Oklahoma State University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: OSU vs Iowa State
January 06, 2018 | Cowboy Basketball
OSU Head Coach Mike Boynton
On the win …
"Wow. Talk about effort and fight and competitive spirit. I'm extremely proud of our guys for finding a way to keep standing in there. We got knocked in the chin a few times and kept throwing punches back, which was a great sign of encouragement for me, especially coming off the way we played the other day. The other fact is knowing that these guys had ever beaten Iowa State. There's a lot of things going on mentally, but for those guys to stand there and compete the way they did makes me very proud to be their coach."
On the halftime talk …
"They needed it, and I got the right kind of guys. I think they'd tell you that. I don't do it often, but when it's necessary and I feel like they need to have their cages rattled a little bit, I've got it in me to do it. It certainly helped. Those guys played much better the second half."
On late shot blocks …
"We talk about creating momentum from our defense ... Not just getting a steal on a dunk, not just making a three, but taking a charge ... getting a deflection at least or a steal, getting a blocked shot where a basket seems to be wide open. Those are plays that kind of crushes the other team, gives your guys a spark and gives your crowd a spark."
On Kendall's play to send the game to OT …
"Kendall wants the ball in his hands in that situation. He has made good plays and good decisions twice in that situation. He made a good decision when we played Florida State in Miami about a month ago. He's a kid who has got a lot of confidence in his own abilities, but his teammates also know he's going to make a good decision most of the time when he has the ball."
On what he told the team before OT …
"I told them I liked that they fought. That's our message. We've got to continue to compete at the very highest level, every possession, every night in this league to have a change. I knew that we had five more minutes. I told them it was going to be a 40-minute game before the game, and then I said, 'Hey guys, I lied to you. We're going to need five more minutes to get this thing done.' And we got it done."
On Jeff's play in OT …
"Jeff is the reason why I try to coach the way I do so these guys aren't overthinking it. He's a really good shooter, and even when he's not making shots I want him to feel comfortable when he feels good about one to take it,. He did in that situation, and he made it because he's a good player and good players make shots. Then going to the glass is something that we've been preaching since day one, and he certainly made a big play in that shot."
OSU guard Tavarius Shine
On defending Donavon Jackson down the stretch …
"We had to find him in transition. Make sure he wasn't getting any good looks. I was trying to make it as tough as possible. He's pretty good. He's a good shooter. So, I was really just trying to deny. As many times as I could keep the ball out of his hands, the less he can get a shot off."
On comparing defending Jackson to Phil Forte …
"It really wasn't too tough because I chased Phil around for about two-three years in practice. So, I'm used to it."
On the crowd
"The crowd is always big for us. They are behind us. When we get going, they get into. It gets our juices flowing even more. They keep us going even when we are playing slow or our shots aren't falling. The crowd can get loud on the smallest thing, like a block, and they can get us going."
OSU guard Kendall Smith
On his shot to send the game to overtime …
"Staying aggressive. I was texting Mitch last night and told him I was watching Jawun Evans' film. All of his possessions. One thing I noticed was that he pushed the ball every time in transition. Sometimes, as of late, I have found myself pushing it. So, I just try to push it every time and put pressure on the defense. He stopped me when I was going left, so I saw a lane going to the middle."
On playing better late in the game …
"We just found it. Coach really got on us at halftime. He got on us. So, the whole second half, we came out with a sense of urgency. We told each other that we weren't going to lose and that we wanted this win. We did whatever it took to win. We stepped up and made good plays and came out with a victory."
On talking to his dad to improve from Bedlam game to today …
"He's a big support. Part of my support staff, and he told me to be mindful and know why they brought me here. I kind of lost sight of it a little bit. I wasn't being as aggressive. So, when your dad is talking to you like that, and he was serious, it wasn't a pretty conversation. I have watched so much film the past couple of days to know how I can be better. I talked to Mitch to see how we can work together, so I completely dialed in and focused on the basketball part."
On getting into Big 12 play …
"Every single play is competitive. You can't take plays off. When you are a leader on the team, you have to prove that every single night. I am learning and adjusting. I will continue to get better as the season goes on."
Iowa State Head Coach Steve Prohm
Opening statement …
"Congratulations to Oklahoma State, first off. I'm disappointed for our guys and we didn't have a great start. Our guys kind of weathered the storm early and responded, going into the half up two. We've put ourselves in position the last two games collectively from top to bottom. We've just got to continue to grow and get better. It stinks and it's hard to deal with right now, but that's a part of growth. We'll continue to grow and further down the road, we'll see the benefits from it."
On making big plays at the end of games …
"When they play like that, you have to continue to make basketball plays. I thought we got good opportunities and shots. I mean I can see right now, Zoran (Talley Jr.) missing a little four-footer at the rim and that happens sometimes. You can't over-analyze every single facet. I'll analyze what I need to do differently and do better. But this is a game when you play a defense like OSU plays it, everybody knows you have to spread the floor and make plays. That's why we weren't very good in the beginning of the game. We were all congested and didn't have any spacing. We had the wrong guys trying to make plays. In the last ten minutes, we did that well. I'm not going to critique every single thing, because we had some guys out there for the first time in those situations. They just have to grow and we all collectively have to do better."
On younger players getting playing time …
"Yeah, I thought Zoran (Talley Jr.) came in and gave us a big boost, especially in the first half. In the second half, we went to him when we were in foul trouble. He was good and he's a guy you can throw the ball back to when they ice the ball screens and he made a couple big plays. But we'll see on tape when we drive and they all shift to the ball, we've got guys open. We missed a couple layups and stuff like that, you can go down the line. In overtime, I probably put Nick (Weiler-Babb) in a tough situation. That one possession where we were up four, and whether he got hit or not is irrelevant. Because then they got the and-one where we probably should have just spaced the floor and we would've had more success just driving it. But if you're going to be successful against OSU, you have to space the floor, drive and make the extra pass."
On OSU's Tavarius Shine covering Donovan Jackson …
"I'm sure he did a good job. I probably could have ran our rover action for Donovan (Jackson) to get him open. We did one time, but probably should have ran that one or two more times to get him a look. But we scored plenty of points to win the game. We were hot and cold with our defense and you can't be like that on the road."
Redshirt-junior guard Nick Weiler-Babb
On in-game adjustments …
"We weren't locked in to start the game. We came out lackadaisical and the only thing we changed was we started playing defense. Then we started to play aggressive on offense, so we weren't locked in at first to be honest."
Senior guard Donovan Jackson
On losing close games down the stretch
"It comes down to us making big plays offensively and defensively. This is the second-straight game where I don't think we did that."
