Kansas Postgame Quotes

Dec. 5, 2004

Recap | Final Stats | Notes

Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson

On the game:
“I thought defensively we were very good and I give the kids credit for working hard to front the post and working hard to deny in the passing lane. When they came at us with the trap, we didn’t handle it as well as we would have liked too. We kept reminding the kids that they would typically come out of a timeout and try to trap but we turned it over a few times or didn’t get good looks. We weren’t able to sustain our defensive intensity, and then when we started to struggle offensively, I thought we got a little bit softer on the defensive end.”

On how Kansas’ lack of depth affected the game:
“They play linebackers in the post and it is going to be an issue for us, an issue that we can’t solve right now. Minnesota’s a team where you can’t sit back in a zone because they can shoot threes. When McCarville started to get deeper on us in the post in the second half, we were frustrated because fatigue became a factor as we were trying to get around her. When you’re pushing and getting pushed with the size of some of those kids, and they’re coming in fresh – we only have four post players and even Crystal doesn’t match up in size to some of their players. It was an issue, but we’ve just got to keep fighting.”

On Crystal Kemp’s play against Janel McCarville:
“I thought she did a nice job. It was interesting because early she tried to step out, and I said go get deep and see what happens, if she (McCarville) blocks it she blocks it, but make her defend you. And she got great looks, Erica made a couple nice passes, she got layups and she gained some confidence. In the second half we just didn’t get her enough touches, they (Minnesota) did a nice job bringing some help.”

On her reaction to how the team played in the first half:
“Honestly I couldn’t be more proud. I said just pat yourself one hundred and ten thousand times on the back for coming out and being ready to play. When we huddled up at shoot-around today I said `you’re focus and intensity today has to be that we can win this game, because if you don’t think that we have a chance to win we could get humiliated here’ because we understand and respect how good they are. And I couldn’t be more proud of the way they came out.”