KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Here’s what some of the players and coaches had to say after the game.
Roy Williams: “We congratulate Kansas. They were phenomenal in the second half today. I thought we were both ugly on the offensive end in the first half, but we were swarming so much defensively we were able to get some fast-break opportunities, had a nine-point lead at halftime.
The second half we didn’t quite have the same energy level and they perhaps had a little bit more. They got into rhythm, started making shots.
We couldn’t stop ‘em. I think their defense even fed off of that. When the ball started going in the basket, I thought their defense got even stronger.
We struggled shooting the ball the whole game. You have to give them credit. They led the nation in defensive field goal percentage for a reason. We never did quite get settled down in the second half and get what we wanted and didn’t have the sense of urgency that we had in the first half on the defensive end of the floor.
Again, congratulations to Kansas. They’re a No. 1 seed for a reason.
I really enjoyed coaching my team. I really did. We had some tough, tough losses early. They kept coming to practice every single day and tried to do what we wanted them to do.
Our locker room’s not as happy right now, but I loved coaching my team.”
Marcus Paige: “Yeah, I think from an overall effort standpoint, the first half is probably the hardest we played all year. Everyone was invested. We were flying all over the place. Even if we made mistakes defensively, we usually were able to make up for them, hustle. We got a lot of the 50/50 balls.
In the second half, they got out in transition a couple times. They got second-chance opportunities. From there it just kind of kept going.”
P.J. Hairston: “I think we proved a lot of people wrong, because no one thought we would be here in the first place. No one thought we would be in the championship of the ACC Tournament, and no one thought we would be in the NCAA Tournament. Everyone thought we would be an NIT team. I’m so proud of my team. I feel like we proved a lot of people wrong this season.”
Bill Self: “Well, we’re excited. We played miserably the first half. They took us out of everything. We were so rushed and sped up and played nervous. Then second half, we came out and our guys competed. We were great on the glass. Of course, we had to have some individuals step up.
Travis (Releford) was terrific and Jeff (Withey) was equally good. It was a great win for our team, our program, and certainly very excited about advancing and very proud of my guys, proud of my team. I feel like we proved a lot of people wrong this season.”
Travis Releford: “Well, the first half we just let those guys get whatever they wanted. In transition they were getting a lot of easy baskets. I think the key to the second half was we got out and defended them a lot better than we did the first half. I think that was the key.”
To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.
