Post Game Quotes
Nov. 14, 2008
Post Game Quotes
Kansas 106, Sacred Heart 64
Nov. 14, 2008
Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson
On the teams overall performance:
“It is so exciting for the kids to come out of the gate and be aggressive and control the tempo of the game. We did a lot of really good things. We made great extra passes and had great unselfish play. I thought we had good hustle plays defensively and created some opportunities on the other end. It was a great thing for us to see some of those defensive sets and get that on film.
On Nicollette Smith’s health:
“She is back in the locker room in pretty good spirits, but we just don’t know if her nose is broken or not.”
On the teams guard play:
“Danielle was hot from three-point range and Sade Morris put the ball on the floor. I thought that they were aggressive. Danielle was just in a rhythm early, as soon as she made the first shot you could tell that she was in that rhythm and was going to take better shots. I thought that our guards really controlled the tempo and made good decisions.”
On the play of the defense:
“I thought that we did a nice job defensively on the perimeter. I thought that our pressure was decent and we kind of rushed them and dictated tempo. I thought especially at the beginning of the game we never let them get in a rhythm and that’s what you want to do.”
Junior guard Kelly Kohn
On defeating Sacred Heart handily:
“Sacred Heart is a very good team. They returned all of their starters and they won 19 games last year. They’re going to win some games this year. It was just our motivation from the jump. It was our first regular season game and yesterday in practice everybody just reminded each other that we need to take a look at the big picture here. We’re trying to win 20 games and we’re trying to go to the tournament. This is our first opportunity to do that, so of course everyone jumped on it.”
On confidence in winning 20 games:
“Twenty games. One down, 19 to go.”
Junior forward Porscha Weddington
On scoring more this year:
“It’s my confidence level. My freshman and sophomore years I didn’t have as much confidence. I have more confidence, I’m a lot more comfortable, I’ve worked hard and I’m finishing my shots.”
On scoring 106 points as a team:
“I think it’s really exciting. Everyone did really well tonight. Aishah (Sutherland) and Marija (Zinic) did a really good job finishing. The people off the bench did a good job finishing. Collectively as a team we did a really good job.
Junior guard Danielle McCray
On being in rhythm tonight:
“I think tonight was a good night. It started on my defensive end. I made a big emphasis on pressuring the ball and going in the passing lane and trying to get some steals. If I’m doing well on defense it seems to turn over into my offense, so I just try to feel the rhythm. I just came down, stayed calm on offense and knocked the shots down.”
On taking on a scoring role:
“Tonight I was on and had a hot hand, but there are some times when I need to shoot and some times when I need to pass it off. I had a hot hand tonight, but there will be times when I need to kick it out.”
Sacred Heart Head Coach Ed Swanson
On Danielle McCray’s play:
“We knew what type of player she was. We watched some tapes on her from last year and she was the focal point the last four days in practice, but you obviously would not know that by today. I think she outscored us in the first half by herself.”
On the game:
“I thought we got off to a good start. We didn’t get the ball inside as much, but we started turning them over a little bit. And then the game changed when their defense really kept pushing us back and we could not get into any sort of rhythm on the offensive side. When you don’t get any rhythm and (Danielle) McCray starts the game off 4-for-5 from the three point line, it just knocked the wind out of us and things just snowballed on us. In order for us to have been in the game today, we had to be able to score with them, because I knew that we’d have trouble stopping them at times because of their athleticism. I think one mistake just compounded other ones. So it is just back to the drawing board.”
On KU’s defense:
“Bonnie (Henrickson) does a great job of teaching team defense, but they also have great individual defenders. They got up on us and that was a problem for us. They did a great job of forcing us to catch the ball outside of our comfort zone and further away from the basket. And then when we catch it that far away from the basket, we’re not a threat and it takes away our passing game. We just couldn’t get into any sort of rhythm. It was just all KU’s defense.”
