Postgame Quotes
Nov. 13, 2009
Postgame Quotes
Kansas 101, Hofstra 65
November 13, 2009
Kansas Head Coach Bill Self
On the game overall:
“We played pretty well offensively. Xavier (Henry) got us off to a great start, he had eight points right out of the shoot. I thought the ball moved pretty well early and in the second half, I don’t think it moved well. All in all I thought we played pretty well. We didn’t block out worth a flip and they beat us on some hustle plays. Defensively, we were fortunate because they missed some looks that most nights they wouldn’t miss. When the game got away, we got pretty careless defensively. I thought Tyshawn (Taylor) was really good defensively. The big guys didn’t help him much on ball and that’s why (Chris) Jenkins got a lot of points. Jenkins is good. He is strong and gets in the paint. Of course it was Xavier’s night. He got 27. I told him after the game that it was a freshman record and congratulations but not to get too cocky. We played well and we made shots. There are a lot of things we can do better, but it was a good start.”
On KU’s three point shooting:
“I think Xavier was feeling it and even though Sherron (Collins) only shot 4-10, he was 1-5 in the first and 3-5 in the second half. He was feeling it a little bit and they didn’t really guard us. If they don’t guard, sometimes it turns into a HORSE contest and they were hoping we’d miss, fortunately for us we knocked them down. We’ve got a long way to go, we had some freshmen not play nearly as well as they did in the exhibition game. We certainly expect that, but there were some guys that did some good things out there.”
On KU’s defense:
“I thought we guarded better in the first half, we made some bonehead plays and I think (Hali Kanacevic) was their best player in the first half. He beat us on the offensive glass and Marcus (Morris), Thomas (Robinson), Cole (Aldrich) and Markieff (Morris) are doing a very poor job at checking people. We need to correct that and I think we can. Xavier can do a better job in that area too. We got fortunate tonight. We had some good things happen off long rebounds which are 50/50 balls and we got the majority of those tonight.”
On the upcoming game against Memphis:
“We don’t know much about Memphis. I believe they play tonight. So we’ll have a couple of tapes on them. They’ve got more players playing for them than we do that played in the championship game. They’ve got three and we’ve only got two. It will be a little bit of a different atmosphere. We know minutes aren’t going to be evenly distributed once we start playing games. You’ve got to win the games. Tonight the minutes were still pretty even, but we’ve got to start defining roles and get a little more organized that way. I just hope that we go out and play with energy. When we play with energy I think we’re pretty hard to guard.”
Kansas Sophomore Forward Marcus Morris
On the depth of the team:
“We’re very deep. Any game, anybody can have 20-plus points. The big fella, Cole (Aldrich), they really took him out of the game, but we still scored 100 points. That’s a major goal for us.”
On six different guys blocking a shot, if that’s what it’s like in practice:
“No. In practice we don’t block too many shots. Maybe one or two. Sherron’s very crafty, all of our point guards are-, Tyshawn (Taylor) and Elijah (Johnson) – they all do a good job of knowing where we’re going to be at. Once or twice we’ll get a crazy block in practice, and everybody will be saying something about it.”
On Elijah Johnson on the fast break:
“That’s a big strength for Elijah, he’s very crafty. He surprised me a lot with his moves and how he gets through small spaces, and he’ll still be able to finish above the rim. He’s a good player.”
On the team rotation:
“Like coach said, the rotation is eight-deep, so everybody will be able to play inside and outside. I feel like there are enough minutes for everybody.”
Kansas Senior Guard Sherron Collins
On how they got jump-started after Coach Self called back-to-back time-outs:
“It was just a defensive breakdown, and he let us know that – he chewed us out. He told us exactly what we needed. We can’t let (the defensive breakdowns) happen back-to-back. We just got our head back into the game and focused on what we needed to do.”
Kansas Freshman Guard Xavier Henry
On Coach Self being tough on him:
“He’s been tough on me about everything! But it’s just going to help me come along; and I understand that. I just accept it and try to do better.”
On if Coach Self wasn’t being tough on him, if he would feel like something was wrong:
“It would make me feel lackadaisical, and I don’t want that. I want to feel pressured all the time.”
On what he meant when he said he could always shoot:
“I’ve always been able to shoot. My dad always kept me in (the gym) making me shoot. If I can rely on something, it can be an easy jump shot, there’s nothing too hard about it.”
On if he will always dunk with two hands:
“No, I was just nervous. I was making sure I wasn’t going to dribble the ball off my foot. Once I got to the rim, I just put it in. You’ll see different things when I’m relaxed – but tonight, I was stressed out for a little bit.”
On if the tip dunk fired him up:
“Oh yeah, everything fired me up. The tip-off play fired me up! So it was just a wake up call. We got into it so quickly. The game just started rolling, and it was 8-2 as soon as we started, we just never stopped.”
On what he thinks his dad will say about his performance:
“I don’t even know – last game he wasn’t too happy with me because I wasn’t aggressive enough. Tonight, I’m not sure what he’ll say, probably just ‘Good job, do better.’ He had to work, so he wasn’t here, so he’s probably just going to call me later.”
Hofstra Head Coach Tom Pecora
On Kansas:
“They are as good as advertised. They play with very good balance and intensity. They played like the No. 1 team in the country tonight.
On how Hofstra played:
“It was interesting because I thought our freshman wouldn’t do well in this environment and our veterans would and it was the other way around with the exception of Charles Jenkins. Our veterans just didn’t play well but our two freshmen in Halil Kanacevic and Chaz Williams played very well. We will build off this game. This is exactly what we knew could happen and it is learning experience. I told Bill (Self) that this game will make us better going forward and I truly think it will.”
On Charles Jenkins in the first half:
“Early on I thought he was a little tentative and he didn’t take the ball as strong as he usually does. He was hoping to get the whistle and he wasn’t getting it because he wasn’t attacking as well as he should have. Then once he straightened that out he was fine.”
Hofstra Junior Guard Charles Jenkins
On playing at Allen Fieldhouse:
“It is crazy playing here. I tried to prepare for the environment and you can’t. I tried to visualize the environment in my room by closing my eyes, but it is nothing like I imagined. The crowd is right on top of you. I love playing here and this might be the toughest place I have ever played.”
On Kansas:
“They are real good. There is a reason why there are No. 1 in the country. They have a very good team that all plays together. They have a lot of athletic guards that really can shoot if you leave them open. They are a versatile team.”
