Post Game Quotes

Jan. 12, 2005

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Kansas Postgame Quotes
Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005 – vs. Iowa State

Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson
On the game:
“We have talked all year about controlling what you can. As much as I have praised this team for how hard we have competed, we did not do that tonight. It was a lack of focus and concentration. If we don’t play better than we did tonight, there isn’t anyone left on the schedule that we could beat. We have too many competitive players to not come back from this funk that we are in.”

On Iowa State:
“They don’t make mistakes and they have shooters all over the floor. They executed and scored much better than we would have liked, but we still held them in check for a portion of the game. They had players that can play one-on-one, which is a struggle for us. We gave up three-pointers in transition in the first half and a couple in half court sets in the second half. They don’t make mistakes and they will make you pay when you make turnovers. They are a very experienced team. They do not have a freshman among their top nine players. Iowa State is a team that has experience and great senior leadership. “

On Crystal Kemp:
“We are trying to get her to demand the ball even more. She has to work harder and be more determined whether she is getting double-teamed or not. She still has to demand the ball, use a baseline pivot and give more effort. You can’t get double-teamed on an offensive rebound and you can’t get double-teamed in transition, so there are places where she isn’t always double-teamed. If she would give more effort, she would score more points. She can’t be effective at the pace she is playing right now, and she knows that she has to pick it up.”

Junior Forward Crystal Kemp
On her offensive performance:
“It is frustrating when you know you could be an offensive threat, but it is hard when you have two or three people guarding you and you can’t even get a pass. Iowa State forced me to take a lot of bad shots and at the free throw line, I couldn’t make any shots either.”

On the game:
“We didn’t go out and compete for the entire 40 minutes. We aren’t going to win any games with the effort we had tonight. We let Iowa State go on long runs and we couldn’t answer them. Half of the time we couldn’t even get a shot because we turned the ball over. That is something we can’t practice, it’s just something we have to do. There is no excuse for the loss, we just need to put forth the effort and compete.”

Freshman Forward Taylor McIntosh
On the game:
“We didn’t have any energy and we didn’t play with enough intensity. Coach mentioned in practice the past few days that we have been lacking the energy we usually have, and we showed it in tonight’s game. Your body gets tired playing such good competition each night, but we have to play better than we did tonight.”

On Iowa State:
“We had to stay on all of their shooters because anytime we would let up on somebody, they (Iowa State) would hit a three-point shot.”

Junior Guard Erica Hallman
On the team’s shooting:
“When you shoot 26 percent from the field, you are not going to beat anybody. We had some open looks, we just didn’t knock them down. We didn’t compete for 40 minutes. We need to put this one behind us and work hard in practice so that we can win this weekend.”

On Iowa State:
“They are a good team and all five starters are good shooters. You have to guard everyone on their team and they also have a good inside game. They hit open looks and if you do that and we (Kansas) shoot 26 percent, Iowa State was going to win the game.”

Iowa State Quotes

Head Coach Bill Fennelly
On the game:
“KU played well the entire game. I thought defensively, we really made them work for shots. Offensively, it wasn’t always pretty, but we made shots when we had to. Katie (Robinette) started hot, then we missed some good looks. (Anne) O’Neil really ran our offense very well and got some shots for us. Mary Fox hit some big threes. We didn’t shoot great anywhere, but we seemed to make enough at the right time. We shot a lot better in the second half. I thought the end of the first half and the start of the second half was when we took over the game. Defensively, we played pretty solid. Overall, it was a workman-like effort on the road, and that was important for our team. To win back-to-back road games is huge for us. To be 3-0 (in the Big 12) at the start of the season is big.”

On Kansas:
“To their credit, they just kept battling and fighting. When you play a team like KU that is very disciplined and well-coached, the pace of the game is a little slower. You don’t want to give up possessions and we gave up a few from time to time. This has always been a place that we’ve had close games and we’ve struggled a lot. Kansas just didn’t have a great shooting night, and hopefully that was our defense.”

Senior Guard Anne O’Neil
On the game:
“It’s is all about athleticism. We did some things where we weren’t so athletic. It motivates you quite a bit. You want to show athleticism on the boards or fighting through screens. Defenses have to be smart, and that is what we try to be.We need to eliminate scoring droughts and be more aware throughout the game. We want to be in control of the game from the beginning. We’re usually more of a second half team, but we want to come out and show people we are ready to play 40 minutes.”

On playing on the road:
“We wanted to come out and play well. They (Kansas) always play well in the first half of games. We wanted to come out and make a statement right away, and we were able to do that.”

Sophomore Guard Tegan Stuart
On Iowa State’s defense:
“I thought we defended very well, especially when we got in a scoring drought. We can’t let those (droughts) happen. Our defense was big in this game.”

On Iowa State’s offense:
“We couldn’t finish in the first half. I think we were three-for-12 or four-for-12 from the three-point line. That’s when we had to step up and defend, and that’s what we did. Offensively we got it done better in the second half. That was the most important thing, because that’s what we stressed at half time. (Our bench) stepped up in the second half. It was a good scoring balance.”