KU Postgame Quotes

Dec. 10, 2006

Recap | Final Stats | Notes |

Kansas Postgame Quotes
California 73, Kansas 65
December 10, 2006

Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson
On the game:
“It was incredibly disappointing. We are not going to have a lot of those opportunities. We are a young team and got to play a ranked team at home. We had a great opportunity today and we let it slip. But I’ll say that we did a lot of really good things and there is some positive things for this basketball team coming off such a disappointing loss the other night. I thought we bounced back and I am encouraged with that.”

On leading by as many as nine points against No. 16 California:
“We looked like we were ranked 15th in the country in the first half. I thought we were really aggressive. We wanted to get them uncomfortable. We wanted every pass to be tough and every cut to be tough. I thought we did a good job. I thought we were physical, I thought we were smart and we boxed out. I thought we competed. We talked about playing with a PHD, trying to play poor, hungry, and driven. I thought we got a lot of really good minutes out of a lot of kids because of the foul trouble.

On Freshman Danielle McCray:
“She is a big strong kid who likes to rebound, so she held her own there. She did a pretty good job in post defense. At least she gives us some offense and we need that right now. She is a capable scorer and we can use her.”

On getting outshot 42-13 at the free-throw line:
“We played against the zone and settled for some shots. I like the kid’s confidence in thinking, `I can shoot that.’ But sometimes we were never ready to take the shot. It was kind of an after thought like, `well nobody else is going to take the shot, so let me take it.’ We will get better there, I know we will.”

On this coming week of practice:
“A bunch of A’s in finals, first and foremost. We need a bunch of A’s to compete in the classroom. That’s the most important for this group right now, to finish on a great note academically. We are going to try to get some continuity offensively and certainly we are capable of being better defensively.”

KU Player Quotes
Freshman Forward Danielle McCray
On the game:
“I think we played well throughout the game. Coming into the game we had a lot of things that we were working on in practice. I think the first half was really well-played. We got some good rebounds. They’re big inside, so we emphasized that in practice. In the second half we played not to lose. We had to play like they were not going to go away. Our intensity in the first half was good, but we let them set the tone in the second half. I think we learned a lot and like coach said, we did a lot of great things.”

On her inside play:
“Today was the first time I played a different position. I was not playing at guard today out on the perimeter. We made strides as teammates. It was challenging because my teammates had to tell me where to go because I just learned that position. Coach was trying to create mis-matches with my ability to post up and also step outside and shoot and get to the rim.”

Freshman Guard Kelly Kohn
On the second half:
“We played not to lose in the second half. We came out a little timid, and when our shots weren’t falling we stepped back and waited for something to happen; that’s the time when we need to be the most aggressive.”

On her shooting the second half:
“It’s difficult when you start to get momentum going for yourself and for your team and they answer back. But that’s a credit to the other team. As long as they answer you, we have to continue to come down and answer them back.”

On California:
“Our offensive intensity has been a problem for us, but today it helped us in the first half. We have to learn to play 40 minutes of every game. You can’t pick and choose when you want to play.”

Freshman Forward Sade Morris
On the game:
“We came in ready to play. That is what we wanted to do. We aren’t going to worry about our mistakes; everyone makes mistakes. We are going to go out there and play hard like we know how.”

On Danielle McCray:
“She crashed the boards and was dominant. She wasn’t afraid. She said that `No one was going to stop her,’ and that is what she did today.”

California Quotes

Head Coach Joanne Boyle
On coming across the country to play KU:
“It is hard to get teams to come all the way out to California, so we just picked up the phone and started calling people like Vanderbilt and KU to see if they would play us, even if we had to come out there in year one. We just called big name teams and tried to schedule some good tests.”

On the defensive gameplan:
“Kansas is young, so it was our gameplan to try and switch up the defenses on them to confuse them. (Kansas head coach) Bonnie Henrickson has switched up her lineup to go more athletic, but they are younger. We just tried to double-down every time which gave them trouble and made them think through stuff. They were calling it so tight that we could not go man because then they would go to the free throw line too much, but the problem with the zone was that we gave up a bunch of long rebounds off of missed three-pointers. Their offensive rebounding is what kept them in the game. But the zone was working, so I just stayed with it.”

On going into the Pac-10 Conference season:
“The core of our team is that sophomore group that went through it last year as freshman. They know how hard it is. Playing on the road at tough places like Vanderbilt and winning at Kansas has been great and hopefully it has taught them a little bit. The Pac-10 is so tough, but they know it and this should help prepare them for it.”

Sophomore Forward Ashley Walker
On the game:
“We did our normal things out there today, but they were double and triple teaming us so that took some time to get used to, but we figured out that if we cut to the hoop, they can not double us.”

On picking up a non-conference road victory:
“It is always hard to go on the road, especially to a Big 12 school that is good like KU. It was a good win today. We did not play well in the first half and we were sitting in the locker room saying to each other that this is a gut-check time. So we came out ready to play in the second and got the big road victory.”