OU-Kansas Postgame Quotes

Return to Recap

Head Coach Lon Kruger
Opening comment:
“KU opened it sharp, shot the ball well. We weren't doing too much to keep that from happening. Obviously in the second half, we turned it around a little bit, had a little more fight, a bit more getting after it. Couldn't quite put them away. We had a little bit of a chance there to widen the margin, but Kansas is great. They played great in the first half, and we battled in the second half but couldn't get back over the hill. Congratulations to Kansas.”

On struggling to score at the end of the game:
“Kansas got a little momentum there when they took the lead. I thought they picked it up a little defensively, and obviously the crowd got into it. It's tough to do that. We had a couple of looks that didn't go down, and we've got to try and step up and get better looks.”

On what he takes from a game like this:
“Well, feel good about the fact that they hung together and came back out and fought and competed. You expect that, of course, and they did that. Certainly you feel good about that. I don't think the guys expected to do that. They had some deflections that turned into transition that got us going a little bit in the second half. Still obviously disappointed in the end result, but you take the good from every ballgame, and fighting in the second half was definitely good, and we've got to build on that.”

On if they made stylistic changes in the second half:
“No, not really. It wasn't about that so much as just, like Buddy mentioned, getting loose balls, getting the 50-50, competing a little harder on the boards – I thought we did a much better job in the second half of that.”

On what the team needs to do better to close games:
“It comes down to getting stops and making shots. We had a four-point lead and Kansas scored. They got the big missed free throw back for the 3 was a big play. You've got to keep that from happening.”

On D.J. Bennett and TaShawn Thomas:
“I thought D.J. stepped in and played his minutes really well. A couple of big boards, contested some shots. I thought D.J. did a really good job. Tae had a tough time of it getting started and never did quite get into his flow, but he'll bounce back.”

Junior Guard Buddy Hield
On not being able to get shots to fall at the end of the game:
“It's frustrating. We did a good job fighting back. Guys stuck in there when we were down 21, 22, whatever the score was. I am proud of the guys fighting back. We should have done a better job executing the first half. Kansas made shots, everything was falling for them. They played a great game.”

On if the team thought it was still in the game at halftime:
“We are a confident team. You know, everybody is confident. Of course, (Coach) Kruger does a good job of keeping us steady. They made a lot of shots and they were contested shots. There were a few wide open, but we have to find a way to get to the loose balls. They were on top of us the first half. We did a better job the second half but we've got to do a better job getting 50-50 balls.”

Junior Forward Ryan Spangler
On his thoughts as Kansas' 3-pointers kept falling in the first half:
“You know, we were kind of leaving them open. We weren't playing the defense how we have been all year, and I think that's why that got some open 3s, and once you see one or two go down, it's kind of easier to make shots, and that's what they did.”