Head Coach Lon Kruger |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opening statement:
"It was a ballgame where we were trying to hang in there most of the way and just couldn't quite ever get to a point where we threatened seriously down the stretch. Kansas is awfully good. I thought they were great defensively. They've got a lot of guys on the perimeter who guard the ball very, very well. (Jeff) Withey does a terrific job and I thought he kind of set the tone early in the ballgame. We just never did get any flow offensively. I thought we battled pretty well defensively, but we turned the ball over and gave them some transition baskets. Still, Kansas is very good and we've got to play much better than we did today to have a chance to hang in there with them."
On Jeff Withey's impact inside:
"He's a unique player in not only our league, but (all of) college basketball in terms of the fact that you don't play against those types of players that often. He erases any mistakes on the perimeter, plus he guards his own guy inside. He not only blocks a lot of shots, but he changes a lot of shots and does that to a lot of people. He does it very well."
On his team's press defense toward the end of the game:
"(Kansas) was playing to not attack at that point, so it was a little bit of fool's gold. Yeah, we got a couple of turnovers, but they're trying to be conservative and they're trying to run some clock, so that was kind of a better opportunity for us than it might have been 10 minutes earlier in the ballgame. Still, our guys worked hard and scratched around there late and got a couple of turnovers off of it."
On how well Withey moves for a post player:
"People in the league have seen him move like that throughout his career. He does move very well, but I don't think it's a big surprise that he's capable of doing that. He does a good job of finishing opportunities, he gets them inside and he's a good low-post player."
Senior F Romero Osby |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On Jeff Withey's impact:
"He does it with everybody and he makes it very tough as we go to the basket. He has good timing. I tried to get him off the floor with pump fakes and he stays down. Like I said, he has good timing and has a knack for (blocking shots), so he just makes it tough for everybody."
On not shooting well after shooting well in warm-ups:
"(Withey) always bothers people, but I think I kind of let it get in my head that I had missed a couple of shots. I was making everything in warm-ups and I thought I was going to have a great game, but sometimes it happens like that. You just have to go back to the drawing board."
Junior F Amath M'Baye |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On Jeff Withey's impact:
"He's definitely a good shot-blocker, but (my play) is on my part. I could have done a better job just making shots, and it's the first time I've played against a 7-footer. It's the first time I've played against a shot-blocker as good as he is. I've got to take responsibility for the shots I usually make."
Head Coach Bill Self |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On today's victory:
"We did some good things defensively. They didn't make shots. We took away (Steven) Pledger for the most part except for a couple of looks he got. I think they made their third three (pointer) under the last minute. We rebounded the ball well for the most part so there were some good things that took place defensively. Offensively we were stale again. We didn't have good guard play at all today. But we hung in there and won and made some shots in the second half. It was good to see the ball go in the basket in the second half."
