Wildcats Upended By No. 2 Kansas, 98-71
Feb 04, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 4, 2002
Postgame Quotes
Kansas State vs. Kansas
Monday, Feb. 4
Bramlage Coliseum
Manhattan, Kan.
Kansas State Quotes
Head Coach Jim Wooldridge
On how his team played...
"At times we played fine, but Kansas hit us hard early and we didn't react to the pressure very well. We had trouble staying in our format and getting the ball moved. We had to try and make too many individual plays too early. You've got to give their (Kansas) defense credit, as well as their quickness and their size inside. They really bothered us. That was the one part of the game where we could play well. And by playing well, we could control the tempo of the game, but it got fast in a hurry. We just couldn't get it under control."
On KU...
"That's a very athletic team, very quick. With the two guys inside and their abilities it really makes it difficult to play off the post. Their defense really bothered us and just couldn't control the tempo on offense."
On Larry Reid...
"Larry seems to be our bail-out guy. If things don't go well, we turn to him. The possession turns to him and he's got to make a play. But that's what good players do. Some of your offense has got to come out of other things and you generate shots different ways, but tonight, especially the first half, the pressure was bothering us. So, Larry was in the position again to make a shot."
On KU's Kirk Hinrich...
"He's a great player, he really is...I know he's a great player. There are some other good guards in our league, but he is extremely good."
Kansas State Player Quotes
Junior Forward Matt Siebrandt
On the frustration...
"It was very frustrating that things weren't going our way. Especially when everyone on the team, the city, and our school wanted us to beat KU. We wanted to be a lot more competitive, but we never stopped fighting."
On the game plan...
"We tried to take away their transition and keep their posts off the offensive rebounds. Those seemed to be the keys to the game."
On defense on the inside...
"They take everything away when they overplay. KU really works at denying everyone and getting the other team out of their game."
Senior Guard Phineas Atchison
On the attitude following Coach Wooldridge's two technicals...
"Coach (Mike) Miller emphasized us that we needed to stick together and play together. Nothing changed, no street ball or anything like that. We wanted to keep our same format. Whether the coach is there or not it's going the same way. We stuck with it."
On the last 10 minutes of the ballgame...
"We worked really hard the last 10 minutes. I think that everyone got frustrated and we knew we had to come out and play a little harder. It was a big step for us."
Senior Guard Larry Reid
On Phineas Atchison...
"Tony (Phineas Atchison) came in and started providing us with scoring. That really helped us out. That really helped cut down the lead. He came off the bench and did what he usually does for us."
On Kansas 10-2 run at the beginning of the game...
"You've got to keep playing. That's the kind of team they are, they get points in transition. You can't let them do that because it hurts your team and it gets you behind."
Kansas Quotes
Head Coach Roy Williams
On Kansas State Head Coach Jim Wooldrige's technical fouls...
"Sometimes things like that will fire you up. I don't think that's the reason Jim did it. I think he had, in his mind, a great reason for what he did and he did it. I don't think he wanted to get thrown out to try and fire up his team. I have a great deal of respect for him as a coach. Last year I thought he did a great, great job. Two straight wins over ranked teams, and trying to do it a third time in a row was difficult. Texas, Oklahoma State and Kansas is a very difficult three game stretch for them."
On Kirk Hinrich...
"Aaron (Miles) was sensational in the first half. He had six assists and one turnover at the half and then in the second half had no assists. You look down there and (Jeff) Boschee had six assists and no turnovers. Kirk, six assists, 26 points, seven rebounds, he was four of five from the three-point line. Early in the season he was struggling from the three, and every game I said that before it's over with he's going to start shooting it well and he is in the middle of that right now and I hope it lasts a long time.
"He stayed focused on the game. We had some guys who lost their focus on what we were doing out there. I told Drew (Gooden) I thought he did. I thought Aaron did. I thought Keith (Langford) did. I think Kirk really kept his focus on playing basketball. He had a heck of a game."
On the focus of the team...
"Drew was complaining about the officials, and ended up getting a technical getting tied up with one of their guys. I thought Aaron lost his focus, not as much on what was happening, but just because Larry Reid was scoring so easily against him. Keith lost his focus. He didn't run a couple of sets the way he was supposed to run them. Hopefully we can learn from that. We can go back and show them on the tape, the things and mistakes that they made when that did happen. Hopefully we will learn from it and not do it again."
Kansas Player Quotes
Junior Guard Kirk Hinrich
On how K-State played after the technicals...
"We knew they were going to come at us. They were hitting all of their shots, playing very physical and it was one of those things where you try to just keep playing and not worry about the crowd. We had to block all of that out and just keep playing the way we normally play."
On the quick start on the road tonight...
"The crowd was in it the whole game. It is crucial on the road to get out to a good start. I think our team has been doing a good job."
On the streak over K-State...
"We don't really talk about it, but that is all we hear about. The media is always talking about it and Coach always says it's going to end one day, let's try to extend it."
