Kansas 82, Pepperdine 63 Postgame Quotes
Dec. 30, 2009
Recap | Final Stats | Notes |
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
Postgame Quotes
Kansas 82, Pepperdine 63
Dec. 30, 2009
Kansas Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson
Her thoughts on the game:
“All things considered, coming off of the break, I thought that our energy and our bounce was good. LaChelda Jacobs has strung three games together where she has been strong and made good decisions. I wasn’t crazy about our bench. In the last nine minutes those guys have got to be better on both ends of the floor. But all in all, coming off of the break, we were decent. Not great, but decent.”
On the play of senior guard Sade Morris:
“It was great to see Sade be that strong and aggressive and successful. She had been through such a rough stretch where she couldn’t make a shot and then she started to not take shots. It was good to see her get back on track and make some tough shots. There isn’t anyone more prepared to help us win than Sade. No one was concerned about her shots not falling, but everyone was starting to get concerned when she passed up shots.”
On the rotations that have developed during non-conference play:
“Monica (Engelman) provides a good blow, whether it is for when Danielle (McCray) is in foul trouble or if it is to give Sade (Morris) a break. I feel better about LaChelda (Jacobs) spotting Angel (Goodrich) and getting a better rotation there. In the post it all depends on matchups. Nicollette (Smith) is always going to be the first player in because she is a good defender. Then we have Marisha (Brown) if it is a smaller post player who can drive it. We also have some size and length with Carolyn (Davis). I think with those four kids it is kind of situational with who we need them to guard.”
On the team’s transition game:
“As well as Angel (Goodrich) can make good decisions in transition and get people uncontested shots, I think we like to get out and run. I think that we are a team that is disciplined enough that we can make good decisions even in transition. I think we scored 25 points in transition in the first half and those are good numbers.”
On the aggressive play of freshman Monica Engelman:
“As long as she takes good shots I am glad that she is aggressive. For the most part she has good shot selections. I like that she is that aggressive. I would rather tame a lion than get a kitty cat to roar. I like that about her, as long as her shot selection is good.”
Kansas Senior Guard Danielle McCray:
On teammate Angel Goodrich:
“I saw some of her highlight clips before she got here because she’s my roommate. We watched her in high school and then it was kind of frustrating when she was out last year. When she came in after practices and the pre-season, we were able to see how good she pushes the ball and her phenomenal basketball IQ. I knew it would help us and it is helping us.”
On how Goodrich’s IQ shows itself:
“She has a God-given talent to pass the ball. She throws some unbelievable passes that we’re sometimes not even ready for. She knows where the defense is going to step up and where the open pass is going to be.”
Kansas Senior Guard Sade Morris:
On playing with a non-scoring mentality:
“We can’t play with that mentality because we do not want to get into that habit if we’re not scoring. It’s the easy way, but if they need me to score, I have to step up. If we’re thinking only about other people scoring, it will hurt us in the long run.”
On the upcoming road game against New Mexico State:
“We are just looking forward to another road game and trying to get a win. I don’t remember much of the game from last year, but we will look over the scouting report tomorrow and see what they have for us.”
Kansas Freshman Guard Monica Engelman:
On her easy shooting mentality:
“In high school, my coaches just told me to shoot. As a freshman, I’ve felt that I’ve needed to prove to the coaches what I’m capable of. I’m not going to be selfish and jack up shots, but if I’m open, I’m going to shoot the ball.”
On knowing her role:
“I feel more comfortable knowing that I can help Sade (Morris) and Danielle (McCray). For me, I just need to work harder in practice to make them better and they make me better too.”
Pepperdine Head Coach Julie Rousseau
On Kansas’ defense:
“We were being tentative. Their half court defense is pretty solid, but I don’t think we were as patient as we needed to be in terms of making the extra pass and finding the open player. You can probably attribute some of that to their defense, but I think we were just a little too impatient. They rebounded well. In the first four minutes they were outrebounding us 6-3. We didn’t come out aggressively. We’re just coming off of vacation. We practiced obviously. The timing hurts us and the fact that we don’t have our starting point guard out there hurts us. Our bench is very short right now. We’re playing one of our kids that normally plays the four spot at the three. Making those adjustments and having to put people in different places hurt us.”
On Kansas consistently breaking Pepperdine’s full court pressure:
“It hurt us because that’s what we do. (Angel) Goodrich is an amazing point guard. She was in high school. I loved her then and I love her now. I’m just sorry she is on the other team. She was clever and she was poised and that definitely hurt us.”
On her thoughts on Danielle McCray playing at the next level:
“I had the honor of coaching her this summer with USA Basketball as an assistant coach. She’s as fine of a person as she is as a player and character, to me, is what really allows special gifted athletes to excel at the next level. She has a passion to be better on the court and obviously has a good work ethic. She’s a good teammate. Those are things that allow college players that have that gift and ability to play at the next level. She’s complete. I loved her for USA Basketball and I couldn’t stand her tonight. She’s great. I think she’ll have a great shot at playing at the next level.”
