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#UNC's Reniya Kelly, Courtney Banghart and Maria Gakdeng after the Tar Heels win over Kentucky
Dec 6, 2024
#UNC's Reniya Kelly, Courtney Banghart and Maria Gakdeng after the Tar Heels win over Kentucky
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0:00
opening statement then open up for
0:01
questions coach whenever you're good
0:03
yeah I mean I feel like this is a team
0:04
we've played so many times I think it's
0:06
like 10 times in these uh this
0:09
experience I know it's Georgia and Amore
0:11
is a really good player we um and and
0:14
Kenny runs a lot of good stuff um I'm
0:16
really happy for our team you know as I
0:18
said on on H the radio if you give us
0:20
four days for an opponent watch out we
0:22
feel like we can really um understand
0:24
how we want to play um we we forced them
0:26
to plan B and then we took away Plan B
0:29
that was the game plan defensively um I
0:32
mean what what do you say about Ria
0:33
Kelly except the dog that she is and was
0:36
um plus 28 as her plus minus gosh and
0:39
then a thousand points for Maria uh
0:41
today so a huge milestone for her um but
0:44
we just we warmed down I thought we
0:45
defended him really well the whole game
0:47
I thought we had possessions where we
0:48
were really good offensively then we got
0:50
stagnant then we got we were able to
0:51
adjust back to being really good
0:53
offensively we executed the new ads that
0:55
we added for this opponent um at at
0:57
timely times um which again I give a lot
1:00
of credit to Ria making sure that we're
1:02
ready to do those things um great win
1:04
top 15 win at home 5:00 kind of a weird
1:06
tip but we found a way so you held them
1:09
the season loow for points and seasoned
1:11
loow for field goal percentage what was
1:13
the specific strategy and and I know you
1:15
tried to put Lexi and Ria on uh
1:20
Georgia yeah you know well they scored
1:22
for 53 we like to hold teams below 40 um
1:25
but I think part of it is is that we we
1:27
wanted to make sure so Georgia you know
1:29
she's made made I don't know now before
1:31
tonight she had made uh 58 um she had 58
1:34
assists and she had taken a total of 103
1:36
shots so she's a kid that wants to
1:38
facilitate right um and so we wanted to
1:41
handle the ball screen two on two well
1:43
um and and so we didn't need to
1:45
incorporate all five so we changed a
1:47
little bit of our ball screen coverage
1:48
for her um and that went really well we
1:50
stayed glued to their best shooter if
1:51
you take away uh Deja Lawrence from
1:53
their team from three which we lost her
1:55
a few times they actually shoot below
1:57
24% from three so we wanted to kind of
1:58
play the numbers there um and that's
2:00
kind of how it played out um and then on
2:02
offense we wanted their tall I kept
2:04
saying I'm sure you're tired of hearing
2:05
me say it make their tall people move um
2:08
and the teams the possessions we did
2:09
that we like what we got Courtney
2:11
Kentucky came in with the best field
2:12
goal percentage defense in the country
2:14
they're holding teams to under 30% you
2:16
guys start out six of eight shoot over
2:17
50% in the first quarter what was the
2:19
key to the offense really playing well
2:21
no I think they you know I think we had
2:23
to make their tall people move I think
2:24
you have to I told him it might take you
2:26
a minute to get used to their size I
2:27
think it took other teams longer to get
2:29
used to and so it forced you to uh go to
2:31
the rim get into their chest and kind of
2:33
force something we we really prioritized
2:36
if if they get in the chest in front of
2:37
the ball than it's than it's for
2:39
somebody else I thought they moved it
2:40
well uh we went to more of our Zoom
2:42
actions so more stuff off the dribble um
2:44
which is harder for them to chest up on
2:47
um you know really did a combination of
2:49
of cutting and and executing and these
2:51
guys really executed the plan really
2:52
well we knew this this team would be a
2:54
little bit different this year Courtney
2:56
was this kind of performance all around
2:58
kind of what you imagined like like it
3:00
could be when it all comes together on
3:01
both sides yeah you know it's fun that I
3:03
told them I think I said it here but
3:04
I've said it before too to them is that
3:06
it's fun to think about how good you can
3:08
be right um but you don't get there by
3:09
thinking about it you get there by doing
3:11
it um and this group really likes one
3:13
another you know that's what Kenny said
3:14
to me before the game you know I said
3:16
yeah they do they really like one
3:17
another um and this team sort of fits my
3:20
personality right they're tough and
3:21
they're joyful um and then they also
3:23
they know when it's time to lock in we
3:25
practiced okay Monday and they boy they
3:27
practiced well Tuesday and Wednesday um
3:29
you know 's a sense of purpose amongst
3:30
this group that I have great respect for
3:32
um but they also keep the joyfulness of
3:34
what this is supposed to be um and so
3:37
you know that it's been a long time
3:38
since I've played Kenny where I had the
3:39
three-point shooting team right it's
3:42
like I said finally I get to have a team
3:44
where they shoot twos and we can we can
3:45
shoot threes we just didn't need to make
3:47
as many of them tonight because we were
3:48
getting some some paint shots Kenny got
3:50
you the last five times nice to get one
3:52
on him uh yeah you know you don't do
3:54
this business very long if you if you
3:56
make it about the coaches you know um
3:58
what I'm really happy for is MSA um in
4:00
this particular team how they played and
4:02
who they are right and who they have
4:04
this is the I think the fourth game
4:06
fifth game in a row where we've gotten
4:07
better every game right so this team is
4:09
on their own Journey um and I'm really
4:11
happy for this team that they had a top
4:12
15 team come in and the ACC challenge
4:14
you know we did it for our league um and
4:16
we were able to make a very convincing L
4:18
uh win it was never really uh never
4:21
really that close which is good Maria
4:23
you had the double double the other day
4:24
near double double today you obviously
4:27
missed the stretch of games in the
4:28
Bahamas can you kind of Det tell the I
4:30
guess the process of getting back you
4:32
know to even you know being back on the
4:35
court and just kind of what the last
4:36
couple of games have been like yeah
4:38
definitely being on the sideline was
4:39
really different for me obviously in the
4:41
Bahamas but I got to like take a step
4:43
back and kind of think about how I want
4:45
to come back and approach how um how I
4:47
play so when I came back I knew that I
4:49
wanted to come with a different
4:50
mentality bring more energy I'll be
4:52
there for my teammates um be somebody
4:54
that makes a difference when I step on
4:55
the floor it seemed like obviously the
4:57
shot attempts have kind of gone up I
4:59
guess part of this different mentality
5:00
you're talking about was I guess being
5:02
more aggressive offensively was that how
5:03
much was that a part of that mindset
5:05
yeah that's a big part of it um being as
5:07
efficient as I am I think I do deserve
5:09
to take more shots so our guards getting
5:11
the ball inside more has been really
5:13
effective with that yeah Mar you matched
5:15
up with clar a dra and coming in she was
5:17
averaging 18 points a game four points
5:19
and then only four rebounds for lowest
5:21
All Season yeah I mean what was the
5:22
mindset of how diding what did you do so
5:25
well yeah I knew coming into like this
5:27
week they had a good stretch of game
5:29
especially Clara a stke but also they're
5:31
a really big long team and each player
5:33
is a little different so knowing how to
5:34
defend them um and keeping them to a
5:37
limit amount of points but just staying
5:39
true to our our Scout trusting um the
5:41
Scout from the week so yeah R you had
5:44
three points in the first half 15 the
5:47
second just a statement game for you
5:48
what click them say honestly just
5:50
trusting everything that I worked on I
5:53
think you know I train on those shots
5:55
and I will keep taking them you know
5:56
what I mean so an a trust in my team is
5:58
they will give me the ball and I would
5:59
give them the ball in the right
6:00
situation so I think he was just tress
6:01
in the process ball was working well
6:03
offensively r i I mean you you had the
6:06
offense going pretty well um honest I
6:08
would think sharing the ball we shared
6:10
the ball really well and we got them to
6:11
move like she was saying you know their
6:12
long players were moving and we got to
6:14
attack the Gap a lot and get to the Lane
6:16
I think too Rah is such a distributor
6:18
right she's a the quintessential point
6:19
guard and I thought today she really
6:21
found that the advantage because of how
6:23
they were they were um kind of squeezed
6:25
to their own um is she had the 1 V one
6:27
matchup I thought she did a really good
6:28
job getting outside
6:30
um now how we've been played previously
6:32
as people collapse on her penetration
6:33
and she's able to find people so I think
6:35
when they really challenged her to
6:37
finish she did that uh and like she said
6:39
she works at it easy team easy kid to
6:40
root for spends a lot of time in the gym
6:42
Accord you guys had a 16-2 advantage and
6:45
bench point sier and Trey come off the
6:46
bench have eight uh each and each play
6:48
20 more than 20 minutes what can you say
6:51
about sort of the burst they gave you uh
6:52
in those minutes yeah multiple times
6:54
throughout the game we're telling them
6:55
at timeouts they can't keep up this pace
6:57
guys we can't like you just got to keep
6:59
going the game is 40 minutes right and
7:01
and we don't want to you know we don't
7:02
want to make it 20 and uh our bench has
7:04
given us a ton of opportunities to play
7:06
fresher longer um and to have more
7:08
people to go to um and they all play a
7:10
little different which is what we wanted
7:11
when we built this team right Trey plays
7:13
the game differently than Grace who
7:14
plays it differently than Laney and
7:15
there's different guys that are going to
7:16
be needed at different times and um
7:18
Sierra's continuing to get more
7:19
comfortable um she's not quite there yet
7:21
but she's getting there um and gave us
7:23
huge minutes 42 to 10 points in the
7:25
paint too yeah if you had told me that
7:26
before the game I would have said oh
7:27
they're going to make you play one-onone
7:28
and I want you to get outside hips right
7:30
I I told them I couldn't tell you
7:32
exactly how they were going to defend
7:33
you are they going to make you finish
7:34
outside hips or are they going to um
7:35
collapse and once they earn the collapse
7:37
then you've got to go to the next best
7:38
thing we call it our next best action
7:41
and um you know these guys really
7:43
trusted their length and their wall ups
7:45
and our guys got to the outside hips
7:46
because we forced them to move to the
7:48
second and third side was everybody in
7:50
uniform available to play
7:52
today I don't even know who was in
7:54
uniform everyone's available right yes I
7:56
think Sid's back yeah yes it's just this
7:59
coach's decision as far as who played I
8:01
don't even know who played did everybody
8:03
not play I don't really care I just want
8:04
to win games right yep I don't even know
8:07
we
8:12
didn't oh my God she's
8:15
huge or you're small there's two ways to
8:17
say it yeah but I am a dog and I knew
8:19
she was going to punk me so I just stood
8:21
my ground yeah but she's actually really
8:25
tall he's actually what really tall oh
8:29
you touched on obviously playing in this
8:31
ACC challenge uh currently the SEC has I
8:35
think it's seven teams in the top 25
8:37
just kind of how obviously the matchups
8:40
kind of get fixed for you in a sense but
8:41
I guess how vital is it having I guess
8:44
this part of you know that
8:45
non-conference considering you know what
8:47
the SEC has over yeah I mean that's the
8:49
thing is there were some results that
8:50
didn't go our way in the first four
8:52
games as a league and so then you get
8:53
these rankings and then once you get
8:55
those rankings they stick because you
8:56
only beat each other up um you know I
8:59
think Florida State and Georgia Tech are
9:00
excellent you know and it's just a
9:03
bummer because if you you have to win
9:04
these because once you start getting
9:06
into cannibalization of your league it's
9:08
harder to make up that ground so this
9:09
was huge obviously it's the one night a
9:11
year I root for the ACC every game um
9:13
but we uh we hope we show kind of some
9:15
of the muscle that we have in our league
9:17
but um the game is just healthy there's
9:19
a lot of good teams I'd love to say that
9:21
we're great it's a lot of good teams
9:23
right and so that kind of drives this
9:25
group I like I said their sense of
9:26
purpose um knows that ky's going to
9:28
require this and then now we've got
9:30
copen State and and that will require
9:32
something I don't know yet exactly what
9:34
um but I will know and they will know uh
9:36
by the time we practice next how do you
9:38
explain the way the game progressed you
9:40
got one free throw in the first three
9:41
quarters and then you get 12 in the
9:43
fourth quarter yeah don't get me fin
9:46
babe I don't know I don't know I thought
9:49
our guys played through that well um
9:51
really well um there were times where I
9:54
was confused and they just didn't let it
9:56
stick I think they're they're focused on
9:58
the right things they really are um and
10:01
as soon as they try to go sideways I
10:02
think they are now internally making
10:04
sure that doesn't happen it's it's more
10:06
um it's becoming more player Le in on on
10:08
the court which is great feels like
10:10
there were some uh games last year where
10:12
if Lexi only took four shots and only
10:13
scored three points you guys wouldn't
10:15
win let alone beat a ranked team by 19
10:17
absolutely does it feel like there's
10:19
just less pressure on everyone because
10:21
you have more scores in this roster
10:24
absolutely I mean Lexi Lexi and India
10:26
are great examples of the fact that the
10:27
game has so many components right and
10:30
and if you watch Lexi or India and you
10:31
say God Lexi really struggled she's a
10:33
plus 25 so when she was in if I had
10:36
played her longer we would have won by
10:37
25 that's kind of what that stat means
10:39
right and so she does so many things to
10:41
contribute to winning um and so some
10:43
nights we're going to need her to make
10:44
open shots some nights she's going to be
10:45
able to create for her teammates um she
10:47
rebounded I think it's her career high
10:49
at least here uh in defensive rebounds
10:51
she took one from Maria for her double
10:52
double um but yeah it's nice to have
10:55
more options of people that can shoot
10:56
you know she was she was really guarded
10:58
tight last year and now if you do that
10:59
you're going to open up somebody else
11:02
courney how convincing was this win for
11:04
you tonight and what more do you want to
11:05
see from the team moving forward you
11:07
know I just want them to keep getting
11:08
better you know I want them to
11:09
individually we'll have some work to do
11:11
individually um on kind of the whole
11:13
roster at things that they can get
11:15
better at um so we kind of find that
11:17
balance between individual growth and
11:18
and team growth this time of the year um
11:21
but um yeah I mean it's beating a top
11:24
these teams are so good you know and and
11:26
and I know it's easy to talk about Georg
11:27
Amore from Kentucky they run a lot of
11:29
good action and they and then once you
11:31
guard that then they then they get you
11:33
instead of a shuffle they get you on a
11:34
pin down I mean there's just so many
11:36
different and our guys just had to be
11:37
totally alert um and so to beat a A
11:40
ranked team this well at home that sits
11:43
good sits real good I'm not sure what
11:45
you're allowed to say about this but
11:47
WNBA people were here tonight was that
11:50
for Georgia was it for for some people
11:52
on your team and even if it was for
11:54
Georgia did motivate you guys we don't
11:57
tell them we've had WNBA in our
11:58
practices is yeah this is we've got it's
12:01
it's Maria Alyssa and Lexi are on a lot
12:03
of people's Radars right and we know
12:05
that they know that um so you know if
12:08
they know they're not playing then
12:09
they'll come when she wasn't playing
12:10
they came to practice just to get to
12:11
know how she was around her teammates
12:12
and Maria in this case you know so yeah
12:14
the WNBA is watching a lot of good teams
12:16
um you know we're a great area because
12:18
you can see so many teams um but the
12:20
eyes are on um our roster and their
12:22
roster for sure and I don't think that I
12:25
I didn't even tell you I know know you
12:28
know when they're at practice I tell you
12:29
to be kind but they don't know when
12:31
they're at games so the second time and
12:34
it's going to happen again later this
12:35
season to any of you playing a teammate
12:37
from last year this in this case Tiani
12:40
how how odd is
12:42
that me take it first yeah I mean we
12:45
knew we knew it was coming so I mean I
12:47
wish her the best that she like win the
12:48
portal and everything but I think it
12:50
happens a lot like I played my old
12:52
teammates before like it just happens a
12:53
lot in college basketball now that
12:54
everybody's been in a transfer portal
12:56
and goes to different school so I think
12:57
it was it was fun yeah I think to as a
12:59
coach you just want people to be where
13:01
they want to be right um and I think
13:03
this team is lighter not because of or
13:05
not because of Tiani right it's just
13:06
this particular team is made up in a way
13:08
that that works for this particular team
13:10
right and so um I I want Tiani I'll root
13:13
for Tiani the rest of the season I want
13:14
her to be great I want her to love being
13:15
there I want her to love living there I
13:16
want her to be proud of the degree all
13:18
the things right um but you know we knew
13:21
her game well which helps right but
13:23
these guys knew clar St game pretty well
13:25
too right and so we kind of treat them
13:27
all like they're like they're just we
13:29
want them to leave
13:31
sad any question I don't know if I
13:34
actually asked you the thousand points
13:36
that just your your thoughts on using
13:39
that M um shout out to my teammates for
13:41
getting me the ball you know um it's a
13:43
big milestone so I'm obviously really
13:45
proud of myself and then the way I play
13:46
tonight really proud of that and my team
13:48
so just going to keep going I think the
13:50
two thing R I'm proud of you for is that
13:52
you missed all that time and you found a
13:53
way to stay in shape with our sport
13:55
performance team so while her teammates
13:56
are out there playing in the Bahamas
13:57
she's in the weight room and the pool
14:00
with our strength and our sport
14:01
performance team kind of around the
14:02
clock to make sure her conditioning
14:04
allows her to stay and that's lonely and
14:06
annoying and so she's at our practices
14:09
at our film at our stuff and then she
14:10
has to go on her own they're in the
14:11
water slides and she's doing the
14:12
training to stay in shape right um and
14:14
so you deserve this right because that
14:16
was lonely and it paid
14:19
off thanks guys go heels