Head Coach Lon Kruger
Opening statement
“Tough, tough game obviously, but I am excited for our guys we have been working hard and making some progress, it is not only reflected in wins and losses, but I am really happy for them to come in and do some things to hang in the ball game. To make some plays and end up with a win, I told the guys after the game that the win was great, but more importantly. I thought we showed a little bit more toughness, fight, and competiveness than we have. We have been growing in that area, but I am glad they showed that tonight against a club that sets the bar for toughness and good hard play in the league. Frank (Martin) does such a good job with his team so I am really happy for our guys with the outcome.”
On what it means to come back to Kansas State
“Important but I did not think that much about it. The players are not aware of where I went to school so it is insignificant, when the game started it was really good to see the players do what they did together and keep hanging in there. In the second half they did not have much going. Kansas State took the lead and (Steven) Pledger made a couple shots that allowed us to play with that margin the rest of the way, but it was nice to see a lot of friends, a lot of faces that are very familiar and very friendly.”
On team’s foul trouble
“We battled a little bit of foul trouble all night, guys came off the bench and gave us some real quality minutes. I thought Andrew (Fitzgerald) and Romero (Osby) played pretty significant minutes without picking up their fourth foul, which is good and it allowed us to play a little more zone, there midway in the second half, because of foul trouble. That is part of the game, but you have to work through it and play guys off of the bench and our guys stepped up and did a pretty good job.”
Junior Guard Steven Pledger
On foul trouble
“I went in to halftime with only one foul, so I tried to pick it up defensively. Then it cost me and my team, which led to three quick fouls, then I just had to play smart. It was then just to get in the right spots and help my team out.”
On scoring on out-of-bounds plays
"This is just something we work on every day in practice, our sideline, out-of-bounds, and what we could work on against their defense. They like to pressure so the back door has worked. We got maybe two or three hoops off of that.”
Junior Guard Sam Grooms
On Steven Pledger’s performance
“It was good, I felt good for him. He needed one of these games to get out of the mind set he was in. He was a little down on himself the past couple of games, but playing like this tonight and making the shots he made it was amazing to me. It was amazing for me to see him out there, coming off screen, executing plays, and making shots tonight. It was big for me to watch him, especially being a point guard, because I like to see my teammates happy. I knew he was happy tonight doing what he was doing.”
On his steal with nine seconds left in the game
“Coach has always been screaming at me to stay engaged no matter what happens. I saw him bring the ball down after I shot, what was probably not the best shot, and I saw him bring the ball down and I was thinking in my head that I had to get the ball back in order for us to win or to put us in the best possible situation for my teammates to feel comfortable on the court. When he brought the ball down I went after it with everything that I had and it worked out in our favor.”
