Postgame Quotes
March 26, 2009
Postgame Quotes
Kansas 75, Arkansas 59
March 26, 2009
Kansas Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson
On the game:
“I was a little concerned about the first half foul trouble, but I thought that our bench played great. Defensively I thought that we were good. Every kid that got in contributed and that is what you have to do to win at this time of year.”
On the next opponent:
“We have the winner of the Oregon State at New Mexico game tomorrow night. I will be honest with you; I have not taken a look at either one of them. I know through just talking with my assistant coaches that Oregon State has two great shooters and New Mexico has a big kid that shoots it well. We are excited to survive and advnace and win game number two in this tournament and number twenty overall. We will wait and see who we have and where we are going.”
On the importance of getting to 20 wins:
“It is a bench-mark in basketball. We would have liked to have gotten there sooner, but we will take it. The most significant win was probably this second win of the tournament, but getting to 20 is definitely good.”
Junior forward Danielle McCray
On Arkansas’ attempted comeback:
“I think we just got out of sorts in the second half and they just started driving and penetrating. We started being sloppy and turning the ball over. We all came together and knew we needed to keep it from slipping away, and that’s what we did.”
On getting her second foul and sitting on the bench:
“I was upset with myself. I haven’t sat on the bench because of foul trouble in a while. I did it to myself in the beginning. I committed a bad foul where I ran over the girl when I should have just kicked it out to Sade (Morris). Then when she scored I tried to reach down and knock it away and I got another foul. I put my team in a bad situation by going to the bench and by not bringing that spark that I can bring to the team.”
Junior guard Sade Morris
On the defensive effort tonight:
“Coach (Bonnie Henrickson) had to figure out who was going to guard whom. We were always changing match-ups. We’ve just got to be ready for anything.”
On foul trouble tonight:
“It’s hard because we tried to pull back when they penetrated, but they were so quick that we would always get the foul. They did a great job drawing fouls on us. We should have done a better job of adjusting to it in the first half, but we did a good job in the second half. We figured it out.”
Senior guard Ivana Catic
On throwing the pass over the top:
“I think it started off in the Creighton game. That’s when we really started to embrace it. We all talked and decided to do it in this game too because Arkansas is athletic and known to run. We wanted to kill them with their own weapon. Hopefully we’re going to keep doing that because it gives us easy scores.”
Arkansas coach Tom Collen
Opening Statement:
“I think I knew that we were running into a battle with an offensive basketball team. It has been built by Bonnie Henrickson over a period of time. They remind me a lot of a couple teams in our league, Florida and Auburn, that were on the verge a year ago of exploding on the scene and being an NCAA Tournament-type team next year. I think they are going to make a run in the WNIT and it wouldn’t surprise me if they won a couple more games and won the whole thing. And it wouldn’t surprise me if they made the NCAA Tourney next year. I think she’s (Henrickson) done a terrific job. Give all the credit to her and her team. I thought we came in with a game plan for (Sade) Morris and (Danielle) McCray and obviously we did not because they went off on us. We couldn’t find the basket early and so we just couldn’t sustain. I thought our young team came out with a hard-nosed and competitive attitude. It was a disappointing loss for us, but a good win for Kansas and I wish them well. They have a bright future.”
On Danielle McCray:
“I think that’s what a veteran does. I had some of Big 12 coaches tell me that they thought she was the best player in the conference right now. She’s playing her best basketball and finally really maturing. She’s become their go-to-player and that stands out. She’s used to taking on pressure and she deals with it really well. She is an All-America candidate. It wouldn’t surprise me if she was on the State Farm All-America team next year.”
