Quotes
Dec. 6, 2007
Recap | Final Stats | Notes |
Postgame Quotes<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
<?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>Kansas 74, Marquette 55
Dec. 6, 2007
Kansas Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson
On the game:
“Marquette is a team that is going to win a lot of games. We have great respect for them, they are a very well-coached team. I thought we made a statement early by setting the tempo. Both teams were playing physically. I thought we had great focus. We had great intensity and focus. That is where I appreciate the players being coachable and trying to make a change.”
On rebounding:
“When you don’t box out early you are telling your opponent that we are going to let them go to the boards. We have talked about telling everybody that, `you are not going to come in here and own us on the offensive glass.'”
On the power-outage:
“What is ironic is this situation happened to us in my previous employment at Virginia Tech against Connecticut. Lisa Mather, one of the officials was there at that game and she walked up to me and said, `I think we have gone through one of these before, haven’t we?’ Both coaches agreed to play and finish the game out. Had it been one or two possessions then neither one of us would have wanted to play.”
On the double-digit scorers for KU:
“Danielle (McCray) struggled early with her shot. But she got a lot of offensive rebounds, she got to the free throw line and she made her free throws. She is a very good free throw shooter. Sade (Morris) also made her free throws. This team shows a lot of confidence in Kristen (Boogaard). They gave her a lot of good looks around the rim.”
On the confidence of the team:
“Our kids have worked so hard and have at times questioned themselves. We knew we needed to be better but in practice it was sloppy and it wasn’t clean. We talked about how we were going to get better and the players needed to stay coachable and stay positive. They have worked and competed and challenged each other in practice every day. They get after each other and make each other get better. We need to get better and we are going to get better, but this is definitely a confidence booster.”
On the upcoming game against Indiana:
“We went there last year right before the holiday break and we had seven freshmen who were already home unwrapping packages mentally. It was a poor performance on our part, not taking anything away from Indiana because they were ready to play. It is a quality program in a quality league. We are representing ourselves and we are representing the Big 12. This is one of the biggest non-conference weeks we have had here in a long time.”
Sophomore forward Danielle McCray:
On shooting in the black out:
“It came right as I released the ball. But it’s something that you have to play through. It was a different experience but it was fun.”
On her statistical career high performance:
“I was not aware of the stats until after the game. I didn’t think I had that many points. I went to the free throw a lot. Being aggressive is key. Me and (Marquette’s Marissa Thrower) got into it a little tonight and forced me to play even more aggressively, both with rebounding and scoring. I boxed her out and did what I had to do to play strong. It shows just how important it is to play aggressive.”
Sophomore guard Sade Morris
On Kansas’ rebounding:
“Coach (Bonnie Henrickson) has been on us in practice to box out. It got to the point where she assigned us rebounding buddies. Every time you or your partner failed to get a rebound in practice both players had to run. We were sick of running and we finally got the point. We gained more confidence and we are now at the point where we believe that we can box out and follow through by coming out with a rebound.”
On playing against Marquette:
“We came out with confidence and were comfortable. Whenever we get into a rhythm like that good things happen. Whenever we run our offense right we know where our shots are coming from and we look to execute from those positions. If we don’t we have to find other ways to get a bucket.”
On the blackout:
“It was no different (playing in the dark). You have to play situations like that and that’s exactly what we did tonight. I did joke around with Danielle (McCray) after she made her free-throw and said, `See look, now you’re shooting lights out!'”
Head Coach Terri Mitchell
On the game:
“We cannot come on the road and play the way we did in the first 12 minutes of the game and think we are going to walk away with a victory. Kansas played great. We were just not good. We did not rebound. We did not defend. We were going east and west instead of going to the bucket. All of these things add up to getting into a big hole early. The only thing that I am pleased with is that we fought. There is a lot of fight in us. And if we had that fight in the first 10 minutes, maybe it is a different story, or at least a more entertaining game for the fans that came out.”
On Kansas out-rebounding Marquette:
“They did a great job of checking us. We didn’t do anything to fight when they did. We did not spin off or juke or do anything. When they got into us, we just conceded to it. We used our zone early and we had great stops, but we just weren’t rebounding out of our zone. I was in a dilemma because the zone was stopping them, but we weren’t able to rebound out of it.”
On having a young ballclub:
“We have six freshmen still trying to figure it out. It’s no excuse. We are seven games into the season, but I told them that it is going to take us 13 games for us to figure out the identity and chemistry of this team. We have a winning tradition and we are just going to keep talking about it and never give up on it. This will not keep us from going forward. The 13 non-conference games are all about getting us ready for the conference games in the Big East. It is tough to win on the road. It is a huge lesson and a hard one to take.”
On Danielle McCray:
“We talked about her. She had too many open looks. We did not contest her early. She did put some right in our face, though. She was just feeling it and you have those kinds of nights with some players. She made things happen with her offensive rebounding and the fouls. She did unbelievably well and I have a lot of respect for her play and what she is going to do for her team this year.”
Junior Guard Krystal Ellis
On the slow start to the game:
“It was their defense. They were pushing us out on the offensive end. We were not able to run our sets like we wanted to. We just were not in sync.”
