Postgame Quotes
Nov. 15, 2009
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
Postgame Quotes
Kansas 106, Oral Roberts 80
Nov. 15, 2009
Kansas Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson
On the game:
“Defensively we have to get better in a hurry. You have to give credit to them, I thought they attacked us and drove at us. It would have been a great game, if both of us had not sat at the free throw line all afternoon. That team will win a lot of games in their league. They are positioning themselves to have a very good year. I thought that we shared and shot the ball well, but we just need to be better on the defensive end.”
On the pace of the game:
“I did not think that the pace of the game affected our defense. I thought that both of us got a little fatigued on offense and that they missed a lot of threes from the 10 minute mark down. Danielle came up short a lot and at the end of the first half I thought both teams look tired. I wouldn’t say that it was fatigue defensively for us to give up back doors and cushion three’s, that is a focus and concentration issue more than fatigue.”
On the team’s offense:
“I was just so mad defensively that I did not enjoy the offense. Maybe when I watch the film tonight I will just fast forward through the defense and just watch the offense to feel better about it.”
On attacking the zone defense:
“I didn’t think that we did a bad job. Angel and Rhea both got trapped a little bit, but they both got out of it. It was good for them to change defenses, because our point guards both got confused.”
Sophomore Forward Aishah Sutherland
On finishing in transition:
“When you’re running in transition, you’re able to get over-the-top passes. I can finish with those passes.”
On having more aggressive passes from point guards this season:
“They are definitely more aggressive. It’s a little different. We didn’t have a point guard that was able to pass like that last year. Now we have two people who can see over the top and see us in different positions. I have to pay attention more closely now.”
On having a successful night:
“I got a lot of points off of put-backs and being able to find a gap in the offense. I was able to get rebounds and put it back up.”
Senior Guard Danielle McCray
On whether fatigue played a role in her second half drop in production:
“I don’t think it played a big role. Coach did a good job of subbing us in and out. I thought we played through fatigue, but we just got sloppy with our passes.”
Freshman Guard Monica Engelman
On choosing KU to play for:
“I came to camp my junior year and that’s when I really made my decision. I love the staff, the team and the atmosphere here. I was talking to a lot of schools around Texas and some on the East Coast, but that camp really helped me make my decision.”
On improving her performance:
“In practice, it is whoever is prepared will play. I will do my best while I’m in the game and try to give her (McCray) a break and keep the team rolling.”
Senior Guard Sade Morris
On the play of Angel Goodrich:
“She is able to signal the pass while the ball is in the air, and that’s a good thing for us.”
On knowing what Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson would say after the game:
“We all knew. We knew we had to get this right on the defensive end because Bonnie is going to be upset, which she should be. We let someone come in here and get 29 points. That’s just not us. We shouldn’t let that happen. Now it’s about going into practice tomorrow, sitting down and defending. We need to make a statement that we know we messed up, but we want to get some wins off of our defense.”
Oral Roberts Head Coach Jerry Finkbeiner
On the game overall:
“It’s nice to be here at Allen Fieldhouse. All of our girls are here for the first time. I don’t think it intimidated us. We’re a young outfit that has a bright future in front of us. Other than Jenae (Voelker), we’re younger than a lot of JUCO teams. This could have been overwhelming, but I think we settled in and played as well as we could at this time of year. We’ll walk away feeling pretty good. We want to score a hundred and we want to see if our opponents can score a hundred. Well obviously we didn’t score a hundred and they did. That’s our style and that’s our brand. Yes our defense can get better, but credit KU’s height and experience. They got a lot of easy shots that we didn’t adjust to too well except for maybe the start of the second half. We’d love to come up here again.”
On if his team was prepared for Kansas to play an up temp game:
“We saw some early exhibition games and got some reports as best as we could. We’ve heard of their half court defense and how the like to get out and run when they can. I think against a bigger team that has a little more athleticism in the three, four, and fives they may not be as successful at finishing easy shots. They are in condition and the pass well. They have the ingredients to do it. I think it’s a good decision. It’s fun. The girls love it and the fans love it. If you think you can do it, why not do it?”
Senior Guard/Forward Janae Voelker
On Kansas’ fast start:
“It felt like they couldn’t miss a shot. They came out and hit almost everything. We were struggling on the boards. We weren’t boxing out as well as we should have been. It was a combination of getting some nerves out, getting into our game and flow, as well as Kansas being ready to play and hitting every shot early.”
On her recruitment out of high school:
“I was open for everything. Not many instate schools looked at me. Wichita State looked at me a little bit. ORU jumped on board pretty early and I liked the program as well as the coaching staff. It was a good choice.”
On Oral Robert’s run in the second half:
“We finally settled down and got into our offense. We talked at half time how there were a couple of times where we tried to go one-on-one on them. They are more athletic in a lot of positions. That wasn’t working for us. We finally got back to the offense and did what we do best. We were able to have some success with that. They hit some shots during that run, but we were definitely in the game a lot more during the second half.”
