Quotes
Feb. 25, 2010
Postgame Quotes
Iowa State 57, Kansas 54
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson
Opening Statement: “I thought our scouting report defense was pretty decent – but when (Iowa State) is leaking out and scoring layups, and then we give up an and-one on a layup, you don’t have a chance to play scouting report defense. When you’re in transition is when you are most vulnerable – I thought those two plays, and (Nicolette Smith’s) two turnovers late – we just made some mistakes there, and we did not position ourselves to win.”
On how KU got around ISU’s 2-3 zone early in the game: “We got inside of it – and we screened off of it. We got the short corner; I thought we got some pretty good looks there. Although (Iowa State) came out and played man, which surprised me a little bit in the second half. It is not like we were great against the 2-3; I thought we got pretty good shots, but we screened and needed to be a little more aggressive. I thought anything off of an on-ball screen in the second half was really good. When it was a zone or a man, I thought we were a little more aggressive.”
On how it feels to lose three home games to ranked teams by less than three points: “It hurts. Especially when you go back and give four or five things that we beat ourselves with. You can’t (get a lane violation) on a missed free throw when we told them that (Iowa State forward Chelsea Poppens) has a hitch in her shot. She had one hand down, we step (in the lane), she misses it, she gets the shot back and she makes it. There are a bunch of things defensively where we broke down – then they made plays, and we missed a couple of possessions late. We are so close, but then it seems like we’re not so close.”
On senior guard Sade Morris picking up her performance as of late: “I think since the K-State game where she struggled, she owned up to that. She has been everything that we’ve needed her to be. She has played the point, she still guards the best guy, and she has been aggressive offensively. Only because she got in foul trouble over at Texas Tech did she really struggle. She has played with some toughness and confidence; she’s played like a senior has.”
Freshman forward Carolyn Davis
On getting her scoring touch back after a bad start: “When they went man-to-man, that is when I knew it was time for me to just go up. None of them could guard me 1-on-1.”
On struggling against the zone: “I think that we just have to attack more and that will get us open looks. We have not been attacking and that is why we are struggling.”
Senior guard Sade Morris
On the game: “We have got to figure out ways to finish, get stops and get baskets when it counts.”
On the Iowa State’s zone defense: “We have been really preparing for it in practices so we felt really comfortable. The first half we did alright with it and the second half we did better getting into the middle. In the second half, we needed to attack the zone instead of pass around it.”
On blowing a four point lead at the end of the game: “We just locked up defensively and that is when they made the comeback. We just made little mistakes and it ended up costing us the game.”
Freshman guard Monica Engelman
On taking that final shot: “I think that when I pulled up for the jumper that I was kind of anxious. I kind of tilted towards the left and that is why you can see the ball bouncing off the left side of the rim.”
On losing close games at home: “It is getting frustrating, but the most important thing is that we do not separate from each other. We have a few games left and we still have the opportunity to get some wins. Tomorrow when we come in, we need to start preparing for Baylor.”
Iowa State Head Coach Bill Fennelly
On the game overall: “That’s probably one of the more gratifying wins of our season in a sense of who we were playing and what KU had on the line. The way we fought through a lot of adversity and didn’t play well at times, but we made some huge plays and some great defensive plays down the stretch. Certainly, Denae (Stuckey) picked a great time to hit maybe the biggest shot she’s had since she’s been at Iowa. We have the best point guard in the country on our team State (Alison Lacey). If you put those two things together and the effort of our kids, it’s a big, big win for us. We’re going to take this and enjoy this. We don’t win here very often.”
On Chelsea Popens’ steal at the end of the game: “That was a really good defensive play on her part. She read the play. She saw the pass coming. We had been struggling in our post defense. To the kid’s credit, she made a little bit of an adjustment and made a play. That’s what happens when you’re in a close game like this. Someone has to step in and do something positive. Obviously, it was a shot by Denae or Alison’s floor play and scoring or defensive rebounding. We only turned the ball over three times in the second half. We got to the free throw line a little bit. Overall it was the things that you have to do on the road in an environment like this.”
On getting a win on the road: “Kansas has a lot to play for. I still think they are a team that has a chance to play in the NCAA tournament. I know that was their mindset coming in. We were down four and it didn’t look very good. Some teams that we’ve had in the past compete, but you could walk out of here feeling like we’re okay, we lost to a good team on the road. We made a defensive stop and Alison makes a transition a great basket and we get an and-one so now we’re only down one. Anytime you come back late in the game, and we practice special situations all the time, (both) offensively and defensively, (which) we’ve spent a lot more time on lately, the way we did things at the end of the game I was really proud of how efficiently we did them. It’s not like we did anything special, but we asked them to do what we thought we needed to do (and) they did it. Whether it was an inbounds play or a defensive situation or we made our free throws, at the end of game you have to stop them and hope they miss. Defensively we were solid and they missed a couple of shots that they would probably like to have back.”
Senior Guard Alison Lacey
On Kansas pulling ahead by four late in the game: “I remember running down the court and seeing the score and thinking that it could be getting away from us, but to our credit we stuck with it. That really proves what can happen when we come together as a team at the right time. Coach told us what to do and we were able to pull through.”
On how her team came from behind for the win: “We’re more mature and we work on special situations a lot more now. We are understanding what we have to do. We’re always going to have to learn more, but I think it’s kind of clicking now what we have to do to win. If Coach tells us to do something we have to do it and if we do it we’re probably going to win. It’s being more consistent with our effort and consistent with what we do.”
