Kansas Postgame Quotes

Oklahoma State head coach Brad Underwood opening statement:
"A lot of credit goes to Kansas. I thought they were way more aggressive, really all night than we were. That was very reflective in the rebounding numbers. I thought again Lagerald Vick was absolutely a Cowboy destroyer. He got us in the first game with four rebounds and he had nine today. They made every single hustle play that great teams do. That's a position at the small forward spot that we have been dominating on the glass, and they won that battle today. You're not beating the number one team in the country when you get out rebounded by 12."

On the pace of the game:
"They really hurt us in transition. We didn't do a very good job of stopping the ball and we got outscored 18 to nine in fast break points. We played in a really bad flow to start the game offensively. It was an electric first six minutes, and then the game settled and we didn't play very good offense. When you take bad shots, good teams make you pay."

On Jawun Evans:
"He's been the best point guard, probably in the country in terms of what he's effecting and how much he's effecting the game at the offensive end. He was tremendous and he's playing as well as anybody out there. He gets guys shots. Good players make themselves better and great players make their teammates better. Fifteen assists, I think that's making things pretty easy for a lot of guys."

On the atmosphere around campus:
"There was an unbelievable buzz around Stillwater and around campus. I was so excited. This is just the tip of the iceberg. This is what this program can be and I believe that. Hats off to Kansas. This isn't their first rodeo, they see this every night."

OSU senior guard Phil Forte, III

On watching Frank Mason and Jawun Evans play against each other:
"Those two might be the two best point guards in the country. They were just delivering blow for blow. That's what happens when you get two good players out there competing and playing their tails off. I thought Jawun played great and he's done that all year. He's very good at making everybody else's job easy."

On senior night:
"It was different. I just tried to take it all in and soak up every last moment of it. From taking the court, to the fans, to pregame with my teammates and everything else. I tried not to get lost in the moment and enjoy it as much as I could."

On coach Underwood's message after the game:
"He talked about rebounding. We got out-rebounded. And obviously giving up 90 points on your home court isn't going to win a whole lot of games. Defense and rebounding are the two keys we have to work on going into the Big 12 Tournament and the NCAA Tournament."

On the postseason:
"Just because we fell short the last two games, doesn't change how I feel. These last two could have gone either way. I think we're playing well. We just have to tighten things up on the defensive end and I think we'll be good from there. We're very talented and we have different ways we could beat teams. I think when you go into the tournament, that is kind of dangerous. One game at a time and win-or-go-home mentality from here on out. Whoever we're playing, focus on that opponent."

On what he'll miss most about playing at Gallagher-Iba Arena:
"Probably just the fans. There's so many great memories and so many great wins. I'll miss taking the court with my teammates and hearing my name called when they announce the starting lineups. Every little thing and every little detail. Coming into the game, I was just trying to embrace every moment of it. I couldn't have asked for a better five years. Thank goodness this isn't the end of our season. We have more basketball to be played and there's not another group of guys I'd rather go into the postseason with than our team right here."

On where tonight's noise level in Gallagher-Iba Arena ranked in his career:
"It's up there. It's kind of hard to pick one memory or one game in particular. But the fans were great today. We knew they would be coming in. We can't thank them enough for coming out today and the past couple of weeks. They've been really great and they meant a lot to us throughout the season. We're sorry we couldn't pull out the win for them."

OSU sophomore guard Jawun Evans

On heading into the postseason:
"I feel like we're in a great spot. We're playing well, but we just fell short in these final two games. We just have to pick it up on defense, but I feel like we're getting better and better."

On playing from behind during the game:
"I felt it just a little bit. We didn't play as well on defense as we should have and that had a big thing to do with it. With us not rebounding as well as we know we can, they kind of had us going."

On improving the defense for the postseason:
"At the beginning of the season, defense was going well for us. We were getting stops and keeping opponents down in points. We just have to get back to the way we were playing at the beginning of the season, with a defensive mentality. Once we get back to that, I feel like we'll be fine."

On defending Frank Mason:
"He's a great guard. You just have to do as much as you can on both sides. Him guarding me and me guarding him. You just have to do all you can."

On increased scoring in the second half:
"Coach was just giving us the right plays. I just had to be more aggressive. I was just trying to get in the paint and see the ball go in. I feel like that got me going."

Kansas head coach Bill Self

On tonight's game:
"That's about as good and entertaining a basketball game as you could have. Even if the outcome was different, I would've thought that was a good basketball game. I thought they played great and I thought we played well. They made hard shots and certainly [Jeffrey] Carroll and [Jawun] Evans were fabulous for them, but Frank [Mason] probably solidified a lot of things today and he was great."

On winning the Big 12 by four games:
"I thought this year would be as tough a year as we've had to try to win the league and it was. Fortunately, we've won several games just like this game that came down to the last couple of minutes and the guys have been pretty good finishers. That's the biggest difference in it being anyone's league race or us winning the league by a few games, is the fact that our guys have finished games, for the most part, pretty well. Like today they finished the game pretty well and they're pretty confident in late-game situations."

On Brad Underwood:
"He's a good coach and their players play with confidence. He's adjusted a little bit how he plays and I think that's been a really smart move on his part. You guys know, he's a good dude and he fits this place well, at least from the outside looking in, and he'll do very well here."

Kansas senior guard Frank Mason

On getting his first win in Stillwater:
"It means a lot to get my first win here, but it's not all about me; it's about the team and the program. We've been bad for the last three years here and we just wanted to come here this year and change it."

On facing Jawun Evans:
"He's a great player, you know. I think he had 22 (points) and 15 (assists) and that's great. He did a good job of leading his team and he did a good job on the defensive end. He changes speed really well and he can shoot the ball. He's got a nice floater and does a really good job at getting his teammates involved. He'll have a really bright future."

Kansas senior forward Landen Lucas

On winning the conference and moving on to the Big 12 tournament:
"It's big I mean that's one of the steps and one of our goals and we accomplished it. Now we're moving on to the next one. We take the year section-by-section. That was the Big 12 and we did that and now we're looking to go the Big 12 tournament and validate what we did."

On where this game ranks in Frank Mason's career:
"It's got to be up there, I mean these were like Russell Westbrook numbers out there. He was close to a triple-double, he did things defensively to help us out and he carried the team."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Jawun Evans

Phil Forte, III

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