LISTEN: Kyra Elzy on Kentucky WBB's SEC Tournament Championship
Over 24 hours later and I’ve still got goosebumps from Kentucky WBB’s thrilling SEC Tournament Championship victory. This morning, head coach Kyra Elzy called into KSR to talk about her team’s improbable run and thrilling upset of No. 1 South Carolina, starting with that huge three by Dre’Una Edwards to take the lead with five seconds left. Elzy said the team worked on the play in practice “a thousand times” but this was the first they’d executed it properly.
“We had the timeout and Dre had been hot down the stretch so I told her, if you’re open, shoot the ball. Don’t put the ball down. Shoot it. And I looked at her feet first because usually when she gets her feet set, it’s good. But then she got great lift on the ball. I knew it was going in so I started running down the sidelines. I knew it was good.”
Overcoming adversity
Yesterday’s win is even sweeter when you consider just how far the Wildcats have come. Less than a month ago, Kentucky lost to South Carolina 59-50, the eighth defeat in nine games. From there, the Cats won ten straight, the upset of the No. 1 Gamecocks bringing everything full circle.
“I’m so proud of this team,” Elzy said. “Just the tenacity and the toughness that they have. We dealt with a lot of adversity. We had injuries, we had some suspensions early so we went through a really tough stretch but it ended up bringing us closer together. I knew this team was going to be special. I felt it from the very beginning. Even though when we hit adversity, I just felt like if we could get back to the court healthy and have all of our pieces, we had a chance to be really good and we just peaked at the right time. We had team meetings and it was like, it’s do-or-die time. We’re either going to end our season like this or we’re going to make a run at it and get to the NCAA Tournament. We just made up our minds and held ourselves accountable and it turned around.”
“We still have work to do”
Even with a “signature win” under their belt, the Cats aren’t content to let yesterday be the end of the story. Now securely in the NCAA Tournament due to the automatic berth, they’ve got until Sunday to find out who they’ll play next. Elzy echoed Dre’Una Edwards when she said the Cats aren’t done yet.
“We still have work to do,” she said. “We’re going to the NCAA Tournament. We have punched our ticket. We are not on the bubble, we are going. It’s facts. We feel like we’re playing our best basketball right now.”
Rhyne Howard took home SEC Tournament MVP, the latest on a long list of accolades. Elzy said that although the senior’s legacy at Kentucky was already in place, yesterday’s win makes Howard’s career in Lexington even more special.
“She’s had an unbelievable career. Thankful for everything that she has done for Kentucky Women’s Basketball and women’s basketball and her accolades speak for themselves. Her legacy will stand. However, for her, she came here to help us win championships and for her to go out her senior year and win an SEC Championship, I’m just elated for her.”
Finding John Calipari’s lucky watch
By now, you’ve heard the story of John Calipari’s watch. Cal and his wife Ellen were in the stands yesterday in Nashville and in the final seconds of the game, Cal’s watch — his lucky white gold Rolex — flew off his wrist and into the stands. Last night, he tweeted that Elzy found the watch and returned it to him. Elzy gave KSR the full story.
“I didn’t actually find it myself but one of the players told me their family member had it and I was like, I need to call him to let him know we’re going to get it back to him. Excited we could do that for him. It’s his lucky watch. He needs it so they can win the SEC Championship as well.”
Cal better not let that watch out of his sight this week! Enjoy all of Elzy’s interview below.
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