Postgame Quotes

Dec. 9, 2009

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Kansas Postgame Quotes

Kansas 99, Radford 64

December 9, 2009

Kansas head coach Bill Self

On Kansas’ performance:

“I thought we played really well the first half. We told them at halftime that may be the best we’ve played all year; we just didn’t make any shots. We defended great, rebounded the ball well, after Sherron (Collins) had a couple of turnovers early, we took care of the basketball. Those are games that you have to win on the road in conference play – when you don’t shoot the ball well and you still guard. In the second half, we played made shots and played the best we’ve played offensively by far all year during the second half, but then we didn’t guard. We’ve still yet to put it all together, but I thought we did a good job. Their two big guys kicked our butts, obviously – they combined for 47 points against us. We had good balance, we were able to play a lot of guys. I thought Elijah (Johnson) really did a good job tonight. I thought he looked really good starting. I thought Tyshawn (Taylor) was much better coming off of the bench and his line obviously shows that. I thought C.J. Henry, even though he only got 10 minutes, he did some things that, hopefully, he can build off of and get him out there some more. There were some good things that happened tonight.”

On Cole Aldrich’s performance:

“Cole did a good job on him (Art Parahouski). We did a good job on our traps in the first half. Cole had a chance to get a third foul on him, but he put up a soft shot. We need to be smarter than that. The biggest problem I had the first half was we didn’t get about three 50-50 balls and that game just broke open. They scored five points on two balls that we had if they had just gone after them with two hands, like a man. Instead, we shied out of it. We did some good things. I felt like we definitely performed better than we did this past Sunday.”

On where he thinks the team is defensively:

“They shot 42 percent for the game, so that’s by far the worst we’ve done all year long. But how many six-inch shots did they get the second half with the big fellas? So that kind of scooted a little bit – we just let them catch it way too deep. I think we’re going to be okay defensively. I do think, over time and when Brady (Morningstar) comes back, it will certainly help us defensively. We’re not a great pressure defensive team, that’s pretty evident. I think Tyshawn (Taylor) can become better defensively and tidy some things up. We have the pieces, I think, to be a really good defensive team because we can give some fouls away inside and we do have some pretty athletic, quick guys in the perimeter.”

Kansas Junior Center Cole Aldrich

On Art Parakhouski:

“Before the game even started, I knew he was going to be good. He looked really good just watching the film – he’s big. He reminds me a lot of Alecks Maric from Nebraska a few years ago. (Parakhouski) is a little more skilled. He looked good, he moves his feet well. He has a real nice touch around the rim.”

On if it felt good to have success on both ends of the floor:

“Yeah, it was. Like I said earlier, we were able to hold (Parakhouski) to nothing at half, which was huge, just because he has been averaging almost 25 points a game. The second half, we just have to put a better defense on him.”

On what he did in the first half to control Art Parakhouski:

“I think we just frustrated him a little bit. We kind of got him out of his rhythm – we just made him hit some tough shots. The second half, we eased up on him a little bit. He got the three-point play on me, which kind of got him going.”

Freshman Guard Elijah Johnson

On getting his first career start:

“It was just breathtaking, the best feeling ever. I can’t even describe it.”

On if it made it that much better getting the start for the No. 1 team in the country:

“It does, because I feel like we have the best talent in the country. For somebody to be able to start on this team, even if it’s just one game, or for the whole season, you earn some kind of respect.”

On how he contained his emotions:

“Focus. The easiest thing for me to think about is defense. A lot of people like to think about offense – the easiest thing for me is to focus on defense. When everything starts going crazy for me, I just think about defense.”

On if he anticipates holding on to the starting spot:

“I don’t really think too much about it, I don’t feel it’s my job. I just appreciate the opportunity – it’s whatever is best for the team.”

Freshman Forward Thomas Robinson

On Art Parakhouski:

“He’s big. We haven’t gone against anybody like him all year. Going against somebody as strong as he was is a good thing. It’s like a semi-wake up call for me. I need to get stronger and work on a couple things.”

On what he learned tonight:

“It’s a good experience; I learned a couple of things tonight. I need to work on my defense – that definitely is something that is a work in progress. (Art Parakhouski) a good player; he got the best of us tonight.”

Head Coach Brad Greenburg

On playing at Kansas:

“It is more of a challenge playing against really good players than it is playing in a building. The challenge is to play a really strong game on both sides of the ball.”

On Kansas’ defense:

“I think that (Sherron) Collins pressures the ball really well. (Xavier) Henry and (Tyshawn) Taylor do a good job at evading screens and the ball has been passed with 10 seconds off the shot clock or more and you really are not in a threatening position at all.”

Radford Senior Center Art Parakhouski

On facing Kansas:

“Kansas is a tough team. They have good big guys like Cole Aldrich and the Morris brothers. They did a pretty good job to keep me out of the paint in the first half, I was struggling. In the second half I came back and played stronger. (In the) Second half we were a little bit sloppy.”

On being double-teamed:

“I did not expect that. I thought that it was going to be me against Cole Aldrich. I did not expect to be double-teamed at all. I was a little bit shocked and I have to work on beating the double-team; I guess that it is a little bit of a weakness.”

On playing NBA- level talent:

“It is good experience for me so that I can come and show that I can keep up with those guys.”

Senior Forward Joey Lynch-Flohr

On having a great game against Kansas:

“It is nice individually that I can take that away from that. I am glad that I could take that away from this and I am also glad that my parents flew in from Virginia to see it. I can’t be too happy about it because we lost, but it is a good feeling.”

On their expectations coming into the game:

“We wanted to come into the game and execute our stuff and defend. We had some trouble getting into our offense obviously. The first half we felt like we did pretty well on defense, but we just couldn’t score. The second half we got Art (Parakhouski) some touches and besides losing so badly there were some positives.”