Post Game Quotes
Nov. 11, 2008
Coach Self Quotes
On the team’s improvement from the last game:
“Whenever you shoot 24-30 from the field that is pretty good. I thought that we played very well. I thought that Emporia State got tired in the last part of the first half. Then we played a lot of different combinations. When our best two players play like that we are going to be hard to deal with. Cole Aldrich was fabulous. I thought that everyone contributed and played better.”
On the team’s offensive performance:
“I thought that we played a pretty good game, when you shoot 80 percent in a half you have a lot of easy baskets. We put the ball in high and pretty much did what we wanted offensively.”
Sophomore Center Cole Aldrich
On utilizing big men:
“That was one of the main things that we kind of lacked in the other game. We didn’t quite get the big guys tied in. We knew we had great size on them and they had Ping down low. But after that, they kind of slide down on height, so we just really tried to get it inside and try to use it as an advantage.”
On his performance:
“The first exhibition game, I kind of came off sluggish. I wasn’t playing all that well. As a whole team, we were just trying to get our feet wet. Today, we came out well. We started playing well, and we are finally starting to get into that groove of how we should play. Getting up and playing defense and getting steals and rebounding, that’s just what we need to do.”
On the team’s performance:
“I think we did a great job of getting the ball inside and utilizing our height in the first half. We out-rebounded them by 21. That was one of the things that coach said at half time was to go out and win the boards by 20.”
Junior guard Sherron Collins
On keys to playing well:
“Consistency, especially with my bigs. I thought my bigs did a great job screening for me and getting me open. Without that there would be nothing there. I’ve been taking a lot more shots and I’m just being consistent right now.”
On being healthy:
“I’m 100 percent fine. Nothing’s bothering me. I’m good.”
On reaction to the team’s 80 percent shooting in the first half:
“That’s surprising. I didn’t know we shot that well. I’m happy we did that, but that goes to show that multiple players can hit shots. Cole Aldrich got off to a good start and the rest of the team followed.”
Freshman forward Marcus Morris
On improving focus on defense:
“It gets a little better each time. It’s hard to keep following somebody around the screens, but if you want to win, that’s a sacrifice you’re going to have to make.”
On his performance tonight:
“I think I played well, but I think I could have played a little better. I think I could have cut down a little bit on turnovers. I don’t know how many I had. On defense I think I could have gotten up on my man a little tighter and played a little harder.”
On playing defense on guards:
“In high school I always stuck with guards because I played a 2 and 3, so it’s not really a big change. The guards are better and quicker, so it’s kind of hard to get up on them. I give them a little space and see if they can knock it down from the 3-point line.”
Emporia State Head Coach David Moe
On the game overall:
“I thought KU was terrific. It was hard for us defensively. We worked on things five days ago before Wichita State. We’re doing things we’ve never done before as a team. A lot of KU players shooting 80 percent is just from our mental lapses. We will get a lot better. Coaching gave up a lot of the points in the first half just because we weren’t prepared to do the things we tried to do.”
On how Emporia State performed:
“I think it’s a great experience. We still have to make adjustments. We didn’t have time to really prepare and do the things we talked about doing. I should have made them do them out on the floor, instead we just talked about it. Offensively, we’re not going to beat any good teams at our level, and especially at this level, by trying to make plays by yourself. You’ve got to let the offense work for you. We’ll continue to improve because we work hard and play hard.”
Emporia State Guard Alex Pyle
On playing games in back-to-back nights:
“I think playing last night helped us out a lot tonight. Last night we came out, the atmosphere got to us and (Wichita State) was hitting all of their shots. Tonight we kind of knew what to expect. We have all watched KU on TV and we knew it was going to be loud. But the crowd didn’t really affect us too much.”
On what his team can take away from this game:
“I think you learn how to compete. You have to work that much harder. We aren’t going to play any more teams like KU but we will still have to move and cut and do all of the small things to get open.”
On the challenges of playing two nights in a row:
“We prepared for KU for two days and then the next two days we prepared for Wichita State. Today at our film session we just reviewed. It was kind of tough because we prepared for KU over five days ago.”
Emporia State Forward Jeremiah Box
His thoughts on KU:
“They are very good. They are extremely fast and they never died out. They are a great team and I am just happy to have had the opportunity to play them. It was a good way for us to start the season and we can only get better.”
On what his team can take away from this game:
“You can only win if you work as a team. We had great spurts when we played together. When they made their big run we just tried to stay together. Just play together and never give up.”
On how the team improved:
“Today we did a lot better job of reversing the ball and moving it around. Last night (against Wichita State) we took a lot of quick shots. Today we moved the ball around and tried to get each other open.”
