Postgame Quotes
Feb. 8, 2012
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Postgame Quotes
Kansas 85, Texas 61
February 8, 2012
Kansas head coach Bonnie Henrickson
Opening Statement:
“I thought we got off to a great start. The obvious is Angel (Goodrich) carried us and got great separation in the second half when they cut it to four, but we can’t discount how big Asia (Boyd) and Tania (Jackson) were when Monica (Engelman) and Natalie (Knight) got in foul trouble. To hold their own and defend – Tania’s guarding a point guard off a high on-ball screen, for heaven’s sake. They never scored on it. The only time they scored on it was when we switched it, and (Ashleigh) Fontenette got an offensive rebound off the miss, but she didn’t score right over (the defense) because we switched all that stuff. That’s on the fly. Never has Tania guarded a point guard and had to come off a high on-ball screen, and Carolyn (Davis) switched to a guard. That’s just trying to put band-aids on stuff and get to the locker room when you have two kids, one who’s played limited minutes and Tania at the three, playing out of position because of how thin we were with CeCe (Harper) having a concussion on Monday. I thought for those two to step in and do what they did and those guys around them to do what they do every night for us, was huge.”
On the significance of getting a win at home in the Big 12:
“They’re all magnified. I still could throw up thinking about the Oklahoma game. When we went down to Texas A&M we dug ourselves a hole, but I was proud. We fought and battled and got it back to a one-possession game and never gave in. I’ve been there and watched plenty of film where they have people down 15 and it goes to 30 in a minute. We just never let it happen. We fought, competed, battled and showed some toughness. You’re going to need that in this league every night.”
On Angel Goodrich’s back-to-back three-pointers when Texas pulled within four:
“She had two back-to-back and then the jumper in the lane. Then we went on-ball-screen offense and pulled the big, and (Aishah’s) guy went to Carolyn (Davis) because Carolyn rolled real hard. I thought her on-ball screen and sprint was really good, and it sucked Aishah’s guy up a little bit. Aishah got the little elbow free-throw-line jumper right in front of us. (She had) great shot mechanics. She gets our first six (points) and gets us off to a great start.”
On Aishah Sutherland’s ability to score in spurts:
“I think from a consistency standpoint, she’d tell you that in her career that’s one thing that we’ve been after. It’s never been a talent issue. It’s been the consistency to perform at a high level in practice and games every day. She’ll kind of get caught watching and then all of a sudden, she’s making plays. I thought she was really, really good today. She got us off to a great start and hit some tough shots to start it.”
On if she can predict when Sutherland is about to get on a roll offensively:
“I wish. I wouldn’t have as much anxiety. I don’t really because I wouldn’t have predicted that one today. She was a little flat in warm-ups and made me a little nervous, but I was pleasantly surprised that she got us off to a great start.”
On Asia Boyd’s performance:
“She texted me the other day and said, ‘What do I need to do to play?’ I said, ‘Meet me on the court, and I’ll meet you early, before practice.’ She and I just sat and talked. I asked what she thought she needed to do, and she threw out a couple of things. Having watched her so much, I know exactly what it is for her, and I wanted her to say it. She goes, ‘I’m used to being a playmaker.’
(I said) ‘But that’s not your strength at this level right now. It doesn’t mean that it won’t be.’ I said, ‘Here’s the best analogy. I know you want to play like Angel Goodrich. Play like Natalie Knight. Keep us on offense, swing the ball, knock your shot down when we swing it to you and don’t make mistakes. Natalie doesn’t try to go make plays.’
I’ve tried to get her so that she’s kind of starting to buy into that. She’s buying it in practice a little bit more because she wants to catch it first, pass and go make a play at the rim. Well, that’s not going to be there every time for her. I’m not saying it won’t be, but (it’s) not right now. She ripped in the corner and the baseline and made a play, and she hit the three.
I said, ‘We’ll run a lot of things where the ball’s coming at you’ because she has shot the ball well in practice. She has worked on improving her three-point shot and mechanics and rhythm to it. She kind of said, ‘OK, I get it.’
I appreciate the fact the kid would text me and say, ‘What do I need to do?’ I said, ‘We aren’t going to text about this. Let’s talk. Just meet me down there.’ But she has enough confidence, and she and I have a good relationship where she should talk to me. It’s not the first time. It was just the most recent time. I’m honest. I have nothing to hide. Here’s what you need to do, and here’s what I have to see in practice every day because I’m not going to throw you in and hope that that’s what you do today. She’s been better in practice, and unfortunately for CeCe because CeCe’s been really good for us off the bench and playing with a lot of confidence, but I said to somebody today ‘It’s Asia’s opportunity. When it’s knocking on the door, open it up.’ She did. She did a great job today. It gives me confidence in her. It gives her confidence in her. It gives her teammates confidence in her. It’s huge for her. But she has to play. If you had watched her in the Baylor game, she tried to be Angel Goodrich.
I watched film, and I said, ‘Hey, you had eight possessions. Let’s evaluate. How do you think you did? Let’s watch all the possessions.’
(Asia said) ‘OK, that wasn’t a very good decision. I probably shouldn’t have done that.’
You have to be honest. I just can’t make it ok because how many one-possession games are we in? She played six-and-a-half minutes in the Baylor game, so she and I watched all six defensively and offensively. I said, ‘OK, now you evaluate, and then I’ll evaluate.’
She said, ‘Yeah, you’re right. I probably shouldn’t (have done that).’ I said, ‘But that’s part of it. That’s OK. Learn from that. I’m OK. Learn from it.’ Then she started to be a little bit better in practice. That’s how it happens. No coach just throws a kid in and hopes they get it right. None do that. If you ever have a (coaching) job, don’t do it. It’s not what you should do. They have to show you in practice that that’s what they can do. Now, this is because of the situation, but good for her to make the most of it, and good for her for the most part to do what she should have done, to make good decisions.”
On if Goodrich’s assists in games ever surprise her:
“I remember one of the first times I ended up watching her. I went down to watch her play in Tulsa at the state tournament. I remember I was courtside. I was really, really low. I was on the baseline. I remember watching, and she’s at the other end of the floor, thinking, ‘She’s going to throw it right there.’ She’d throw it. Just the things that she sees before anybody else sees, when you can sit back and when you watch on film, you can go, ‘She’s going to throw it right there’ because she sees things a long time before most people do. For me, I’ve had the pleasure and luxury of watching this for a long time, so there’s not much (that surprises me). The behind-the-back to the alley-oop to Aishah against somebody earlier in the year might have caught me by surprise. I didn’t know she had that in her. I’m not sure she saw it, but that might have been the only one where I thought, ‘Oh, wow.’ Most everything I’ve seen. I’ve watched her for so long, but I thought her confidence from the three-point line when they cut it to four, to go back-to-back threes, was huge. She was wide open. She dribbled into one, and hit one on a reversal, and that’s what we need from her. It was huge.”
Kansas senior forward Aishah Sutherland
On if she was surprised in her performance:
“I was more focused; I wasn’t as hyper before the game today. (Coach Henrickson) probably thought I was a little flat, but I was just more focused.”
On Angel Goodrich’s performance:
“She always has a lot of assists, she always looks good and she has a good eye for the ball. She sees us when we are about to cut, and she gets the ball to us. She was great tonight.”
On the early part of the second half:
“We got more focused (when Texas began to cut the lead); we didn’t want it to be a rerun of another game where the other team comes back. We worked hard (to get the lead), and we needed to work hard to keep it that way and stay consistent. We didn’t want to give them an opportunity to come back.”
Kansas junior guard Angel Goodrich
On the start of the game:
“It was good to get off to a fast start; and to be honest, our main concern was when we got a lead, we needed to keep the lead. There were a lot of times when we had a lead, and then the other team came back. I talked to my teammates and told them they needed to continue to attack and do what we have done to get us to where we were at that point.”
On breaking the Allen Fieldhouse record for most assists in a single game:
“It’s exciting; I’m not much of a numbers person, but having 16 assists means that my teammates were ready to shoot. I wouldn’t have 16 if they weren’t able to knock down the shots. They knocked down the shots and they were ready to shoot. That is what we need; we need everyone to be ready to shoot.”
Kansas freshman forward Asia Boyd
On tying a career high with 11 points:
“I was just trying to contribute to the team and make sure we got the win.”
On getting extended minutes in a Big 12 Conference game:
“Coach Henrickson had a lot of confidence in me and I believed in what she was telling me before the game. It worked out well for me.”
On if she has the confidence to end the season on a strong note:
“It is a long season, and I have the confidence (to do so) as long as I do the things that Coach tells me to do.”
Texas head coach Gail Goestenkors
On how Kansas extended its lead after a Texas comeback in the second half:
“(Angel) Goodrich hit a couple of threes; that was tough. That was a dagger. So we changed our defense up a little bit and went over the top. Then she made the right read and she hit (Carolyn) Davis for a couple of layups, so I thought she controlled the game from the tip and once we made our comeback she just said, ‘no more’ and kind of took things into her own hands, literally, and put the game back out of reach.”
On how much of a factor having a short bench was:
“I don’t know. We’ve had a short bench for the last couple of games, so I think we do get a little bit fatigued. I think the comeback wore us out a little bit, but Kansas had a short bench tonight as well, and I thought they did a nice job.”
