Baylor, Kansas Postgame Quotes
2/18/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Recap | Box Score | Notes | USATSI Gallery 
3/3 KANSAS (23-3, 11-2) 67, 4/4 BAYLOR (22-4, 9-4) 65
Sat., Feb. 18, 2017
Ferrell Center (Waco, Texas)
Attendance: 10,021
BAYLOR POSTGAME QUOTES
Baylor Head Coach Scott Drew
Opening statementà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I thought it was just another Big 12 game. It comes down to one possession. Our crowd was tremendous. The atmosphere was great. They made one more play than we did. In our last three close games with Kansas, Lucas has come up with the big rebounds in the last three minutes and we haven't been able to keep him off the glass when we needed to do that, so he deserves a lot of credit. I thought our guys really competed. We put ourselves in position to win, fully expected to win, and they made one more play than us. Big 12 basketball."
On Baylor's turnoversà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I think it was both [forced and unforced]. There are some things that we could've done different, definitely. They got some deflections. I think they got to a lot of loose balls. We got to do a better job of coming up with those 50-50 balls. Especially them going out of bounds. It seemed like every time it went out of bounds, they were able to save it when they threw it back in. So we got to do a better job of coming up with those balls, because at the end of the day one possession games, those all matter."
On where they go from hereà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I think right now we're all pretty upset. The thing is tomorrow is a new day with new opportunities. We've had great leadership all year long, and the upperclassmen make sure we're ready to go. We control what we can control and that is we try to put ourselves in the best position. We all want a conference championship, but I think everybody on our team definitely wants an NCAA Final Four Championship even more. So that's what we have to gear for, get better for. We look forward to that opportunity."
Junior F Johnathan Motley
On the defense they put on him...
"They did a good job coming with hot hands and just flooding the paint. I think I got a few charges too, so they did a good job of just making it tough on me. Just finishing and always having a body there when I drive is just one of those things you got to figure out. Just make better plays next time. Jump stop."
On the outcome...
"It's really disappointing, especially when you kind of have them on the ropes. We were up a couple points. Coach Drew stressed that offensive rebounds were their strength in this type of situation. We didn't execute right. We didn't put a body on them. He knocked down both free throws. We talked about it in film, but it's just one of those things where you just got to go out and execute."
Sophomore Guard Jake Lindsey
On how they recovered from Kansas' runà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I think we just bucked down and got some stops. We made Frank take tough ones. He's a good player, so he's going to get pretty good shots, so you have to make them tough. I think JMot (Jonathan Motley) did a pretty good job. Manu (Lecomte) made a shot, and I know he had a big three when we took care of the defensive glass. But we didn't sustain it when we really needed to."
KANSAS POSTGAME QUOTES
Kansas Head Coach Bill Self
On designing the perfect team in a lab....
"I would have two seven footers and a couple other things but as far as a mental toughness team, I would take this team and go to the house. Tonight I think we're down six with 2:46 left coming out of the timeout and we've got to have a great possessions every time. These guys did it and of course we defended unbelievable down the stretch."
On the second half's defense....
"I thought rebounding in the first half was atrocious to start the game. In the second half I thought we did a lot of good things defensively. Even when they made some plays, I think it was more scouting report that allowed them to make the plays as opposed to us breaking down. I didn't think we had a ton of breakdowns the second half. Offensively, we played really well in the second half. We shot 48% in the second half, which seemed to me we got a lot of open 3s. It just goes to show you never know when other guys will make plays."
OOn Josh Jackson's defensive efforts....
"I thought Josh had another good complete game with the exception of rebounding. I didn't think he rebounded the ball today, which is obvious by his stats, but he shoots 50 percent with 16 points, two assists, four blocks, I thought he did a little bit of everything. We asked him to guard a seven footer and he's used to guarding guards, so I thought he did a really nice job."
Freshman G Josh Jackson
On the difficulty of guarding Jonathan Motley...
"He's a great rebounder so often times when the shot goes up, it's hard to box him out. He'll get a lot of easy points cleaning up offensive rebounds. It's definitely a full time job guarding him, you can never take a break."
On his team's effort in the last two games....
"It just shows us what we can do. We're really good and we're even better when we're at our best. The thing I like about us is that I think we have a bunch of winners on our team. Nobody's a quitter, everyone keeps fighting and we all believe in each other."
Senior G Frank Mason
On the impact of Monday's game on today's performance....
"We were down more than that last game against West Virginia and I think we just showed toughness and leadership as far as the older guys. The younger guys did a great job of following and executing down the stretch."
On the key to the game....
"Defense was the key to the game. We weren't sound in the first half and they out-rebounded us by a lot, so we wanted to change that in the second half."
