Everything Louisville head coach Jeff Walz said after loss to South Carolina

Louisville head women’s basketball coach Jeff Walz spoke to the media following the team’s 79-77 loss to South Carolina on Thursday. Here’s everything he had to say.

Obviously, you would have liked to have won the game. But how complete of a game would you say this has been compared to the rest of the season so far?

“We played well, not well enough to win. I thought we executed well throughout the entire game, had some great looks throughout the game. We go six-of-10 at the free-throw line, something that we have not done all year. We’re a much better free-throw shooting team. And then, we probably missed four or five layups. And that’s an area of the game that we talk about all the time. You’ve got to be able to finish around the rim, especially when it’s a clear drive.

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“I thought we rebounded the ball well, did a really nice job of getting second-chance opportunities. And, defensively, they shot close to 50 percent, but so did we. But, unfortunately, we just didn’t come up with a stop or two there at the end.”

You guys have been challenged early on this year. Being able to go out against South Carolina and go toe-to-toe with a team like this, what kind of confidence does this give you and this group?

“Well, we’ve just got to be able to do it day in and day out. I mean, it’s one game. It’s great. I thought we did play four good quarters, which is the first time we’ve done that. And, now, we’ll get a chance to get back to practice tomorrow. We’ll practice tomorrow, practice Saturday and play on Sunday. So, it’s a matter of, ‘Okay, can we now have the same performance on Sunday, at least execution-wise, as we did in the game tonight?'”

Elif (Istanbulluoglu) had a career game, it seemed like. What did you see from her today?

“She played well. She’s been getting in the gym; she’s been shooting more. She’s been working individually. And it’s what she can do. I mean, she needs to be a 33- to 36-percent three-point shooter, which is exactly what she did tonight. She went two-for-three. She made some really nice drives and finished around the rim; she came up with nine boards. So, she played well.

“I thought Skylar (Jones) and Reyna (Scott), everybody competed and played hard. Unfortunately, we just came out on the short side of the scoreboard.”

Can you talk about Laura (Ziegler)‘s night and how they were able to shut her down?

“We tried a little something to put her to point and get her off — moreso leading things. And I thought she did a pretty good job of that. But when you do that, then it takes her away from scoring. And that’s one of the things I’ve got to go back to work on and try: to make sure that we can continue to have her push the ball in transition because our tempo is good when she does, but then make sure she’s also getting opportunities to score. She went out there and battled and did some really good things — some things that aren’t going to show up on the stat sheet.

“The kid’s a winner. I mean, every game’s not going to be perfect. You’re not going to make every shot, But how you approach it is what’s important. What what hurt us on two occasions was we missed some layups and laid on the ground upset that we missed it instead of getting our ass up and sprint down the floor. And they scored five points. That’s one thing Laura doesn’t do. That’s the character that she has. Like, she misses a shot, she gets a shot blocked, she’s sprinting back down the floor.

“And that’s something you learn, but it’s something in you of, ‘I got to move on to the next play.’ Every sport that’s played, there’s mistakes that are made. The elite ones don’t let it impact them. It amazes me — and I say it to my team all the time — how, when they miss a shot, they get upset, but if they get beat on defense, it doesn’t impact them. And I’m like, ‘There’s not one of them, on South Carolina’s team or our team, who didn’t miss a shot when they were being recruited. I promise you. It’s going to happen; it’s how you respond to it.’

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“So, Laura is the type of kid — high character, high work ethic, always encouraging everybody on the team. It’s pretty amazing. I mean, she is a kid I’ve talked to a bunch of scouts that I would draft her somewhere in that (WNBA) Draft because that’s a kid you want in your locker room. And then, she’s going to prove that she’s going to be able to compete and do some good things for you.”

After the Kentucky game (on Nov. 22), you said that you wanted to see more fight out of this team. It seemed like they had that fight tonight. Was there any kind of turning point that you’ve seen between then and now?

“I thought we competed, without a doubt, tonight. I mean, it’s just, ‘How bad do you want to win? Or how bad do you want to give yourself a chance to win?’

“Tonight, we lost, but our effort was great. There’s no question about it. If we can give this effort every night, I like my chances. It’s not going to mean we’re gonna win every game, but I think we’ll have a fighting chance to. The problem is you can’t just do it during games. It’s, ‘What’s practice going to be tomorrow? Are you willing to come in? You’re going to be tired; you’re going to be a little frustrated that we lost. But are you willing to get past that and say, ‘Hey, I still got to get better?” And that’s the challenge I put forth to all of them.”

(Tajianna Roberts) was visibly upset after that missing that last shot. What do you say to her to keep her encouraged?

“It’s part of the game. I mean, you’re going to miss some, and you’re going to feel like that. If it goes in, she feels great. So, that’s where, as a player, you’ve got to be able to… If you want that shot, you’ve got to be able to handle the fact that it might not go in every single time. If you want to be the hero, you got to be willing to be the goat. And it’s part of it.

“I was proud of her. I thought she stepped into it. She had just made one from that exact same spot about three minutes before, which is why I went that way. I was like, ‘Okay, she just knocked it down.’ She got a great look. We executed perfect. Isla (Juffermans) set a great screen. (Anaya) Hardy jumped up and caught the pass, made a beautiful pass to her. Everything was perfect; the ball just did not go in. It’s part of the game.”

You’ve had a lot of teams that had games like this that they expected to win and had the experience of winning. This team doesn’t just because of the nature of the game now. But playing this game this way, this team this way, does it teach them something maybe about themselves?

“Well, I hope it does. I hope it shows them that, ‘Hey, we can compete with anybody if we play for four quarters.’ You just can’t take a quarter off. And I hope it also shows them how we have to get in better shape so we don’t miss some easy ones because of fatigue.

“I thought we pushed the ball well. I thought we got up and down the floor well. But, unfortunately, we just didn’t make the the big stop at the right time.”

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