|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 14, 2015Frank Mason IIIWayne Selden, Jr.Bill SelfKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI Iowa State – 70 THE MODERATOR: We're joined now by Coach Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks, student‑athletes are Frank Mason, III and Wayne Selden, Jr. Coach, your thoughts? COACH SELF: Well, obviously we're disappointed. We put ourselves into a great position and to go up 17, I guess with about 19:30 left. And then we didn't really defend the second half or rebound either one, and those were the two things we did great the first half. When they came back and the pressure was on for us to have some good possessions, we didn't have it. All we really had was just drive it and get to the free‑throw line and we did a very good job of that. They just made a few more plays than us. We got it tied late and couldn't get a stop on a rebound, and they were able to score. And then we turned it over and they were able to extend their lead to 3. And then basically we had a great opportunity on the layup, Frank made a great play, just missed it. And then they were able to win the game. But we did some good things, proud of our guys. We fought hard. We're not whole. We need a week to get well, and hopefully we'll back with our batteries recharged next week. Q. For both you guys, how difficult was their dribble penetration and their run‑outs in the second half? WAYNE SELDEN, JR.: We didn't guard the ball that well. It was really, when it came down to it, guarding the ball one‑on‑one and we didn't do that as good as we could have. FRANK MASON, III: I agree with Wayne, we didn't defend the ball well. Our help defense wasn't good. It just came down to one‑on‑one defense and their guys made plays and we didn't do a great job of helping. Q. You guys were up 17 in the second half. How much confidence did you have that you could hold them off? FRANK MASON, III: We had a lot of confidence when we were up 17. We just wanted to keep attacking, get easy shots, but‑‑ and try to continue playing great defense, try to continue the defense from the first half, just try to stop them from getting easy baskets. Q. For both of you, obviously Iowa State has had a habit this tournament of having double‑digit deficits, coming back, gutting out second‑half wins in the second half. How much did y'all discuss that, saying, we have to stay composed and can't let them make a run at us? WAYNE SELDEN, JR.: We know it's a long game. No matter whether you're up or down, it's going to be a long game and you just want to get stops down the stretch. FRANK MASON, III: We knew they were a comeback team. The past few games, they have been coming back and we discussed we wanted to keep the attack mode on and keep the lead and keep them from getting the easy baskets. Q. For both of you guys, thought process on the lob to Wayne and the one‑handed slam? FRANK MASON, III: I was just coming down in transition, I seen Wayne's defender paying attention to me, he snuck behind him and I threw it up. WAYNE SELDEN, JR.: Playing with a good point guard and knowing he's going to find you, that's the biggest thing. Q. For either of you two, what's the mindset for y'all as a team going forward into the NCAA Tournament? Obviously you don't know the seed or where you're going, but how do you recover from a loss like this? WAYNE SELDEN, JR.: Biggest thing is all year we've came down the stretch where we've played well and we haven't played well. We just want to take the games we haven't played well and correct it and continue the things we did well. That's the biggest thing, just trying to focus on getting stops down the stretch. THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, we will let you return to the locker room with your SID Chris Theisen. Good luck next week. Q. Coach, same question I asked the guys. You are up 17, you knew they were a come‑back team, how confident were you that your team could hold them off? COACH SELF: We talked about not thinking hold them off, then you're on the defense if you're thinking that way. So we talked about extending the lead at halftime, but when things fell apart, you know‑‑ they scored an absurd number of points in the paint the second half and none of them were off post‑up touches, none of it. So it was off driving the ball or second shots and a lot of it was our turnovers had led to run‑outs. Our transition defense was good, just our turnovers that led to run‑outs. Our offense cost us the second half. Our offense contributed to our poor defense. But the bottom line is they played take‑em, and we had no answer. We went zone late and the zone actually got it back tied. We were down 7 when we went zone, I think, and we got it back tied. But the bottom line is we didn't defend and didn't rebound. We didn't do things the second half that we were doing the first half that allowed to us get a lead. Q. Bill, what do you think of the atmosphere? The NCAA Fine Fours and Regionals aren't able to play in arenas like this, but what would you think about that? COACH SELF: Well, it's never going to happen, so I don't know why we're talking about that, I mean, the Final Four. But I guess you could play in a Regional that could be a smaller arena. But even in the NCAA Tournament, the atmosphere very rarely would ever be as good as it is today. This is better because you have fan bases that get more than 450 or 1,500 tickets and that kind of stuff. I obviously applaud Iowa State's people because I don't know how in the world they can get 10,000 people in this building and have 5,000 waiting to get in that can't get in. It's unbelievable how they took over downtown. And our fans were good today, too, but their fans certainly‑‑ I guess it's a destination, Kansas City is, for their fans because they packed 'em in here. I think the crowd obviously helped them, but it wasn't a factor in the game. But I think it gave them energy the second half. We did some good things, but the bottom line is we need to get our team back‑‑ this isn't an excuse, but we need to get back healthy. Landen is out there fighting through it and Perry is fighting through it and we got some other guys that are nicked up and we need to take a couple of days and regroup and get our batteries recharged. We did some good things. We basically played a pitiful half of basketball and a really good half of basketball today. And our pitiful half was a little worse than our really good half. Q. Bill, first, if I can just follow‑up on that answer, how confident are you that you guys will be as close to whole as a team can be? COACH SELF: I think we will be. Perry did well. It was a lot for him to come back two days in a row, that was obvious. He didn't have the bounce and he's not 100%. But the great thing is he got through it and, you know, he's able to play‑‑ Perry was able to play 56 minutes the last two days when he's been, you know, only injured for eight days. Give him six or seven more days, he'll be fine. Landen, he needs three or four days without question with all his nagging stuff. I think Frank obviously needs a couple of days, but I think we will be as close to whole as we have been in a long time by the time Thursday or Friday rolls around. Q. You've called this the biggest grind that you've had in the run of titles. What do you know or think about your team now that maybe you weren't sure of before the conference season started? COACH SELF: Well, you know, I have probably‑‑ although we didn't show it the second half, the thing I do think is that we can make other teams play poorly. We did a good job of that the first half. In the second half, we didn't at all. I mean, didn't at all. It was a polar opposite. But we've got it in us to do that and we've got it in us to rebound the ball, but we didn't play tough the second half. I think I know our team enough to know that we will do those things. Offensively it's a grind every day. You don't have a post guy to play through today. You're trying to play four guards, a ton of time together. And Iowa State packed it in, they didn't guard us on the perimeter and dared us to make some plays. So we've got to have some guys step up, and I thought Wayne did a nice job of stepping up today. But it would be nice if we could stretch it and play inside/out again, and we will do that when Perry gets healthier. I like our team. I like our chances. Who knows about the draw yet, but this isn't the end of their season today. I told our guys that, if you play you might as well win. So there is no question that we didn't compete to win and they just outplayed us. But the bottom line is, hey, by 6:00 tomorrow nobody is going to be thinking about this game and Iowa State won't be thinking about it either by 6:00 tomorrow. It's the quickest turn on an emotional game that we have all year long. Q. Looking to the NCAA Tournament, Bill, this time of year, coaches, players like to talk about everything is zero, zero. Everybody has a chance to win a tournament. With the way that Kentucky is playing, is it going to be more of a challenge to get the guys to buy into that mentality that we've got the same chances as 67 other teams to win the whole thing? COACH SELF: That will never be mentioned. Our goal is to win a two‑game tournament, that's it. And the next weekend your goal is to win a two‑game tournament. And then if you're lucky enough to play the next weekend, it's the same. Maybe there is somebody out there, but I won't approach it like that. Whatever anybody else does is irrelevant. You're just going to try to win a two‑game tournament wherever you go. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach, good luck next week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|