Head Coach Lon Kruger ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opening comment:
"Tough game from start to finish, really physical time from the offensive end. Kansas State did a great job; I thought they were into it and dictated for most of the night with their defense. We had trouble getting separation and trouble scoring. In the end I thought we really fought hard. They are hard to guard, especially in the second half when we were down by six or eight for much of it, but we kept going and kept going. We will grow from that, but we have to play harder, pick better and do things we need to do on the offensive end to get more separation and get better shots. Credit Kansas State; they were the better club and deserved to win."
On the final shot:
"We wanted to get it in quickly to Sam [Grooms] and then push it with that little pick there. We didn't get that done quickly in the back court; we used up some time. But their guys tried to keep that from happening, too. They won alot of battles on the day, and they won that one too."
On the team's progress:
"I think from today, we learned from it. [Kansas State is] very physical and strong and their hands are on you all the time, and they dictated to us all day. We have got to get separation and cut harder. We realize today that we have a long way to go. There is nothing wrong with that. With this group of people, they have done a great job and made a lot of progress. Today's reminder is that we still have a ways to go."
On the defensive battle:
"I thought on the defensive end we battled hard. We gave up a lot of points off our turnovers. And second shots. Otherwise we had them at half court. That has kind of been the nature of this group. If we take care of the ball and limit the second shots and take them to half court we have done okay, but they have to stop more than that."
On Sam Grooms' contribution:
"Sam gave us a good spark and gave us some attack. We didn't have much attack and Sam got it going downhill sometimes; we needed some of that. I thought he had good lift when he went into the ball game and made some nice plays."
Senior F Romero Osby ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On the loss:
"Like Coach [Lon Kruger] said, we are still a work in progress and we are still trying to get better. We had a big game against Baylor and we got the win. Kansas State is a really good team. They are a legitimate top-20 team. I thought we played well for stretches; we just did not make the plays down the stretch to get the win. We did not give anything back. I just think we need to continue to work hard and continue to get better."
On the offensive struggles late in the first half:
"Like Coach [Lon Kruger] said, [Kansas State is] a really physical team. They bump us off our cuts and they try to limit our screens, specifically with me and Amath [M'Baye]. They were really physical with our guards and would go over the screens. That is going to make us better. That is what we needed. We need to continue to get better and now we see what we need to work on. Hopefully it will not happen again.
"You cannot really dwell on it. You have to go at it again on the offensive end. We had a lot of opportunities and a lot of shots that did not fall. Credit Kansas State, they are a really good team. They did a good job defensively."
Senior G Sam Grooms ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On the loss:
"I honestly think that if we would have made a couple more plays there at the end we might have won the game. Kansas State is a good team. It shows that we still have some work to do. We made progress, but we still have work to do to be a top-25 team, and that is what we want to be."
On bouncing back from a turnover late in the second half:
"I usually do not turn the ball over like that. When I make a mistake like that, I usually let it get into my head. But Coach [Lon Kruger] has been working with me for the two years I have been here to stop dwelling on it. Just move on to the next play. I just think I grew up a little bit. I did not dwell on it. I recognized that my team needed me and I had to do something. "
On Kansas State's final offensive play:
I was expecting the ball screen. They had been running ball screens all night. My read said he was going right, but [Angel Rodriguez] went left. Credit him; he made the right read."
