Kansas 68 - Oklahoma State 70: Postgame Quotes
Jan. 12, 2010
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
Postgame Quotes
No. 15 Oklahoma State 70, Kansas 68
Jan. 12, 2010 – Lawrence, Kan.
Kansas Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson
On the second half effort:
“I’m proud of the kids. We made the run at the beginning of the second half to get back in it, just like we talked about out of the locker room. We said at the half, `we’re down 10, let’s cut it to six by the first media timeout’. And then we answered again when they made a run, but the difference in the game is the offensive boards and our inability to score from the free throw line. They killed us on the glass inside when (Andrea) Riley didn’t make a shot. It hurt us at about the eight-minute mark when we missed three-straight layups, but you can afford to miss those if you box out and rebound.”
On the bounce back effort of the team after losing at Kansas State:
“We worked a lot of things on Saturday (against Kansas State), but today we were tough, we attacked, we were aggressive and unselfish. I’m proud of our kids for their resiliency and quick turn around against a great team, but we’re going to have to do it again after a tough loss. I couldn’t be more proud after such a disappointing performance the other day, and to have good practices and be dialed in and to put ourselves in position to win a big game.”
On how the team responded to Angel Goodrich’s injury:
“LaChelda (Jacobs) came in and guarded (Andrea) Riley after Sade (Morris) got into foul trouble. She did a good job of pushing her left, which is where she struggles to score. I thought we showed some toughness, we just weren’t tough enough on the boards inside.”
On the crowd today:
“(It was) awesome. Great energy. These kids have been here all year. There’s a great program, because of our NCAA grant last year to build and grow (our fan base) within the community. We’ve had a lot of elementary school kids and their families at our games this year. I thought the kids were fantastic, like they were a year ago. They gave us a chance to stay in the game and win it.”
Senior guard Danielle McCray
On coming back out after Saturday’s loss:
“We really just tried to focus on ourselves after that. We tried to bounce back and keep our heads on straight, knowing that we still are a good team. We still believe in ourselves and will keep working on things we need to work on.”
On hitting a three-pointer with less than a minute left:
“They were in a zone the whole night and Coach (Henrickson) ran plays to get me open. Krysten (Boogaard) did a good job on that last play of screening and getting the ball to me. I just stepped back, saw the rim and knocked it down.”
Senior guard Sade Morris
On taking a step to get out of the losing skid:
“I think we’ve already taken the steps to do that, because at K-State we didn’t show toughness or resiliency. Today we definitely came out with it. We played hard in the first half and the second half, and we kept going. It was a complete turnaround from how we did at K-State. We’ve already taken that step, now we just need to find a way to finish it.”
On the loss:
“That’s just how the game went. We missed a couple of layups at the beginning and couldn’t get rebounds. There could have been a different outcome, but I think we learned a lot from this game.”
Senior guard LaChelda Jacobs
On guarding Andrea Riley on the last play:
“She’s a tough player, and I tried to contain her, but she made a great pass and that was the game.”
On playing hard in the second half:
“We came out and made a great run in the second half. We’ve been in a little drought, but it was night and day from K-State defensively.”
Sophomore forward Aishah Sutherland
On losing at home:
“I thought we had it won because this is our house. It was harder to lose today because the game was so close and we gave up that last basket.”
Oklahoma State Head Coach Kurt Budke
On the game overall:
“I’m very proud of the win in the very tough conditions. This is not an easy place to come into when there are that many kids out there screaming the whole time. The girls handled it very well and stuck with the game plan. Obviously we knew Kansas coming off of a loss to K-State was going to come out and give their best shot today and they did. This is a good road win for this team. I’m very proud of it.”
On the play of Andrea Riley:
“She’s the most dynamic threat in America right now. She’s leading the Big 12 in scoring and assists. I don’t know what else she has to do to prove herself as the best point guard in America. We ask a lot of her and she has great teammates. She has better options this year. Tegan (Cunningham) is playing lights out and some of these freshmen are starting to come along. She doesn’t go into the game feeling she has to do it all by herself. We go into the game with the same plan every night and if it happens to be her night to do it then she does it. If not, she had 17 assists in a game this year. If her teammates are clicking then we have other options. Andrea Riley is the best point guard in this country.”
On winning their first two games of Big 12 play:
“To be 2-0 right now (in the conference) and heading home for a home game, we’re obviously very proud of what we’ve done and where we’re at. We feel like our nonconference schedule helped us prepare for this moment. We played one of the better nonconference schedules in America. Those games definitely got us toughened up for the Big 12.”
Senior Guard Andrea Riley
On Danielle McCray’s game- tying three late in the game:
“Well I knew she was going to step up and make a good shot. She is one of the best players in this conference. She made it and I knew I had to make a play. I was really determined not to just make the winning shot, but to make a play. When I came down I knew they would collapse on me, and Toni Young really stepped up for a second Big 12 game. She really made a great shot.”
On the atmosphere of the game:
“We knew that there were going to be 7,000 grade school kids in the gym, but our atmosphere is kind of the same thing. When we played against Baylor it was really loud. A lot of kids just screaming at you can get to you, but at the same time we were very poised and thought about not making mental errors and limiting mental mistakes.”
