Postgame Quotes
Nov. 2, 2010
Notes |
Kansas 92, Washburn 62
Postgame Quotes
November 2, 2010
Kansas Head Coach Bill Self
On the team’s performance:
“We did some good things. I thought we were pretty good early. We jumped on them like you should do playing at home. We got up 22-4 and did some good things but then we quit guarding at the end of the half and didn’t guard very well in the second half at all. I thought our defense was pretty good early. We didn’t make shots the whole night. Our perimeter was 1-of-15 from 3-point range and our two big guys were 3-for-4. You can’t win shooting the ball like that, but looking at it from a philosophical standpoint, you can’t give up 50 percent shooting. That’s happened one time, maybe, in this building in the last three years and our guys don’t get that yet. There was no pride defensively in the last 10 minutes. We’re going to get better. I thought we shared the ball. Obviously, Marcus (Morris) is talented. Getting Markieff (Morris) healthy and back out there is going to help us. Of course, we need (Jeff) Withey out there. One thing that was very, very evident to me is that Thomas (Robinson) and Mario (Little) are too little to play behind in the post. They scored at will in the post. Either we need to get Withey out there or those guys need to defend better or it’s going to be a hard time playing them as many minutes. Overall we did some good things, but I wasn’t extremely happy because we didn’t guard.”
On improving the team’s interior defense:
“You can’t let your man catch it in the sweet spot. You have to get him off the block or you have to play arm-around to discourage (a pass inside). You have to do something. We just played butt-behind and they did a little two-dribble move and throw a jump hook at three feet, which is awful. You can’t do that. We haven’t worked on trapping the post, but we shouldn’t have to work on that at this time of year. We need to guard better. I was very disappointed in some of our defense, especially the second team when they came in late. That was poor, poor defense and we have to get in better shape, too.”
On moving the ball on offense:
“We’re pretty unselfish. I thought we made the extra pass. We are not, yet, a good passing team. We take guys out of shots. We don’t lead guys into layups. Tonight, on two different plays, our point guard that was in the game gave the ball up in transition so that he could be the finisher. You can’t play that way. You can’t put the ball in Mario Little’s hand and say ‘You go make the play.’ Those are the kinds of things that we can get better at. Right now, offensively we are not a really good passing team, but we had some great possessions. Our two best passers are obviously Markieff and Marcus. Those guys play big-to-big as well as anybody in the country probably will.”
On Marcus Morris’ versatility:
“Marcus is versatile. He can play anywhere offensively. He’s going to get to where he can guard anybody defensively. He’s a talented kid. He has really worked hard. To me, it looks like the game is in slow-motion about as well as anybody that we’ve coached.”
On Emporia State:
“They will run motion (offense) and spread it, which is kind of what Bob (Chipman) tried to do tonight to eliminate pressure. Also, I was just told that the student crowd was the best exhibition crowd that they have ever had here so we certainly appreciate that.”
Senior forward Mario Little
On if it feels good to be playing in a game:
“I was comfortable, I was excited, but I knew I needed to stick to detail and try not to rush anything; just go out there and have fun.”
On if it was hard to let the game come to him after redshirting last year:
“That’s what I’m trying to do, I’m not trying to stress or go out there and score a lot of points. I need to go out there and help the team win and have fun.”
On how the team is different from last year:
“This year we have a lot of leaders; last year it was just Sherron (Collins) and Cole (Aldrich), now this year, everybody is a leader.”
On how he would grade the teams performance:
“It was good, but we have room for improvement, we need to get better every day in practice.”
Junior guard Tyshawn Taylor
On what he needs to do to be a team leader:
“I need to be the rock for my team. I can’t try to force too much, or do too much, I need to be a solid player. I need to make the easy plays and the smart plays. I need to be a leader vocally and by example. This was definitely a goal of mine — I’ve been working towards being a leader my entire time here, and I think I did pretty well tonight.”
On the depth of the team:
“I just think we were trying out a lot of different combinations tonight, I don’t think we’ve settled on one group of players. But I think we all played well, we just need to work better defensively.”
Junior forward Marcus Morris
On if the big men altering shots with the absence of Cole Aldrich:
“I think so. I think all of us combined will have about the same amount Cole (Aldrich) had last year. Cole was a great shot-blocker, but he was also 6-11 with a 7-5 wingspan. I think we will be able to get out on the floor and guard a little more.”
On if he sees a different mentality from Tyshawn Taylor this year:
“He knows that he has to be the leader on the floor. He’s a general. I can be a leader, too at the power forward position, but the point guard is usually the team leader. I tell him day in and day out that he has to talk and be a leader.”
On the crowd’s reaction from Philstin pulling down his dunk attempt:
“I spoke with (Washburn guard Virgil Philstin) after he did that, and he told me that his coach would have made him run for the rest of his life. I understand. Coach Self probably would have done the same thing. You can’t let somebody dunk on you.”
Washburn head coach Bob Chipman
On impression of his team tonight:
“We wanted to make it more of a game. We were pretty disappointed that they stretched it out that quick, that soon. They play hard and it was tough for us to get into anything offensively; we turned it over I think four of the first six trips. I mean, credit their defense; there are some athletes out there playing very hard and we just had a difficult time getting anything going.
I think they really shut us down on the defensive end of the floor a little bit, but their spacing is so good on the offensive end. We were trying to double the posts and still get back to shooters and honestly, we were trying; it didn’t look like it but they are so good with what they do so it made us look like we were just standing defensively. We fouled way too much and credit them; their offensive scheme, spacing, their strength with the ball and their decisions with the ball, we just weren’t good enough defensively.
It was a pretty good eye opener for us. We have a lot to work on now, our defense is not where we want it to be and we’re fouling way too much. We turned it over way too much and their defense just had us going sideways. So we have a lot of work to do and I don’t know if there are enough days to get ready for Kansas State now, because it is going to be more of the same down there in Manhattan.”
On this team compared to when he coached at KU:
“The way they share the ball from everywhere on the floor. They look like they can score from every position on the floor. To me, that’s when the KU teams have been ultra great. I know we at Washburn sometimes feed the post man too much or go to one guy on the perimeter; maybe they ran into that a little too much last year but this team hurts you from everywhere. This is a good group and I have had the chance to be around these guys in the summer time and they are great people; they really love KU and it’s all about winning for this group and it’s a special group. I just want to wish them the very best.”
Sophomore Center Bobby Chipman
On playing at Allen Fieldhouse:
“It wasn’t a close game and obviously that’s not what we wanted, but it’s every Kansas kid’s dream to play at Allen Fieldhouse. It was something special that I will never forget.”
On getting the ball into the post:
“They were looking for me and I was able to hit a couple of shots. I’ve been working on my post game in the off season.”
Senior Center Logan Stutz
On the atmosphere at Allen Fieldhouse:
“It was a lot of fun. This was my second time back and there were a lot more nerves the first time I was here. I felt a lot more comfortable this time. It’s a great atmosphere at Allen Fieldhouse. A lot of kids in America dream of doing stuff that we get to do twice. So it was pretty fun.”
On the difference in the two teams he played at Allen Fieldhouse:
“I’ll be honest with you, I thought this team played a lot better. I think they had more talent a couple of years ago, but this team played a harder defense, they ran their stuff and they were a lot more disciplined. It surprised a lot of us and they came out and hit us in the mouth. It didn’t matter who was on the court they were all playing good basketball tonight.”
On the nerves for the game:
“Like I said this was my second time playing here, I think Nate Daniels was the only other one who played then also, so a lot of first times for most of the players. They had a lot of nerves and I know where they’re coming from. I wish we could have pulled it together. When we ran our stuff, swung the ball and dumped it in the post we looked pretty good. We just got to get our heads on straight and work on stuff in practice.”
On what surprised him about KU:
“They just played hard and were disciplined. They did all the little things that they didn’t do two years ago. They might have relied on their talent with Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins but this year they stepped up. They hit us every time, they hit the boards hard and they played defense hard. My hat goes off to them. They didn’t take us lightly at all. They just played hard overall.”
On the fouls committed:
“Part of that is that we played lazy defense when it comes down to it. We gave them a lot of free throws, I think it might have been a record or something. The first half they shot a lot of free throws, which was because of our lazy defense. We were just hugging on our man all night and which results in a lot of fouls and a lot of free throws.”
