KU Postgame Quotes

Dec. 29, 2006

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Kansas Postgame Quotes
Northern Illinois 82, Kansas 74.
Dec. 29, 2006

Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson
On the game:
“In the first half, we’re up 17-7 and we don’t extend the lead. We go 4-for-12 in transition and probably had four or five turnovers there and opportunities one-on-one. Against a team that can shoot the three that well, no lead is ever big enough. When you’ve got a lead, you’ve got to extend it. We’re incredibly disappointed with how we came out in the second half. That’s a gut check and that’s a toughness check. Right now, little number 12 (Stephanie Raymond) has a little more toughness than the Jayhawks do. We just never matched her intensity.”

On Northern Illinois Guard Stephanie Raymond:
“She gets everybody involved, she creates off the dribble. She penetrates and we couldn’t knock down a pass; we couldn’t contain. I told everybody on the bench, `If you learn nothing from this, respect how hard that kid plays and how playing at that intensity and that pace can do for your game’. We do that in spurts, but we don’t do it consistently. She does it consistently and in every game, not just today.”

On Kelly Kohn and Kansas’ defense:
“Kelly was in a toughness match. That’s our toughest kid and she takes a lot of pride in the way that she plays. It was interesting to watch those two (Kohn and Raymond) battle back and forth. We saw some good things and we’ve got to recognize defensively against a team that shoots the ball that well that you can’t give them a lot of wiggle room. We don’t ever go get anything with two hands, we bat everything down. There’s not enough of every possession. We don’t have that mentality yet. We’ll get it, we’ll squeeze it out of them. We don’t have it yet, not for 40 minutes.”

Kansas Player Quotes
Freshman Guard Kelly Kohn
On the game:

“At one point, they were shooting 80 percent in the second half and a team like that doesn’t come around very often, but then again you’ve got to do something about it. Not to take anything away from Northern Illinois being a good shooting team, but you have to do something when you know that you have a great offensive team on the other end.”

On not being able to effectively stop Northern Illinois:
“We knew that they had some serious offensive threats, especially from the three-point line. Number 11 (Whitney Lowe), their post player, could shoot the three as well as anybody on the team. Number 12 (Stephanie Raymond), when she’s not creating for herself she’s creating for somebody else. When you have somebody who scores 30 points and has seven assists — handling the ball that much and being such a part of the offense — you have to do something to take her out of it.”

On the importance of the game:
“Right now, with the way the season is going, we needed a win for our confidence. It was back and forth in the second half. When you’re in a fight like that and you lose it, it takes it right to your heart.”

On what KU needs to work on to get on track:
“There’s a lot of things we need to work on. Defensively, we’ve got to be better. When you have an offensive team like that, you’ve got to know where the shooters are and how they are getting there so you can get there quicker. We’ve got to be able to play when we’re down. Coach stresses how we need to fight, we have to be tough. That’s not the best team we’re going to play this year. Not to knock Northern Illinois, but we’ve got some good teams coming up in conference play and we’ve got to be tougher.”

Freshman Forward Sade Morris
On the game:
“We just didn’t get through it mentally. I think we were all tired and that’s how we played. They were just as tired as we were, but they (Northern Illinois) played through it. That’s something we’ve got to learn.”

On if the team’s struggles can be attributed to youth:
“Each freshman knows what they are supposed to do, but there are things we need to fight through and that’s something we’re struggling with right now. We just have to fight through it. When the other team makes a run, we need to put up a better fight.”

Northern Illinois Coach and Player Quotes
Head Coach Carol Owens
On the game:
“I was very pleased with how we played in the second half. In the first half I wasn’t very happy about how unaggressive we were. I knew we could shoot it and our shots would eventually fall, but in the second half we had to get some stops and rebounds. I am very proud of how we played as a team. Individually we are a little small, but we play well together.”

On her halftime adjustments:
“We adjusted our sets a little bit. We set more screens and we really started to attack more particularly Stephanie Raymond and Mary Basic. We did a good job of driving the ball and kicking it out. They do a great job of helping on defense, but that leaves somebody open on the weak side of the court.”

Senior Guard Stephanie Raymond
On the game:

“Coming into the game, we knew Kansas was going to come out strong and we prepared for that in practice. They are a Big 12 team that is known for their pressure on defense. We handled it very well after working on it in practice. We did a good job of hitting our shots. When they helped too much, we hit the open shooters and we made our shots.”

On offensive improvements in the second half:
“We were more patient in the second half. In the first half we were rushing our shots alot. In the locker room at halftime we talked about being patient because if we are patient and run our sets, we can get what we want offensively.”