Postgame Quotes
Feb. 18, 2009
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Postgame Quotes
Kansas 72 Iowa State 55
February 18, 2009
Kansas Coach Bill Self
On the game:
“I think we shot the ball pretty well tonight and we executed well offensively. I thought other than defending (Jaime) Vanderbeken on the pick and pops, our defense was great tonight. It was bad defense on him and we acted like we were surprised that he was going to shoot it. We have to get better with that with our bigs. We had some individuals not perform well tonight and we also had some guys not play smart as evidenced by our 18 turnovers. Cole (Aldrich) had five turnovers tonight and he will tell you that was one of his least productive games, but he still got us 22 points and 11 rebounds because he shot the ball so well.”
On Sherron Collins:
“I thought it was Sherron’s game tonight. Even though he scored a lot of points late, he had six assists and no turnovers. He had a few steals. He played extremely well. He has been a guy that has shot well early at home and then not as well down the stretch. Tonight I think it was very good from a conditioning stand point that he shot the ball better late than he did early.”
On the atmosphere:
“That was a really dead atmosphere tonight. The crowd was dead. The team was dead. I even ran the guys at shoot around today because I just felt that they didn’t have the energy that I wanted to see. It didn’t surprise me, but we could have easily cracked this game open earlier if we would have finished some easy plays.”
On the team getting better:
“I think the guys are having a better understanding of concepts and where good shots are supposed to come from. The guys understand their roles better, but the biggest difference to me is Markieff and Marcus (Morris). Those are two factors there that we didn’t have consistently earlier in the year. Now they can impact the game even when they don’t shoot the basketball well.”
On Nebraska:
“They are a team that is always going to play hard and it is going to be how we handle their post traps. Tonight we didn’t handle it well at all as Cole had five turnovers. We are going to practice more on this and get better at it. They are small and scrappy and Doc (Sadler) is doing a great job like usual. They gave us everything we wanted in Lincoln and we were fortunate to win. Monday’s game against Oklahoma isn’t a big game unless we take care of business on Saturday.”
Kansas Player Quotes
Sophomore Center Cole Aldrich
On playing at home after two road games:
“It’s just fun to get back home. It seems like we had what they call in the NBA, a west coast swing. We were gone for a week and a half. It’s great to finally get back. We had some tough games out there. We had a real good game out at Bramlage in Manhattan. It’s nice to get back.”
On getting the ball more:
“The guys are getting the ball inside. When I don’t have it I am kicking it back out to them. Sherron (Collins), he played great tonight. He didn’t have any turnovers. I probably had five of his turnovers. It was a good win for us.”
On defending Iowa State’s Craig Brackins:
“He’s good. All the big guys that guard him will tell you that he hits some tough shots. We tried to limit his touches, but he’s so good offensively that he’s going to get points.”
Junior Guard Sherron Collins
On getting the ball to Cole Aldrich:
“We tried to find him more and get him more touches. He’s going to draw double teams. He is going to demand that. If you don’t he’s going to go to work. We’re going to keep feeding him. He’s been producing all year. Sometimes late in games we get away from feeding. This game we kept feeding him though.”
On having zero turnovers in the game:
“It was nice to not have as many turnovers this game. Tyshawn (Taylor) and I, we have been leading that pack, we’ve been turning the ball over and Coach has stressed to us how badly we need to take care of the ball. I think tonight is one of those games where we took care of the ball.”
Freshman Forward Marcus Morris
On defending Iowa State’s Craig Brackins:
“He shot the ball almost every time that he got it. If you limit his touches he can’t really shoot as much. Last game I was kind of laid back because I didn’t know his game and he was hitting tough shots. Our main focus was to limit his points and I knew if we did that we would win. I wasn’t worried about scoring. I was just worried about defending him.”
On Saturday’s game versus Nebraska:
“Nebraska is a great team. I think it’s going to be a good game. They play hard and are a good team.”
Iowa State Head Coach Greg McDermott
On the team’s overall performance:
“I thought that our guys really competed. You really have to compete when you shoot it as poorly as we did to start the game. It is not like they forced us into a bunch of turnovers, we just missed shots. Once we settled in I thought that we played a lot better, and certainly played much better than when we played them in Ames.”
On what went wrong:
“Holding them to 70 points on their home floor, especially with the way that they started I thought that our defensive effort was good. Our problem all year has just been finding enough ways to score baskets and obviously it just was not enough tonight.”
On Kansas playing Craig Brackins physically:
“I assumed that they would play physically, they ran at him with a couple different guys. Early in the game Craig handled it and we just missed shots from the perimeter. They have to make a decision if those shots go down early as to whether they are going to stay committed to that and we did not make enough shots early to make them do anything different.”
On Iowa State coming out strong the second half:
“Our goal at halftime was to make them take a time out and be solid enough defensively and execute on the offensive end to make them take that timeout. I was proud that we were able to come out and do that. As bad as we played the first 15 minutes of the game, to be in a position where we are down five with 13 minutes left in the game is a credit to our guys.”
Iowa State Player Quotes
Sophomore Forward Craig Brackins
On comparing this game to the last game:
“They were definitely more physical than the last game. They knocked me on screens and shots, but I tried to fight through. They got me a little frustrated. I just couldn’t make a shot.”
On where he was more frustrated:
“My frustration was both on the offensive and defensive ends. On the offensive end KU was more aggressive and my teammates were more aggressive. In the post, Jamie (Vanderbeken) would bump a little bit and they’d call a foul. You try to be as aggressive as they are on the defensive end, and when they call touches it’s kind of frustrating. It’s something that we can’t let get to us.”
On Kansas trying to prevent him from catching the ball:
“They were just trying to bump me off and trying to make me uncomfortable. It worked. I just played terrible.”
Junior Forward Jamie Vanderbeken
On if Kansas’ defensive scheme opened up shots from three-point range:
“With Craig (Brackins) demanding a double team, there are going to be open spots for shooters. I just found the gap and knocked down a couple.”
On if Brackins was trying too hard:
“No, we want Craig to take those shots, he’s our player. We want our offense to go through him. He didn’t shoot as well as he normally does, but he’s still Craig, he’s one of the best there is. I’m going to support him.”
On Iowa State’s slow start in the first half:
“We came out cold for the first 12 minutes, and then we caught fire a little bit. That happens sometimes in a hostile environment like it is here.”
On how important it is to have an outside shooter complement Brackins:
“It’s important. He demands a double team and he goes to work. You just have to be in the right place at the right time and he finds shooters. Sean (Haluska) and I were able to knock a couple down.”
