Kansas Versus Louisiana Monroe Postgame Quotes
Nov. 9, 2007
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Kansas Postgame Quotes
Kansas 107, Louisana- Monroe 78
November 9, 2007
Head Coach Bill Self
On the game:
“We did some really good things. We really ran well and passed the ball and we scored it. We had some good individual performances and great hustle plays. But we had some poor judgments in how we guarded from a principle standpoint. You can’t do that against a quality ballclub.”
On the defensive performance:
“Our transition defense was brutal. We had guys challenging the ball in the backcourt, and we got lucky with some steals. You can do that and get away with it against some teams. Their guards torched us tonight. It was a good thing that (Tony) Hooper got in foul trouble because he was scoring at will for a stretch. In the last two games our opponents have shot 50 percent against us, and you have to go back 80 games prior to that before anyone shot 50 percent against us. We are going to have to make a decision. If we are going to play fast then we are going to have to guard better.”
On the individual performances:
“I thought Roderick (Stewart) played really well tonight. He made good hustle plays. I think he can guard better. I thought Jeremy (Case) made one bad play in the half, but I thought he did well. I thought Tyrell (Reed) was very good in the minutes he played but had a couple of breakdowns defensively. I though Darnell (Jackson) was terrific. He will be the first to tell you that he had a couple breakdowns defensively but I though he was really, really good.” On the upcoming game against UMKC: “The good thing is, although we played fast we didn’t have our guys play a ton of minutes. We need to practice tomorrow. UMKC poses different problems because they run a variation of the Princeton Offense. The are very well schooled and all of their big guys can shoot. It will be a challenge for Cole (Aldrich) and Sasha (Kaun) to get to their big guys. We need to have a good, focused day tomorrow and our mindset needs to adjust a little bit. If the other team can’t score then you can’t lose. Right now we look like a team that is trying to outscore people.”
Darnell Jackson, Senior, Forward
On his performance:
“I came out with energy tonight. I just try to play with a lot of energy. I am just glad we won. I don’t care about any of the points. If we win, then I am glad. If I would have had two points, I would have been happy with that as long as we win. We all go out there and played hard as a team and we came out with a victory. This game really doesn’t mean anything to me. I just love to get out there and play. If Coach Self would have played me five minutes, I would have been happy with that. As long as I am out there doing what I need to do to help the team win, I am happy with that.”
On being a possible sixth-man:
“I don’t consider myself being a possible great sixth-man. I just want to be a teammate and that is who I am. I am just out there playing for my teammates. I had a lot of points, but that is no big deal. We still have a lot of games to go. I am just going to try and keep that same intensity on defense the whole time.”
On fellow big-name programs getting knocked off this week:
“It has been on everyone’s mind entering this game; the coaching staff and the players. We are watching other teams fall against Division II schools and we don’t want that to happen to us like it did against Oral Roberts. We can’t look over teams no matter who they are or what players they have. They (Louisiana At Monroe) had some great guards.”
Kansas Players
Darrell Arthur, Sophomore, Forward
On freshman Cole Aldrich in his first game:
“I thought he played well. He did a nice job of rebounding and he went out there and battled. He did well for his first game.”
On his buzzer-beating three-pointer:
“I didn’t know it was going in. I just threw it up there. I was glad I made it. I never expected to make my first career three-pointer in that fashion. I was surprised to get the ball because the play was set up for Mario (Chalmers) to shoot it, but he got doubled and I was the open man.”
On the offense:
“The offense was pretty good, but our defense wasn’t very good today. We are going to work on it a lot tomorrow at practice and get it back to where it needs to be. They shot over 50 percent tonight and our goal is to keep everyone under 40 percent so we did a bad job defensively. They made a lot of tough shots, but we still need to get back in there and work on our rotations.”
Louisiana Monroe Quotes
Head Coach Orlando Early
On overall thoughts on the game:
“Our team played really hard. I thought we shot the ball well. I think Kansas is really, really good to say the least.”
On KU’s 17-2 run when Louisiana at Monroe was without Lance Brasher and Tony Hooper due to foul trouble:
“Well that’s tough, but that’s probably more demoralizing for the two guys behind me (Brasher and Hooper). I mean, they’re such competitors. They play so hard, they compete so hard. We had our leading scorer on the bench and then another top scorer, double figure scorer on the bench. We had to play a freshman who’s not ready. So, again Kansas is a good team, but they go on a 17-2 run and guys that are used to playing are on the bench.”
On atmosphere affecting players:
“I don’t know that. I mean I’m not one of the players on the floor. I think our guys enjoy it. I think they enjoy competing. They don’t care if there’s 20 people in the gym or 20,000 in the gym. They just want to come out and play hard and compete. They love playing basketball.”
On overall ability of Kansas:
“(They are) Very good. Very, very good. They’ve got size and they’ve got guards. They can really handle the ball. They’re well coached. I look for them to make a big time run in the tournament this year.”
On what playing a top five team does for your team:
“I think it helps us a lot. Last year we went into the Sun Belt and won our division and I think we learned a lot on the road and also I think it gives us a confidence level. To come into Lawrence, Kan. and shoot 51 percent from the floor is not bad. Guys know that when we play against someone we can score the ball. We can score the ball. We can play.”
On what Kansas did that was so tough to overcome:
“I thought it was their rebounding ability. I thought they rebounded the ball well. I thought it was their pressure defensively. We had 24 turnovers and they were the reason for a lot of that, but also we made some mistakes–it’s our first game of the year as well. Later on we won’t make that same mistake we’ll handle the ball, we’ll get a feel for one another. One time we had Brasher that was wide open for a three-point shot and instead he tried to make a bounce pass into the middle and we turned it over. He shoots the ball pretty good. We’d like to have him shoot it.”
On speed of Kansas:
“Yeah, they attack you. They get it up. That’s tough to prepare for. You’re practicing every day, but then to play against them in here, I thought they were really good with their transition offense.”
On what impressed him with Kansas:
“I would say their size inside. I see Sherron Collins had 22 points and (Darnell) Jackson had 21. Jackson went 8-for-9–he shot them all right at rim. We don’t have a guy his size so it’s tough to defend that.”
ULM Player Quotes
Junior guard Tony Hooper
On the game:
“I think we came out and played hard; I just don’t think we were ready for a tough game like this. Other than that I think we played well for our first away game.”
On the atmosphere at Allen Fieldhouse:
“The atmosphere affects the freshmen – those who haven’t played in a collegiate-ranked game. Other than that, I don’t think we were ready to compete and we were unable to come out on top with a victory.”
On his fourth foul:
“It was really tough. I just tried to come out and play hard. I ended up committing my fourth foul, which didn’t help the team. It really hurt because we needed to get a win and we were unable to come through.”
On Kansas:
“They are a real good team; without them even having Brandon Rush, which was a minor setback, they are still a very tough team. They are top five in the country – there’s not too much you can say about that. They have some of the top-ranked players in the country, so it does take a little adjustment.”
Senior guard Lance Brasher
On the game:
“It doesn’t really matter what my performance was like tonight. We did not put everything together as a team and we didn’t find our defensive rhythm or rebound the ball.”
“When Tony and I each got our fourth fouls we had to put our freshmen out on the court, who have barely played in front of 200 people let alone 16,000. I think that was the main factor that led to Kansas’ big run.”
On Kansas’ transition game:
“We scouted them and we knew they were going to go up and down the court. But we like to do that too and there were times when we gave them some problems going up and down too. But when it came down to it they were bigger than us and if they got the rebound they were sure to put it back in.”
