Shockers Down Wildcats, 65-56

Dec. 5, 2001

Kansas State vs. Wichita State
Postgame Quotes

On the game...
"You could say that we had real problems moving bodies, getting the ball moved, and getting where we needed to be. I don't think we ever found five guys who could make sense out there. I'm sure we had a couple of guys make some shots, and that allowed us to make the game competitive up to the five-minute mark at the end of the game. But, just not enough offense and we really struggled on that end."

On the playing against WSU's zone defense...
"We knew we were going to see that zone....We certainly used practice time to get better on that end against the zone, but we're not seeing very good results of it right now."

On the team being passive...
"I don't know how many guys on our team, but there seems to be several that are playing with a lack of confidence. We are going to have to address that, and I guess it's going to take more games, more practices, and more experiences together to figure that out. But it has been a problem, and I think we can all say that, from day one that we really struggled on that end of the floor."

On WSU's second-half 12-0 run...
"They made some plays, and again, we didn't make as many. We called several time outs and really thought the thing was sliding towards that five-minute mark. As it turned out, it was. We tried to break the momentum a little bit and encourage our team, but again, we just failed to score the ball enough when we really needed to."

Kansas State Player Quotes

Senior guard Larry Reid

On problems in the zone...
"I think the zone hurt us. It bothered us a little bit. We set up a lot of outside shots. That was basically it."

On Wichita State's 12-0 run in the second half...
"They just set back in their zone and let us turn the ball over and just make mistakes. They just stayed in it. They could score on offense, and we couldn't during that last four minutes."

Senior forward Travis Reynolds

On Wichita's eight-point run after the tie...
"They made some plays right then. In the huddle, I think at the time we were down six or seven or something like that, and we knew the game wasn't over. We came down and made plays and things happened good for us. Unfortunately we came down and hit some shots, but they did too. They got on the free throw line and made their shots. It was just a tough loss for us."

On what Coach Wooldridge said in the timeouts...
"He was just trying to tell us the game wasn't over. We had to keep playing and just try to make plays. He was basically telling us we were going to have to stop them. The only way we were going to get back in the game was if we just stopped them down the stretch. Unfortunately we fouled and they made their free throws."

Junior forward Pervis Pasco

On what happened in the first half...
"We just came out kind of slow, and they came out with their intensity high. I played the post players a little bit in the first half. In the second half they came out and hit a couple big shots. We played harder, then they hit us with the zone. That kind of took us out of our poise."

Wichita State Head Coach Mark Turgeon

On the game...
"I am really happy for the guys who have been here for a long time, especially the seniors. Last year we didn't win a game in our road uniforms. We won a neutral court game but this is our first in blacks on the road. To beat what I think is going to be a good team in Kansas State on their home court, really means a lot to us. They had a lot of adversity out there. We really didn't play our best game to be quite honest with you. We guarded better. Our zone defense gave them fits. The reason we won was because of our zone defense. Our guys just competed down the stretch. We've got a weapon in our motion offense. We can really pick up the tempo with it. It's a great win for Wichita State."

On the zone defense...
"They were shooting 28 percent from three coming into the game and Gilson DeJesus got hot on us and I didn't think he could do that to be honest with you. He hit 6-of-12 from three. You take him out of the game they really struggled. Larry Reid wasn't himself tonight. If Larry Reid plays the way he is capable of playing, it might have been a different outcome. With the score 20-14 we went zone and the only bucket they scored the rest of the half was against the press. It was foolish not to stay with it."

On forward Troy Mack...
"Troy was phenomenal. I've never seen him play that well, even in practice. He was the best big man on the floor obviously tonight, 20 points and 10 rebounds. We got away from him a little bit when they made their run, but we got back to him and that's when we really got it going. He even got carried away and hit a couple jump shots. Our motion offense allows Troy to have a lot of freedom down there and he was fantastic."

Kansas State University Athletics

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