Kanas Postgame Quotes vs. Colorado
Feb. 19, 2011
Kansas head coach Bill Self
On senior guard Brady Morningstar:
“There’s been no player in his family that’s ever performed as well as Brady did in the first half. Nobody in Brady’s immediate family has had a better half than that. He was terrific, he was aggressive, he made shots and guarded well. I don’t even know if he took a shot in the second half, but I thought he was great. I really thought, individually, some guys played well. Tyrel (Reed), when he and Brady go seven-of-10 from three, that’s pretty good. But Markieff (Morris) goes three and zero against K-State to 26 and 15 today. He’s been our best player in practice this week and certainly he played like that today.”
On what made the difference for Markieff:
“I really don’t know, maybe his mindset. I’ve said this many times, I believe it even occurs during the span of a game or the span of a half; our focus is bad. We could be really into it and something bad happens, we start to think about things and we get out of kilter and that’s kind of what happened early. Things didn’t go well and we got behind, we panicked and started to commit silly fouls. Then I’m mad and I don’t play you and you can’t get it back. But I thought Markieff was really good today and of course Marcus (Morris) was good too. Hopefully, we will get Thomas (Robinson) back pretty soon also.”
On the balance of the offense:
“I think we should always play inside-out regardless if we are shooting the ball well or not. We have such good passers and I thought we didn’t pass the ball well in the second half. Marcus and Markieff can make plays that you just can’t coach. That play that Markieff made to get Travis (Releford) a layup there at the end was unbelievable. Those guys are good that way. One thing that we’re not doing is we’re not the defensive team that we need to be. Mario (Chalmers) is in the locker room with Cole (Aldrich), Xavier (Henry), Aaron (Miles), and Sherron (Collins) and I asked them what they thought and they said we were good offensively but we don’t guard. Maybe that will help hearing it from someone else. But we definitely take the foot off the gas way too much.”
On Oklahoma State:
“I’m glad Nebraska beat Texas today, but we certainly can’t worry about what other people do; we’ve just got to take care of our own business. We’ve got Okie State (Oklahoma State) coming to town. Last year they kicked our butts down there and we didn’t have a very good game. Certainly they know some things on how to attack us and we’ve got to be a much better basketball team on Monday night. At least our guys got a bad taste out of their mouth today.”
Junior Forward Markieff Morris
On his game against Colorado:
“I think it is good for me every night to hit the boards. I felt like I was not in the Kansas State game and I want to make sure to get better every day.”
On the Texas loss:
“We didn’t expect Texas to lose to Nebraska, and they got one. Now we need them to lose another one. If they do not lose another one, we are not going to stop trying to get better every day.”
On this being his best game statistically:
“Twenty-six points was my career high. I am not sure about the rebounds, but I was just trying to go out there and play hard.”
On the practice leading up to the Colorado game:
“I think that as a team we had something to prove this game. It was embarrassing losing to Kansas State, and we do not want to do that again. We just got to get better and I guess it starts with me.”
On Josh Selby:
“He is a great passer; he didn’t shoot the ball that great today, but he will get back to playing like he can soon. He looks for lobs every time he drives to the hole and he is a great passer.”
Junior Forward Marcus Morris
On the statement the game against Colorado made in the Big 12:
“It was definitely a big statement coming back from the loss against Kansas State. Markieff is right, there was enough talking between the team and we just needed to go out and play and keep our heads up.”
On Markieff Morris’ performance:
“I could tell that he was going to play well based on the way that he was practicing. He was totally dominating in practice and was dunking everything around the rim. Like coach said, practice refers to the game and that’s exactly how he played. He dominated in practice, and he dominated in the game.”
On Cole Aldrich, Xavier Henry, Sherron Collins and Mario Chalmers coming back for the game:
“I love to see them come back and show their appreciation and show that they are Jayhawks. We had a close bond when they were here. I didn’t get to play with Mario (Chalmers), but I still know him. I am glad Xavier, Cole, and Sherron are back and it will be fun to spend a weekend with them.”
Senior Guard Brady Morningstar
On practice after the loss to Kansas State:
“It was a little bit intense after our game on Monday, but that’s how it should be because we have to get better. On the defensive end of things we still need to improve.”
On his shooting against Colorado:
“My teammates were giving me the ball in the scoring position, which allowed me to knock down shots and score.”
On game last year to Oklahoma State:
“It is different down in Stillwater, and I am not sure the last time we won down there. We have to stay focused and come ready to practice tomorrow.”
On Texas losing to Nebraska:
“It is good for us, but we cannot worry about them winning or losing. We just have to keep winning all of our games and stay focused. “
On the bracketology:
“You hear what other people say, but it gets kind of old and they are already starting that. We are not too worried about that. We just have to go out there and keep playing. We control our own fate. We are worried about the regular season and Big 12 right now and then we start (thinking about) our postseason.”
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement:
“I’m not sure what opening statement you give after that. My hats off to KU, they played awfully well and shot the ball and we couldn’t buy a basket from outside. We battled into some good things, but they were just too much for us today. They beat us in every facet of the game. If you look at the stat sheet, you look for some positive things and they’re not there. There were some positive things happening on the floor for us but they weren’t enough.”
On defending Kansas:
“They are so hard to guard because they pass the ball well. I thought in Boulder when we played them, we did a good job of taking away their inside game and we let their shooters get going. Their shooters got going again today. Tyrel Reed and Brady Morningstar got going and you have to pick your poison with these guys – especially when you’re undersized like we are – you’re choice is to double the post, which we tried doing a little bit in the second half and that didn’t work. They are such good passers and an awfully efficient offensive team. There is a reason that they lead the country in field goal percentage, because they pass the ball so well and they get easy shots and have guys who can knock them down. Certainly we broke down some defensively, but a lot of that has to do with KU.”
On preparing differently after Kansas lost to Kansas State:
“We just knew that they were going to be dialed in. We knew the first five minutes of the game that they were going to come out and play and they did. We had a backdoor play called and we couldn’t get into it the first three times down the court because we couldn’t even make a pass. We knew they were going to be locked in, we had to be able to handle that and sustain it for the first five minutes of the game but we just didn’t do a very good job.”
On being back in Lawrence:
“It was nice being back here in Lawrence; this is a special place as a college basketball player, as a coach and the fans here are terrific. Outside of the game, it was nice. What makes it nice is the people here appreciate college basketball and we’re getting to that point in Boulder. Our fans in Boulder have been great this year, but when you come to a place like this, you see that Saturday basketball games in Lawrence feel like a football game anywhere else you go and that’s pretty special.”
Colorado sophomore Alec Burks
On Kansas’ fast start:
“They were hitting shots out there. Everything they shot went in. It was their day out there.”
On making a run in the second half:
“We closed out and rebounded and played defense as hard as we could. We tried to cut it down (the lead), but they kept making shots and they won.”
On the play of Kansas’ Brady Morningstar in the first half:
“We were helping a lot on the Morris twins and he was able to get some open shots and knock them down. He got his rhythm and it will be like that some days. He’s a good player so you expect that from him.”
Colorado senior Cory Higgins
On not being able to win at Kansas in his career:
“We had our chances in past years and we just got into too big of hole this year. We couldn’t get out of it.”
On Kansas’ inside and outside scoring abilities:
“You try to key in on one hoping that the other isn’t on, but they had both things going today. They played well. There is nothing to be ashamed of.”
On having to play Kansas when Kansas is coming off a loss:
“We expect for every team to be ready in this league. There are no nights off. We knew we were going to take their best shot and we just needed to play better.”
Colorado senior Levi Knutson
On Kansas stopping Colorado’s run in the second half:
“We let the ball get inside a little bit too much. They had some big three point plays that put us down when we were making a run. We got beat on the boards and that meant too many second chance points for them. That really hurt us.”
