South Carolina women's basketball: Everything Alabama coach Kristy Curry said ahead of Thursday's game

Alabama women’s basketball hosts South Carolina on Thursday. Here is everything Crimson Tide head coach Kristy Curry said on Wednesday to preview the game.

CURRY: Just excited to be home. Two games on the road last week. It’s always good to be at home and excited for our fan base tomorrow night, and we definitely need our fans to come out and support us as we continue our home schedule throughout SEC play.

MEDIA: And you kind of touched on it right then, coach, about getting the fans to come out. Can you kind of describe the importance of a game like this, especially when you get to have one SEC matchup, you know, rank versus rank in your own arena? Just describe the importance of that.

CURRY: Well, I think they’re all important. I think that we all talk about rank versus ranked. I mean, guys, the next game is all that really matters. And at the end of the day, though, too, I think our fan base needs to understand the value of we’ve been on the road last week to two incredible home court environments where we walk in and you’re already 10 down.

And I think it really does help when your fan base is energized, and our team certainly feeds off that. They’ve done a really good job this season of coming out and supporting us. And as we head into Thursday night, then I think the next home game is Sunday the 26th against Vandy at 1.

Tomorrow night, we’re having the incredible honor of recognizing Tim Johnson’s family, who was an integral part of our support staff that did an amazing job with tickets. He’s from my home state, and a true … he loved basketball and women’s basketball so much. So, the opportunity to recognize his family is really incredibly special to our team.

We’ve honored him on our shooting shirts all year. And so we’re excited to have his family in town. And Tim was forever a part of what we’re doing in our journey at Alabama as we continue to build this program. And then just an opportunity to compete tomorrow night. We have to come out with a tremendous effort, a near-perfect effort. And we’re excited for the opportunity.

MEDIA: Coach Staley is someone who’s talked about you in press conferences as someone that she’s praised for the work you’ve done building up this program. How essential is that mutual respect that exists between coaches, especially in the SEC, as the SEC continues to grow and grow in women’s basketball?

CURRY: Well, in the SEC, you know, night in and night out, the opportunity to compete against the best coaches in the country, but also what I consider the best coaches in the country that truly care about growing our game.

And there’s no question that Dawn truly cares about women’s basketball. She cares about our league. She cares about everything that’s, you know, good in our sport. And I just have so much admiration for how she has built South Carolina, the support that that community and university has given her.

And, you know, we all want our programs to rise to that level. The way she’s done it with hard work and grit and toughness, I have a lot of respect for that. So there’s so many great coaches in our league. And I think we truly all want our programs to be at the highest level. And Dawn has always supported the building process here and how we’ve gone about what we’ve done. So I will always appreciate that.

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MEDIA: So, kind of getting into this matchup, what is the biggest challenge that you think South Carolina is going to present you guys and just kind of describe how can you withstand an early run like you were able to against Ole Miss?

CURRY: Well, we definitely have two learning experiences from last week. One, on a home floor of a Top 5 team that’s legitimately a Top 5 team that we didn’t respond very well. And then against another Top 25 team, I think they were ranked the week before, that’s incredibly talented, that’s played one of the toughest schedules in the country. And we responded better.

When you ask me what’s the biggest, well, first of all, there’s more than one big challenge. There’s a reason why they’re No. 2 in the country and probably as good as if not No. 1. It’s just amazing the depth and the numbers and the size and the way that they play.

They’re going to really paint points and second-chance opportunities. Their transition game, it’s elite. I mean, they’re a Top 5 defense in the country. They’re a top five in every category. And it’s not necessarily their first group. It’s their second group.

They’ve had an injury. We’ve had an injury. Injuries are part of the game. You just have to rise up and accept the challenge and overcome it. So, us talking about the adversity we face, yes, it’s different. We’ve got four kids on the sideline. That’s really hard.

But at the end of the day, we all have an opportunity to compete. And we’re going to have to learn how to compete in life every day when we leave Alabama. So we’ve got to compete this week. We’ve got to compete at home. We’ve got to take it back on the road to Arkansas. And our goal is always to be 2-0 at the end of the week.

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MEDIA: You know, you always, every year, you have to say goodbye to a couple of seniors. But Sarah Ashlee Barker, I’d have to imagine, is a player that, you know, I’ve heard how strong the relationship between you and her is. Now that here we are, we’re in January, and, you know, the season will be over before anyone even knows it. Does it start to set in that, okay, like, here’s the last, you know, the last couple of months that I have with, you know, these players in this group?

CURRY: Well, I think it, it’s not something I really want to think about that right now. But I think from the moment that Sarah Ashlee and Aaliyah (Nye) committed to come back to Alabama because they love the front of their chest more than the back, I can’t tell you how much I want to do everything that I can possibly do to make this really, really special for them.

So it’s not just them. It’s Zaay Green making the commitment to come to Alabama. It’s JeAnna Cunningham. It’s Christabel Ezumah, who could have gone a lot of places. So our fifth year, sixth year, seventh year, those that have been a part and had so many experiences, what they’ve done for this program and how they’ve elevated it this season, regardless of what the future holds.

They’re an incredibly special group, and we have a couple other seniors, that we know will be back, and we’re going to celebrate senior day in a big way. But we’ve got unfinished business, and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that we send this group out in a really special way.

MEDIA: You’ll be playing against a pretty solid South Carolina team. How important is it to use the starters and your bench in an effective way?

CURRY: Well, I think that brings up a great point today. I’ll be really, bluntly honest. I felt like that Diana Collins was a big difference-maker for us in the second half of Ole Miss. I thought JeAnna Cunningham played extremely well at Ole Miss.

We’ve got to have more of a committee. It’s got to be something as we continue to move forward without SA that we’ve got to have more … we can’t expect Zaay and Aaliyah to do what they did. We can, and we hope they do, but we’ve got to be able to also provide some assistance in some other spots. I thought Essence (Cody) had a phenomenal second half.

Just so many people have to step up by committee, and I don’t think there’s any secret that our bench has to perform better, has to impact the stat sheet. It doesn’t always have to be astronomically. It just needs to be a great screen, waiting on the screen, getting our hands high, our communication.

And then, yeah, it would help if we can get a bucket. It would help if we can get a rebound. It will help if we can get a steal, a loose ball, a hustle play. So, I think it has to be by committee. It has to be better, and when it’s better, we’re better.

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