Slideshow: No. 1 Baylor has no problem putting away Kansas, 86-45
No. 1 Baylor continued its undefeated run in Big 12 play at home Wednesday night against the visiting Kansas Jayhawks (14-7, 5-5) in front of 8,289 fans. En route to the 86-45 victory, senior center Brittney Griner moved into the No. 10 spot on the all-time NCAA Division I scoring list, passing Kelly Mazzante (Penn State). Griner who scored 19 of her 26 points in the first half led the Lady Bears and also pulled down 13 rebounds. Her career scoring tally is 2,929 points.
Baylor effectively neutralized Kansas’s top scoring threats.
“When you hold Angel Goodrich to two points and Carolyn Davis to six points, that’s hard to do,” said Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey. “I just thought that those kids who guarded those two players really took it upon themselves to not let them have a good night.”
Brooklyn Pope and Odyssey Sims added 13 points each for the Lady Bears. Kimetria Hayden finished with 11 points.
Cece Harper led Kansas (14-7, 5-5) with 11 points and Asia Boyd had 10.
Baylor extended its Big 12 regular season win streak to 33 games with the victory and its nation’s-best win streak to 20 games.
Quotes
Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey
Opening statement
“We were better. We took care of the ball better. When you hold Angel Goodrich to two points and the Carolyn Davis to six points, that’s hard to do. I just thought that those kids who guarded those two players really took it upon themselves to not let them have a good night. The crowd was good for a Wednesday. I thought that everybody, even the last group that was in there, maintained the lead. I don’t have much to complain about. Is that a good thing? I’ll have to think about that tomorrow.”
On Kansas’s Carolyn Davis
“When she (Griner) came out Davis went to the post more. I thought that Brooklyn (Pope) did a great job of fronting her. I thought that she got her hands in there are deflected a lot of passes. It was just a good night for us defensively. We really needed to rebound after player really sloppy basketball at Oklahoma State. I thought that we rebounded well and that the kids were ready to play. They were glad to be home.”
On tonight’s defense
“We always play hard, but sometimes we want to take shortcuts because we believe that we can, and most of the time we can. We think that we can go on top of the screen instead of putting a hand in the hip and going with them. Sometimes it’s like anything in life, you won’t stop at that stop sign sometimes and roll right through it. I thought tonight that we got back to doing things better and with effort. We have been doing drills to keep the opponent off the offensive glass and drills to recognize when to push the ball and when to make something happen. They played happy. When things are going well everyone plays happy. I thought that the crowd responded well.”
Senior center Brittney Griner
On Kansas’ 16 points in the paint
“They would drive in and kick the ball out when they saw me come in on help side. They weren’t going in too much when I was in the game. When I came out they started going in the paint more.”
On her spin move in the game
“I’m so glad that I got that foul. I just guess that I was feeling it. To do a spin move coming down I had to be feeling it. I guess it just came to me.”
Junior guard Odyssey Sims
On defending Angel Goodrich
“I think that coach gave us the heads up to keep her out of the paint. She’s a very good point guard because she can get in the paint anytime. I thought that we just limited her from getting the ball as much on offense and made somebody else bring the ball up. We kept her from being able to dish out the ball. We are playing great defense as a team right now. We are looking better on the offensive and defensive ends.”
On Griner’s spin move
“I don’t know what it was. I don’t know what was going through her head when she decided to do that. My reaction was ‘What the heck was that?’ Like she said, I’m glad she got fouled because we would’ve heard Kim yelling at us.”
Kansas head coach Bonnie Henrickson
Opening Statement
“The difference between when we played at our place and here is that we struggled to knock down perimeter shots and drive and kick. At our place the ball-side denial opened up and they gave us a kick, and when we got that shot we could shoot, get more penetration, get the ball in the paint more, get more east-west drives with baseline passes out. But their ball denial pushed us to the rim, which with that kind of size with Brittney (Griner) all around the rim, that’s not a good shot. They also got us on the blocks. They didn’t have as many offensive rebounds in the second half because they shot the ball so well. For us, we have to defensively rebound the ball better and cut down opportunities in transition.”
On what Baylor did on Angel Goodrich and Carolyn Davis
“I think Odyssey is one of the best perimeter defenders in all the country. She gets on Angel, and then Angel sped up a little. Carolyn, her game is built on being in the paint, and that’s difficult to do against these guys with that kind of size. Angel will usually drive and finish at the rim, and Carolyn is a low post player, so it changes who she has to be against these guys for the past couple of years. Last year she scored 12, but it was heels on the three. We did have some opportunities to throw her the ball in the post in the first half, but we overthrew her, underthrew her, and missed opportunities to get her the ball on the block. We’re not going to post her up against Brittney Griner and add to her career block shot record, she can do that all by herself. Brittney’s presence forces all of us to adjust. People that shoot three’s, and that’s where the majority of their offense comes from, won’t feel that as much. But a team like us that plays in the paint – whether it’s drive or bigs- we have to play differently because of how differently it is at the rim with her there.”
On how she thinks this Baylor team will do the rest of the way
“I would think just like they have the first half of the season. They have multiple weapons, they had four kids in double figures and they all know their role and execute and do their job. These guys understand who they are. Everyone’s job is to throw it to Brittney, and if they double her, they cut the slide and they get out in transition. They do a great job of that and they have for a long time.”
