Post-Match Quotes: Pittsburgh at Oklahoma State

Head Coach John Smith

On how he felt the team performed:
"We performed well in the first period throughout (the match). You look down this row right here and you'll see a lot of points. Kaid Brock went out and scored two takedowns and then got a nearfall, but then you see that in the second and third he scores one point. It's not perfect, but you've just got to keep scoring. That's the scenario that you look at, and we saw the opposite with Nick Piccininni where he didn't score in the first, got one point in the second and then he routs the guy for 10 points from the top (in the third). I liked those first two matches though. They were wrestling some competitive kids and both of those guys wrestled well. I didn't know that Kaid could beat this type of kid right now. You saw the power in him and he's a older, strong redshirted junior, so it was a better effort from us."

On how today's dual compared to Friday's Bedlam victory over Oklahoma:
"I thought we wrestled better tonight than we did at OU. We faced a dangerous kid in Mikey Racciato, who pinned Josh Kindig his freshman year, and I thought Collica did a good job of just executing his shots. Jonce Blaylock wrestled hard, but I thought that Jonce was trying to give him the match. I'm just glad that he has the conditioning that he has because he needed it to help him make some of those late counters. There were just some mistakes that scared me a bit."

On Chandler Rogers' victory:
"That was a hard bridge. There's certain positions that you might have to bridge for 45 seconds to a minute. From some positions, you can bridge out instantly, but what he was in - I was worried because that was not the position you want to be in. He did a good bridging off of his back and then making a match out of it against a good, solid kid that was as good as who he wrestled down at OU. It was good to see him find a way to win. You can always find ways to lose from your back, but it was good to see him pull it out."

On the victories for the upper-weight classes:
"Kyle Crutchmer did a good job and executed well. Nolan Boyd was a little bit sloppy. Preston Weigel obviously got a takedown in the first with a defensive counter and then the next four minutes he couldn't score. That's kind of the bad thing with all of the coverage nowadays is that the nation is watching and they just saw that Weigel couldn't score in four minutes. He's better than that though. Austin Schafer got caught in a headlock, but it was good to see him recover and get the tech fall. Overall, it was pretty good."

On the gaps in this year's schedule:
"It frustrates me and I probably should've paid a little more attention to it this year because I probably wouldn't have let it happen. We've already had two two-week breaks and that's not what you want. I don't know what I was thinking. It's hard to stay focused and there's maybe a little bit too much training. The good news with these next two weeks is that we've got finals this week, so there's no excuses for the guys to do poorly on their finals."

Senior Kyle Crutchmer – 174 pounds

On this week and the upcoming match against Cornell:
"Any time you have to weigh in twice in one weekend, it can be a little stressful. Some of these guys bounced back this weekend...we've seen a lot of promise today. So responding like we did today, having some guys in some tough matches and separated scores, that's what we're looking for right now if we want to make a run in March."

On putting points on the in the back end:
"I think it's good for us. Me and Nolan, we're older guys, we're seniors so you know, we're just trying to get our team rolling. A lot of people are talking about Penn State's bonus points and all these other teams' bonus points so if we're going to contend in March, we're going to have to start putting up bonus points. That's what we're trying to set a trend for."

Redshirt Sophomore Chandler Rogers – 165 pounds

On the match today and almost getting pinned:
"I had some time to think while I was on my back and I was like, 'There's no way in heck that I'm going to lose two (matches) in a row.' So I sat there and I was like kind of trying to wait for him to loosen up and once I got out, I looked at the scoreboard and it was 4-6. I was like, 'You know, I'm only two points and riding time away from winning this match.' So once I got out and got on top and I heard to crowd go crazy, I was just like, "Alright, it's time to go to work.'

"Back before the match Coach was like, 'You need to be prepared for anything. You're going to have to go through a grind match.' I thought, 'Oh yeah whatever.' So then I get thrown on my back and I'm fighting off my back for a minute and a half or however long I was there but it was good. I think I needed that, especially after OU. I hit a wall, got thrown on my back and was about to get pinned. Now I had to push through it and force myself to push through it. That was huge. I was sitting on the bench (afterwards) and I was like 'If I can get through that, I can get just about through just about any match.'"

Redshirt Freshman Kaid Brock – 133 pounds

On his first official match in GIA
"I was actually in the back warming up with Coach Guerrero and I said, 'Coach, this is a little different atmosphere.' I mean I've wrestled at Bedlam, I've wrestled in other atmospheres...but it was different at home. You have so many people you know there. You want to perform well for the home crowd and I liked it. It was my first one and I really enjoyed it."

On almost ending in a pin:
"I wanted it to really bad, but it's probably good that it didn't. It showed me some things I need to work on in other parts of the match. Some finishes, like my finishing on the single leg and my pressure forward because I started kind of in-and-out, in-and-out. I was moving my feet still, which was good and a lot better than the other night, but still in-and-out, in-and-out rather than pressure forward."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Jonce Blaylock

Nolan Boyd

Kaid Brock

Kyle Crutchmer

Nick Piccininni

Chandler Rogers

Austin Schafer

Preston Weigel

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