Oklahoma State University Athletics
WVU Postgame Quotes
February 04, 2017 | Cowboy Basketball
Oklahoma State head coach Brad Underwood opening statement:
"First of all, I'm extremely proud of my guys. The first game, in Stillwater, we didn't compete very hard. I thought today we had a lot more fight and competitive spirit. The first half was a good half of basketball by both teams and I don't think our defense was as bad as the stats show. We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish, which was to keep them out of the paint. It's hard to account for Lamont West. Wow, what a half. It seemed like every time we turned around he was hitting a three. I thought we did a very good job handling their pressure when they did score. Not very often you're going to sit in here during a postgame and look at a stat sheet and see a Bob Huggins team outrebounded 30 to 16. I thought that was a big factor. We didn't get a whole lot of offensive rebounds, but again we shot 62 percent and I thought we had great shots. I thought Jawun Evans was sensational, his floor game was off the chart. He made great reads. We had a couple of silly turnovers, but for the most part I thought we executed and got the ball in the right guy's hands. Phil's (Forte) the leading free throw shooter in the country and he made free throws. Davon Dillard gave us a big lift. Five rebounds and by far and away the most minutes he's played all year. All in all, very pleased. It was a great road win against arguably one of the top five teams in the country."
On approaching this game differently from the first meeting:
"Yeah, we gave up 50 points in the paint in the first game. We never gave ourselves a chance in the first game. When you combined that with our effort, that game was over at the ten minute mark of the first half. Keeping the ball out of the paint was something we felt like we had to do. A much better job of making them shoot contested threes. They were shooting the heck out of it coming in. They still made 12 tonight, but then again, it's better than 50 points on layups."
On wanting Jawun Evans to attack the basket:
"Yeah, he's one of the elite guards in the country. With him we fight that fine line with playing under control, knowing when and when not to. When Jawun has the ball we want to attack and his decision making is right most every time. He got pinned on the sidelines once, but more often than not he is going to make the right decision. His aggression is something we sure want."
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins
On whether OSU had good offense or WVU had bad defense:
"Both. We didn't guard, but they still have to make them. They did."
On getting outrebounded:
"I don't think we've ever been outrebounded like that. In 35 years, I can't remember getting beat that bad on the glass. Maybe, but I don't remember getting beat that bad on the glass. We miss enough shots that we had plenty of chances."
On effort:
"I think it's hard to hide from the fact that we have played big at the three position thinking that it could give us an advantage. We got zero rebounds from our bigs at the three position. Zero. None defensive, none offensive. It wasn't an advantage. And you know their three position, (Jeffrey) Carroll, had 14. We had two or something like that to start the game. We got beat up at the three spot."
On Lamont West:
"He was the only one we had that could make a shot. I don't know. I mean you get guys complaining about coming out who haven't made a shot and their guy drives by them every time. I mean, I like the fact that guys want to play. But at some point in time you have to be a little realistic about what you're producing."
On loss of focus:
"My pregame talk was this. You guys, a week after the season ended a year ago, we started this year. That's a long time. That's a lot of work. Why would you not embrace it? Why would you not embrace the fact that you've put all this work in. You've prepared for this. Why could you ever say you came out flat? This doesn't compute with me. How could you not have enthusiasm that you spent all that time preparing for this? They knew Kansas lost. They knew Baylor lost. They knew this was a huge game for us. It puts us right back in the hunt. Why would you not embrace that? I think that's crap. Lack of focus. Not practicing hard. That's their fault. At this time in the year, how many times should I put them on the treadmill? They said they didn't have any legs."
"First of all, I'm extremely proud of my guys. The first game, in Stillwater, we didn't compete very hard. I thought today we had a lot more fight and competitive spirit. The first half was a good half of basketball by both teams and I don't think our defense was as bad as the stats show. We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish, which was to keep them out of the paint. It's hard to account for Lamont West. Wow, what a half. It seemed like every time we turned around he was hitting a three. I thought we did a very good job handling their pressure when they did score. Not very often you're going to sit in here during a postgame and look at a stat sheet and see a Bob Huggins team outrebounded 30 to 16. I thought that was a big factor. We didn't get a whole lot of offensive rebounds, but again we shot 62 percent and I thought we had great shots. I thought Jawun Evans was sensational, his floor game was off the chart. He made great reads. We had a couple of silly turnovers, but for the most part I thought we executed and got the ball in the right guy's hands. Phil's (Forte) the leading free throw shooter in the country and he made free throws. Davon Dillard gave us a big lift. Five rebounds and by far and away the most minutes he's played all year. All in all, very pleased. It was a great road win against arguably one of the top five teams in the country."
On approaching this game differently from the first meeting:
"Yeah, we gave up 50 points in the paint in the first game. We never gave ourselves a chance in the first game. When you combined that with our effort, that game was over at the ten minute mark of the first half. Keeping the ball out of the paint was something we felt like we had to do. A much better job of making them shoot contested threes. They were shooting the heck out of it coming in. They still made 12 tonight, but then again, it's better than 50 points on layups."
On wanting Jawun Evans to attack the basket:
"Yeah, he's one of the elite guards in the country. With him we fight that fine line with playing under control, knowing when and when not to. When Jawun has the ball we want to attack and his decision making is right most every time. He got pinned on the sidelines once, but more often than not he is going to make the right decision. His aggression is something we sure want."
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins
On whether OSU had good offense or WVU had bad defense:
"Both. We didn't guard, but they still have to make them. They did."
On getting outrebounded:
"I don't think we've ever been outrebounded like that. In 35 years, I can't remember getting beat that bad on the glass. Maybe, but I don't remember getting beat that bad on the glass. We miss enough shots that we had plenty of chances."
On effort:
"I think it's hard to hide from the fact that we have played big at the three position thinking that it could give us an advantage. We got zero rebounds from our bigs at the three position. Zero. None defensive, none offensive. It wasn't an advantage. And you know their three position, (Jeffrey) Carroll, had 14. We had two or something like that to start the game. We got beat up at the three spot."
On Lamont West:
"He was the only one we had that could make a shot. I don't know. I mean you get guys complaining about coming out who haven't made a shot and their guy drives by them every time. I mean, I like the fact that guys want to play. But at some point in time you have to be a little realistic about what you're producing."
On loss of focus:
"My pregame talk was this. You guys, a week after the season ended a year ago, we started this year. That's a long time. That's a lot of work. Why would you not embrace it? Why would you not embrace the fact that you've put all this work in. You've prepared for this. Why could you ever say you came out flat? This doesn't compute with me. How could you not have enthusiasm that you spent all that time preparing for this? They knew Kansas lost. They knew Baylor lost. They knew this was a huge game for us. It puts us right back in the hunt. Why would you not embrace that? I think that's crap. Lack of focus. Not practicing hard. That's their fault. At this time in the year, how many times should I put them on the treadmill? They said they didn't have any legs."
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