Postgame Quotes

Dec. 22, 2007

Recap | Box Score | Notes |

Kansas 78, Miami University 54
Saturday, Dec. 22, 2007
Postgame Quotes

Kansas Coach Bill Self

On first half play:
“From the first TV time-out it was 7-6 and the next thing you know it was 20-6. We played really well. That wasn’t the ball game there, but they’re not the type of team offensively, although they made some shots late, to come from big deficits. I thought we played well, much like the Ohio game last Saturday. In the first half we played pretty well on both ends.”

On post presence for KU:
“Sasha was a good post presence for us too although he didn’t rebound the ball. Cole was a good post presence for us also. I thought our post guys played well. I looked up at the scoreboard and I think the post players had 12 of the first 18. We missed some bunnies. We shot 58 percent and I think we could have shot 65. We missed some easy shots, probably five or six lay-ups, but they did too.”

On the win:
“That’s a good win for us. I was nervous about this game. In large part the guys looking ahead to going home for Christmas and all those things, which I would be too, but they focused for two hours.”

On playing Miami defensively:
“We never trapped (Tim) Pollitz on the post and we were supposed to. We had opportunities a couple times in the second half and Shady (Darrell Arthur) didn’t go or just forgot. I thought our length would bother him and certainly we decided to trap him on the pass and not on the bounce. He scored some points late, but the game was already over. I thought we did a good job on their best players, Pollitz and (Michael) Bramos.”

On ending Miami’s 44 game streak of not allowing an opponent to score more than 70 points:
“I think we could have had more. It wasn’t a fast game and we missed bunnies, but we did execute. It was a crisp offensive performance to be honest; 17 assists and only six turnovers. We did some good things. We made them look not as good as they are which is always a positive when you’re at home.”

On what the Jayhawks will do this week:
“Go home and enjoy Christmas. I hope the roads allow them to get home right now and get to the airport and I hope their flights aren’t cancelled. They’ve been looking forward to this as we all have. They can get away from me for a few days and hopefully get their batteries recharged a little bit. We’ll get back on the 26th, clinic is the 27th, and we play Yale the 29th. After that we can really practice for four or five days, to not only get ready for Boston College, but also for conference play.”

Kansas Senior Russell Robinson
On the offense:
“We were crisp offensively. We got the ball where we wanted. They were small. We got the ball inside and the big guys did a good job and we went from there.”

On the comparison of the Miami defense and Southern Illinois:
“I think they were a little bit more athletic than Southern Illinois. They have the same principles. They put pressure on the ball and run into passing lanes, but they were just a little bit more athletic.”

On scoring 78 points against a tough Redhawks defense:
“They were really small inside. I was guarding the post for a while and I can only imagine what Darrell (Arthur) was thinking. We got the ball where we wanted to. They didn’t really pressure us in the half court so we able to get some good ball reversals.”

On Darrell Arthur’s double-double:
“I’m surprised he doesn’t get more of those. I think as the season goes on he is going to figure it out and start getting more.”

Kansas junior Mario Chalmers
On the team’s current status:
“We can’t get too happy with ourselves right now. We have a lot more work to do. We have to keep focusing in and try to keep our winning streak. We have to take it game-by-game.”

On the one week break:
“I think it is a good thing. We have been going hard the past couple weeks. It’ll be good to take a break and have a good time with our families. I think it’s good for us.”

On the play of the big men:
“They came out and set the tempo with Darrell (Arthur) getting three offensive rebounds, back-to-back-to-back. We fed off that energy and kept going from that. We knew they were small inside and our big men had an advantage so we just tried to play to our advantages.”

Kansas junior Brandon Rush
On how long he will keep the brace on:
“They say I can take it off next month, but I’ll probably keep it on just to take my mind off of it. I don’t think about it at all (right now). I just go out there and play.”

On the play of the big men:
“We just dumped it down to them and let them have the floor. They did a good job tonight.”

Miami Head Coach Charlie Coles
On the first half slipping away from Miami:
“I thought it was the first time all year when we came out of our offense. Granted Kansas is better, but I don’t know how much of us coming out of our execution was Kansas and how much was us. I wasn’t happy how we would start something and then end up with someone out on the floor holding the ball. I thought we should have continued our offense and our movement. The first half became a laugher. I wanted to get some more things that were positive in the second half, but I wanted to get a few guys into the game because Kansas was getting guys into the game. Kansas kind of exposed us. That is the second straight game that KU has done that to a MAC team. We didn’t execute our offense and we you don’t do that they go down to the other end and execute their offense.”

On Miami’s streak of allowing fewer than 70 points being snapped:
“That had to go. That was important once people started to say it. See when you have very little to hang your hat on, you find things to hang your hat on. I didn’t even know about the streak until somebody told me about it at the end of last season. It was a streak that I didn’t know about. I have had very few streaks so I will claim this one.”

On Kansas:
“There are a lot of teams in this country that get a lot of talent. There are probably about 25 of them. Very few get that talent to play to their potential and Kansas is one of them. They not only get good players, but their good players execute. That is a big credit to Coach Bill Self. He is a very good coach. We played against some very good talent today, but we played against a lot of good coaching as well.”

Miami Junior Guard Kenny Hayes
On the game:
“We didn’t execute how we usually do and how we did against Illinois. We didn’t take our time and we rushed shots. You can’t do that against a team like Kansas because we don’t have the athleticism to run up and down the court like they do. We didn’t make them play our game and that is what hurt us.”

On allowing 70+ points:
“When I looked at the score they (Kansas) had already passed 70 points. It has been a while since a team has scored 70 against us. It was a good streak but we knew we were playing against a really great team. We made some mistakes and that is what happens when we don’t play our game”

On Kansas:
“Out of all of the teams, North Carolina, Duke and all of them, they (Kansas) are the best team that I have seen. I think that they are the best team in the country. One through five they are all athletic and they can all throw ally-oops to each other. They all can shoot. They have a nice inside game and great perimiter players and that is pretty tough to play against.”

Miami Senior Forward Tim Pollitz
On the game:
“We didn’t have a chance to even come close to win the game. We just didn’t execute what we were planning on doing. But that’s not just our fault, it is a credit to Kansas because they are obviously a very good team. “

On Kansas:
“Kansas is probably the best of the best. We have played a tough schedule this year and last year. Kansas has the whole package. All of their guards can drive and shoot and their big guys are a load inside. Having both weapons is pretty tough to guard. They don’t sleep on their opponents very much either. We came in and we had just beat Illinois and I don’t think they overlooked us at all. They play good strong defense too, so they don’t give up much.”

On allowing 70+ points:
“It was a little disapointing because we had kind of earned some respect from that (streak of not allowing 70 points). It has been in jeopardy this entire season because we scheduled some pretty tough opponents. Obviously the steak is over but we will have to start up a new one. We just need to take some things off of the film and try to take something positive out of this. “