Oklahoma State University Athletics
Tulsa Postgame Quotes
December 10, 2016 | Cowboy Basketball
Oklahoma State Head Coach Brad Underwood Opening Statement:
"Ugly, Ugly, Ugly, Win. An ugly win. The opening of that game was about what I expected. I should not have tried to play Phil Forte. He and Jawun went down five minutes into practice. Phil is our leader. He is our tough guy. He made a big point to remember last year's game. He wanted to be apart of it. Anytime that you have major role adjustments, I knew it would be ugly early.
I was extremely proud of our defense. I thought our defense the first half was probably as good as we have played. We had a good segment against Maryland but I thought we had a really good effort in the first half. I thought Mitchell Solomon was a big key to that. I thought Brandon Averette's ball pressure was huge.
There is a reason Tulsa is a tournament team. This team fights. They run good offense. Good atmosphere at home and they made a run. I didn't like the end of the first half for us but I thought it was stuff Tulsa had to deal with.
Frank Haith made nice adjustments at half time. He isolated one side of the floor a bit and drove the ball.
We didn't rotate as well but I can't say enough about the end of that game. I think we had five freshmen on the floor at one time. It is our freshmen that are fearless. That is why I play freshman, because they work their tail off. Brandon's play to dive on a loose ball after he picks the young man was a huge play. Lindy Waters' big three and Thomas Dziagwa's many shots. They have so much confidence about them since their shots got us going.
Leyton Hammonds' shot was big because he hadn't been very good until that point but he did what a senior should do on the road. Very hard fought win under difficult circumstances.
A lot of credit to TU and we are very happy. I am pleased to see our freshman keep growing and they did that today. They played with no fear."
On Brandon Averette's play during the game:
"Well he played very passive the first five or six minutes. You could tell he was nervous. He needed a second wind but I don't play Jawun 37 minutes. I played him 37 minutes. His run of aggression in the first half got us going. It got us some clean looks. We played a little out of sync all day. That is why three-point shots didn't go like we had normally been making. His run, getting to the foul line put constant pressure on them. That was huge. His defense the first half was really good and for most of the second half."
On the freshman effecting his coaching:
"I found myself praying a lot. I told the team that I had seen a lot of veteran teams get punched in the mouth on the road and fold, then not win this game. I have been apart of it. I love this freshman group. They work their tail off and that is why I play them. They have great swagger, great confidence, and a lot of pride. All of the young men have won and they are winners and they know how to make great plays. You can talk about Lindy's shot and right on down the line. I coach a little different all game because I had to make adjustments as well in terms of not having Jawun. Not having him forces your hand a little bit but I thought our players responded. They did was a great team does and played selfless and step up when there was a man down."
On Tulsa being a tournament team:
"They have been there. If they keep on the path that they are on, that's a team that will see their first team, especially when they get Wheeler back. I told my team this: Magnay, I love. That young man is going to be a tremendous basketball player. He won't be a freshman in three or four weeks. He is a double-double guy and he is very good. That basketball team is going to win a lot of games. Frank does an unbelievable job on the offensive end. They played great space and are a young team. Corey Henderson is a guy that makes shots and had a great first half. That is going to be a good basketball team."
On both offenses being "off" tonight:
"I'll speak to our end, our offense was just out of sync. If you were to ask Frank the top two guys on his scouting report, they would be Jawun and Phil. Now all of a sudden those roles changed. What we tried to do was a little bit different and it really effected us in transition. We made adjustments but I thought we were as good defensively as we had been. We took them out of their game since they had 11 turnovers at half. Because of our lack of depth today, we could sustain some of the intensity we wanted. Some of their ball screen stuff but us into some rotation and we didn't adjust to it. That was youth making some of those mistakes. We got better in some areas. We haven't won on the road in some time. We let one slip in Maryland but to come here today short handed, I'm pretty proud of this group."
On Jawun's return:
"I'm hopeful for him and Phil. They are arguably our best players. I hope they are back. I hope we can get better and see where that goes from there. I stay out of medical stuff. I told my team that I coach the guys in the uniforms and I can't do anything about the other guys. That is above my expertise."
OSU freshman guard Brandon Averette:
On today's game:
"It was different. Coming off a game that I played 8 minutes to almost playing the whole game was different but it was fun. Going at it everyday with the best point guard in America prepared me for it. I just tried to take my same approach and take every game and play my game. Off top I was playing a little tentative and coach told me to just play my game and be aggressive."
On the pressure of an "away" game:
"Our coaches didn't say anything about it. I thought about it but I knew we weren't going to end the same way we did last time."
OSU junior forward Jeffrey Carroll:
On the freshmen's presence on the court:
"Their heart and confidence impressed me. [Brandon Averette] and [Lindy Waters] played great today. They made some big shots and I'm proud of them."
On the absence of players:
"It says that we are tough. It's a next man up and we just need to play as hard as we can."
On Tulsa's comeback in the second half:
"Basketball is a game of runs. The other team is going to make their punches and we punched right back and won the game."
On the "In-State" rivalry:
"They are a great team still. We just have to come at them just like they were last year's team. It's just another game. We just have to compete with them and just try as hard as we can. We are trying to take over the state. We are just trying to win against Tulsa and the boys in Norman."
On Brandon Averette's play today:
"I can't even put into words. He played so great. He played tough. He played with heart and confidence. I'm proud of him."
Tulsa Head Coach Frank Haith opening statement:
"Obviously this was a very disappointing loss. I thought our guys fought hard but it's very difficult to win when you give up 17 offensive boards and you turn the ball over 18 times. We have only 48 attempts and they had 63 attempts –– that's the difference in the game. It's not that last shot that Waters hit or Sterling's layup there at the end. The difference in the game was our inability to rebound the basketball and turning the ball over."
On adjustments at half time:
"Well, just toughness. When you play a team that plays defense the way they do – they get up in the passing lanes, they pressure you – you have got to have backups and you've got to pass the ball. We were obviously flowing much better in the second half and we were stronger with the ball. They are going to be aggressive on the ball and you cannot give in to the pressure. I thought we did a much better job in the second half. We had open guys and we shot 48 percent from the floor. If we could have had more attempts, you know, I think we would have had better performance. We just turned the ball over too much during the first half."
On the lack of rebounding:
"That's disappointing. We have been rebounding the ball well all year, but we talked about how they crash the boards, particularly in transition. To me, that is glaring; It was disappointing. We have been rebounding well all year, but this is something we have got to fix. You know we had a couple block out calls that, I don't know, but we need to be fierce in our block outs. When I say calls, I mean we got fouls when we were trying to block them out, but we still need to be fierce in our block outs. A team like that is going to crash as hard as they crash."
On rallying when down 13 points:
"We are developing. We are getting better. We were down 14 the other night against a good Illinois State team, and I think now we have experienced that. I am proud of these guys, I think our best basketball is ahead of us. This team is going to get better and better, but we are playing a lot of young guys. A lot of young guys. Lawson Korita I thought was really good today – another freshman. Will Magnay, I think he's getting better – another freshman. We have guys I think who are giving us some good minutes and they are only going to get better."
On preparing for a different team than they played (due to OSU injuries):
"I have had those experiences myself, when you have a player that is out. That team, in the first game, they rise up. So I expected Oklahoma State to play very well. Normally you don't see that play in the first game, everybody knows we just have to pick ourselves up and pick up what you miss with Evans. And so I expected them to play very well without Evans. We just didn't do what we needed to do to finish the game."
On using this game as a measuring stick:
"We want to create the type of program here that – you know we are in a power conference too, in our league. Oklahoma State is a Big 12 team, a Power 5 team; we think our league is Power 6. We know that we have got to get better. We played hard today and that was good, but now we need to execute a little better on offense and defense. But, you know, I don't know that we are at the point where we want to gauge where we are going to be. We just need to focus on our team right now. The things we are not good at, let's get better at before we play next Saturday at Texas State. When you have a young team, that's important to focus on things like that."
On preparation for league play:
"There is no question we have made great progress since our first game of the year. As a coach, you want to just focus on the now and where we are. Yes, I like what we have done so far, but there is still so much we can do and get better at. We have a tough schedule ahead of us. We have exams now; we need to finish up school and do well there. Then we have Texas State and then we go to Hawaii where you have Stephen F. Austin, an NCAA tournament team, San Diego State sitting there, looking at you and they are an NCAA tournament team, second round. You have Utah out there from the NCAA tournament. We have a lot ahead of us before we get back and play UConn. So we want to focus on Texas State and try to get better before we play our next game."
Tulsa sophomore guard Sterling Taplin:
On if this game had the same feel as the other night, when Tulsa was able to hang around and make a run there in the second half:
"We just came to play, and it was a disappointing loss like coach said, but we did fight. We tried to come back and we did come back and the crowd motivated us as well, and it did feel like the other night."
On what the positives that the team can take away from this game are:
"That next game we will get better, and we got to grow, and keep getting better each and every day."
Tulsa junior guard Jaleel Wheeler:
On Oklahoma State's ability to force turnovers:
"They were quick, they were big, I felt like I picked up my dribble a lot. With the pressure, they got up into us, so I think we need to be stronger with the ball."
On positives they can take away from this game:
"Definitely, get better and grow. Towards the end we came together, I saw that. Defense, we know we can play defense, so we need to do that for the whole game, and play that way the whole time."
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"Ugly, Ugly, Ugly, Win. An ugly win. The opening of that game was about what I expected. I should not have tried to play Phil Forte. He and Jawun went down five minutes into practice. Phil is our leader. He is our tough guy. He made a big point to remember last year's game. He wanted to be apart of it. Anytime that you have major role adjustments, I knew it would be ugly early.
I was extremely proud of our defense. I thought our defense the first half was probably as good as we have played. We had a good segment against Maryland but I thought we had a really good effort in the first half. I thought Mitchell Solomon was a big key to that. I thought Brandon Averette's ball pressure was huge.
There is a reason Tulsa is a tournament team. This team fights. They run good offense. Good atmosphere at home and they made a run. I didn't like the end of the first half for us but I thought it was stuff Tulsa had to deal with.
Frank Haith made nice adjustments at half time. He isolated one side of the floor a bit and drove the ball.
We didn't rotate as well but I can't say enough about the end of that game. I think we had five freshmen on the floor at one time. It is our freshmen that are fearless. That is why I play freshman, because they work their tail off. Brandon's play to dive on a loose ball after he picks the young man was a huge play. Lindy Waters' big three and Thomas Dziagwa's many shots. They have so much confidence about them since their shots got us going.
Leyton Hammonds' shot was big because he hadn't been very good until that point but he did what a senior should do on the road. Very hard fought win under difficult circumstances.
A lot of credit to TU and we are very happy. I am pleased to see our freshman keep growing and they did that today. They played with no fear."
On Brandon Averette's play during the game:
"Well he played very passive the first five or six minutes. You could tell he was nervous. He needed a second wind but I don't play Jawun 37 minutes. I played him 37 minutes. His run of aggression in the first half got us going. It got us some clean looks. We played a little out of sync all day. That is why three-point shots didn't go like we had normally been making. His run, getting to the foul line put constant pressure on them. That was huge. His defense the first half was really good and for most of the second half."
On the freshman effecting his coaching:
"I found myself praying a lot. I told the team that I had seen a lot of veteran teams get punched in the mouth on the road and fold, then not win this game. I have been apart of it. I love this freshman group. They work their tail off and that is why I play them. They have great swagger, great confidence, and a lot of pride. All of the young men have won and they are winners and they know how to make great plays. You can talk about Lindy's shot and right on down the line. I coach a little different all game because I had to make adjustments as well in terms of not having Jawun. Not having him forces your hand a little bit but I thought our players responded. They did was a great team does and played selfless and step up when there was a man down."
On Tulsa being a tournament team:
"They have been there. If they keep on the path that they are on, that's a team that will see their first team, especially when they get Wheeler back. I told my team this: Magnay, I love. That young man is going to be a tremendous basketball player. He won't be a freshman in three or four weeks. He is a double-double guy and he is very good. That basketball team is going to win a lot of games. Frank does an unbelievable job on the offensive end. They played great space and are a young team. Corey Henderson is a guy that makes shots and had a great first half. That is going to be a good basketball team."
On both offenses being "off" tonight:
"I'll speak to our end, our offense was just out of sync. If you were to ask Frank the top two guys on his scouting report, they would be Jawun and Phil. Now all of a sudden those roles changed. What we tried to do was a little bit different and it really effected us in transition. We made adjustments but I thought we were as good defensively as we had been. We took them out of their game since they had 11 turnovers at half. Because of our lack of depth today, we could sustain some of the intensity we wanted. Some of their ball screen stuff but us into some rotation and we didn't adjust to it. That was youth making some of those mistakes. We got better in some areas. We haven't won on the road in some time. We let one slip in Maryland but to come here today short handed, I'm pretty proud of this group."
On Jawun's return:
"I'm hopeful for him and Phil. They are arguably our best players. I hope they are back. I hope we can get better and see where that goes from there. I stay out of medical stuff. I told my team that I coach the guys in the uniforms and I can't do anything about the other guys. That is above my expertise."
OSU freshman guard Brandon Averette:
On today's game:
"It was different. Coming off a game that I played 8 minutes to almost playing the whole game was different but it was fun. Going at it everyday with the best point guard in America prepared me for it. I just tried to take my same approach and take every game and play my game. Off top I was playing a little tentative and coach told me to just play my game and be aggressive."
On the pressure of an "away" game:
"Our coaches didn't say anything about it. I thought about it but I knew we weren't going to end the same way we did last time."
OSU junior forward Jeffrey Carroll:
On the freshmen's presence on the court:
"Their heart and confidence impressed me. [Brandon Averette] and [Lindy Waters] played great today. They made some big shots and I'm proud of them."
On the absence of players:
"It says that we are tough. It's a next man up and we just need to play as hard as we can."
On Tulsa's comeback in the second half:
"Basketball is a game of runs. The other team is going to make their punches and we punched right back and won the game."
On the "In-State" rivalry:
"They are a great team still. We just have to come at them just like they were last year's team. It's just another game. We just have to compete with them and just try as hard as we can. We are trying to take over the state. We are just trying to win against Tulsa and the boys in Norman."
On Brandon Averette's play today:
"I can't even put into words. He played so great. He played tough. He played with heart and confidence. I'm proud of him."
Tulsa Head Coach Frank Haith opening statement:
"Obviously this was a very disappointing loss. I thought our guys fought hard but it's very difficult to win when you give up 17 offensive boards and you turn the ball over 18 times. We have only 48 attempts and they had 63 attempts –– that's the difference in the game. It's not that last shot that Waters hit or Sterling's layup there at the end. The difference in the game was our inability to rebound the basketball and turning the ball over."
On adjustments at half time:
"Well, just toughness. When you play a team that plays defense the way they do – they get up in the passing lanes, they pressure you – you have got to have backups and you've got to pass the ball. We were obviously flowing much better in the second half and we were stronger with the ball. They are going to be aggressive on the ball and you cannot give in to the pressure. I thought we did a much better job in the second half. We had open guys and we shot 48 percent from the floor. If we could have had more attempts, you know, I think we would have had better performance. We just turned the ball over too much during the first half."
On the lack of rebounding:
"That's disappointing. We have been rebounding the ball well all year, but we talked about how they crash the boards, particularly in transition. To me, that is glaring; It was disappointing. We have been rebounding well all year, but this is something we have got to fix. You know we had a couple block out calls that, I don't know, but we need to be fierce in our block outs. When I say calls, I mean we got fouls when we were trying to block them out, but we still need to be fierce in our block outs. A team like that is going to crash as hard as they crash."
On rallying when down 13 points:
"We are developing. We are getting better. We were down 14 the other night against a good Illinois State team, and I think now we have experienced that. I am proud of these guys, I think our best basketball is ahead of us. This team is going to get better and better, but we are playing a lot of young guys. A lot of young guys. Lawson Korita I thought was really good today – another freshman. Will Magnay, I think he's getting better – another freshman. We have guys I think who are giving us some good minutes and they are only going to get better."
On preparing for a different team than they played (due to OSU injuries):
"I have had those experiences myself, when you have a player that is out. That team, in the first game, they rise up. So I expected Oklahoma State to play very well. Normally you don't see that play in the first game, everybody knows we just have to pick ourselves up and pick up what you miss with Evans. And so I expected them to play very well without Evans. We just didn't do what we needed to do to finish the game."
On using this game as a measuring stick:
"We want to create the type of program here that – you know we are in a power conference too, in our league. Oklahoma State is a Big 12 team, a Power 5 team; we think our league is Power 6. We know that we have got to get better. We played hard today and that was good, but now we need to execute a little better on offense and defense. But, you know, I don't know that we are at the point where we want to gauge where we are going to be. We just need to focus on our team right now. The things we are not good at, let's get better at before we play next Saturday at Texas State. When you have a young team, that's important to focus on things like that."
On preparation for league play:
"There is no question we have made great progress since our first game of the year. As a coach, you want to just focus on the now and where we are. Yes, I like what we have done so far, but there is still so much we can do and get better at. We have a tough schedule ahead of us. We have exams now; we need to finish up school and do well there. Then we have Texas State and then we go to Hawaii where you have Stephen F. Austin, an NCAA tournament team, San Diego State sitting there, looking at you and they are an NCAA tournament team, second round. You have Utah out there from the NCAA tournament. We have a lot ahead of us before we get back and play UConn. So we want to focus on Texas State and try to get better before we play our next game."
Tulsa sophomore guard Sterling Taplin:
On if this game had the same feel as the other night, when Tulsa was able to hang around and make a run there in the second half:
"We just came to play, and it was a disappointing loss like coach said, but we did fight. We tried to come back and we did come back and the crowd motivated us as well, and it did feel like the other night."
On what the positives that the team can take away from this game are:
"That next game we will get better, and we got to grow, and keep getting better each and every day."
Tulsa junior guard Jaleel Wheeler:
On Oklahoma State's ability to force turnovers:
"They were quick, they were big, I felt like I picked up my dribble a lot. With the pressure, they got up into us, so I think we need to be stronger with the ball."
On positives they can take away from this game:
"Definitely, get better and grow. Towards the end we came together, I saw that. Defense, we know we can play defense, so we need to do that for the whole game, and play that way the whole time."
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Players Mentioned
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