow up, what’s the message to Mizzou fans? It’s a bit of a drive, especially the same day as a football game, to come out and support your team?

Harper: “Yeah. So, if you’re really good at multitasking, this is the day for you. All right, so all our Mizzou fans, I need you to multitask. We got a lot to pull for that day. We got a football game and a women’s basketball game against KU. I’m sure the weather will be great. The drive, there’ll be no traffic, so you’ll be fine. But just making sure you tune in, obviously. We know that that football season’s is still here. It’s a big deal. We’re pulling for them. I hate I can’t be at that football game. I am busy, so can’t be there. But I think just, just look at it as this is a great opportunity to work on your multitasking.”

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