The University of Mississippi Athletics
WBB: Local Media Day Transcript
10/31/2016 | Women's Basketball
Ole Miss Women's Basketball Head Coach Matt Insell along with players Erika Sisk and Shandricka Sessom met with the local media on Monday discussing the start of the 2016-17 basketball season. The Rebels play an exhibition game on Friday, Nov. 4 against Mississippi College at 7 pm at The Pavilion at Ole Miss.
Head Coach Matt Insell
Opening Statement…
"It's a new year and it's an exciting time for us. We're about 20 practices into our October camp. We're into a game week, as we play an exhibition on Friday. I couldn't be happier with where our team is at; we're a lot further ahead than we have been at this point in a long time. We have a very well rounded team and for the first time in my tenure here we're going to be able to put a team on the court that actually looks like an SEC team, from your starters to the players that come off the bench and we have a lot depth in a lot of different areas. I'm really excited about this basketball team and where we are going. We're pretty healthy right now with just one injury to Alissa Alston, one of our point guards, is out with a shoulder injury right now we think she'll be back for the first game but we're unsure about that and we're day-to-day with that but everyone else is full go. Chrishae Rowe won't be eligible to play until December due to the NCAA transfer rule. She'll be eligible to play the Louisiana Monroe game on Dec. 10. We're excited about our team and where we're at, we've had two scrimmages and I'm very happy with the results of both situations."
On what excites you most about this team…
"Our depth. We have a well-rounded team. Previously we relied so much on our guard play, but this year our post play is really strong and just the energy and enthusiasm that they bring every single day. We don't' have a lot of issues. I don't have to raise my voice too much in practice and I don't have to get them going. They just know what is expected and they come out each day and work extremely hard. This team has a huge chip on their shoulder, they think they are a lot better than where the media has picked them and I feel we're a lot better than where we've been picked. We're going to play with a chip on our shoulder all year and we're excited about that."
On the depth of the team this season…
"One thing that doesn't get mentioned a lot is that we have recruited as well as anybody in the SEC and women's basketball the last three years. We have signed one of the top three classes in our league for three straight years. Now those players are juniors, sophomores and freshmen with four seniors included with them, so that's really where it is. It's recruiting each and every year and following them up with good classes. Outside of South Carolina, we're recruited just as well as anyone in this league if not better. You could see that when at SEC Media Day, they spoke about teams with top 100 players on them, we are second in the league with top 100 players in the league that are on our roster and that's exciting. Our players have gown up. Last year, you felt like every game we were a player her or a player there away and we have two exciting transfers joining in with our returners and along with that we signed three outstanding prospects in the three freshmen so we just keep adding depth. We're not a small team; we have good size this season."
On the expectations of this team…
"Our expectation is to be in the NCAA Tournament and I don't' think that's an unrealistic expectation for this team. We feel like it won't be a successful season if we aren't there. That's our mentality in our program, we talk about it and we're not shying away from that. We feel like we have a team that can compete at the top of this league."
On how is this team different than last year's team…
"We're going to throw the ball inside. We have some players that can score in there. We're taking a lot better shots because we have an inside game and we don't have to rush as much and take so many long outside shots. We're getting a lot of paint touches, whether it is driving the ball in there. We have great experience on the perimeter. Erika Sisk is a two-year starter and Shandricka Sessom with a chance of starting and there is a lot of experience out there with some talented young players. We changed a lot of what we're doing offensively. We're doing nothing we did last year offensively. What we did last year was a poor mistake by me as a coach and I fixed that mistake and we're going back to doing some basic stud we did a couple years ago when we had Tia Faleru inside. We have Taylor Manuel and Shelby Gibson on the low block. I don't' know if there's been a good a post tandem in terms of on the low block as those two. They are pretty good."
On how the post presence helps the backcourt…
"Takes a lot off of them because they don't have to manufacture their own shots when you have a big player inside like Taylor Manuel and you can play around her. I talked about her at SEC Media Day and she may be the best passing post player that I've ever coached and maybe ever seen. She has great court vision and can really pass the ball. If we can get the ball to her, she's going to draw double teams and she can get the ball back out to people that need it. When you talk about Shandricka or Erika because of Taylor there shots have been a little more open then they have been in the past and it takes a lot of pressure off them."
On whether there has been an emphasis on layups…
"We worked a lot on our offensive game over the summer and that's something we've worked a lot on. We've had players make upwards of 40 or 50 thousand shots this summer over a two-month period and we' talked to them about getting in the gym on their own and that's something this group does, they get in on their own. Layups shouldn't be an issue for us and scoring shouldn't be an issue for this team."
On things that stuck out from last season's statistics…
"Our shooting percentages were not good enough. I felt like we were one player away last season all year long. You go and play a Kentucky and you beat them and we shot the ball well in that game. We lose a heartbreaker to Missouri or a Georgia and you look at your stats and you shot 20 percent. I think we were on player away all year long last year and I think we've fixed that. We've charted every shot our team has taken all summer in practice and workouts and also this gall. Every player gets a shot chart at the end of practice to where they were that day and where they have been over the two to three month period. They see that every day and I've seen a drastic improvement in those areas. I'm excited about this team and I think they have a chance to be really good … I've coached three Elite Eight teams and this team ranks up there in terms of depth and talent to those teams that went to the Elite Eights. I'm not saying this team is going to do that, this team has to go out and prove themselves every game but a if we stay healthy this team has a chance to do something very special this season."
On scoring…
"We return 83.5 percent of our scoring. We obviously return some very good players in terms of players scoring the basketball but have to transfers joining in with that one of who was the Pac 12 Freshman of the Year in Chrishae Rowe that can really score the basketball. The other is Taylor Manuel who was on the Big Ten All-Freshman team as a freshman at Purdue and was All-MVC at Loyola Chicago that last two years and comes to us as a fifth year senior. We're adding two experienced players to an already experienced roster so that's something that excites our players and me and it makes practice interesting. We usually practice a lot against our practice guys but with us having the depth we have, we've been going a lot against each other and that's been fun watching them go at each other. When you have a team with that much experience, you have a chance to do something pretty good. In women's basketball experienced teams win games."
On the league…
"South Carolina is really good in our league but outside of that it's anybody's ball game from 2-14. Who's going to step up and take control of that? That's something I challenge our team with, I ask them to step up and see what happens. We have an experienced team so let's go do something special."
Senior Guard Erika Sisk (Oxford, Miss.)
On expectations…
"Our expectations are very high. In the summer, as a player and as a leader, we have been in the gym more than we have ever been. We have been working out a lot and we just have the want to get better mentality. 40-50,000 shots were taken over the summer and at one point we had 15,000. Our team this year has great size down on the block. Taylor Manuel, Kate Rodgers, Shelby Gibson, Bretta Hart and Shequila Joseph. Once the ball goes inside, I feel like 75 to 100 percent of the time something good is going to happen. The ball goes inside and then out, something good happens when we play inside."
On approaching 1,000 career points…
"I really don't ask about it and it's not that I don't think about it because I do care, but really it's about the team. I'm here for the team. If I get it or I don't, whether it takes 10 games or 20 games I just play my role as a point guard and a leader on this team to help this team be successful in winning games."
On the difference of the team from last year to this year…
"The post players we have this year are the difference. Taylor [Manuel], I keep saying Taylor because she's a transfer, she's a great post player. Every time she touches the ball something good is happening and we haven't had that in the last couple of years. Also, just the "want to" attitude of the team. We get in the gym and we work hard. We won't to get better, we have no attitudes, everyone is encouraging each other and that's what excites me."
Junior Guard Shandricka Sessom (Byhalia, Miss.)
On the importance of early success…
"Confidence in early games will come from us working hard this summer and the Costa Rica trip. We all just have the will to win because we don't want to have a season like we had last year. We're looking for a winning season this year."
On how she's working to improve her shooting percentages…
"Coach Insell says he depends on me to be a scorer. So it was a must that I got in the gym and improve my shot because I need to be consistent this year and I'm going to have to confidence in everything that I do."
