Postgame Quotes

Feb. 24, 2007

Recap | Final Stats | Notes |

Kansas Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Bill Self

On creating steals and other aspects of the game:
“This game was without Russell (Robinson), too, and he’s obviously one of our best steal guys. Everybody played well, and I thought we played great defense in the first half. Offensively I thought we were good, we just missed a few layups, I think we missed three layups in the first four minutes of the game. I was pleased with our effort though, we rebounded well again, we forced them into making some bad plays. We got a little sloppy late but that’s to be expected. Everybody played really well, but I thought the job that Mario did gaurding Taylor, especially early on was great.”

On the play KU’s guards:
“I thought they played well, and Rodrick was a very good gaurd for us today. I thought Brandon (Rush) played fine he just didn’t score tonight, he needs to be more aggresive and look to score. I guess we need to do more to get him some looks. We got a lot of layups as well as some other in-tight shots, which is indicated by our points in the paint. We did a lot of good things, including our bench playing well. It doesn’t hurt when Julian (Wright) makes six shots in a row and Darrell (Arthur) gets 15 (points) and 11 (rebounds). Everyone we put out there produced pretty well.”

On the state of the team:
“I would say since the Texas Tech game there’s been a noticable change. For the last ten games we have really hunkered down and played well. Except for that last four minutes of the Texas A&M game we played great. We didn’t play well against Texas Tech by any means, we deserved to win that game. Since then we’ve played pretty well, we’ve been more aggresive on the boards. We went through a bit of a soft phase where we didn’t rebound the ball effectively. But our big guys are playing better, and I really believe that the emmergence of Sherron has allowed some other guys to get some easy baskets. Our guys are confident right now and we’ve got a long way to go from where we need to be. We’re playing the best we have all year, and we have to keep it up for one last huge week and then the real fun begins, but this next week is big.”

Freshman Forward Darrell Arthur

On having relatively easy wins recently:
“I think we’ve been playing good defense recently and our offense has been real good. Everybody is sharing the ball and everybody is happy out there. Brandon (Rush) hasn’t been scoring well lately, but he is picking it up in practice, to get everybody going. I think everybody is playing really well right now.”

On Sherron Collins starting the game:
“He was really nervous before the game. He was sharing the ball a lot and got everybody flowing. I think he played a great game tonight.”

On his game:
“I think I’ve been playing pretty good offensively. Defensively, I’ve been crashing the boards pretty hard. We work on that a lot in practice so we just try to get physical out there and try to beat every team in rebounds. Coach (Self) is saying that if we win the boards; we win the game. So I just put that in my head and run with it.”

Sophomore Forward Julian Wright

On Arthur’s play the last few games:
“I think he is more patient offensively. He has that athleticism to get lift on his shot. He just takes his time and when he is playing like this he can take our team to another level. Especially with rebounding the ball and running the floor.”

On facing Iowa State after the overtime game in Ames:
“I think every game has given us different looks at different things in terms of what to learn from. Just a combination of games since then, it has helped us out and shows how much we have improved. We just want to keep playing and get better. Now we are going to Oklahoma to play a really tough team. Whenever we get a win it’s cool, but after that we have to get back to business.”

On Oklahoma:
“We have to be focused going down there. We have to control the game as far as tempo and make easy baskets and get to the free throw line.”

Freshman Guard Sherron Collins

On what to takes to win easily:
“A killer instinct. That is what coach tells us all the time. Like at half time, the game isn’t over, we have to come out and play the same way we did in the first half. We have to keep our engine level up. He (Self) still lets us know that it’s still important.”

On the team’s defense:
“We are trying to bring toughness and have a presence out there. Rebound and make them shoot bad shots. When we get the rebound we are off to the races.”

Iowa State Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Greg McDermott

On the game:
“We were defeated in every aspect of the game, both physically and mentally. The credit goes to Kansas. We started the game like we wanted to; the tempo was in our favor and we were getting some stops and limiting their transition baskets. They only scored on three of their first nine possessions. Then, foolish turnovers on our part and losing them in transition, once they got up it was hard us to come back.”

On Kansas:
“They have virtually every piece of the puzzle, and their starting point guard (Russell Robinson) did not play today. In some ways I felt that he was the glue that held them together because he did so many things that did not show up on the stat sheet. They were very effective and unselfish without him today. Their big guys were able to score when they dropped it down into the post, which was something they did not do as good of job as when them played in Ames. When you have shooters like they have and the ability to score and transition, and now you add to it with guys that can score over the top in the post, it is a very difficult team to stop. They scored 89 points in a game where we really controlled the tempo with the zone we have. That is pretty good efficiency. I think offense is what gets you attention, but I think people lose sight of how good they are on defense.”

On his first experience in Allen Fieldhouse:
“I have had better experiences than the one I had today. It has a lot of tradition and they have tremendous success here and for good reason. They have an outstanding fan base that is very understanding of the game. I’m sure as our young guys look back on this some day it will be an experience they really enjoy. I just hope that in the future we can come in here and be a little bit more competitive.”

Junior Guard Mike Taylor

On the game:
“They are good, but it is just like playing any other Big 12 team if you come out lackadaisical. I don’t necessarily think that was the case with us, but they just played harder than we did. They got to all of the loose balls and they were ready to go from the start of the game. They were more aggressive than us and that is something we have been lacking as a team all year. We just have to compete. We allowed them to get second chances off of offensive rebounds and that really hurt us.”

On what Kansas did different from the first meeting:
“They just outplayed us. They did force the tempo in transition which gave us problems. They just attacked the glass. They were just tougher than us. Kansas played the same defense as they did in the first game, but they were just more aggressive than us.”

Freshman Guard Dodie Dunson

On the game:
“We were playing their style of basketball. They were pushing the ball in transition and they just came out more aggressive. Kansas played solid defense and they were pushing each other to get stops. We didn’t get back in transition.”

On the positives ISU can take away from the game:
“All the Big 12 teams are very competitive and we just have to learn. We now are starting to get some games under our belt. We go to Nebraska next week and hopefully we can pull off a win.”