Postgame Quotes

Jan. 19, 2011

Recap | Final Stats |

Postgame Quotes

Baylor 76, Kansas 37

January 19, 2011

Head Coach Bonnie Hendrickson

On Baylor’s performance:

“I don’t think they came in here and left any doubt that they’re the best team in America right now and we didn’t fight them much on that unfortunately. Give credit to them though, it wasn’t about Brittney Grinner that whole night, it was Odyssey Sims and their effort on the offensive glass. I am just disappointed we didn’t show more toughness and compete.”

On Caroline Davis’ performance:

“Well, when you go back and watch the film from last year Caroline never went one-on-one against (Brittney Griner) so we tried to get her in a flow early, but she miss handled a couple balls that she should be able to put up and quick shoots a couple and gets blocked with a right hand on the left hand side. Then even when (Griner) was out she quick shot a couple and didn’t score and neither one of our bigs scored down one-on-one against anybody tonight.”

On KU’s difficulty matching up against Baylor’s size:

“They’re good enough to turn you over and they can gamble in passing lanes and be overly aggressive because they’re sending you into Brittney Griner. So not to make an understatement about how good she is on the offensive end but there aren’t any post players that can dictate that much on defense. It just really limits onwhat you can run and where you can go with the ball.”

On how Kansas will rebound following this loss:

“This is what we talked about in the locker room: we’re disappointed we didn’t compete no matter what the score was. We were so disappointed after the Nebraska game that we let it go, but we tried to hold onto some confidence about what a great thing it was to get it into overtime. We have three games next week and we have to bounce back. We have got to stay together. We have to go back to competing on every single play and get back to who we were for a big stretch of the non-conference.”

Sophomore Center Carolyn Davis

On Brittney Griner:

When you go into the paint and see a 6’8″ Center it can distract you. Even the thought of her coming can be enough sometimes to alter your shot. She is a very long person and does a lot to distract you.”

On the team’s reaction to Baylor’s run:

“I think that we got down ourselves too fast. Once Baylor went on that run we personally got onto ourselves and were not playing well together.”

On altering her shot against Griner:

“I think I rushed my shot a lot this game. The thought of her coming behind made me alter my shot. The coaches told me that she wouldn’t block it from behind, but it is hard sometimes to not concentrate on a 6’8″ player.”

Junior Forward Aishah Sutherland

On being in foul trouble:

“It was very frustrating because I do not usually get in foul trouble. I came back into the game knowing that I had two fouls and that I needed to play smart. It was very frustrating when I got my third foul and I had to come out of the game.

On the team’s struggle to score:

“It was very frustrating because everyone was shooting, but none of the shots were falling.”

Sophomore Point Guard Angel Goodrich

On Brittney Griner:

“She is great around the rim, but we needed to rebound the ball and box out. She got a lot of her shots off of rebound put backs.”

On the team bouncing back from the loss against Baylor:

“This is the third game (in a row) and a terrible loss for us, but we have to bounce back. We cannot look back at what happened. We have to learn and move forward.”

Baylor Head Coach Kim Mulkey

On the game as a whole:

“We watched Kansas’ men the other night and watched them put on a clinic at our place. I loved what that team did. A lot of the things they did in that game, I think we translated to this basketball game. We try to run some of the same stuff that Bill (Self) does. I thought it started with our defense on the ball. Odyssey Sims brings a dimension to our team with her relentless pressure that makes everybody else active on the wings. The two post players (Aishah) Sutherland and (Carolyn) Davis for Kansas, you’ve got to keep them off the glass. They had one offensive rebound in the first half, I’m not even sure what they finished the game with, but that was stressed. I thought our kids did a good job of giving them one shot. I thought transition defense had to be good, we watched Kansas on film and they pushed the ball up the floor, we didn’t allow that. Lastly, on-ball screens, you must communicate on those. If you have to switch, you switch. Last time we came up (to Lawrence) we lost. When you look at our lineup, we’ve really only got one senior who plays a lot of minutes. We’re trying to win a Big 12 championship, and you’ve got to win on the road. This is another good road win for us.”

On Baylor’s fast start:

“Well it was big and it sends the message to our team that you’re growing up a little bit. It started on the defensive end of the floor. We never allowed them to get good looks and we never allowed them to get second chances. I thought Brittney Griner was very poised the first five minutes of the game, she didn’t try to rush things when she was double-teamed, she just squared her shoulders and just was strong in the paint.”

On the play of Brittney Griner:

“A lot of people want to talk about Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabar and how they kind of revolutionized the men’s game because you hadn’t seen that many big guys up until that time. With Brittney, you don’t see girls like that. People want to say that Brittney is going to change the game. I take that as a compliment, but I’m not sure what they mean because there’s not going to be many girls like her who can play above the rim. She dominates the game on the defensive end of the floor just as much as the offensive end. There will always be the elite players and the great players, but when you look through the history of the women’s game, go back and name all the great players who have played. Did they dominate the floor on the defensive end like Brittney does? When I say that, it’s coaches changing their offense before they play us; it’s kids wanting to go inside and they don’t go inside because of her. The great players through the years, not many of them have done that. I hope that is what people mean, but I don’t know that there will be many players like her through the years. She is a once in a lifetime kind of player.”

Baylor sophomore Brittney Griner

On her matching up with Kansas forward Carolyn Davis:

“I always enjoy going up against a big time post player. Sometimes that means there is a lot of one-on-one (play) but I definitely like the challenge.”

On her footwork inside the paint:

“The coaching staff has been working with me and just telling me to settle down and think of the move I’m going to make before I get the ball. Tonight I just did what they said and stopped and thought about where the defense was before I made the move.”

Baylor freshman Odyssey Sims

On her on-ball defense:

“On-ball pressure is contagious because it gets our wing players active and our post players involved and it just looks good. “

On her starting as a freshman:

“I had to grow up quickly being a freshman and coming off the bench and now that I’m starting, I can kind of take the team on my back.”

On how her team plays around Brittney Griner:

“There are great players out there, but we take it as she’s just another player.”