Postgame Quotes

Jan. 11, 2012

Recap | Final Stats | Notes |

Postgame Quotes
Kansas 74, Iowa State 67 (2OT)
January 11, 2012

Kansas head coach Bonnie Henrickson
Opening statement:
“I’m obviously proud of our group for their resolve, their resiliency, their perseverance. It got so muddy up in the first half with mismatches; and it’s not that they didn’t play together. I was laughing with Tania (Jackson) because I was trying to get her to play the four-spot in the zone and the five in man-to-man; and it was a train wreck. We were frustrated in the locker room and I told them that we’re lucky that we’re not down 20 because that was pretty ugly. We were just trying to escape and get into the locker room.

“We tried to get back in it and tie it up by the first media timeout of the second half. I would have felt good if we could get that first group back in and get into a little rhythm and bounce back. Angel and I have talked about when she has the ball in her hands at the end of a game and I said to her ‘If you can get into a shot, take one.’ Because I had talked to her about the K-State game when she drove it and got fouled as she split the zone and scored. I am just proud of her to have that mindset because she has deferred so much as a great passer but she needs to play. But there are so many huge plays in a game like this that matter in a one possession game. Angel and I talked about possessions at the end of the K-State game where we tried to get ahead in transition but we couldn’t end up getting Carolyn (Davis) the ball. At about the five minute mark she looked at me and I said this is where we are going to set it up; unless somebody is wide-open, because sometimes in a transition set and with on-ball screens it doesn’t get to Carolyn. So everything was isolation for Carolyn and she made great decisions to pass it when she got double teamed and she made great decisions to get to the free throw line.”

“I’m just really proud of them. And you have to embrace the struggle of this league; that’s what it is. You can’t wish it were easier, just wish you were better every night. You can’t wish it to be easy, it’s not easy; that’s what this league is. I’m just really excited for them to grind it out and find a way to get a huge win and some momentum for us. And I think we had some lingering frustrations especially when we got in foul trouble. We hadn’t had that kind of foul trouble all year. I told them in the locker room that it could be a lot worse so just calm down and let’s play the second half like it is a new game.”

On the foul trouble:
“We didn’t move our feet and we reached a lot. Aishah (Sutherland) and Carolyn (Davis) played a long time in foul trouble and they did a much better job. The more active you are the more you move and the better position you get in. Sometimes you get caught trying to be tentative and you are going to foul more because you are not moving and you are not in position.”

On the play that lead to Goodrich’s last second three-pointer of the first overtime:
“The play was for Monica Engelman to come off a double screen in front of our bench, because you get her a left foot three. (Iowa State) knew because they were calling 50 and they were going to switch everything. But with nine seconds it is hard to catch them screwing up defensively on a screen so we know you can get the second guy in nine seconds. But I told Angel (Goodrich) if you can take the shot and you are in rhythm, go ahead. But if it is not there don’t turn it over; let’s at least get a shot up. It looked like the defender closed out on Engelman in the corner. I told them that if the play dies, give a shot-fake and lean into somebody to draw a foul and knock down the three free-throws; whatever you have to do, stay aggressive and don’t bail out.”

On the three-pointer from Goodrich in regulation to draw within 10 of the Cyclones:
“She hit a low-clock three right in front of the bench and that got us a little bounce and we just fed off of all that energy. Then we made plays; we got stops, we turned them over and we got big rebounds. Aishah (Sutherland) got a big rebound at the end of regulation to get it into overtime with 16 seconds and then we tie it. It was also a great defensive play by Natalie (Knight) because they isolated her; (Lauren) Mansfield took her one-on-one and she never let her turn the corner. And in those situations it is often the rebound that beats you. But Natalie never let her get lose and Aishah rebounds one on the back side.”

On feeling the urgency to win:
“It is hard to believe that you feel desperate in the third game of conference play, but we had some of that. You can’t lose back-to-back at home; you have to find a way to get one and the team sensed that. You have to take care of business at home and we feel that we let one go the other night when we didn’t execute down the stretch.”

Kansas junior guard Angel Goodrich
On her game tying three-pointer with three seconds left in the first overtime:
“When I saw Monica (Engelman) coming off of the curl, the defender was right behind her so if I got it to her, the defender was going to be in her face anyway. When I started seeing (Iowa State’s) Nikki (Moody) pull back, I thought, ‘Well at least we need a shot up.’ Then I just shot it.”

On how she felt about her game tying three-pointer:
“I don’t know if my sight went out or what, but I really had to look to see if it went in. Then when it went in, and everyone was jumping, I knew it went in. I had to hurry up and get back because I didn’t want them to throw a long one and get an easy bucket at the other end. I didn’t know how much time was actually left (after making her shot).”

On the importance of this win:
“It was really big especially coming off of a loss. We needed to get back in the groove and feeling good about ourselves. With the win, it really brings us together.”

On Kansas’ Carolyn Davis’ play in overtime:
“Until they stopped it, we were going to keep going into her. (Kansas head) Coach (Bonnie Henrickson) said, ‘Go in to Carolyn,’ and we ran the same play every single time until they were going to stop her.”

Kansas junior forward Carolyn Davis
On Kansas’ Angel Goodrich:
“She played an awesome game. If you look at the stat sheet, she filled it up all around. She is just leading our team and she is being who we need her to be.”

On playing the majority of the second half and both overtimes with four fouls:
“I’m in foul trouble a lot so I’m kind of used to playing with fouls. It’s tough; I’ve never had to play that long with four fouls, but I think it was good for me to experience that.”

On Kansas’ upcoming contest at Missouri:
“It’s really big. It’s on the road and it’s Missouri. They are going to come out and play just as hard as we are going to play.”

Kansas sophomore forward Tania Jackson
On playing significant minutes due to Kansas’ foul trouble:
“It feels great. When my time came, I tried to do what I could to help the team out. That’s all I was really focusing on—trying to do the little things to help our team.”

On pumping up her teammates:
“My goal every game is to lose my voice. I am trying to complete that goal every time.”

On Kansas getting the win after trailing much of the game:
“It felt so good. In the first overtime when they were up by five or six, we didn’t let that affect us. We just kept fighting and fighting. That really shows what kind of team we have. Maybe last year we wouldn’t have been here, but now we are. We are showing everybody out there that doubted us what kind of team we are now and (what kind of team) are going to continue to be.”

Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly
On what changed to give up a 12-point lead:
“It’s been the same thing we’ve fought all year. We made some really bad decisions with the ball. We turned the ball over too many times, and when we had open shots, we didn’t make them. It wasn’t our defense. We had a chance. When you hold a team to 51 points on the road, you think you have a chance to win. Offensively, we’re not very good. We’re not making shots. We’re missing too many free throws and have too many turnovers. You have to make big shots at big times; they certainly did that, and we didn’t. I thought, for the most part, we defended really well. Second half, (Kansas forward) Carolyn Davis basically did whatever she wanted to on us. We had a hard time with her, and certainly (Kansas point guard) Angel Goodrich hit a big shot. It’s missed opportunities that cost us the game. It’s not our defense. (It was) missed free throws, missed lay-ups and turnovers. In this league, you have to have great guard play, and we unfortunately did not get that tonight.”

On the second-half turnaround for KU’s shooting:
“They’re going to make shots. Carolyn Davis is good around the basket, and 7-for-15 is not bad. We get called for some fouls and put her on the free throw line nine times. That’s the disappointing part of it. Then again, we had the chance to make a couple free throws to maybe win the game in regulation or overtime. We had some good looks at the basket (that) we missed. We had a lay-up to win the game at the end of regulation and missed it. That’s the game. That’s why this league is so hard. Kansas kept playing and hit some big shots. Certainly, the three by Goodrich was a tough contested shot, but winning teams make those plays. We couldn’t make them, and Kansas deserved to win the game.”

On needing more than center Anna Prins and forward Chelsea Poppens to score:
“We need our guards to score more. Our post players did a good job tonight. We got thirty shots in the post tonight, which is good, but we have to finish better. We have to offensively rebound the ball a little bit better. When you have a chance to make a free throw, you have to make them. Anna (Prins) and (Chelsea) Poppens have done a good job of demanding the ball. When we got it to them in the right spot, they were pretty effective. You can’t win games at any level with two people doing most of the scoring. Our post game and their post game probably offset each other. The difference was our guards got completely outplayed by KU’s guards.”

Iowa State junior center Anna Prins
On Carolyn Davis after the first half:
“When she got back in, she got really aggressive. She is a great player and she made shots. I know for me, I wasn’t moving my feet and contesting it the way that I needed to. She’s a great player, and she’s going to make those shots if you don’t guard her the right way.”

On settling down younger teammates after an 0-3 start to Big 12 play:
“The Big 12 is a tough conference to play in, but it’s a great conference to play in. It’s tough losing three in a row, but we have to move on. We have to get ready for the next game. As far as telling our younger players, I remember when I was a freshman. You just make mistakes when you’re a freshman so as upperclassmen, we have to do the stepping up at times and be the calming factor in the game no matter what happens. (We need) to just be as positive as we can because we have to keep our heads up.”

Iowa State junior forward Chelsea Poppens
On the changing of momentum in the game for Kansas:
“We weren’t playing very good defense. We weren’t guarding (Carolyn) Davis the way we should have been. (It was) just silly defensive mistakes.”

On turnovers coming at costly times:
“We had a few turnovers tonight. That’s obviously a key point we need to work on, especially after tonight’s game. We just need to have more patience and not panic in certain situations, like when we get trapped.”

On Kelsey Harris’ spark off the bench:
“She was definitely a key factor in that momentum. Her just being able to come in and shoot that three off the bat, we’re really excited for her. It gave us that energy boost to step it up right then and there. It shows an example that one shot can be a determining factor of how much energy we have or how motivated we are. It can turn the whole game around.”