March 14, 2002
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery
Head Coach Mike Montgomery
"The first half when Western Kentucky was on a run, we considered calling a time out. My theory is, you have to have something to talk about. You just don't call a time out for a time out's sake. You have to watch that the kids don't become dependent on your time outs. You gotta give them the confidence, the leadership to make the decisions on the floor. (On the aggressiveness of the game): "You've got to understand that the calls in the NCAA are the calls they have to make. The hand-checking, push-offs ... inside, there's a lot of contact. You can't give in to that. You've got to come out to play. We knew coming in that, when the NCAA Tournament starts, the play inside is much more aggressive. We just had to adjust to it.
(On the play of WKU's Patrick Sparks): "He's very clever. He understands the game. When you look at him, you wouldn't think he's as quick as he looks. We tried to keep him out of the inside, left him more in the mid-range area. He's just an excellent player, one of the best guards I've ever seen."
Curtis Borchardt:
(On defending Chris Marcus): "It was tough. He is a 300-pound guy. They run their offense to give him the ball, and I just tried to limit his touches. (On staying out of foul trouble in the first half): "I tried to play smart and move my feet. I avoided the pump fakes and got on the glass."
Casey Jacobsen:
"We had several guys play their first NCAA Tournament game tonight. Our guys responded well and weathered the storm.
(On the Stanford freshmen coming off the bench): "The freshmen really stepped up. I told them yesterday at practice to let Curt (Borchardt), coach (Mike) Montgomery and myself take all the pressure. I told them to play hard and relax. No one is expecting them to save the world."
Josh Childress:
"The game went pretty much the way we thought it would. We knew they were good shooters, but thought we could shut them down by playing good defense and that's what we did in the first half. We played real good defense and it seemed to bother them a lot. A big part of our first-half play was the bench, which contributed big time.
(On playing Kansas): "As far as Kansas is concerned, they are a great team and it will be a matter of us playing defense, rebounding and running the floor.
(On playing in St. Louis): "This place is awesome. In fact, the whole city of St. Louis is something. I've just stared at the (Gateway) Arch from down on the street. I can't get over it. Being from Los Angeles, I thought I'd seen almost everything, but I'd never seen anything like the Arch."