Pitt State Postgame Quotes

Postgame Quotes
Oklahoma State 117, Pitt State 64 (Exhibition)

OSU head coach Brad Underwood

On his thoughts in the game:
"Points in the paint, points off turnovers, second-chance points, I like those numbers. That means we are playing with some intensity. That means we are playing with some emotion. I thought our effort was fairly consistent. We made a ton of mistakes. Some of that is on me. We haven't covered back screens enough and they threw a bunch at us. We have not talked enough about rescreening. We will clean that stuff up. But from an effort standpoint, which is what I was trying to be dialed into tonight. I knew the execution wouldn't be great. We scored 117 points but we didn't run our offense correct. From an effort standpoint, from a tenacity standpoint, I thought we competed and we were very pleased with that."

On the defense being aggressive early and Jawun Evans and Brandon Averette getting in early foul trouble:
"I think we want to make people work against us. I think at some point in point we are going to have really quality depth and we are going to throw a lot of bodies at people. One stat I always look for is the opponents assist. That means they are not running their stuff. They are not creating opportunities off of what they practice every single day. We forced 29 turnovers. Those are opportunities. We are plus 17 in field goal attempts. I will take that every night. that means we are creating opportunities that lead to fast-break points or easy baskets. Those are things when you don't have to face the opponents defense. We have to get better, we left a lot out there tonight. For the first time out I was pretty positive."

On the team scoring so well from point-break range and how common it is to do so:
"We were 93rd percentile with points in the paint last year. That's a good number for us. there's a lot of ways to score at the rim without a true post player. We did it through cuts. Shine missed three tonight, Jeffery missed a couple layups. I think Lindy missed one. Davon missed a dunk later. There's a bunch of opportunities we left out there that are points in the paint. We have to get better at finishing those opportunities but that is a number I look at a lot. It is a way to get Jawun, it's a way to get Phil easy baskets. We were very vanilla tonight. We didn't run much in terms of what we do. We just tried to stay with our base stuff and go from there."

Pitt State head coach Kevin Muff

On team effort
"You talk about effort, Brad [Underwood] has his guys buying into the system. They play defense the way we want to play defense. We would like to get ourselves to that point. They've got maybe a little bit better athletes than we do, but at the same time I think we're capable. He's a couple more weeks of practice to get his guys to this point, but I still think we're capable. The lessons learned tonight will show on Nov. 11 when we play. How are we going to respond? What's our answer to that going to be? I told these guys going into the game tonight that we're going to find out a lot about ourselves because I knew they were going to come out and punch us in the face. You knew it was coming. You can talk about it all you want and tell your guys what you want them to do. But until you face that pressure defense, it's a whole different scenario and it's a whole different game."

On what impressed him about Oklahoma State's team
"Even though he didn't play great tonight, Jawun [Evans] is the point guard in the Big 12 and probably one of the top three point guards in the country. The thing I was most impressed with was their ability to stretch the floor. They've got shooters and I thought they did an excellent job of making the extra pass and being ready to shoot. It wasn't even [Phil] Forte like you thought it was going to be. He made some shots, but they have multiple guys. I can't even tell you how many times it was like extra pass. Extra pass. Boom. Knock your shot down and then get down into the paint and draw you in then make the extra pass. I thought we had some good defensive possessions against a very tough offense to guard, but give them credit. They were head and shoulders better than us tonight and they showed it."

OSU senior forward Leyton Hammonds

On playing fast
"It's fun. Defensively it's a blast just going out and getting in the passing lanes. Seeing your teammates got your back, that's the main thing. I know if I put pressure on the dude that's got the ball, then I got four dudes behind that got my back."

On Underwood in a game
"He's the exact same in practice. He demands excellence from us. That's what he's done. If it's a game, a practice, a scrimmage, if it's pickup, he wants us to be everyday guys. He's been the exact same since day one. He motivates us. My voice is gone, he tells us to talk a lot. He's demanding excellence from us and we're trying to show him that."

On Phil Forte
"There's not a lot of things I like in this world. I love my mom's cooking, I love God, I love my teammates and I love Phil Forte making a three-pointer. Just to see that happen is like living a dream again. I haven't gotten to play with him in a long time. To see him to make that three, I was like, Whoa he's back."

OSU freshman guard Lindy Waters

On first time in uniform
"It was a blast, just the energy. All the teammates is what I expected my first game to be like. We go hard every day in practice and it makes it easier in the game."

On first shot
"The first shot felt great. Coming off my hand felt great. It was a good start."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Brandon Averette

Jawun Evans

Leyton Hammonds

Related Videos