Oklahoma State University Athletics
Kansas State Postgame Quotes
March 09, 2016 | Cowboy Basketball
Coach Travis Ford
Opening statement:
"I thought tonight's game was the definition of our season: a lot of injuries and a lot of fight. And that's who we've been this year. And going into this game, we didn't know if Mitchell Solomon --literally, we had to have a long, in-depth conversation with our trainer five minutes before the game. Are you sure? Are you sure? And he wanted to give it a go. And then Leyton Hammonds goes down and Mitch goes down, and we get in a little foul trouble, but our guys never quit. Had so much fight to them. We fought so much adversity this year. I told them I couldn't be more proud. They learned so many life lessons. There's going to be a lot of adversity in people's lives, whether it be jobs, marriage, whatever it maybe, you will find it. But if they handle adversity the way they did this season, good things will happen for them. Because never did they make excuses and they went out and played hard and got prepared for the next game, when all the odds were against us, and they got prepared for the next game. And I thought tonight's game was kind of a true definition of how our season is going. Through all of the injuries and trying to figure out what we're going to do next, just stay in the game and keep fighting."Â
On the emotion in after the game:Â
"No, (the locker room)Â was emotional. When you make a run, especially the way we made it, and had the chance to win the game, we had a chance, it's always even a little bit more. And you know it's your last game too, it was very emotional."
On how the team handled adversity:Â
"I challenge you to find any teams that have been through the adversity that we have been through. I challenge it. For these guys to keep fighting, these two right here (Griffin and Carroll), both have been injured significantly, sick or injured. Never had any excuses, tried to figure out how to get themselves back. And that's not easy to find in today's society. So many people would give in or give up or go do something, but these guys never did that. They just kept fighting. I love that."Â
Tyree Griffin
On the message after the game:
"Well, like he has been saying the whole season, like we've been through a lot of adversity and he's just trying to lift us up, like every single time. He's never been negative to us. We've never been negative towards our teammates. We just try to go out there and finish each game and play strong every night."
On how the team handled the challenges coming into the game:Â
"Well, nobody want to lose. Like we went into every game thinking we was going to win, even with a short bench. Like the games that we lost, we never made excuses or nothing. We just built off them and tried to learn from them."
Jeffrey CarrollÂ
On the message after the game:Â
"Â Kind of building what Coach and Tyree were saying, he's always been positive the whole year. Great coach, I love him to death. He has made me a totally better player this year. And like just as a team, we've grown together as one. So I think this season has made us a lot closer."
On how the team handled the challenges coming into the game:Â
"The challenge, you know, just I think we've grown a lot. Like this has helped us for next season. I think we'll come back even stronger from that."
