Kansas State-Colorado Quotes
January 27, 2011 | Women's Basketball
General
"We're disappointed. We felt like this was a game that we could have and needed to have, and I felt like we let one slip. I thought our focus wasn't great coming out in the first half. I thought we made a nice run in the second half. We didn't quit. We stayed with it, but overall, we didn't do some of the things that we had talked about for the last couple of days and didn't execute."
On losing another close game
"It's the same story. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, and we have to quit doing that. We have to step up, and know that every game is important. I mean, it's not just this game that's important. The next ten games are important, and we only have ten left. I told our team that we have to come out with an extreme amount of focus every single night, every single game, and we have to be willing to do that."
On Brittany Spears tying CU's all-time consecutive starts record
"I think any time you have a player that has that many starts in a row, for one thing, they're starting as freshmen. I didn't know Brittany [Spears] back then, but I think she probably came in here and did what she needed to do. She is a very good player who works hard and puts in the extra time in the gym. Spears were shooting yesterday after weights for a good 15 or 30 minutes, getting a ton of threes in and getting some free throws in. I think it goes to show the amount of work that she has put into her game and to this program. Any time you have that many starts in a row I think is something very special, and only a select few get those. She definitely is part of that select few."
On attributing the late slide to having to play from behind
"It could have happened. That's why we have to play in the first half, because it is tough to fight and comeback and claw and do everything you can when your run is catching you up versus having a run puts you ahead by ten. That's what we want to get to. When we have a run, we want it t put us up by ten, so when they come back, we're up four or five instead of having to catch up. I feel like after that timeout, they came out, they ran a play, they got a good shot, and we kind of broke down a little bit. We were having a tough time scoring. They have a good defense, and they were mixing it up between a match-up zone and switching man-to-man defense all night long. Their players are tough, and they get to loose balls. I think that is another stat that isn't necessarily kept, but they get a lot of loose balls. We didn't get very many of them tonight, and they feed off of that. We knew that coming in, and that was a focus point of ours."
On playing with a short bench
"It's just kind of how things played out. I thought we needed [Britney] Blythe to be guarding [Brittany] Chambers. Chucky [Jeffery] was doing well. We needed [Brittany] Spears in the game a lot in the second half, because she was doing some really good things defensively and started rebounding. Meagan [Malcolm-Peck] was having kind of a tough night, and Chelsea Dale came in and was ready to play, and I thought Rachel [Hargis] did a nice job. It wasn't any preconceived thing going in. It's just how it worked out, and I wanted or players to be able to get into the flow. I felt in the first half, a couple of our players weren't able to get quite with the flow, but in the second half, I thought they were able to, and it's just kind of how it worked out for tonight."
Colorado Players
Chucky Jeffery, So., G
ON HOW FRUSTRATING CLOSE LOSSES ARE- "It's frustrating like Coach [Lappe] said because we scout these teams to a 'T.' We practice it and to get into a game and not have any focus, it kills everything in practice. We have focus in practice, but if we don't put it into a game it doesn't matter. It's frustrating because we know that the teams we are losing to we should be beating. We're playing one half and not the other."
ON LOSING FOUR POINT LEAD IN THE LAST 12 MINUTES- "Lack of focus. We caught back up and that's when we were really focused. When we were down, we started playing defense and locking in on their shooters. Then we got up by four and then lost focus again. We stop playing our principles, denying on defense, hard hedging screens and things that we know we should be doing. We need to start doing the little things."
ON TOUGH KANSAS STATE DEFENSE- "In the first half we only got four points in the paint, then in the second half we got sixteen. We have to be aggressive all through the game and that's what did it. I don't think it was anything too hard for us on defense. It was just us."
ON HOW SHE'S FEELING AFTER CONCUSSION- "Coach [Lappe] and I had a talk and we talked about how I need to bring my spark on defense, don't worry about my offense that will just come. I knew what I had to do in guarding number 22 [Mariah White], and helping out and things like that. I just let it come to me and I played defense the whole game that led to easy transition points on offense."
Brittany Spears, Sr., F
ON TOUGH KANSAS STATE DEFENSE- "I don't think it was them as much as it was us not moving the ball and missing layups, so it was us, not them."
ON IF KANSAS STATE DID ANYTHING IN FIRST HALF TO LIMIT HER ABILITIES- "No, it was just me not being focused in the game. That's all it was, just focus. It's nothing special that they did."
ON TYING CONSECUTIVE STARTS RECORD- "I didn't even know about that, but it's nice."
Kansas State Head Coach Deb Patterson
On K-State's Game Plan-"Well we didn't abide by it. We were hoping to not give up a lot of three's to Brittany [Spears] and Chucky [Jeffery] and [Brittany] Wilson and the crew and [Meagan] Malcolm-Peck, but we gave them all a three. It was a game that we seemed to be constantly making adjustments. I think we defended well in the first half, but in the second half when we let that three-point barrage open up, it significantly changed the game."
On Finding Opportunities to Score Throughout the Game-"It was tough. It was possession by possession. I thought we had a good mix in the second half of penetration. We got some key baskets in the post form Jalana Childs in particular and then just a couple of threes to open up. It was a defensive effort by Colorado that was very good. You couldn't really establish a flow. I thought they defended extremely well over the course of the game but really in the second half."
On Winning on the Road-"This is a huge win for us. A year ago we won four games in league, so to get a fourth win in Big 12 play on the road here in a very tough place against a talented team playing great defense, and with Brittany Spears and Chucky Jeffery in particular being some of the most talented players in the league, it's a great win for our basketball team."
