Kansas Postgame Quotes-vs. Washburn (Exhibition)
Nov. 5, 2012
Kansas 62, Washburn 50
November 5, 2012
Postgame Quotes
Kansas head coach Bill Self
Opening statement:
“We actually guarded them well. We held Washburn to 50. We did a good job defensively. Our offense stunk. It was just beyond bad. We scored 26 the last 24 minutes. We scored 36 points in first 16 minutes and 26 points in the last 24 minutes. I’m disappointed in that, but we are going to be a team that plays in spurts, and we’re going to be a team that labors to score. We just are. We don’t have guys that you can throw it to and just go get a basket. When you live by the perimeter jump shot, you are going to miss them some. We didn’t execute and our senior leadership was non-existent. We played like little babies tonight. They beat us to loose balls, and we didn’t rebound it. There are several things that we didn’t do very well, but our first shot defense was pretty good. That was the only reason why we won the game.”
On Kansas’ effort as a team:
“They probably got 70 percent of the 50-50 balls, and we turned it over 24 times. A lot of it is just pure lack of basketball IQ. We have to help them. Most of it is just pure softness. Not meeting the pass—just so soft with that ball. That was embarrassing, but I do think that was probably the best thing to happen to us. We’re not what people think we are yet, so why not be humbled a little bit? We got their attention. I can get their attention now. We haven’t had a good week of practice. You play like you practice normally; not all of the time. You can just go down the list of things we didn’t do. Not very often do you have a collective game where everybody plays poorly individually. I don’t want guys leaving here feeling good because they scored points. That’s not what it’s about. What it’s about is Kansas scoring points and Kansas making plays. We moped around a little bit, but this is good for us. We’re so young, and we have so much to learn. We have to have better senior leadership without question.”
On if this game will be a teaching moment for the team:
“I think so. It’s not like we played everybody. We played to win. You can’t have guys coming in and playing three or four minutes and having three turnovers. That’s unheard of; that’s junior-high ball. That’s where it’s at. I’ll be honest, I don’t think this is going to bother me much. I think it’s perfect that we can go into the season and get their attention a little bit. We have a big game Friday and a huge one on Tuesday. If we play this soft a week from now, we’re going to get a knot put on our head big time. Usually, guys in this program rally around this, and I’m sure these guys will.
Kansas senior Elijah Johnson
On what Coach Self expected throughout the game:
“I think he wanted us to focus in. I don’t think this group understands yet what it means to put a team to a stop or try and kill momentum. Right now, I wouldn’t say we’re struggling, but we’re not as good as we were last year when we ended the year. It’s just a learning process; we have a lot of new people on the floor. He called timeouts to give some people some reminders.”
On the message from Coach Self after the game:
“Enjoy a win regardless of how it goes. But we have to learn something from it. Today could be wasted if no one learned anything. I think one thing we learned as a team was that we have to win ugly sometimes, because sometimes it feels like there’s just no chemistry on the court or nothing can go right. So he just wants to fight through those times. I think that was the big message for the night.”
On reason why the team may not be in sync early on:
“I think everyone is thinking too much right now. Personally, as a senior, I’m speaking about it. I think it’s too many people thinking too hard and not just playing. With us thinking so hard and making it complex, I think that we’re confusing each other, rather than just rolling on a rhythm on the same train, building off of one play. I just feel like everyone is feeling like they have to hit a home run. With that being said, I think there’s no chemistry out there.”
Kansas freshman Ben McLemore
On his focus of rebounding:
“Being a guard, the coach stresses a lot for me to crash the boards and just box my man out and crash the boards a lot. So coach definitely stressed it a lot so I just do that and it helps the team out. I just crash the boards.”
Kansas freshman Perry Ellis
On why tonight didn’t go as well as the Emporia State game:
“I would say we weren’t executing as well as the first game. We weren’t pushing it as well as we were in the first game. That’s the main thing. I feel like we just weren’t pushing it and we weren’t getting out.”
On big plays sparking the momentum, specifically the play of Ben McLemore:
“It is a big momentum pusher for us. Those are things we need. We need to just get up on the momentum and really push at that point. We really need to work as a team when we get down. When bad things are happening we need to learn how to get it back together.”
Washburn head coach Bob Chipman
Opening statement:
“I’m proud of our guys. We had some guys that really hooked it up and competed hard. (Senior forward Bobby Chipman and senior guard Will McNeill) played their tails off. I thought our defense was really good. I’m proud of them and they just kept scrapping on every possession. We had a difficult time scoring. We’d get it in there and Mr. (Jeff) Withey was in there. I finally told Will and the guys to start shooting pull-up jumpers and Jeff started to block some pull-up jumpers. I really was proud of them. I thought we hung together. It was a tough environment. I thought our guys played really hard and it’s kind of what you wanted to do as a coach. We feel good about the improvement we’ve made through these three games.”
On taking advantage of Kansas’ turnovers:
“It was pretty ugly. It was a pretty physical game. (Kansas) was playing really hard, too. Those young kids are all battling for minutes. They’re playing hard and we’re playing hard. It got a little physical. They couldn’t call every foul. I thought it got a little sloppy at times, but I’ll have to watch the tape. We made it a little ugly and I think that was to our benefit.”
On moving into the regular season play:
“Our guys were taking so much pride in trying to play KU and play these guys and now the roles are going to reverse. Now everyone we face is going to take pride in whipping us. We’re No. 2 in the country, supposedly, so I just told our guys, ‘Hey, we’ve got to open this up. We’ve got to play this way every night out.’ Our guys know they’re good. We’ve got a good group. We’ve got an experienced group. I think it just cemented the fact, for them, that we really do have a good team. Man, if we play really hard, we’re capable of some great things. It just reinforced what these guys have been doing anyway.”
On avoiding a knock-out blow from Kansas:
“(Kansas) had some pretty good possessions and got it in there and missed some free throws. That kind of helped us, but still, I thought our guys just fought them. They just weren’t going to give up any easy ones. However, they did get a few dunks and that crowd got going, but we limited that somewhat. I was impressed that they didn’t get a run. We tried to be a little more patient in the second half and make them play a little more defense, and that seemed to be a factor.”
Final statement:
“(Kansas) is going to be great. What a class group of kids and what an unbelievable program. Just to be on this stage with them, what a great experience for us. It’s something that we’ll never forget. Yeah, it was 62-50 tonight, but I think (Elijah Johnson, Travis Releford and Jeff Withey) have a chance to win more basketball games than anybody else in the history of college basketball this year, and I wouldn’t count them out for anything. Those kids are incredible, so a special thanks to the Jayhawks for letting us come on their stage and be a part of something I know we’ll always remember.”
Washburn senior forward Bobby Chipman
On his thoughts at halftime:
“At halftime, we thought we played well in the first half, but we obviously weren’t happy. We were down 12 and we wanted to come out there and get it back one possession at a time, one defensive stop at a time, and to take our time on offense and maybe slow it down and get a better shot every time.”
Washburn senior guard Will McNeill
On the Kansas’ physical play:
“It’s a lot more physical than the MIAA. I was determined tonight to go in there and get a foul, but they never did. I got taken out on one play, but that’s the physicality of the Big 12. It just tells me I have to hit the weight room a little bit harder and jump a little bit higher, so hats off to (Kansas). Those guys are great shot blockers and alter shots. We’re definitely looking forward to our season when it starts.”
On avoiding a knock-out blow from Kansas:
“(Assistant) coach (Dave) Brown and Coach Chipman both always preach good defense and getting defensive stops. I kind of said at halftime that if we could stop this team from going on a run; we can get in this game. K-State went on a 22-2 run and Oklahoma went on a couple of runs that kind of put us out of the game. I think we did a very good job on some defensive possessions by diving on the floor and getting kind of gritty like our team plays. We definitely want to avoid (a run by Kansas), especially here in Phog Allen (Fieldhouse).”
