Kansas Versus Missouri Postgame Quotes

Feb. 4, 2008

Recap | Box Score | Notes |

Kansas 90, Missouri 71

Feb. 4, 2008 * Allen Fieldhouse * Lawrence, Kan.

Postgame Quotes

Kansas Head Coach Bill Self

On the game:

“We played well considering we were playing in foul trouble. Offensively, we were good the whole night. Defensively, our guards don’t guard. They got the ball wherever they wanted off the bounce and we have to correct that. It was good though, we dominated the glass, we had balance, we shared the ball and I thought we played very well offensively. But you can’t let an opponent shoot 47 percent in your building, but that’s what they did.”

On the play of the fowards:

“Cole (Aldrich) and Sasha (Kaun) really bailed us out in the first half. Collectively, those guys were terrific. They really rebounded the ball and went after the ball. I thought they both played very, very well. Shady (Darrell Arthur) has to play smart defensively. We are a better team if Shady plays more than 14 minutes.”

On the defense:

“They were quicker than us. I shouldn’t say that, but their guards went anywhere they wanted with the guards. We have to focus on keeping guys in front of us. We’re not sound, we’re off balanced, we lunge, we challenge in the backcourt and then they dribble past us and we put the big guys in harms way. They got the ball where they wanted it. That’s frustrating because their guards are quick, but our guys could have done a better job.”

On Bobby Knight’s retirement:

“I’m dissapointed. I’m dissapointed for selfish reasons. It’s like when Barry Sanders retired from football. He couldn’t do that to all the people out there, retiring that early. That’s kind of how I feel about Coach (Bobby Knight) because he’s great for our league. I’m happy for Pat (Knight) and I know Pat will do a great job. And I’m happy for Coach (Bobby Knight). Whatever he wants to do, he has a right to go do that. Selfishly, he was so good for our league and I was really looking forward to him coming to Allen Fieldhouse one more time.”

On the upcoming matchup with Baylor:

“They are a good team and their guards are excellent. They are as good as guards as we have in our league. They can really put the ball down. We have to do a much better job defensively than what we did tonight.”

Kansas Sophomore Forward Darrell Arthur

On his foul trouble:

“I can’t catch a break. I did a good job in the second half of not fouling and keeping my man in front of me. I caught a bad break trying to slide over and take a charge and then I caught another one early to give me two fouls. I am trying, but the fouls that I am making are still stupid fouls. There are still things that I can correct I just need to play with my head and my feet.”

On Sasha Kaun and Cole Aldrich’s play:

“Both of them came in and gave us some good minutes. Cole had nine rebounds and Sasha hit the glass hard as well getting four offensive rebounds.”

Kansas Senior Forward Sasha Kaun

On his game:

“The shots were definitely falling tonight. When Darrell went down with foul trouble, it really takes away your depth so you have to try and play a little bit better. Darrell came back and played well in the second half.”

Kansas Junior Brandon Rush

On KU’s 7-1 start in Big 12 play:

“I like that we are off to a 7-1 start in conference. We didn’t expect to lose to Kansas State, but they come back here March 1st and we will be ready for that game. That loss showed us some things that we needed to work on.”

On Cole Aldrich:

“Cole is playing great right now. He has rebounded well and he blocks a lot of shots for us. I love having four big men to rotate in because we can throw a lot of bodies at the opponent’s best post player. Even when we have foul trouble we can put Rodrick at the four and move one of the big guys to the five so we are pretty interchangeable.”

Missouri Head Coach Mike Anderson

On the loss:

“I thought it was a quick turn-around for our basketball team. You can see the injury level, all those loose balls, especially in the second half, we were having trouble with those, but you have to give credit to Kansas. They came out and established tempo and they used their size. We have guys that have never been in this situation who are starting. It was an eye opening experience for those guys and hopefully we can learn.”

On Keon Lawrence:

“He’s been here before. He played pretty good here [in Lawrence] last year. I think it was just the experience. He was starting for us last year.”

On Kansas’ rebounds:

“They were a lot quicker to the ball. There were some situations where we had position and we just didn’t come up with it. At times, their size was to their advantage. We battled in the first half. We didn’t play great in the first half.”

On DeMarre Carroll:

“He twisted his ankle. Right now there’s some swelling, so we’ll go back and evaluate him.”

On trying to get Keon Lawrence the ball:

“We tried to get the game going up and down. The first half we didn’t really get up and down the floor. We allowed Kansas to get their defense set. For a guy like Matt Lawrence and even Keon, it can kind of make them a little more ineffective. I thought we got the game and the ball flowing and moving. We got some screens and he [Keon Lawrence] made some plays. They’re a good defensive team as well.”

On whether Missouri will have time off:

“We’ll take a day off. We’re still a young basketball team. One thing I can say about our guys is that they never gave up. They gave out, but they never gave up.”

Missouri Guard Keon Lawrence

On the game:

“I knew I was going to have to come ready to play and bring my `A game’. The last game I didn’t come out aggressive enough, so I knew this time I would have to keep my team in the game. They did a good job defensively on us and they killed us on the boards. It just wasn’t our night.”

On playing 36 minutes:

“I felt fine. I knew I was going to have to play a lot of minutes tonight. My legs were alright and I felt pretty good. “

On the Kansas defense:

“They made us take some tough and rushed shots. This was the first time we didn’t make a three in a game this season. Hats off to their defense, they did a good job on us tonight.”

On the second half:

“We were only down by 12 at halftime and we were playing bad. We came out in the second half and chipped away and were only down about nine. After that we just kind of gave up. They were able to do what they wanted to do and they were more physical than us.”

On Kansas:

“They are a good team, you can’t take anything away from them. We played them close at home, but here they just jumped on us. “

On the team’s suspensions:

“We have been playing shorthanded the last two games. A lot of guys are playing a lot of minutes who aren’t used to that. Usually I wouldn’t be playing this many minutes. I think tonight the minutes kind of caught up with us because we didn’t go after the ball aggressively at all.”