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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2010

Andrea Riley

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

Oklahoma State Â– 76
Kansas - 69

THE MODERATOR: We're going to let Coach Budke start. If you would, please, keep your questions to the student athletes first. Congratulations on the win, Coach.
COACH BUDKE: Thank you very much. When you get to this tournament as y'all know it's about surviving and advancing, and that's what we did tonight. I don't think we played our best basketball tonight, I thought we missed a lot of layups and free-throws, but we found a way to get it done.
We have one of the best players in this country sitting over here and she willed us to a win tonight. I was impressed -- she has been impressive not only offensively but defensively in the last couple weeks of this season and I promise you we wouldn't be sitting here happy tonight if she didn't do what she did.
You know what, it was a good win, Carolyn Blair-Mobley came in and helped out, we went down through the bench tonight, everybody got minutes in and I thought that's what you have to have to win in this tournament, you better go to your bench often and I thought we did that tonight and found a way to get it done.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. Tegan Cunningham is here along with Andrea Riley. We'll take questions for our student athletes first.

Q. Andrea, career scoring record and you guys needed every one tonight. Talk about your night and how close of a game this ended up being.
ANDREA RILEY: The biggest thing that was on my mind tonight was just going out and playing defense as hard as I can. Coach has been talking about it all the time, he's always talking about me and Tegan's defense, so we tried to respond positively and took initiative and played defense really hard and that's how we had fun tonight.

Q. It seemed like not all your shots were falling tonight, but you kept shooting where did that come from?
ANDREA RILEY: Coach always tell me you can't dwell on a miss, you're going to miss shots you have to continue to stay positive and they'll go in when they go in, you can't call every shot and he always talks to me and tee began and says "just keep shootin' to help your team."

Q. Tegan, they kept coming back, they took a lead at one point you guys took it back but can you talk about the second half and the back and forth?
TEGAN CUNNINGHAM: KU is a good team we knew they were going to all step up. I think we just wanted it more. We've been down in situations before we know how to handle ourselves and we kept attacking the basket and it was one of those close games, but I'm glad we pulled away with the win.

Q. Tegan, what did Coach Budke say in that time-out after they had taken the lead.
TEGAN CUNNINGHAM: Oh, God!
COACH BUDKE: It was inspirational.
TEGAN CUNNINGHAM: I think it was really about locking down defense.
ANDREA RILEY: A motivational speech, we don't say --
COACH BUDKE: I've got you two for a couple more, so... (Chuckles.)

Q. Tegan, talk about the foul trouble you guys got into tonight. Carolyn Davis is an emerging post player, but talk about the defense and the different zones you went into to stop that.
TEGAN CUNNINGHAM: She is a great player. I give her a lot of credit. We just kept fouling and gave them fouls we didn't need to give and we tried to mix it up and change out defense as much as possible trying to create threats to her, but she played a great game.

Q. Andrea, you let the clock tick off, 37 points, was there a thought that maybe you would put it up?
ANDREA RILEY: No, I was just ready for the time to be done. That was a fun game, but it takes energy out of you when you play that hard.

Q. Andrea, what about the match-up tomorrow with Iowa State a team you guys played not too long ago and beat not too long ago.
ANDREA RILEY: We're happy that they have Allison Lacey back because they're a great team. They took us down to the wire when they played at our house, and I think they're a balanced team. Tomorrow we're going to have to prove ourselves because -- defensively because they spread you out because they have some shooters at every position. It's another defensive game which is going to win the game.

Q. Andrea, do you relish games like this where -- I mean you guys are in a dog fight and you're going to have the ball in your hands obviously by virtue of your position. Do you relish games like this and being able to bring your team to victory like you did?
ANDREA RILEY: Well, I know my team always has confidence in me and I don't want to let 'em down, so I just try to show my will to win and the competitiveness within me. I just like to win.

Q. Andrea, I'm going to make you talk about offense. 37 points tonight that is the Big 12 single-game scoring record that broke Courtney's record. I wonder if you could talk about -- you've had to carry a load offensively and how much it means to you when the numbers pile up you're going to be the Big 12's best scorer in history.
ANDREA RILEY: What an honor! I mean there is a lot of big names up there, Courtney Paris is one of the greatest players that came through the Big 12 and to pass a record like that it's overwhelming. I don't really like to talk about it.
COACH BUDKE: Honestly we never talk about it, we've never, ever talked about the Big 12 record.
ANDREA RILEY: I didn't even know.
COACH BUDKE: That's right, all she wants to do is win. Bottom line, we've never talked about it.
THE MODERATOR: Okay, congratulations, ladies, we'll see you tomorrow.
COACH BUDKE: Andrea did take a charge tonight! (Chuckles.)
THE MODERATOR: First question for Coach?

Q. Kurt, talk about the decision to start Desiree tonight.
COACH BUDKE: She has been practicing really well and we know when we get in the tournament Andrea won't be there and we wanted to give her looks in front of the big lights here and see how she responded to be honest with you. I thought she did fine, I thought she did fine, I thought she hustled and I thought she did her part tonight.

Q. Kurt, I don't know how many players you had in uniform, but it looked like you were going to have to play 'em all tonight. Is it possible that you're going for four games in four days?
COACH BUDKE: Absolutely, whether it's for one possession, two possessions, whether it may be a defensive stop, whatever it may be and it might turn into more and I thought Carolyn Blair-Mobley was a great example tonight. She didn't play at all hardly until we needed her at the end and I was going to throw her in for a couple of possessions and she hits a 3, she picks up defensively on the full court, did a great job, and I just think where we got better over the last ten games is the fact that the bench players have practiced harder and they've gotten better in practice every day and I think we're going to need 'em all. If you're going to win four games in four days you're going to need 'em all.

Q. Coach, how much time have you spent thinking about how you will get through an NCAA game without Andrea on the floor?
COACH BUDKE: Not at all. I'm sitting at home tonight watching tape and it crosses my mind, I'm not going to lie to you but it's more about our season here and advancing and, you know, when that time comes, whenever it is after this weekend we'll go back, go to work and find a way to get it done.

Q. Coach, despite your zone defense Carolyn Davis was still getting points, what do you think she was doing to get around that?
COACH BUDKE: She's an incredible player, and obviously after she scored 20 of 'em, we knew she was in the house! We tried four different looks and we switched up zones and I don't know if it confused 'em but it stalled 'em for a little while and gave us a chance once we went down 49-47 we switched up to a half-court trap and showed a different look. She's going to have a great career.

Q. Coach, now that Andrea has tied the Big 12 record, how do you find the balance of honoring that accomplishment and have her appreciate what she's done?
COACH BUDKE: That will all come at the end of the year. I'm just glad that the first points she scores breaks it, tomorrow, is that right? So she doesn't have to break it, because now she's very aware of it thanks to y'all, and I'm glad that first point will be done and she can relax and play. We gave her a really nice trophy at the last home game and left it blank as far as the number that's at the end of it, and we'll definitely have a celebration when it's all done.

Q. Coach, Kansas had a season high 34 defensive rebounds tonight. How were you able to overcome that?
COACH BUDKE: The rebound finished tied 47-all, and I thought Kansas the last half of the year really adjusted to Danielle McCray being gone and I think they've been playing good basketball. You know, look at their scores where they had Nebraska beat for 38 minutes, had Iowa State beat for 39 minutes, this has been a team thanks to the freshmen and the others that were left that has stepped up.
Normally when we win the rebounding war we win so it was tied tonight and it was definitely going to be a close game, we just happened to make a few more shots I thought they played a really great game, give 'em a lot of credit.

Q. Kurt I thought you might have said this the other day, if not I apologize, but you said something about the fact that Andrea, some of other biggest points have come at crunch time and that is one of the biggest parts of her legacy, that happened tonight. Talk about her down the stretch.
COACH BUDKE: I really, truly said it a lot lately and I mean it, her field goal percentage goes up the last 3 minutes of a game, she is a lot like Kobe, he goes out and wins games, and that's Andrea Riley she is going to hit a shot that y'all think as fans she shouldn't shoot, but it goes in, when it's in her hands, we feel like we've got a chance to win because a lot of our offense is created off her penetration.
I don't know what she had assistwise, tonight, should have about a dozen, because we missed a lot of wide-open shots tonight that she delivered great passes. I don't know what her range is, maybe the half-court line. To us she is the M.V.P. of the conference, there is nobody more valuable to a team.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, we'll see you tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2010

Kurt Budke

Tegan Cunningham

Andrea Riley