Quotes

Feb. 20, 2005

Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery

Kansas Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson
On the game:
“We wanted to set the tone early and control the areas (of the game) that we thought we could control. I thought defensively we played tendencies very well. Aquanita (Burras) was fantastic on (Kiera) Hardy. She stepped up and guarded her tougher and the rest of the team rotated when they needed to. I was disappointed because we settled for perimeter shots in the first half. We started to recognize where we could get open looks inside at the end of the first half. I thought we played unselfishly by making the extra pass. We were also more consistent than we had been in transition.”

On Erica Hallman:
“She feels good about herself when she gets into transition and makes nice passes. She gains a lot of confidence from that because that is what she likes to be able to do. I think that plays over into the half-court offense. She feels good about herself and feels like she is doing the right thing. That makes her a more confident shooter. She is a coachable kid and wants to get it right. She takes pride in recognizing what she can do.”

On today’s win:
“We felt this was our chance to beat a team we weren’t supposed to beat, as far as the game looked on paper. We felt like we could beat a team if everyone showed up and played well. We were excited to do that here at home against a team we had lost to earlier. It was good not to get swept (in the season series) and to take care of business here at home. In any league, it doesn’t matter, you have to win your games at home. For us, it was a step in the right direction. Right now we are not playing for an NCAA Tournament or NIT invitation, but we still have something to play for. We have Colorado, Missouri and Texas A&M chasing us for a good seed in the Big 12 Tournament. We just wanted to play with some pride.”

On the impact of the crowd:
“I know how much a good crowd helps our kids. I think the crowd just gives everyone an extra step. There was great energy with all the little kids working at the game. This place has tremendous history, but we need people here in order to have the home-court advantage. The history alone won’t help us win here, the people in this historic building will help us win.”

Junior Guard Kaylee Brown
On the game:
“We emphasize it all of the time that we need to be the team that goes out there and set the tone. We need the other team to match our tone and they (Nebraska) were unable to do that today.”

On the upcoming game with Baylor:
“It’s going to be a big game. We just need to come out there and play hard and hopefully we will get a win.”

Senior Guard Aquanita Burras
On the win:
“We are trying to maintain and play every game. We are trying to get better so we can make a difference when we get to the Big 12 Conference (Tournament). The effort we gave today is how we should play every game.”

Junior Guard Erica Hallman
On Kansas’ execution:
“I thought we did a good job of executing and finishing shots. Not only did we get the good looks, but we knocked them down. I think it started with practice on Friday. We had two really good days of practice in preparation for this game. We came out on fire and stayed hot the whole day.”

On the defensive play of Aquanita Burras:
“Aqua did a great job today. She is our best defensive player. She stepped up and got in the passing lanes and set the tempo for us early in the game. We knew Kiera Hardy was going to get 17 or 18 shots because that was what she was averaging, but what we wanted to do was make each shot difficult and frustrate her and get in her head a little bit. I think Aqua did a great job today at that.”

Nebraska Head Coach Connie Yori
On the game:
“I thought Kansas played extremely well. It is obviously a well-coached team. I thought the biggest factor in the game was the hustle plays, and I thought they were the aggressors in that area. We have taken pride in our group on being a hustling team, and we got out-hustled today. That is the first time I’ve said that all season. They had a lot more energy than we did.”

On Aquanita Burras:
“I think Aquanita Burras is a great player. She can score off the dribble, she can post, and because of her size, defensively she did a great job on Kiera (Hardy). When Kiera caught it, Burras was mobile and could stay in front of her (Hardy). She did a good job with her range defensively, especially because she has a few inches on Kiera. I thought she did as a good of job defensively on Kiera as anyone has all year.”

On Nebraska’s rebounding:
“Rebouding is about wanting to. We do have limitations. There are times when we don’t have a very big line up on the floor, and that affects our rebounding. We have to be a team that has five committed defensive rebounders. We did a lot of standing today, and Kansas got physical with us on their offensive glass. That’s what enabled Kansas to rebound. It still comes down to willingness and wanting to (rebound).”

On the upcoming game against Kansas State:
“K-State is a good basketball team. They put it to us a big way in Manhattan. We had a poor start, and the game was over before we knew it. We have to play for 40 minutes, and we’ve been a better home team this season. Having an opportunity to play at home in front of a big crowd hopefully will energize us more than we had today.”

Sophomore Guard Kiera Hardy
On preparing for upcoming games:
“We just didn’t have the fire that we needed to win today. When we practice we need to practice against the type of intensity that we will see on the road and box out. We need to communicate with each other who has the ball or who should go get the ball. It’s time to prepare for the K-State game. It’s a big game for us. If we could get the win, it would be big for us.”

On Kansas:
“They were very physical today. They used their strength a lot. Whenever I would drive, there was always someone there waiting for me. They work hard and continue to do so.”

On Aquanita Burras:
“She’s a physical player, just like anyone else in the league that I will face. She played good defense today.”

On the game:
“It’s hard when they make everything. When teams are hitting almost everything they put up, you have to lock down defensively and work hard to guard them. We did a good job of defending them, but rebounding killed us. They would make us play for more than one possession. You can’t allow that with good shooters like (Erica) Hallman and (Kaylee) Brown. Anytime you play at home, you kick it up a notch. That’s no reason for us to come out sluggish like we did. If you want to win on the road, you need to match or have more energy than your opponent.”