November 15, 2012

Postgame Quotes

Nov. 15, 2012

No. 7 KANSAS 69, CHATTANOOGA 55
November 15, 2012
Postgame Quotes

Kansas Head Coach Bill Self
Opening statement:
“Well I thought the first half was the worst we’ve played and the second half was the best we’ve played all year. The whole thing is [Cobb] is a backup point guard, a backup got 21 on us. The whole thing is that we missed shots, we missed free throws, they made shots with under five on the shot clock and all that stuff, but we should have still been up two or four at halftime. The second half we came out and their bigs made two threes to start the second half, and after that it was lights out. Guys did a good job. Our defense was tremendous the second half. Jeff was a factor, Elijah was a factor and Travis was a factor, and all three of those guys were a factor in the first half. I’m leaving out of here thinking we got better tonight in the second half, but the first half was just lack of energy. One thing that I do know, we’re not good enough to play at 80 percent or 90 percent. We have to play at 100 percent every night; when we do that we’re pretty good. Certainly we looked really slow; that team was so much faster than us in the first half. We had no answer for them and it was just because of our attitude and our mindset.”

On the play of the seniors:
“Travis was the best senior we had in the second half. We learned something tonight: Travis is our on the ball defender and Elijah needs to be playing off the ball. We put Travis on [Cobb] and we set the tone off of it. That’s what we needed. We haven’t done that yet this year. We didn’t do it against Michigan State and we learned something as a staff I think, tonight. The seniors played good the second half, awful first half but really good second half and Ben was terrific.”

On the energy of the second half:
“How many times do you get more run-outs and more dunks when you actually guard and you don’t have to take the ball out of bounds? We had more fun in the second half in large part thanks to defending. That’s what makes it fun. We’ve got to learn to play ugly so when we play like crap and we look up and it’s 57-51 – that’s what I told our team afterwards – then we go on one of those 10-0 runs and the game is over. We have to buy into that. That’s what last year’s teams did and there’s no reason this team can’t do it either.”

Kansas senior center Jeff Withey
On his performance difference between first and second half:
“First half for all of us wasn’t too good. We came out very flat. In the second half Coach (Self) really challenged the seniors to step it up and bring more energy. I just started being more involved and my teammates found me. It was just finding the open spot and being at the right place at the right time. It started all on the defensive end and that made it a lot easier on the offensive end.”

On the difference of the team’s performance in the second half:
“Just energy. Cobb went off (in the first half). Being prideful in our defense, we came out in the second half knowing we had to stop him and build from that. Travis (Releford) came out with a lot of energy and stopped him. After that, everyone started to have more confidence on the defensive end. We didn’t want to be the person who let our guy score, so we just had to challenge ourselves. “

Kansas senior guard Elijah Johnson
On the effect of McLemore’s dunks:
“I think it stresses out (Chattanooga), most importantly with the confidence and rhythm that they are going through. It gives it to us, as more of a transfer, and a halt to what they’re doing, and it gives us momentum to what we’re trying to do. That happened a couple times tonight. Ben (McLemore) got a couple of chances to dunk and give us some hope to build a couple of good plays “

On Chattanooga’s Farad Cobb’s performance:
“It’s not a good feeling. I don’t really like for people to come into Allen Fieldhouse and have a game like that. It doesn’t happen too much, and I know it’s not what the fans came to watch. I didn’t really like the fact that he was on a roll like that and I was happy that we figured out how to stop him. The key was to tune in on defense, and put an end to it. That was the key.”

The difference between Kansas’ offense in the first half and the second half:
“I think that we gave each other confidence. A couple of looks make a team feel a certain way and to go that extra mile for you. They feel like they have to pull more for you. And I think there was a point in time where we thought about each other rather than ourselves. At that point we just broke loose, and took off from there. We didn’t change our game plan, we just changed our intensity.”

Kansas red-shirt freshman guard Ben McLemore
On the key to the second half:
“The key to the rest of the game was we just went to the locker room and just talked as a team. We played flat in the beginning of the game and we just told ourselves to get back out there and give each other energy. That’s what we did.”

On the play from him to Withey:
“I would say I did (enjoy) giving my teammate two points. I also did (enjoy) giving the crowd energy. The crowd and energy level was crazy after that. We just got on a roll. With that play, we took it from there.”

On his mindset before the game:
“I just wanted to give my teammates the ball. I just came in tonight with the mindset of being aggressive like Coach (Self) wants me to be every night. So, that’s what I did.”

Chattanooga head coach John Shulman
Opening statement:
“Wow, does it get loud in (Allen Fieldhouse). I’ve been here twice as an assistant and I remember how loud it got. When (Kansas guard Ben McLemore) made some dunks, it got loud. I’m awfully proud of our kids. When I looked out on the floor, we had three freshmen and two sophomores out there. I don’t know how many times Kansas has been down at halftime in the last eight years, but I couldn’t be more proud of our players and our team. We talked about it. We’re going to get better. We’re not satisfied with losing, but I think we saw a lot of promise from our end.”

On his impression of Kansas redshirt freshman Ben McLemore:
“We had to take our chances with building that wall and seeing if they could make some shots, but he’s so explosive. He hangs up there for a while and we knew he would be phenomenal on the glass. He’s a special guy and a special player. He made a huge difference, but I thought (senior guard Travis) Releford had a good game defensively. He scored two points, but he changed the whole complexion of the game defensively.”

On Kansas’ improved offensive play in the second half:
“I don’t know if we got a little fatigued, but we knew how important those first five minutes of the second half were. We came out an answered the bell. We came out and made some shots, and you’ve got to have some toughness to make shots. Then, they came back and made shots. I thought (senior center Jeff Withey) played really well in that stretch, and once you make a shot, it completely changes the way that everything looks. Defensively, (Kansas) is phenomenal. Offensively, they will figure it out.”

Chattanooga freshman guard Farad Cobb
On his three-point shooting mentality:
“I was like, `If I get the first one to go in, I’m going to shoot another one.’ They kept falling, so I didn’t feel like I was going to miss as long as I got a clean look at the goal.”

On his mentality after halftime:
“I wasn’t really worried about losing my fire. I didn’t know how the game was going to change. I knew (Kansas) was going to stick another defender on me. I wasn’t really thinking about the three’s. I was just trying to waste time off the clock while we were still up, so the game would be over. I wanted to try and hit another one to give us a little bit of comfort.”

On what it means to perform well in Allen Fieldhouse:
“It means a lot because I know how many good players have come through this program. Just to go against (Kansas) is a big deal for me, so I just wanted to have a big game.”