Mulkey answers more questions about controversial comments

A week after going on a postgame rant following her 500th victory, Baylor coach

was still receiving questions about that emotional speech and her subsequent apologies.

After the Lady Bears 95-63 win against Texas Tech in the second quarterfinal of the Big 12 women’s basketball, Mulkey was asked about the week she’s had and if she realizes that, as one of the most influential women at Baylor, people are going to pay extra attention to what she has to say.

“Sometimes you don’t realize — I don’t view myself that way,” she said. “I don’t like the attention. I don’t like that stuff, so I don’t view myself that way. But, yes, I can see now how people do view me. If you saw my last press conference, guys, I said I was sorry about the timing. (It) was one of the things I was sorry about. So I’m going to answer you like this: It’s about these kids right now. All you can do is say you’re sorry and move on.”

Among other things, Mulkey told fans at the Lady Bears’ senior night victory to knock Baylor critics in the face if they said they didn’t feel Baylor was a safe place to send their daughters.

Then, Sunday night, Mulkey apologized for her rhetoric in an ESPNW story by That wasn’t the end of the controversy, however, as Mulkey wouldn’t answer questions about the apology at Monday night’s victory at Oklahoma. Instead of clarifying her words, Mulkey referred reporters at the postgame press conference to Voepel’s column.

By Thursday afternoon, Mulkey changed her tone from defiant and hostile to remorseful in a teary apology to reporters ahead of Baylor’s trip to the Big 12 women’s tournament.

At the end of Saturday night’s press conference, Mulkey was asked if it’s fair to characterize her words as a fight between the urge to be compassionate toward the victims while also defending her institution.

“I don’t know that I’m going through anything,” she said. “I said something in the emotion of the moment. I love Baylor University. I don’t know details. I don’t know how the media knows details. Y’all seem to know more than I know. All I do is go to work, recruit, love my two kids, my son-in-law, love those kids, graduate these kids and know that I love that place.”

TCU FORWARD KIANNA RAY SUFFERS APPARENT HEAD INJURY IN LOSS

With just seconds winding down in the first half of Texas Tech’s 76-58 victory Friday against TCU in the opening round Friday of the Big 12 tournament, freshman Horned Frogs guard

suffered an apparent head injury colliding into a teammate while chasing a loose ball.

Ray rested on her back on the court inside Chesapeake Energy Arena for about five minutes with an athletic trainer before eventually being helped off with the help of two people.

TCU coach addressed Ray’s status postgame.

“We’re not supposed to really comment on players’ health that way, but she will be OK,” Pebley said. “Just won’t get into the details. She played really hard, and I know she would do the exact same thing in the exact same situation. She is a competitor that way. I think she’ll be OK.”

Ray, of Austin, Texas, averaged 6.7 points and 3.3 rebounds in 30 games this season.

RED RAIDER DÉJÀ VU VICTORY

Texas Tech defeated TCU in its regular season finale Monday by a 15-point margin (79-64). Four days later, the Red Raiders rolled the Horned Frogs by 18 points (76-58). TTU sophomore forward

indicated it was all by design.

“Being able to play them twice during the regular season and coming in and playing them in the first round, we knew a lot of their strengths and a lot of their weaknesses,” Sanders said. “So we tried to attack their weaknesses and we knew what they were really good at and what they specialized in. But we put a lot of emphasis on what we could do against their defense and how we would attack.”