Baylor, Kansas WBB Postgame Quites

Feb. 1, 2015

Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery

3/3 BAYLOR 66 (20-1/9-0), KANSAS 58 (12-10/3-6)
Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015
the Ferrell Center (Waco, Texas)
Attendance: 7,048

BAYLOR POSTGAME QUOTES

BAYLOR HEAD COACH Kim Mulkey
Opening Statement...
"We won, Oklahoma got beat, Texas got beat, so now we have a two-game lead. This was a very difficult game to coach, I thought the flow was just interrupted too much, and when you create 22 turnovers, you take 22 more shoots than your opponent, you hold (Chelsea) Gardner and (Natalie) Knight in check. You shoot the same number of free throws but yet you struggle to just really extend the lead and win a game, I don't want to say convincingly. First thing I would do is to give Kansas credit, give the coaching staff credit, we rushed a lot of shots early. I think putting them at the foul line as much as we did with I think 12:08 or something to go on the clock in second half and eight something in the first half; got to go back to film room and see why we are fouling all of the sudden."

On Niya and Nina helping get the lead back...
"Well, we go as those two go in a lot of respects. Those two kids have had a great year and when those two kids are doing well it just rubs of well on everybody. They made some big shots, they made some big plays when we were on a run in the second half when they took the lead."

On her bench players...
"I thought Dekeiya Cohen was probably the most valuable player; should've got more minutes, and she will be the first sub of the bench at Oklahoma State. She needs to be acknowledged. The kid had four-big rebounds in five minutes of play. She's strong in there, she finishes shots; she is going to be a player here. She took advantage of her opportunity."

SOPHOMORE FORWARD Nina Davis
On leading Baylor's runs alongside with Niya...
"It was just something that had to happen. Throughout the game they were taking the lead, then we will take the lead. If we had a possibility of still losing, I think we just know, especially us two together since we have been here last year. We don't want to lose, that feeling of losing we had once this year and we don't want to feel it again, so every game we are just trying to comeback on a run."

On missed shots...
"It was frustrating, we had a lot of layups that we missed, free throws that we missed. It just frustrating, but as a player you just got to keep playing and not let that get to you."

On scoring 1,000 points...
"I don't think as a kid the goal was to score 1,000 points. I think the goal is to win championships, so to score 1,000 points is a great milestone, and I am blessed, but I owe it to my coach and my teammates, but I got to think on the next game."

JUNIOR Niya Johnson
On helping the team comeback...
"I was just caught up on the moment, we have play like that from the jump and we cannot just react on the end."

KANSAS HEAD COACH BONNIE HENRICKSON Opening Statement:
"We answered once and we didn't answer the second time. We need to be able to answer a second time and we didn't get that done. I'll give them credit--they got us on the offensive glass and if you look at the triangle and the 2-3, they scored twice off their first shot and the rest was second chance with an offensive rebound. They go 2 for 8 or 2 for 9 on the first shot and we talk about a first shot defense because that second shot is probably a 60% and that third shot is probably an 80% shot. And, typically there's a foul in there somewhere. And, the turnovers, we just talked about this the other day. We do a shooting drill everyday, sometimes it's the guards against the bigs or the young guys against the old guys, but I said, `Here, maybe you'll understand this: give that line four balls and give that line one ball and see who wins the shooting contest. You're going to get more shots.' They looked at me and unfortunately that's what we did. You're going 62 shots to 40 shots. We didn't get enough. Whether you're shooting 27% or 47%, you need more shots. Certainly that was our achilles heel. It hadn't been and it wasn't at our place. Give them credit. Offensive fouls are turnovers too and we had too many of those."

On turnovers against the press:
"We did well. We started the second half with three turnovers and threw a ball to Chelsea [Garnder], and it's an offensive foul by Nat [Knight] and then Lauren [Aldridge] turned it over somewhere so we had three, our first three possessions. Those two guys came out and we subbed. Then we had the one turnover on the inbound. It's a man press and we don't get it set. That's my fault. I'll take the hit for that coming out of the timeout. Then you throw offensive fouls on top of that. Those count as turnovers too and we just threw some stuff away as well."

On offensive rebounding, specifically on Niya Johnson:
"She got the one on the 2-3--she shoots it and then we go by her, and sometimes she'll double clutch at the rim and when you double clutch you can get your shoulders by your defender and then all of a sudden you're in front of the defender, so you want to wall up and keep someone in front. So she got one in the 2-3 and then she got one in a lane line drive. It's a part of how she got into it and blows by that guy, and we don't step up and defensive rebound. She's a tough kid and competes and she's a big strong kid. She's a point guard but she's a big strong point guard."