Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Bruce Weber

On the first half…

“It was not as pretty as we would have liked it to have been. A lot of that is when you make shots, it looks a lot nicer. Through these first 12 games, we have made shots up until tonight. I thought we ran some good offense in the first half. Maybe it was mentally not being there with Christmas coming and they are ready to go home. We guarded the heck out of them and I thought they were bothered by the double team. We had a couple guys that probably did not play like we would have liked them to but they are tired. It has been a long stretch and they deserve a break to go home. We have so many guys from so far away that went home that four days in August, but they have not been home since then. They deserve this break and they should all be home tomorrow. Hopefully when they get back on the 26th, they will have fresh minds and be ready for the conference games ahead.”

On the struggles of missing shots …

“I really felt good at Denver the other night. We played both ends of the court, moved the ball, and we were prepared. I thought today we were prepared defensively but we just did not make shots. I think we have a good group with versatility and tonight, we just did not have everybody in sync. I loved how they shared the basketball, other than a handful of possessions we moved it but we just did not make the shot. It is a good locker room and they enjoy each other. It has been fun so far and hopefully, we will see what happens when we get down to the Big 12.

On the shooting game…

“If you go back, D.J. Johnson has had his best games away from home. We have not needed him because we would move the ball and shoot it so well. Tonight here at home, he was big time. The last two games he has been pretty efficient and active. He has led us on the play hard chart. Dean has done well too but I would just like him to be more confident and shoot more. If he starts shooting the ball more confidently, it is going to take our team to another level.”

On shots in the second half…

“Kamau Stokes was the one who made the shot and then we went on a little bit of a run. I told him at half time that it was a game of runs. I thought we had some decent shots to start the second half but we just did not make them. They are a good team with a good coach. They run good stuff and they are battle tested playing a bunch of good teams. Hopefully it will give us a little bit of a test and it will get tougher. .”

On being ready for the Big 12 conference games…

“We play hard, share the ball, and run pretty good offense. We are going to have to go prove it. We talk about it all the time and everybody doubts. The media doubts you, some fans question you, and you just have to go prove it. Now it is up to them and I think it is good to have a break. We will have a fresh start and then come back for a game against Texas.”

On Dean Wade…

“Last year when he would miss a couple of shots he would just go into a shell. I told him a couple weeks ago that I was not worried about him scoring, I am worried about him playing hard. He has really responded and done that. He has been much more active. Slowly but surely he will get more confidence. The guys that score are the ones that play hard too, and you wish it was the other way around. They play hard and let the scoring come but it is human nature to be like that.”

Sophomore Guard Kamau Stokes

On winning early games…

“We just had to pick up our defense. Coach [Weber] really got on us about that. We were playing lazy. Teams do that sometimes and we just have to stop it when it happens.”

On his knee…

“It is not as painful as it was when I first did it, I can tell you that. Here and there I get little tweaks and it scares me sometimes. When it hurts later on, I will probably have to play through it. I just have to come out, get warmed up, have them look at it and go back in the game when I can.”

On confidence heading into Big 12 play…

“I feel like we are prepared. We are ready to go into conference play. We missed out on a lot of close games last year that we should have pulled out. We did not execute at the end. I feel like we learned from it and can close games out this year.”

Senior Forward D.J. Johnson

On what they have learned during the season…

“We have a lot of success when we play hard, play together and share the ball. That is when we are most successful.”

On Kamau Stokes…

“This is my buddy. He passes me the ball and I screen for him. I make sure he does not get his head knocked off on screens. We are best friends on the court. He is going to help us in conference play. We were missing a true point guard last year. Carlbe [Ervin] stepped up, but he did not play that position every day in practice. We have a true point guard going into conference play. He is going to be a great help, especially getting a little taste of it last season.”

On what has improved since foot injury…

“I would say it was more than just my foot. My body was not the same. I was playing at 250 or 255. Now I am 30 pounds lighter. That makes it a lot easier. I can practice harder than I was able to my freshman year and that is a big game-changer for me.”

Gardner-Webb Head Coach Tim Craft

Opening statement…

“The last six minutes of the first half put us in a hole. I think we were up one and it was right there with six minutes to go in the first half and I do not think we scored on a 19-1 run to end the half. That was kind of the name of the game right there. For those six minutes they made plays, made shots and they really guarded us and made it difficult to get a basket. It kind of came down to that stretch. I was proud of the way our players played in the second half. I think Kansas State is really good, winning seventeen straight games in this building. We knew it was not going to be easy to come in here and win a game. I felt that we fought hard and did some good things in the second half. We defended pretty well in a lot of ways, holding them to only four 3-point makes when they are a team that really shoots the ball well. I thought D.J. Johnson was terrific and Kamau Stokes was really good. They were the difference tonight.

On first half success ….

“I think we were able to get some stops and get out in transition a little bit and get the ball in the paint. In the half court it was not there all the time. I think our best opportunities to score came when we were able to get out in transition. Jamaal Robateau made some shots, made some 3’s, during that run and we were able to guard them good on our end until that six minute stretch. Everything really stalled and we turned the ball over in that stretch which led to easy buckets for them.”

On K-State’s defense…

“It just felt like every time we got to the paint it was hard for us to finish or get a foul. We have been a team that has been able to get to the line at a high rate and in the first half we only shot three free throws. We were getting in there, we just were not able to draw contact and we were not able to finish. I think they played hard. They are really active and very solid but their size at the rim really bothered us.”

On D.J. Johnson…

“He is so good at catching the ball in the paint and he is great at ducking in and creating angles for easy baskets and our thing was that we were not going to double him but to try not to give him an angle and get him out of the paint and off the block and then try to defend him one on one. He got some angle scores for sure, but in that first half I thought we did a good job of that but he just went and scored. Then late in the first half we changed our coverage and tried to double him but he was already six-of-six at that point. So really, he is a beast in there. He draws fouls and creates easy scoring opportunities because he gets you so deep in the paint.”

Kansas State University Athletics

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