Postgame Quotes
Feb. 13, 2010
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Postgame Quotes
No. 14 Texas 85, Kansas 82
Feb. 13, 2010 – Lawrence, Kan.
Kansas Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson
Opening comments:
“I thought we did a good job in the second half of hanging in there. We never took the lead until we got to the first overtime. Both teams hit big shots, and they (Texas) made the most of their opportunities in the second overtime. We struggled, we scored the first four in the first overtime but missed three or four early in the second overtime. Similar to the other night, we struggled to find a way to finish.”
On the team’s emotion right now:
“It’s disappointing. We do so many things well, but just like the (game against Nebraska), we’ve got to find some toughness. You’ve got to find a way in regulation to get them off the boards. They were all over us on the boards in the first half and second half. You’ve got to be tougher earlier in the game on the boards. We were tough in both overtimes, but if we do that in regulation, we’re not in overtime.”
On whether or not Kansas should have fouled Texas up three in the first overtime:
“We trapped the on-ball screen. So we’re trying to trap them and be more aggressive. It’s a step less aggressive than trying to foul, but we had about twelve seconds left and it’s kind of tough to play that. Sometimes you end up fouling a kid who is shooting the three. The thing the kids were most confident with was trying to trap the on-ball screen.”
On the play of Carolyn Davis:
“Her confidence and her teammates’ confidence in her are great. But you can’t underestimate how coachable that kid is. If we ask her to do something, she tries like crazy to get it done even if it feels unnatural to her. For young kids, that makes such a big difference to try to break out of old habits. She’s got great length, she’s got good bounce to her and she finishes in traffic. She goes through a stretch in practice where she shoots 65 percent or 70 percent or even 75 percent in practice just around the rim, and we’re not even running anything for her and she’s getting those kinds of touches and those kinds of finishes. I think her teammates have so much confidence in her and she works to get a high percentage shot.”
On the play of the team without Danielle McCray
“We’re a pretty good basketball team when we’ve got Danielle and Angel (Goodrich). I think we’re playing pretty well right now, I’d like to play with those two though. I think we’ve played with a lot of confidence and a lot of pride for those two in their absence. We’ve been aggressive and we’ve attacked and we’ve put ourselves in position to win a couple of big games, but we just haven’t finished.”
Kansas freshman forward Carolyn Davis
On putting up big numbers:
“I am happy with my performance; I always find flaws though. There were things that I could have done differently. I contributed a lot and I just wish that we would have won.”
On what went wrong at the end of the game:
“We weren’t fighting the way that we should have. They weren’t going to lose that game and they weren’t going to give it to us. We just did not fight the way that we should have and that is the reason we lost.”
Kansas senior guard Sade Morris
On the game:
“I was a little disappointed because we did not come out and finish the game. It is unfortunate because we could have won this one, but we need to bounce back from this.”
On why they didn’t finish the game:
“We did not box out. We gave up late rebounds, we did not defend well at times and they killed us on the boards.”
On the game plan in overtime:
“There is no change in game plan during overtime. Our time is overtime. When we went into overtime we thought the game was ours. Even when we went into the second overtime we thought that it was ours.”
Kansas freshman guard Monica Engelman
On wanting to take the final shot at the end of second overtime:
“When I came off (the screen) I was in the paint and scoring a two would not have done anything. So when I passed the ball I had the intention of getting it back. I really wanted to make a three point shot.”
On hitting the three that sent the game into overtime:
“Once I made it I knew that our whole team would come together, get a stop, and come back and win it. I was excited, but we still had time on the clock so I waited until the time was off to get excited.”
Texas Head Coach Gail Goestenkors
On the game overall:
“Carolyn Davis was hurting us on the block. We got caught her on the high side and they did a great job of lobbing the ball to her for lay-ups. She got some offensive rebounds and put backs. She was hurting us on the inside and hurting us on the outside. Tonight they were hitting their threes. Six threes for them is well above their average. When teams play on emotion like I think Kansas is right now since they lost McCray, they have kids hitting shots that they haven’t hit in the past. That’s a tribute to them.”
On Kansas not being able to get the ball to Monica Engelman on the final play of the second overtime:
“We were switching on all screens. They initially set a double screen to get her open and we didn’t switch even though we were supposed to. She had the hot hand for them. It was really a matter of one of our players deciding she wasn’t going to let her get that shot up.”
On being able to come from behind for the win:
“I don’t think anybody believed we were going to win that game. We talked about how we had done it the year before against Missouri in the Big 12 Tournament. All but our freshmen understood what were capable of because it was almost the same scenario when we were able to beat Missouri when everyone else thought we were going to lose. It actually started last year with some of our players knowing that we can win a game even when we’re down.”
Sophomore Guard Ashleigh Fontenette
On her game tying three-pointer at the end of the first overtime:
“When they were shooting free throws and they missed the first free throw, I knew we were going to have a chance because we were only down by two. I looked over to coach and I knew either I was going to have to take the shot or Kathleen (Nash) was going to have to take the shot. I came off the screen and Kathleen’s player didn’t help out so I took the shot.”
