Postgame Quotes: Oklahoma State vs Kansas State

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton

Opening Statement:
"We didn't respond very well. We ran really poor and undisciplined offense for 20 full minutes of the first half. Even when we did get some good looks, we didn't knock them down. We did a good job of getting to the glass and then we flipped that in the second half. We ran better offense but didn't play very sound defensively."

On the teams past few games:
"Maturity is the thing that comes to my mind immediately. Really mature teams find a way to not have the same thing happen to them over and over again. They don't get caught up in the emotional roller coaster of playing on these great highs and tremendous lows. From an energy stand point, from a focus stand point. We've got to continue to grow, continue to learn and we've got a couple of weeks to figure this thing out."

On offensive rebounds:
"We've got to make some of those baskets. When you get the ball in the paint, you've got to convert. Otherwise you're just leaving opportunities on the board. On the other end, there's not a whole lot of offensive rebounds to get when you're not missing. We didn't force them to miss very often, giving them great looks and to their credit, they knocked them down."

On OSU's offense:
"We settled quite a bit in the first half and took a lot of contested jumpers. That played right into their hands. They will let you shoot jump shots over a contested hand for 40 minutes and we did that for 20 (minutes). Then we attacked the basket more in the second half and got better looks. Therefore, our offense is better."

On the inability to close the scoring gap:
"In this game, you have to make your breaks sometimes. Usually those breaks go to the more aggressive team. Kansas State was the more aggressive team. They played both aggressively on defense in the first half and offensively throughout the whole game. A lot of things fell their way but we didn't do a whole lot to offset that. We let them dictate the tempo. That's probably the most disappointing thing of the game."

His message to the team afterward:
"We've got to decide who we want to be. This is three weeks in a row where we come out kind of flat and not with the same sense of urgency that you need to have success consistently in this league. As a coach, it's really difficult to plan when you're not really sure what type of focus your team's going to have. I've got to do a better job of finding a way to get those guys consistently focused. Then we certainly have to just execute better."

OSU guard Jeffrey Carroll
On what changed during Kansas State taking a big lead:
"Probably our focus. That's probably the key right now. And not being locked in."

On the how to get back to where they need to be:
"Just trying to find a way to be focused for 40 minutes, a full game."

On not being able to cut into the lead:
"It is pretty frustrating. We are trying to play as hard as we can. And they make plays. It's very frustrating."

On the inconsistency between wins on the roads and losses at home:
"That's the thing right now. I don't think we know. We play well on Saturdays, and we have proved that. But we come home and play poorly. It is kind of tough to pinpoint what's wrong, but we'll figure it out."

On looking forward to getting back on the road:
"Honestly, yeah. We have shown, like the past two Saturdays, that we play totally different."

OSU guard Tavarius Shine
On facing Kansas State for his first time this season:
"They play good. They have a good defensive scheme. I mean, they are a good team. That's all I can really say about Kansas State."

On status of his health:
"I feel pretty good. It doesn't matter what it is, but I have to keep pushing. I mean, I feel good. I don't have any pain, but it's not like everything will be good and dandy all the time."

On the shots not falling tonight:
"I can speak for myself. I feel like I took some bad shots. I feel like I took a lot of contested shots, also. The ones I hit weren't contested. Like coach said, we weren't attacking. We were just settling for what they were giving us. I can say I definitely did that."

Kansas State head coach Bruce Weber

On what impressed him most defensively:
"Well, if we would've rebounded better. I know that's their strength is offensive rebounding. They're great at it. They had 20 points at half, and 13 of them came as second chance points. If we could get a few one-shot possessions, it would've been better. The key we talked about was taking care of the ball on offense, so they couldn't get transition. We did a good job in the half court, but they beat us in transition so much, whether it was Carroll running down the sideline or Averette pushing it. They got a lot of easy baskets. We took care of the ball. We had 15 assists and eight turnovers, much better than the other night."

On what he said during the second-to-last media timeout
"They're really good on the weekends, but in their midweek games like against TCU and Baylor, it has been really close for 14 or 15 minutes, then the other team makes a push. You've got to play basketball against them. They're up the line, they pressure you, don't let you run your stuff and take things away. You've got to attack. We also made a lot of big shots. Eight of 18 from the 3-point line helps and all of the free throws down the stretch."

On his thoughts on Kamau Stokes' performance:
"It's great. I talked to him, and he was down after Texas Tech. I just said, 'This is a process. I know you're a good player and older, but you don't just play basketball for three or four weeks. You can't just play in the best conference and be successful. You've got to work at it.' He was there Sunday on his own. He was with our trainers and weight coach. He stayed late today. Obviously it paid off. He gives us some veteran experience, especially down the stretch."

K-State guard Barry Brown Jr.

On what he was most proud of:
"I think the defense is what I'm most proud of. We held them to 20 points in the first half. We knew offense was going to come, so stopping them was our goal."

On Kamau Stokes' performance:
"(He gave us) some leadership and experience off the bench. Him taking a big leadership role on the court is big time."

K-State forward Xavier Sneed

On why the defense was so good:
"We knew what they were running, so we knew the right spots. The coaches did a good job of preparing us. We shut down some of the plays they normally run."

On limiting OSU players to less than 20 points:
"(Coach Weber) told us not to focus on anybody, but focus on everybody. I think the defense did a good job of doing that."

K-State guard Kamau Stokes
On bouncing back from a home loss against Texas Tech:
"We let that game go after the fact. We came into this game needing to take care of business. That was a big game for us and every game from here on out is a big game for us."

On what worked for him today:
"I made shots. My teammates found me when I was open and I made shots."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Related News

Players Mentioned

Jeffrey Carroll

Tavarius Shine

Related Videos