Texas Tech Postgame Quotes

OSU head coach Brad Underwood

On Oklahoma State's defense:
"We were really good in the first half. We were dialed in defensively and we were really active. Our communication was great. Quiet teams don't win, and our integrity just through communication was terrific. Our first shot defense was really good. We finally got some stops and we were able to hold them to 39 percent in the second half."

On Texas Tech:
"Give them a lot of credit. Chris Beard is a terrific coach. They fought and didn't quit. Justin Gray was terrific."

On Davon Dillard:
"Davon was really good, offensively in the first half and defensively."

On Jawun Evans:
"He can really manage game situations. He hits free throws and he gets to the hole. We were really efficient offensively."

On Oklahoma State's school-record 22-of-22 performance from the free throw line:
"We shoot a lot of free throws and we practice a lot. Two to three days a week we are shooting 100 free throws after practice. It's like anything else, when you practice you get better at it. We've got good shooters and with that comes confidence."

OSU guard Jeffrey Carroll

On how good the team is:
"I think now we're starting to feel that we can be great. And we're just going to keep getting better and better."

On he and Phil Forte's success:
"Jawun [Evans] and BA [Brandon Averette] do a great job of passing us the ball, and I'm playing with the best shooter."

On the OSU hot streak:
"It's great. We're blessed. Before the Tech game in Lubbock we all just kind of bought in because we knew we were down deep and we knew we had to fight back. Now we're having fun, so we're just trying to keep it going."

OSU guard Brandon Averette

On strong play of the bench:
"We just come off the bench and keep it rolling. Just have no drop off coming off the bench and coach likes to run so just get that rebound and just keep the pace going."

On where the team is at:
"It's real cool, especially starting off so sluggish. We all just kept working. Working hard every day in practice and trusting in coach's process. Right now it's working and paying off for us."

Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard opening Statement:
"First of all, congratulations to Oklahoma State. They're a well-coached team. Brad has done a great job. They likely have three all-conference players, and in my opinion, they're one of the top two teams in the Big 12. They're really well-coached, and their players are really good players, so congratulations to them."

On what he saw in Justin Gray today:
"I think above all he just competed. Justin is a kind of guy who has a lot of pride about him. Your true character comes out in the middle of adversity. In the first half, that was adversity in college basketball. I thought he was one of our guys who never quit and really competed the entire time, so Justin Gray is a warrior."

On what OSU is doing different from their 0-6 start:
"Well, I think in the 0-6 stretch they had a couple of close games that could have gone either way, so if they're sitting there at a 3-and-3 at that stretch, then the story isn't quite what it is. I have so much respect for Brad, so I have to be careful how I word this, but I think that he would agree with me; he has really good players. He has an NBA point guard, one of the all-time great Big 12 players in [Phil] Forte, and in my opinion he has the most improved player, not only in Big 12, but in college basketball with [Jeffrey] Carroll. He has young players who really play their roles and play productive minutes. Put Brad on top of that, a guy who can really coach, they play defense. You're not going to get an easy basket against Oklahoma State. They're not going to beat themselves, for the most part, so I think they're a team that will really play deep into the tournament."

On what his game plan was for after halftime:
"We basically couldn't guard them in the first half. In those regards, you sit there and take it, or you try to give your players a chance to get back in the game. I don't think there's a difference in getting beat by 40 or by 2. I'm not over there trying to keep it close; we're over there trying to win. So in the second half, we got very aggressive and basically played a defense that tried to take out Forte and Carroll and try and make other players beat us. I thought from their point of view, and I don't want to speak for Brad, but I thought they panicked a little bit and made some mistakes. That was good enough to get us back in the game, but ultimately we were going to have to make some plays and be better than them to win the game. That just wasn't the case today. They always have very productive stat sheets. Their four best players did their jobs today, and our team is just hit or miss. If we can ever get it to where our best four or five players produce, then we could be pretty good as well, but not today."

On Shadell Millinghaus's performance:
"Shadell is a competitor. He's a lot like Justin with the fact that effort is never going to be a problem. I thought more than anything he just competed. I have a lot of respect for Shadell. It's been kind of an up and down year. It's tough because everyone comes to college thinking you're going to play a lot of minutes, and nobody visualizes you'll play a different role than you think, and Shadell has had some adversity in terms of not playing as much as he would want and frankly as much as I would want. Today, he's a grown man. The bell rings and he answers the call. I was really proud to be Shadell's coach today. In simply stated, I really enjoyed watching him compete in the second half."

On Niem Stevenson not playing very much:
"We played the players today we thought would give us the best chance to win."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Brandon Averette

Jeffrey Carroll

Davon Dillard

Jawun Evans

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