Kansas 72 - Missouri 59: Postgame Quotes
Jan. 17, 2010
Recap | Final Stats | Notes |
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
Postgame Quotes
Kansas 72 – Missouri 59
January 17, 2010
Kansas Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson
On how KU played:
“I think both of us (Missouri) think we played about a half. Obviously we created enough cushion at the half to get out and survive to end with a win. I am proud of the kids considering the week we had. We were really aggressive and we attacked. I think the crowd played a big part in the game because they brought us great energy. I have to give Missouri credit though because they came out and attacked and put us on our heels.”
On the decision to start Carolyn Davis:
“She has honestly been more productive and it is about producing and competing everyday. I have never had a kid from the first day of practice until now improve as much as she has. A month ago or even three weeks ago she wasn’t prepared to do this. She was 16 for 20 in practice yesterday, she manhandles all the post inside and I like that she rebounds and gets up to get a hand on things. We have to find production somewhere because we can’t struggle around the rim that much and not get a body on the boards. She has taken some ownership for that. She came in and played with a lot of confidence and I think her teammates have shown confidence in her by giving her a couple balls.”
On Sade Morris playing point guard:
“We talked about it just as soon as Angel Goodrich went down, that if LaChelda Jacobs struggled and Rhea Codio struggled that it would be the plan. We have had two days of practice to teach her a couple things that she could run. We have probably put two things in, one that we didn’t run today because of that three-guard lineup. That lineup gave us a little more offensive fire power. We really feel like if you got those three kids you have to be near all three of them. We felt Sade Morris handled the ball well and I was pleasantly surprised that she was that aggressive.”
On Danielle McCray’s performance:
“She did have the ball in her hands more in the second half, but I thought she was a little passive and played with ball a little bit. In those situations, she needs to come off of it. I like the play when she skips the ball. However, we need to find people on the weak side of the floor because everyone is in the lane. We have worked on that and we are going to continue to work on that.”
Senior guard Danielle McCray
On scoring 20 points in the first half:
“In the beginning, I was just open and hitting my shots. In the second half, the shots just weren’t falling and they were taking away the dribble.”
On teammate Carolyn Davis:
“I thought she played well for her first time starting and she handled it well as a freshman. She’s finishing well inside and she had some plays where she got a tip off of some offensive rebounds. She was a big help for us today and was great on (Shakara) Jones inside. She’s actually playing pretty well.”
Senior guard LaChelda Jacobs
On the energy in the locker room during halftime:
“We had great energy. Everyone was talking, saying that we needed to keep up the good work and reminding each other that Missouri is a Big 12 team, so they’re not going to just lay down and die. We knew that going in. Last year, the second half was a concern for us, so we had to keep fighting. When I turned it over, my teammates told me to pick it back up.”
On if she was worried Missouri would come back and win:
“They’re a scrappy team and that’s what they do best. They play hard and they go after you hard. I think we were pretty confident and just kept going at them.”
Senior guard Sade Morris
On the importance of the win before two consecutive road games:
“It’s really important. It’s always hard to play on the road, especially at Iowa State because they make a three and you can’t hear anything. Getting the win here will give us confidence to go play on the road.”
On the difference of their team from last year:
“It’s not a lot different. It is different because we’re more experienced than last year, so we’ve been through it.”
Freshman forward Carolyn Davis
On becoming a more aggressive player:
“I’m starting to become an attacker, but I have to tell myself to be more aggressive. It’s just not me, because I’m a nice person, but it’s starting to come more naturally in practice.”
On playing with junior Krysten Boogaard:
“It’s really good having her. She’s a junior and a really big, strong player. She’s helping me to become stronger because I have to be strong to play against her. She helps me be more aggressive and she’s a good teacher. She’s older and can teach me all the things she messed up on and we can learn from each other’s mistakes, so it’s really good.”
Missouri Head Coach Cindy Stein
On the game overall:
“This had all the elements of a rivalry game. KU did a great job of starting out as the aggressor. Their big lead at the end of the first half dug us a big hole. I am proud of the way our kids responded at halftime. We can still use that momentum we had the second half to carry over to the next game. That’s really big for us right now and my task is just finding ways for us to start better. We’ll keep working with these guys, but you have to give Kansas a lot of credit. They have a tremendous team. They haven’t been playing as well as they would like. I know that feeling, but they did a lot of great things to keep the game in their control.”
On her team’s struggles in the first half:
“We were playing passively. We were playing really passively on defense, and offensively we weren’t taking very good shots. That doesn’t mean every shot was a bad one, but we really got out of the flow. We didn’t play with a lot of confidence, and sometimes that happens when you’re in a little bit of a hole. We have to find a way to step up our play.”
On cutting Kansas’ lead in half in the second period:
“It had to do with my team being competitive. They aren’t going to go down like that. They are going to fight. I felt like we scratched and clawed our way back to possibly being able to do something in the second half.”
Junior guard RaeShara Brown
On Kansas building a big lead in the first half:
“The first two or three minutes of the game, we came out with a lot of energy. McCray hit a couple of big buckets that kind of got us out of our rhythm. From there we never really picked back up where we started in the first two or three minutes. That took over the first half.”
On how the team can learn from this loss:
“Coach is always talking about learning from a win or a loss. We learned a lot from this one. We learned how to play against teams that switch a little more. We learned to read our defense. I think a lot of people saw how tough this team is. We’re going to learn and grow from this. Our momentum is going to go into the next game. We have two home games and we’re going to get those.”
