Postgame Quotes
Jan. 7, 2009
KU Postgame Quotes
Kansas 80, Fairfield 60
Jan. 7, 2009
Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson
On the overall performance:
“We did a nice job out of the locker room, good intensity. Give Fairfield credit. They hung around, especially out of the locker room for the second half. They made some great shots in a stretch there where we didn’t get an offensive rebound and didn’t have very good rhythm. Then, give our kids credit. I thought Ivana [Catic] was strong defensively and I thought Sade [Morris] was strong defensively. But, we’ve got to have some other people come in and guard and play every possession defensively.”
On Fairfield’s run at the beginning of the second half:
“We were late off of screens and late to rotate defensively. We missed opportunities to take a charge off of penetrations. Either foul or don’t foul. Pick one, not both. That’s just definition, defensively.”
On producing 47 rebounds:
“I thought we did a decent job, especially the second half. Our numbers weren’t very good in the first half. I thought Porscha [Weddington] gave us some good minutes, for a kid who has spent the last three days with her head in a trash can. She came out with some toughness and played pretty well for us. She played with some athleticism around the rim.”
On assist-to-field goal ratio:
“These kids are unselfish. I know we do a good job of that. We share the ball, communicate and rotate pretty well. We’ve done a better job of moving without the ball and getting in a position where we can take and make a shot. We’ve done that pretty consistently and we will need to do that as we go into league play.”
Junior Danielle McCray
On whether two three-pointers in second half were a confidence builder
“It was a confidence builder. Their zone slowed us up a little bit. Against the man we were doing pretty well, but the zone slowed us down a little bit. Those shots gave us some energy and let us know that we need to get inside of the zone and score that way too.”
On if the team is ready for conference play:
“We’re there, but we need to tune a few things up. That’s easy in to do in practice. We just need to focus a little more.”
On reaching the 1,000 career point mark:
“I was really relieved to get it out of the way. It’s a great honor and a great accomplishment. I’m excited about it. Right now I am just focused on conference play. I’m glad that I did it before conference play so that I wouldn’t be jittered up about it.”
Junior Sade Morris
On the team’s mindset going into Big 12 play:
“We’re a lot hungrier and we know what to expect. We know how tough it is going to be. We’re looking forward to it. We said in the locker room today, ‘it’s a new season and we’re 0-0.’ We need to go out to K-State and try to get our first win.”
On opening the conference season at Kansas State:
“This first game is going to be the biggest test because we’re going to play K-State. They’re ranked and they’re a great team and we play them in their house. If we come out with a win, that’s going to give us the confidence that we can play anywhere.”
Sophomore Krysten Boogaard
On the play of Ivana Catic and LaChelda Jacobs:
“Ivana is a great point guard and so is LaChelda. They’re both really good to me. They both find me. They do a lot for our team. LaChelda can get in there and get some shots up. Ivana has a great eye for the floor.”
On turnovers in conference play:
“We need to focus on not having as many turnovers because then we’re not getting as many shots. Those are crucial especially during the Big 12. They are going to take those turnovers and convert them into points. Where as some of the teams we’ve played haven’t converted all of them. In the Big 12 they will.”
Fairfield Head Coach Joe Frager
On how to make it a closer game:
“All we wanted to do was get stops and contest KU’s shots every time down the floor. All we really needed to do was make a couple baskets and relax a little bit.”
On Danielle McCray and what was said at halftime:
“She’s really a special player. Two or three of the shots she knocked down, we had a hand right in her face and she just played outstanding. We also had a problem with size and matching up. At halftime, we were down 16 points and I just said, ‘When you’re in this type of situation, it really reveals what type of character you have individually and as a team. When you keep getting knocked down you have to keep getting up.’ And I thought we did that in the second half.”
On how he views the loss:
“I think because of the way we handled the situation it’s a positive for us because there are very few teams in our league that have the size Kansas does, inside and on the perimeter. We don’t face too many perimeters that have 5-foot-11 or 6-foot-2 players who are also exceptional three-point shooters.”
