Postgame Quotes
Jan. 26, 2013
Recap | Final Stats | Notes |
POSTGAME QUOTES
KANSAS 67, OKLAHOMA 54
JAN. 26, 2013 – LAWRENCE, KAN.
Head Coach Bill Self
On today’s victory:
“We did some good things defensively. They didn’t make shots. We took away (Steven) Pledger for the most part except for a couple of looks he got. I think they made their third three (pointer) under the last minute. We rebounded the ball well for the most part so there were some good things that took place defensively. Offensively we were stale again. We didn’t have good guard play at all today. But we hung in there and won and made some shots in the second half. It was good to see the ball go in the basket in the second half.”
On Jeff Withey’s play:
“Jeff played great. He made some plays that I think would rival some of the better plays that he’s made this entire year. Defensively we make some mistakes and he covers up the floor behind us and rebounded the ball pretty well and that’s a tough matchup, (Romero) Osby; that’s a tough matchup. Their bigs plays well away from the basket. I thought he did some good things, but we didn’t play with a lot of energy. We didn’t pressure. We didn’t play the way I feel like the way we needed to play to be our best.”
On Kansas’ play in the second half:
“Ben and Elijah made a couple threes. We’re 6-of-11 in the second half. Naadir (Tharpe) made a few threes so there were some good things that happened. I don’t know how I can say this without being negative but I don’t think we can play with less basketball intellect in certain situations than what we did. Up 14 with the ball, they’re pressing, all we have to do is get the ball behind the press and we’re going to have four-on-three or three-on-two and we don’t even get the ball across half court twice and they shoot lay-ups. To me that’s not very good.”
Kansas senior Jeff Withey
On his personal performance:
“I thought I did pretty well. They didn’t come inside too often. They tried to isolate me on the outside and make me drive a little bit and shoot jumpers. Overall I think I had a solid performance. I was able to score off of my teammates assists. Elijah (Johnson) got me a dunk and I got a dunk in fast break from Naadir (Thapre).”
On effecting Romero Osby’s performance:
“I think I affected him a little bit. I think he was a little hesitant to shoot the ball. I blocked him in the first half pretty early so that might have gotten in his head. He’s a good player and he is definitely physical.”
Kansas redshirt freshman Ben McLemore
On being assertive early:
“Coach (Self) always stresses to me that he needs me to be more aggressive and that I need to create more opportunities offensively. I know I need to get myself open and I just need to do a better job at that.”
Kansas senior Elijah Johnson
On potentially being ranked number one:
“I pay it some mind, but not for public reasons, just for us. We have always felt like we could be one of the best teams in the country and right now we have a chance to do it. That’s the only reason I pay it some mind, not because someone else wants us there.”
On getting shots to fall:
“I think that tonight was interesting because the first shot that I couldn’t see went in the basket. It’s a little frustrating right now because I feel like my numbers, as far as shooting, haven’t shown how well I can really shoot. I don’t feel that I have shot to my potential at all. All of my shots are limited because I don’t shoot that many. I need something to start falling for me, but I’m not worried about it too much.”
Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger
Opening statement:
“It was a ballgame where we were trying to hang in there most of the way and just couldn’t quite ever get to a point where we threatened seriously down the stretch. Kansas is awfully good. I thought they were great defensively. They’ve got a lot of guys on the perimeter who guard the ball very, very well. (Jeff) Withey does a terrific job and I thought he kind of set the tone early in the ballgame. We just never did get any flow offensively. I thought we battled pretty well defensively, but we turned the ball over and gave them some transition baskets. Still, Kansas is very good and we’ve got to play much better than we did today to have a chance to hang in there with them.”
On Jeff Withey’s impact inside:
“He’s a unique player in not only our league, but (all of) college basketball in terms of the fact that you don’t play against those types of players that often. He erases any mistakes on the perimeter, plus he guards his own guy inside. He not only blocks a lot of shots, but he changes a lot of shots and does that to a lot of people. He does it very well.”
On his team’s press defense toward the end of the game:
“(Kansas) was playing to not attack at that point, so it was a little bit of fool’s gold. Yeah, we got a couple of turnovers, but they’re trying to be conservative and they’re trying to run some clock, so that was kind of a better opportunity for us than it might have been 10 minutes earlier in the ballgame. Still, our guys worked hard and scratched around there late and got a couple of turnovers off of it.”
On how well Withey moves for a post player:
“People in the league have seen him move like that throughout his career. He does move very well, but I don’t think it’s a big surprise that he’s capable of doing that. He does a good job of finishing opportunities, he gets them inside and he’s a good low-post player.”
Junior forward Amath M’Baye
On Jeff Withey’s impact:
“He’s definitely a good shot-blocker, but (my play) is on my part. I could have done a better job just making shots, and it’s the first time I’ve played against a 7-footer. It’s the first time I’ve played against a shot-blocker as good as he is. I’ve got to take responsibility for the shots I usually make.”
Senior forward Romero Osby
On Jeff Withey’s impact:
“He does it with everybody and he makes it very tough as we go to the basket. He has good timing. I tried to get him off the floor with pump fakes and he stays down. Like I said, he has good timing and has a knack for (blocking shots), so he just makes it tough for everybody.”
On not shooting well after shooting well in warm-ups:
“(Withey) always bothers people, but I think I kind of let it get in my head that I had missed a couple of shots. I was making everything in warm-ups and I thought I was going to have a great game, but sometimes it happens like that. You just have to go back to the drawing board.”
