Postgame Quotes
Jan. 21, 2012
Postgame Quotes
Kansas 65, Texas A&M 76
January 21, 2012
Kansas head coach Bonnie Henrickson
Opening statement:
“Obviously, we dug ourselves a hole in the first half; between turnovers and foul trouble. They got into us and got pretty good separation. I had watched the game from last year and we got into foul trouble there and as I watched I said to myself ‘sub them back in’ and I promised myself that I wouldn’t do that again and then I asked Carolyn (Davis) if she could go in with two (fouls) and she said that she could. Then they got into her knowing that she couldn’t foul and wouldn’t foul.”
“We cut (the deficit) to 10 points at the first media timeout and then we get it to eight and it is our ball and we turn it over and give up an and-one and it gets to 11. And that probably sucked it out of the crowd and it sucked it out of us a little bit.”
On Texas A&M’s defensive pressure:
“They get into you; they are arguably one of the best defensive teams in the country. Where we hurt ourselves is when we picked up our dribble and then they are like sharks smelling blood in the water; everybody gets on top of you and then it is hard. They made us pay when we made those mistakes. Inside they are big and physical, they played really good post defense and they pressured the ball; if you can do those two things then you can dictate what the opponent will do offensively and they did that with us.”
On the play of junior guard Angel Goodrich:
“When Carolyn (Davis) got in foul trouble and we came out of the huddle I looked at (Angel) and said ‘you have got to be more aggressive and put some points on the board’ and I thought she did a great job. She is disappointed with her turnovers and it is uncharacteristic for her, it is a credit to their pressure. They got into her pretty good and they are smart and they know that we are going to go as she goes since she has the ball in her hands so much. I loved the fact that she was that aggressive offensively.”
On the slow start for Kansas:
“Well we didn’t run anything; our first play we don’t execute and on the second one Angel (Goodrich) turns the corner and scores and then after that we tried to run in transition and make plays one-on-one. When I called the timeout we had run two plays and screwed one of them up. After that it was chaos offensively. Then we didn’t get shots in rhythm, we didn’t have rebounders and we didn’t have any flow. What I liked is that we were trying to be aggressive but against a team like that you can’t waste possessions. We wasted a lot of possessions early.”
On what Texas A&M was able to capitalize on:
“The turnovers; think about the shots that they get off of turnovers and then we don’t get enough shots. We got 48 to their 62; you have to get more shots whether you shot the ball well or not. It was clearly a possession game because we were on the wrong end of that.”
On having former players present tonight:
“It was great. We got to spend some time with them last night and we have some time to visit with them again tonight. It is nice to just tell them what they have meant to the program. A lot of them were here before any of us were at Kansas but a few of them came back from the last eight years. It means a lot that they would take the time to come back and spend roughly two days with us here. It’s really special and I can’t thank them enough for making the trip back.”
Kansas junior guard Angel Goodrich
On how she felt about her performance:
“For me, I hate turnovers and I knew I had a lot but I didn’t know I had 11. When I saw that, I was really disappointed in myself because even though they had a lot of pressure, I feel like it was all me. I feel like I psyched myself out because I know they put a lot of pressure on but they didn’t put on as much as I thought they would so I’m really disappointed on how I handled that.”
On playing an uphill battle after a 10-2 run by Texas A&M:
“That was the first hole we dug ourselves into and you can’t do that with a team like Texas A&M because they’re really good. They can get up and down the court and that just gives them momentum so for us and like I said, we psyched ourselves out. I don’t think I’m the only one that was psyched out. I think we all psyched ourselves out.”
On how frustrating it is to watch Texas A&M get easy shots:
“It is very hard to watch and it was like our weak side wasn’t there, which we need. If we’re trying to come back, we can’t let them get layup after layup, we have to get stops and that’s when our offense comes in.”
On if she felt she needed to get things going offensively:
“I wanted to and I was trying to do that. I wanted to push the ball more but I felt like I was just getting frustrated with myself with all of the turnovers and I can’t let that happen to me as a point guard. I have to keep myself composed and keep the team on the same page.”
Kansas junior forward Carolyn Davis
On Texas A&M’s defense:
“They’re known for their defense and their awesome defensive pressure. We talked about it and it didn’t seem as tough as it was last year. I think we could have handled it a lot better.”
On trying to get the momentum back and then turning the ball over:
“It’s frustrating to get a good stop and then turn the ball over. I think it’s a lot of miscommunication and the sloppiness throughout the whole game. We just need to learn to take care of the ball. As a junior upperclassman, I can’t let those kinds of mistakes happen.”
On having three road wins and only one home win:
“It makes no sense and I just want to switch all of the games to away now if we’re playing better away. We love our crowd and I hope people keep coming out to watch us play and we’ll get a win.”
Kansas senior forward Aishah Sutherland
On what it means to reach the 1,000 point mark:
“It means I can go down in history for this program and it means a lot. I feel like I’ve accomplished something in this program and am able to leave my senior year knowing that I’ve reached 1,000 points. Now I’m focused on rebounding and trying to get close to 1,000 rebounds if I can, that is my goal to complete this program.”
On how much it means to have Angel Goodrich carry the team:
“It means a lot. She could score when other people weren’t able to score. They were pressuring so much that we couldn’t reverse the ball and couldn’t score so that was what the option was, was for her to score.”
On what it was like to have former women’s basketball players in attendance:
“It was really nice. We’re going to go see them up in the Jayhawk area and be able to talk to them and see what the program was like when they were here. I’m sure it was different since it was an older age. It’s good to hear the stories from when they were playing here.”
Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair
Opening statement:
“You know that shot right before half time that Tyra (White) hit was huge. She did that in the last ball game too at Iowa State. They were hanging off of her and she nailed the three. Those are the two shots that beat Notre Dame and Stanford. All the attention was given to Danielle Adams and Sydney Colson, rightfully so, but we have a really balanced team just like Kansas. She (Kansas head coach Bonnie Henrickson) has a lot of freshmen coming off and my freshmen are having to wait. We had a good ball game and we played very well in the first half.
There is a reason Kansas leads the league in field goal percentage because they do a tremendous job of not panicking and running their offence all the way through the clock. Generally, we beat them on turnovers and we did it last year as well, turning them over 31-15. This year we have done it as well. When you look at it, they shoot 50 percent, 44 percent from the three and 70 percent from the two, only get out rebounded by one and they are at home; generally that means a win, but our team is starting to gel.
We haven’t played too well this year because we are getting everybody’s best game, and that’s the way it should be when you face a national champion. I really believe if Kansas would have won this ball game, it would have punched their ticket even this early to the tournament. They would have been able to build off of it. K-state beat us at their place with a great come back and now they are building off of it. When you beat the national champions, the cell phones are ringing, the newspapers are writing and you just live off of that and it’s earned. It makes us a better team because of the competition and the coaching strategy in the Big 12.
I love coming to this place; I am leaving my career undefeated here. I might be the only coach in the history of basketball that has won more than five games here. I respect this arena so much; this is the best arena to play in. It is best over Duke, over UCLA and over Kentucky. I have played at them all, but right here you have the best set up. You know how to blend the new in with the old, from the museum to the locker rooms, the messages on the walls and the name up in the rafters. I am a historian and a journalist, and I believe you should sell this. This is one of the best things you have going here and people across the country need to know more, not just about the men’s team but what you have here on campus. I love playing in here.”
Texas A&M senior guard Tyra White
On coming back to Kansas:
“It always good to come back and play in front of my family. I have friends here and it’s the last time (I’ll play here) before the Big 12 tournament. You know it felt good get a win, so it was exciting for me and my family.”
Texas A&M junior center Kelsey Bone
On playing against Kansas junior Carolyn Davis:
“Carolyn and I are from the same school district back in Houston. We played against each other in high school. She moved in our junior year and then we played together in the summer, so we are really close and we are really good friends. A couple of other people on our team have played on that team so it’s always fun to be able to go against a good post player. Any time you can go against somebody and a team is not going to double or triple team you, there is going to be a good match up down low. Just to be able to get out and play with some body that I was familiar with and an old friend of mine made it was really fun and good to compete against a good opponent.”
On Kansas getting it down to seven in the second half:
“We knew that this was a good team and a hot team right now. One of our former greats was on the staff, so we knew coming in that this team would never be out of the game. They came back and got down to seven and then we came into the huddle and some choice words were thrown out, but we got it back together and we came back and made our run. I think that is the maturity that is emerging from our team. As we get more experiences and challenges, we are not folding to a team that is making a run. We are able to fight back and push and keep up.”
On keeping up with the Kansas post players:
“Our program is built on defense, so the coaches have been on me all year about defense, and tonight I had to show good defense. Carolyn and Aishah (Sutherland) are coming off really big road wins, and any time an opposing post player can gather 20 rebounds per game, there is going to be a challenge. Adaora (Elonu), Karla (Gilbert), Kristi (Bellock) and I stepped up to the challenge tonight to really limit their touches because we knew if we could shut them down or limit them then we would be able to win the game.”
On defending Kansas junior Angel Goodrich:
“Any time we can turn over a point guard and put them in double digit turnovers, all the credit goes to Sydney Carter. I wouldn’t want her to guard me and I am six inches taller than her. She is a menace on the ball and it makes it easier for us down low because they are so pressured on the wing that they can’t really see the post players to get it to them. When they do, they just stay here and then we can capitalize on that. Angel is a really good point guard, but when we can turn someone of that caliber over 11 times it does help us a lot more.”
