Kansas vs. Washburn Postgame Quotes
Oct. 28, 2012
POSTGAME QUOTES
KANSAS 57, WASHBURN 35
Oct. 28, 2012 – LAWRENCE, KAN.
Kansas Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson
On Sunday’s game:
“I thought during the little run we made in the second half we applied some defensive pressure. We forced some dribble pick-ups, we had some deflections and we knocked things down. Some was with Angel on the ball but she got a lot off the ball because of the ball pressure. When we needed to make a run we would call a timeout and got some opportunities in transition. The separation of the final score came from transition, not from half-court offense. Our post plays have to be better. We need to shoot better in the paint. We need to be able to knock down some uncontested shots.”
On offensive performance:
“At times we broke down on the offensive side. I thought for us there were times where we were impatient and turned the ball over. We had 14 turnovers. Four of those were offensive fouls, so we had 10 turnovers that were live ball turnovers. This turned into low percentage shots. We settled a little bit and got anxious.”
On Carolyn Davis:
“She’s looked good in practice, but I thought that was as good as Carolyn has looked (since the injury). She worked early. We’re at day-to-day with her getting back to 100 percent. Does she do everything she is capable every day to get better? Absolutely, yes. We’ll just continue to go where she goes. We’ll play her as much as the doctors and trainers suggest that she is ready for. She is doing everything that she is supposed to do. Today she played with a lot of confidence, and she’s going to get better.”
Kansas senior guard Angel Goodrich
On Carolyn Davis:
“She definitely looked like her normal self out there. She will eventually get to the point where she gains more minutes. I know she probably wanted to get out there that second half.”
On the overall performance of the game:
“The second half was a little bit better on offense and defense. We definitely put a little more pressure on defense. We felt a little sluggish on offense throughout the game. We continued to turn the ball over and they were definitely scrappy. They are a very good team and we respect them. But overall, we needed to pick it up.”
On her thoughts and attitude towards the missed shots:
“It’s frustrating when you don’t make an open shot. But you can’t let that get to you. You just have to go the next play and get a stop on defense. When you get the ball back you’ve got to attack or do something different. You need to have the mentality of spreading the ball around and getting the ball to someone who is knocking those open shots down. You need to do something to get your mind back into that positive light.”
Kansas senior forward Carolyn Davis
On confidence after her injury:
“It feels like I didn’t get hurt. It’s hard to forget about it but at the same time I try not to think about it because I know if I do it will just hold me back.”
On the younger forwards on the team:
“They have a big challenge ahead of them. They need to step up like they did there at the end because I am not at full strength yet. They are taking it in stride and doing the best they can. Bunny (Williams) is playing awesome and she is going to be playing a lot more minutes than she’s played all last season. But they are definitely taking on the challenge.”
On her pain level and discomfort:
“I don’t want to jinx it but, I don’t have any pain right now. But not feeling pain is definitely helping me keep my mind off of it because there is nothing there to make me remember it.”
Kansas sophomore guard Natalie Knight
On her improvement:
“The coaches have been telling me to be more aggressive. So I’ve been trying to do that and working toward that all summer. It’s been positive for me to be able to go out there and see my improvement.”
On the 2012-13 team’s first game:
“We were all really excited to see how the first game would go. I think to be able to get out there and get all of the jitters out was really good for all of us.”
Washburn head coach Ron McHenry
On the game:
“We lost some kids who can score from last year and I knew going into this game that scoring would be a problem for us. Because the returners we have are not big scorers and we are not quite as organized. We turned the ball over a couple times just because we were not in our sets. I think we can score better than we did today. Obviously we did some (positive) things today. Holding them to 57 points; we out rebounded them and that is a sign of good basketball. We have got a long ways to go offensively. The challenge now is to figure out what we did not do and then do it better. This team has a chance to be good though because we can play defense and rebound.”
On stopping KU down low:
“They are not looking to shoot it from outside. They are looking to pound it inside, and why wouldn’t you with Davis? She is a tough match-up and the young forward Gardner is a tough match-up. They go with their strengths and Angel does a good job driving and passing to them.”
On this game preparing Washburn for the season:
“We got some things out of it. We knew we would have a hard time scoring. We had a hard time getting it to the wing at times. There is nothing better than playing great competition and figuring out what you can do. If you can compete with Kansas on the boards and hold them under 60 then you know you can do those things. We can learn from things we did today. This team is ready to learn.”
Washburn senior forward Tiara George
On her performance:
“My team is looking for me to play my best. Carolyn Davis is pretty good so I knew she was going to bring it to me so I had to bring it back to her.”
On the first game of the season:
“It was a shaky start, but it was a good one at the end of the day. This is a lesson learned on what we have to work on. I’m looking forward to practice tomorrow.”
