Postgame Quotes
Feb. 6, 2010
Nebraska Postgame Quotes
Kansas 75, Nebraska 64
February 6, 201
Kansas Head Coach Bill Self
On Nebraska:
“I thought that Nebraska played really, really well. They played well; Doc (Sadler) had them ready. We had a chance to crack it open in the first half but had a lot of foul problems. If you would have told me before the game that Markieff (Morris) and Cole (Aldrich) are going to combine for seven points and no rebounds and no points in the first half and that we’d be ahead at halftime, I would have said we probably played pretty well. But, I don’t think we played very well at all. We started the second half terrible, and then, for whatever reason, the light came on and we played great for about ten minutes. We played about as well as we’ve played all year long for those ten minutes. We guarded and pressured and made shots. But not a great performance. We kind of played like a tired team I thought, which we are. We can break this game down, but the big thing is we are now at the game we’ve been looking forward to and hopefully we’ll have a great effort and a tougher effort against Texas on Monday.”
On the tough road games coming up:
“We couldn’t hope to be in better shape. But on the flip side, the second half of our schedule is so much tougher than the first half. Look where we go play, we play four of the better teams in our league, all in their houses. We’ve just got to take them one at a time. Texas got upset today at Oklahoma and we’ll watch that tape tonight. They’ll play so hard against us on Monday. They’ll play hard because this is a game that can kind of right their ship. I think our guys will compete too, but I’m not real happy leaving the locker room today; but I’m excited about Monday.”
On Marcus Morris:
“He played great the first half. I don’t think Sherron (Collins) did. He tried to do too much and they did a good job guarding him. Their ball screen defense was good because we really didn’t throw it inside the first half. But the second half, I thought we played well except for two possessions, where Tyshawn and Sherron were trying to one-up each other on making silly plays. But other than that, I thought we played really well the last fifteen minutes of the game, but Marcus has been good for a while.”
On what is most important for the Texas game:
“Handling pressure and rebounding the ball. They’re going to eat us up. They’re going to try and get the ball out of Sherron’s hands and make our other guys be players. They’re going to try and eat us up. We’ll hopefully be prepared for that and when the ball is on the glass, you’ve got to go get it. That was a pitiful performance today rebounding the ball playing against a team that played bigger today, but certainly for 15 to 20 minutes of the game played with four guards. So we’ve got to be much better in those areas.”
Junior Center Cole Aldrich
On Nebraska’s inside performance:
“Well we gave them a lot of easy points (in the paint). I can think of one play, when they drove and Markieff (Morris) and I both went up for a block, and (Jorge Brian) Diaz tipped it in. Those things we have to eliminate, and get away from giving them easy points, and just defend them. We have to play smarter defensively.”
On if their run in the second half was as well as the team has played this year:
“We started to – and it’s going to take that kind of effort we gave during that stretch when we go to Austin (to play Texas) on Monday, if we want to come out with a victory. (Texas) is a heck of a team. It’s going to be one of those games when you look back and say it was a hard fought, fun, normal Texas-Kansas game.”
On if the recent stretch of games will help them going into Monday’s game:
“I think it helps. Every year that I have been here, Coach Self writes numbers on the board, saying we’re going to play great “x” amount of games, we’re going to play ok “x” amount of games, and we will play terrible “x” amount of games. The games when we play alright to bad, we have to find a way to win.”
Senior Guard Sherron Collins
On if he thinks the fans and players are overlooking this game:
“Well I have had people that didn’t even know we played today; most people are just telling us good luck on Monday. I just tell them that we have a game today. We have to focus on this game first. Just talking to people, everyone looks past (the Nebraska game); but of course, we look forward to the Texas game, too. It is one of those games that we circle on the schedule.”
On if he thinks it is time for the team to wake up:
“No, we just have to look at Coach (Self) on the sidelines to wake us up. We just do not want to get chewed out. (Coach Self) gets us going, he is a great motivator – some people might not think that, but I know that he knows how to get us going. He challenged us, and we came out and responded. On that time out, it wasn’t milk and cookies for us, not at all. It was just a teaching point for us. When we trailed, it was something that we needed. Coach Self is just a great motivator.”
Sophomore Forward Marcus Morris
On if he is going to like being challenged by Damion James of Texas on Monday:
“Definitely, I like all the challenges. He and Craig Brackins are the two top guys that I enjoy guarding. I’m just going to go out and give him my best shot; I will try and contain him.”
On Sherron Collins firing the team up:
“Definitely, he was ready. You could see it in his eyes before the game in the locker room.”
Nebraska Head Coach Doc Sadler
On the game:
“I thought our guys played hard. It is probably one of the best places that you can play in college basketball and we had some guys that came in here and competed. I thought we competed well on the boards, but I felt that KU got all of the key rebounds. That is what I was talking to our guys about in the locker room. The key plays that needed to be made to win the ball game were made by Kansas. That is why they are where they are at and that is why we are where we are at. I challenged our team that until we start making the plays that are the 50-50 plays, then we are going to struggle. The effort in my opinion was the best that we can do. We made some shots. We didn’t’ get to the free-throw line as much as we would have liked, but overall I am just disappointed we lost another close ball game. I thought we had a chance in the second half and they made the 50-50 plays.”
On what he told the team when KU called timeout after Nebraska took a four-point lead:
“I told them that there was a lot of time left and that (Sherron) Collins was going to come back in the next two or three possessions and try to make a play to get them going. Sure enough he hit a big three. We lost him and went ball side and he jumps up and hits the three which great players do. We missed some easy shots. We had some situations where if the pass would have gotten to our player it would have gone for a layup, but instead the pass turned into a turnover. We were talking about playing each possession and not giving up any second shots.
On the why he thinks Jorge Brian Diaz played so well against Kansas this year:
“He has made shots. He has gotten the same shots and even easier ones against other people, but he hasn’t made them. In the two games against Kansas he has made them. We can see now if he can build on his performance tonight. The nine rebounds to me is something that we would really like for him to build on as much as the points.”
Nebraska senior center Jorge Brian Diaz
On his offensive success:
“Well I got some passes from my teammates and my shots were falling. I was playing with confidence and it was the passes from my team that helped.”
On if they thought they had a chance to win the game:
“We wanted to win. We did not come here just to play, we wanted to win. But we did not make things happen, we did not execute like we were supposed to at the end of the game.”
On the play of KU to pull away in the second half:
“They just got in kind of a rhythm. We knew that we had to keep playing, stop them and change the momentum.”
On playing against Cole Aldrich:
“It is a challenge every time you play against a guy like that, an NBA guy. I get kind of motivated every time I play someone like him.”
On his rebounding:
“Rebounding is something that I really have to work on. Today I got a couple of offensive rebounds and that is bad for our team. Offensive rebounds are something that I really have to work to build a successful team.”
