Postgame Quotes
Dec. 19, 2009
Postgame Quotes
Kansas 75, Michigan 64
December 19, 2009
Kansas Head Coach Bill Self:
On the game as a whole:
“We were pretty good for 17 minutes today. The first 17. We had them down 41-20 and we had a chance to crack the game open. We made some really bad plays to end the half, really bad. The lead goes from 21 to 10 off our miscues and not being able to pass and catch the ball. Sherron (Collins) had a really bad stretch in there. That game should have been over at halftime, we let them think that they could play with us. In the second half, they played the 1-3-1 zone and we didn’t make any shots. We really played with no energy whatsoever; it was a very lackluster performance today. I’m glad we won the game, but we did not look like a basketball team the last 23 minutes out there.”
On the difference between the first 17 minutes and the last 23 minutes:
“They didn’t play any 1-3-1 for the first 17 minutes. I really think that we gave them hope. I think Tyrel (Reed) made a real bad play in there and Sherron made three consecutive bad plays. Next think you know the lead goes from 21 to 11. Marcus (Morris) had a layup and couldn’t finish over a 6-5 guy. There were several things. The game gets in doubt and in the second half we had a chance to crack the game open again. The ball stuck, it didn’t move like it should have moved. The 1-3-1 gave us problems but still, we didn’t get anything we wanted. We had no low-post presence today, none. We didn’t play well and we still won by 11. So I guess it is positive that we won by double figures and the game never got to single digits if I’m not mistaken. The outcome was never in doubt but it wasn’t a good performance today by our team.”
On Brady Morningstar:
“Xavier (Henry) did a good job guarding (Manny) Harris. Brady did a real good job guarding Harris, too. He’s good. We thought we’d put Brady on him and let Xavier bounce off him and guard somebody else because we needed our best offensive performers in the game. Brady did well. He made a couple of good plays; he made one great pass to Markieff (Morris). I was pleased and I was glad he got his first shot down, I’m sure that felt good to him. I’m glad the crowd responded so favorably when he first came in. He’s going to help us. It was kind of a strange game. It was one of those games where we should have been able to play anybody if everybody would have taken care of their business. That was a game where fortunately we were a good spurt team. Our spurts won the game for us. Nine minutes basically won the game for us today.”
On the upcoming game against Cal:
“They’re fast. They’re really fast. (Jerome) Randle, their point guard, is as quick as anybody we will play against this year. They’re picked to win the Pac-10 and it will be a tough game. Hopefully we play better then what we did today. Although, for seventeen minutes we were really good—we had one turnover going into the last three minutes of the half and ended up with fourteen. That’s unbelievable to me how in twenty-three minutes you have fourteen turnovers, shoot a terrible percentage, and don’t guard. So the last twenty three minutes today weren’t very good.”
Kansas freshman guard Xavier Henry
On Michigan’s zone defense giving them trouble:
“They just played higher than what we thought they would play, and their checking wasn’t any different. Their wings played higher on the side.”
On if it was more difficult to play with a big lead:
“I don’t know, because I wasn’t in when they went on their 10-0 run at the end of the half. It just looked like we got out of sync a little bit. We weren’t scoring, and they just kept scoring. I don’t even know what happened.”
On if Kansas’ struggles were because of what Kansas was not doing or what Michigan was doing:
“It was more of what we weren’t doing. We were getting our heads out of it. We’ll play a lot better next game, and that was just a bump in the road.”
On the team seeming down:
“No, we just know we could have played a lot better. We’re looking forward to practice tomorrow, and getting prepared to play Cal.”
On if he was surprised that Michigan played a lot of man-to-man defense:
“I didn’t know what they were going to play, we just knew they did a lot of zone and man – so we just prepared for everything. We prepared pretty well, we just didn’t stick to the game plan.”
On how he would rate Michigan compared to other opponents:
“They’re near the top. They have a couple good athletes, (Manny) Harris and (Deshawn) Simms. Other than that, we just did not play to our potential.”
On what they were doing well during their run in the first half:
“We had a good first half, until the last three minutes. In that span, everybody was working, everybody was clicking together – we were throwing it down low, we could get fast-break points, and we were just working the zone, that’s what got us the lead in the first half.”
Kansas sophomore forward Marcus Morris
On what he thinks the next few days of practice are going to be like:
“Cal is a great team, if we’re going to go over the film and compete in practice, we aren’t going to take a day off, and we’re just going to go hard.”
On if he thought Markieff Morris was frustrated today:
“At times he was frustrated. He thought there were some ticky-tack fouls – I just told him you can’t argue with the refs, that’s their job, it’s what they do. If the refs try to call a foul, just adjust to it. It just wasn’t his day today.”
On how he thought Brady Morningstar played today:
“I thought he played really well. He guarded Manny (Harris) in the second half, we all know Brady can guard, and he just showed us again that he’s a great defender. I think Brady will be a great boost to our team. Even though we did not play well today, I thought Brady played very well.”
On his teammates’ willingness to get the ball down low to him:
“I told Sherron (Collins) that it was a mismatch. I told him to just give me a second, because (Sherron) was telling me to get a single-shot and it would be open. In the first half, I just told them to get it to me, and if they double-teamed me, I’d throw it right back outside.”
Michigan Head Coach John Beilein
On how his team played:
“We had some mental breakdowns a few times, but overall I thought our effort was terrific. They are a very difficult team to defend because they have both the inside and the outside threats. We did an incredible job on (Cole) Aldrich, he had 11 rebounds, but just five points. In the end it was (Marcus) Morris and (Xavier) Henry that really hurt us on the outside and the inside.”
On Michigan out-rebounding Kansas on the offensive end:
“That was a great effort. The real fact is though, if you miss a lot of shots you’re going to get a lot of offensive rebounds and we missed a lot of shots. Some of them were guarded and some of them were wide open. It’s going to be difficult to make guarded shots, but the wide open ones somehow they need to start dropping.”
On what his players can learn from this game:
“With the exception of the shooting, I thought we did everything we could to beat these guys in this tremendous environment. I enjoyed the start of the game and our players did as well as far as the atmosphere in this place. We’re going to grow from this. There’s a lot to be said for what we just learned. I like the way Darius Morris responded in difficult situations. Stu Douglass was really doing a good job of handling the ball as well. We just couldn’t make shots.”
Michigan junior forward Manny Harris
On the game:
“I thought we showed some heart today. We did a good job coming back, but we gave them too big of a lead. We tried to fight back, but it just wasn’t enough but we showed a lot of heart. When we tried to double Cole Aldrich, we allowed too many easy looks on defense. I guess our rotations need to become quicker.”
On any possible halftime adjustments:
“Not really other than we tried to pick it up a little more on the defensive end. We tried to start the game playing man-to-man defense, but then switched to the zone because we thought it would effect them a little bit.”
Michigan freshman Darius Morris
On the game:
“Coached told us a statistic that in the last 32 minutes of the game that we won by seven points. We just didn’t hit shots today and it allowed them to dig us into a hole. We showed quality effort, but at the end of the day it is still a loss. We can still be positive because we missed a lot of open looks and if those shots fall we may have a different outcome.”
Michigan sophomore Zack Novak
On the game:
“We showed some progress out there which is a good sign, but it is still disappointing that we weren’t able to get the win. We get a better feel from where we can be and that is we can play with anybody. We played with Kansas at Kansas in one of the toughest environments in the country. Right now we have no excuses and know what we are capable of. Now we just have to do it.”
