Wisconsin Postgame Quotes
Wisconsin vs. Illinois
February 17, 2016
Kohl Center– Madison, Wis.
 
 
Head Coach Bobbie Kelsey
Opening statement:
"Obviously we're disappointed in our play tonight. We couldn't really buy a basket. I'm not sure why it was so difficult for us to find the rim. They seemed like they couldn't miss. Everything they threw up pretty much went in. We tried different defenses on them and tracking the ball. But when you've got a post player that can shoot 3-pointers, it makes it really difficult. Their guards are pretty good at handling the ball and creating off the dribble. That zone… we've had zones played against us before, but for some reason we just couldn't find a hole to get it close enough to the basket. We settled for too many threes. If we played in the beginning of the game like we did at the end against their zone, we would've had maybe a different outcome. They out-rebounded us as well, so that was something that we should've done a better job with."
 
On why they switched out of the zone in the second quarter:
"They hit a couple of shots, a couple of deep threes, and anytime they score on whatever defense you're on a couple times, you have to switch it up and do something different. Otherwise they'll just keep doing what they're doing. They hit from all over the place, no matter what we were in. We tried to pick them off and we got some steals, but it wasn't quite enough."
 
On Chatrice White's performance tonight:
"Obviously, she's done a lot more damage. On 16 shots and she gets 28 points, obviously we held her in the second half but then others came in and did some damage. Alex Wittinger came in and did some damage. We had to go small, but they took advantage of our lack of size on the inside. You've got to have a big on White, and that leaves a smaller guard on Wittinger."
 
On Dakota's game and career-high points tonight:
"She was on. The others were too, but we just couldn't find the basket. The ball is just coming in and coming out, but it's just one of those nights where you just can't find the basket other than what she did. She found it, but Nicole (Bauman) struggled. She didn't have a particularly good game today. She had some nice looks, but just didn't make them. We need some other people being able to create off the dribble. That's kind of been our Achilles' heel the whole year. We needed Michala (Johnson) to make some baskets and she struggled. You can't have one person carry the whole load and then have the bench down in production."
 
On how she thinks switching to the press worked out:
"At times it looked good, and at times we let people get behind us. We have to make sure that we realize that you're picking up full court, but if your girl is back there, you have to go back there, too. We had some that were just kind of in space and not matched up where they were supposed to. We don't press that much, so it's not going to look the prettiest. We don't have the depth to press, we just had to do something different tonight to slow them down. I think it slowed them down a little bit, but I think it was maybe too little, too late. That second quarter really put us in a big, big hole. In the second half, we win the fourth and we're pretty even in the third. But you can't go 25-7. You can't have that."
 
On the frustration level to have a game like this at this point in the season:
"It is (frustrating). You're trying to keep a smile on your face and keep positive, and it's difficult because you really don't know the answer. Everybody is searching. Tonight was particularly difficult because our shots weren't falling. It wasn't that we weren't getting looks. They just weren't going in. It is frustrating. We try not to show it and we try to remain very classy and professional because when it's going our way, we try to make the most of it. When it's not, we try to teach these young people that when things don't go our way, they're still fighting and trying to play good basketball. It was just one of those games where they were hitting everything and we couldn't find the bucket tonight other than Dakota."
 
On Nicole's slump in the recent games:
"I don't know. She's in the gym. She stays after practice. It's just one of those spells. She hasn't had many in her career. I can't remember her having this many, but there's a lot of pressure on her because they do chase her around. She's not just open. When Dakota has a game like this, you've got to have more than one person. Another guard has got to step up so then they have to guard someone else. There have been games when she's struggled, Tessa's struggled, Cayla's struggled, and Nicole's really the only one other than Michala, but she's a post player. You've got to have at least two guards that they have to guard. When you can shoot and handle the ball and drive, it makes it hard on the defense. It looked like no matter what we did, they could score."
 
Dakota Whyte
On how difficult it is to carry the entire team when her teammates have an off night:
"It's definitely not as bad as I thought. I've been there before when I couldn't find the basket, and Nicole or Michala would step up. Definitely trying to take the load and do for my teammates what they couldn't do. They couldn't find the basket, so I tried to take it upon myself to help at least. I've been there, so it was just good that I could actually hit my shots tonight."
 
On what allowed her turnover number to stay so low:
"I actually didn't realize that at all. I feel like when the ball is in your hands a lot, you don't have a reason to throw it away. The ball was in my hands a lot today and I was making shots. It's something that's new for me. Taking care of the ball is something that Coach Bobbie has been emphasizing in practice, so I always keep that in the back of my mind."


Illinois Head Coach Matt Bollant
Opening statement:
"I'm just really happy for our team. I feel like we've done a great job staying together and a lot of coaches have commented saying, 'they don't look like a team that has had a losing streak or struggled the way they're carrying themselves.' They're really carrying themselves the right away and have approached and carried themselves in a manner that we're really proud of and tonight I felt like they got the reward for that. In a lot of games they haven't gotten what the world would call a reward, but I've been proud of them as far as their perseverance. I thought Chatrice (White) was incredible in that first half. The second quarter we just got really good shots and we took care of the ball, we were 10-for-11 and Chatrice was phenomenal that first half with 20 points and really carried us through that, and then second half we did a good job of getting good shots. We turned it over a couple of times but when we didn't, we got a good shot and did enough to get by in that second half."
 
On Dakota Whyte and Nicole Bauman:
"I thought Dakota was really awesome tonight, and we did a good job on Bauman. Obviously that was the focus in the zone and we wanted to make sure to find those two to take away rhythm shots. We used our guy practice players to pretend that one was Whyte and one was Bauman and here is where they would try to get their shots and lets try to take those away and we did a good job I thought with Bauman and Whyte got going, we didn't always do a good job, and it's hard with two, it's easier if you got one you got to key on but with two, Dakota steps up and plays like that and it makes them a lot better offensively."
 
On Wisconsin playing zone defense:
"I was surprised that they started the game in zone. Both teams really struggled to start the game offensively. Even though we shoot the ball well doesn't mean you can't zone us, but most teams don't because we shoot it so well. But I thought their zone was effective early, and our zone was as well and I felt like we got going in the second quarter. We made shots, and once you make one or two you get your confidence going and it seemed like it took them, besides Dakota, no one else in that first half really made shots. I think they only had one person make like one shot so I think we had a number of kids step up and get us going a little bit. Brooke (Kissinger) hitting two threes and Chatrice the way she shot it, really helped us. So I thought earlier the zone was effective but then we got a little more comfortable after the start and once we got going I thought we were pretty good offensively."