Baylor, Southern Miss Postgame Quotes
11/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Recap | Box Score | Notes | USATSI Gallery 
Monday, Nov. 16, 2015
Ferrell Center (Waco, Texas)
Attendance: 5,400
BAYLOR POSTGAME QUOTES
Baylor Head Coach Kim Mulkey
On the slow startà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I think that can happen a lot this year. We have Baylor written across our chest. You're going to get everybody's best shot. People are excited to play you, you have to come out of the gates ready. Sometimes you have to give credit to your opponent. I thought we withstood it, we were able to play a lot of kids. I thought we got back in the rhythm offensively, and that was good to see."
On the defense forcing turnoversà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I like the way our defense is playing. We're big, big on the perimeter. I think we're altering shots, I think we're getting to loose balls, and I don't have any complaints about our defense right now. We'll see how good it really is on Thursday."
On Thursday's game against South Floridaà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"We need a good crowd here Thursday. [South Florida] has five returning starters, nine international players, they only lost to UConn by 14, they only lost seven games last year, three of those were to Connecticut ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬" that team is poised right now, they're polished. We need people here Thursday. If you have season tickets and there along that court, give those tickets up if you're not coming. We need people. It means a great deal. People respect this program. We must not become complacent. We need to do whatever we can to have a good crowd Thursday."
Junior Nina Davis
On the effort from Baylor's benchà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"We just know that we're deep. We know that we have bigger players coming off the bench. They can score but also have a presence on defense."
On early trouble with Southern Missà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"We were throwing the ball in the post early. They were sending double, triple teams. We just had to relax and find open players. Eventually we found our rhythm."
Senior Niya Johnson
On playing against a team from her home state of Floridaà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"Most definitely, I'm looking forward to it. I played with Courtney Williams in AAU. It's just fun playing somebody back home."
On the challenge of facing a ranked team in South Florida Thursdayà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"It will be good to see where we stand offensively and defensively, and to see how good we are."
SOUTHERN MISS POSTGAME QUOTES
Southern Miss Head Coach Joye Lee-McNelis
Opening statementà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"First of all, what a ballgame played by Baylor. They played extremely well. Obviously, they're the fifth ranked team in the country for a reason. They have so much balance, so much depth, and so much size. Kim [Mulkey] does a tremendous job in getting them motivated to be able to play, and to play hard. They're a heck of a basketball team. I don't know that many people in the country can even battle them with that size that they have. When you bring in the size that they bring in off the bench, it makes a difference. When you have Nina Davis in there you feel like a smaller team has a chance to compete, but when you bring in the trees it makes it a little more difficult to be able to score in that black area. So again, hats off to them. I think that if there's anything that this team can take from this game, it's the first quarter. I thought we played with no fear in the first quarter. I thought we played extremely well, played hard, and played with a lot of heart and soul. I think the difference was that when Baylor scored buckets and we couldn't score, we kind of struggled. I mean, obviously, when you shoot 25 percent with 31 turnovers you're not going to win much of anything. We probably won't win a ball game the rest of the year with that many turnovers and if you shoot that poorly. I will say the young lady to my right, Jerontay Clemons, played with tremendous amount of heart and soul. It was her first game back after she had been out for a while and I thought the way she played tonight was with tremendous heart, and I am really proud of the way she played.
On how Baylor turned it around after the first quarterà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"They got some transition buckets. If you look at the first half, they scored in transition, they scored on the free throw line, and they scored during in rebounds. In the first half, they scored in half-court offense four points ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬" that's it in half court offense. Again, we felt like our game plan defensively was solid, but I think what happened was that we had mental lapses defensively, and again you get down so you try to pressure a little bit and pick up and be able to make things happen. But in turn, it gave them a lot of offensive rebounds and easy baskets on the run. I was really disappointed in how we fought to the end against them getting those baskets.
Senior Jerontay Clemons
On how she felt coming in to play the nation's fifth ranked teamà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I wasn't nervous at all. I can't speak for my teammates, but I just knew I had to come out and compete. Even though they're the fifth ranked team in the country, I wasn't afraid. I came to compete."
