Postgame Quotes

March 3, 2008

Recap | Box Score | Notes |

Kansas Head Coach Bill Self

On the lopsided score:

“I didn’t like that. I have a lot of respect for and I really like Pat (Knight). Nobody likes to be on that end. I apologized to Pat after the game and he’s great. He said `its not your fault.’ We did play guys and everybody made shots and they couldn’t throw it in the ocean. I’m certainly glad we had a chance to play everybody, but nobody likes to win that way, by that margin.”

On his team’s balance:

“The Big 12 Player of the Week (Brandon Rush) played 10 minutes tonight. How often is that going to happen? We are a balanced team. Usually though, with the teams that I have, the seniors play well on Senior Night. With that being the case tonight, they deserved their minutes.”

On the team’s performance:

“We did play pretty good tonight. The seniors, I thought they started out okay, but not great. I thought they were dead tired after three minutes because there was a lot of emotion. Those guys were pretty worked up all day today and yesterday. They burned up a lot of energy, but after we got in a groove I thought we played pretty well.”

On the seniors:

“I don’t get emotional publicly that often, but I almost choked up before the game. I thought that was really cool. We couldn’t have gotten a better group of guys to represent us. They epitomize what we want to be in their class. They work hard, they’re tough and they are good performers.”

Senior Guard Jeremy Case

On Senior Night:

“It felt great. I had goosebumps all over. It is hard to describe but it was a great feeling. I was really nervous at the beginning of the game. “

On starting:

“It felt good. I wish it would happen a lot more but this makes it more memorable.”

On the competition at Kansas:

“To play at one of the top schools is very hard, you have to fight, fight, fight. I hope people realize that just because people are sitting on the bench doesn’t mean they can’t play, it is just that there are a lot of other great players.”

On having his parents in the stands:

“It was great to have my parents here. My mom hasn’t been able to make a lot of games because of work and things like that. My dad has his season, so I am thankful that he didn’t have a game tonight and that he was able to make it.”

Senior Guard Russell Robinson

On his senior night:

“That was a great way to go out. It is definitely one I will remember – probably the one I’ll remember the most. I enjoyed every second of it.”

“(Before the game) it hit me. It hit me that it was my last game. It is the last time I’ll be out there in front of the fans and the home crowd, and I got a little emotional. I let it all out, then came out and played well.”

On KU’s recent play:

“We are playing good right now. We’ve knocking down shots. But at the same time, we still need to keep going. We are on an up swing, and we need to continue to focus in.”

On two-straight emotional wins:

“It has been a lot of emotion. You could tell a lot of guys were winded today. We tried to match that same intensity that we had against K-State, which was really tough, but we did it. We were able to come out and play with a lot of emotion.”

Senior Forward Darnell Jackson

On what he will remember from senior night:

“It was my last time out there on the Allen Fieldhouse court. I’m always going to come back to this place. Any time I have, I am going to come back and watch the young guys play.”

“(My mom) was trying to hide. She didn’t know I was going to (recognize her in the speech.) She told me not to, but I did it anyway. She was really happy for me, and I’m glad she was here.”

“This was my last time in Allen Fielhouse. That’s something I’ll never get back again. Hopefully our young guys will stay here and get to experience that their senior year.”

On Texas Tech

“They’re a good team. (Martin) Zeno is a great player. Some teams are on, and some teams are not.”

Texas Tech Head Coach Pat Knight

On the game:

“We just got beat by a better team. The thing that upsets me the most like in the Texas A&M game, is we just didn’t compete. I had guys that I honestly thought looked scared when they got out there to play. Not one guy showed up to play tonight. It was just disappointing. I am not sure how much difference it would have made if we did show up because they are such a good team and this atmosphere, but it would have made it a little better on the bench.”

On comparing today’s effort to Saturday’s effort against Texas:

“If I had an explanation for the difference then we wouldn’t have played this way. They are kids and they get happy. The problem is people tell them how good they are. I warn them, talk to them and beg them, but I can’t play for them. What I need to do is to perform a heart and brain transplant during the timeout, but I can’t do that. You can’t play casual basketball or you will lose by 20 or 40 especially on the road. Hopefully my freshmen can learn from this.”

On comparing Kansas to Texas:

“Kansas has a more well rounded team, but Texas has D.J. Augustin. So, there are two different ways that you have to compare for them, but they are both very good teams. There aren’t many conferences that have two better teams than we have in Texas and Kansas. You are talking about two teams that have a chance to make a run at the whole deal.”

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