Postgame Quotes: Oklahoma State 80 vs FGCU 68

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton
On the toughness of NIT games:
"Particularly in their case, but certainly in ours, teams will expect to and set up their entire work ethic and theme and mantra and everything they've worked for to play in the NCAA tournament this time of year. Not that it's any disrespect to the NIT because this is a great tournament and has been for a long time. That psychological challenge, those first 48 hours, it's really big. I was really worried coming in on Monday morning, watching film and figuring out how good they were, knowing that if we weren't in the right place, if we didn't play with the great energy and emotion that we're capable of we would be in a pretty hard fought game. We knew they were capable even if we did play well. I was pleased that our guys played really, really well and gave us a chance to overcome some of the other things."

On going through this as a player and a coach:
"I don't know if I can take any credit for it. Certainly my staff had to do a lot of psychological work here the last couple of days making sure the guys knew there was still a great opportunity to go out and play and represent themselves, their families, this program, this university ... so credit goes to the assistant coaches and the support staff and certainly the most credit goes to the players. You can talk to them all you want. If they don't feel it and if they can't get themselves to go the way they're capable of, you'll have a hard time."

On FGCU not letting OSU get out in transition:
"A big part of their game plan was to make sure they got back when they shot the ball. As evidence, they only had one offensive rebound in the first half. We still got some easy ones. We didn't have as many as I would like, but what you also do is make it hard on a team and make them have to shoot a really high percentage if they're not going to try to get any second-chance shots. Our defense was really aggressive, which we wanted it to be. We made enough shots once it got close to keep them at bay."

On Jeffrey Carroll:
"It was a big emphasis for us to try and get Jeff going. We knew a big part of their game plan was going to be to try and take him out. We thought we could try to be creative and get him inside. We talked to him about getting to the offensive glass himself and being aggressive driving the basketball. He bought into those things, so even though his jump shot wasn't necessarily falling tonight he still found a way to have a really productive offensive game."

On Mitchell Solomon:
"The kid has got really good shooting ability, and I'm pleased with the season he has been able to have. No one has put more sweat equity, as I like to put it, into having success. He certainly has earned the right to have a really good senior season. We hope it continues on for a couple more weeks."

On the 20-win season:
"We're not gonna give any one of them back, that's for sure. Every one of them was hard fought. Every one of them earned. We certainly hope that number continues to grow, but I'm really pleased. It's not something we set as a goal, but it's good to look and see that you were able to have success that many nights."

On the NIT format:
"The way this tournament is set up is challenging in that you can't really plan anything. The one good thing about being the higher seed is we don't have to travel. So we will watch and wait to hear when the game will be played, and then we'll get ready for it."

On the next game:
"It will be a team with a higher profile in terms of a national standpoint, but we'll take care of that business when we find out who we're playing. I'm sure that my staff will be locked in to trying to put together a good game plan, and these kids will respond and come out and give great effort."

OSU junior guard Tavarius Shine
On playing a team OSU doesn't normally play against
"It felt good. We're not in the tournament we wanted to be in, but it's another game for us and the seniors to be able to play with our guys and our brothers. So, it was good."

On an off night shooting
"It was just one of those nights. It's not going to fall every night, but I feel good. We got the W and that's all that matters."
OSU senior guard Jeffrey Carroll

On the adjustment to the three-point line
"It's cool. I just have to find a way to make shots from back there. There was no difference, really."

On Mitchell Solomon's hard-working attitude
"He plays hard for 40 minutes. That's just him."

On focusing on the game after not making the NCAA tournament
"We just took the feeling that we felt and used it to play hard. We can't do anything about it now, so we had to move on."

On FGCU's defense
"They were playing a pretty physical, so we had to try to take that and use it against them. I thought we did that."

FGCU head coach Joe Dooley
Opening statement:
"It was a hard fought game. Congratulations to Oklahoma State. Wish them luck as they move down the road. Complement our guys tonight, for not folding which they didn't do all year when we were down. We put ourselves in some bad situations but fought back out of it like they usually do. I really thought that we had a couple stretches where we played really well. We also had some stretches where we put ourselves in harm's way and they took advantage of it."

His thoughts on the quarter system:
"We only played one game so I can't judge it. I think the flow of the game didn't change much. Obviously you're going to see more free throws I think because...the five getting into bonus. It will be interesting to see how the data comes back."

???????FGCU guard Brandon Goodwin
On what Oklahoma State was doing defensively to stop their runs:
"They just play hard. Their coach put them in a good position to guard us kind of keep me and our perimeter guys out of the lane. And when we did get in the lane they did converged really hard on us. It was kind of tough to just get shots up and they were rebounding and pushing the ball at a high level. It's a great team and they play all-around; defensively and offensively.

???????FGCU guard Zach Johnson
On what Oklahoma State was doing defensively to stop their runs:
"To kind of piggy back off what Brandon said, but they definitely play hard on defense and try to make everything hard for you. We kind of tried to relieve some pressure a little bit when they rebound the ball they got good length and kind of disrupted everything for us."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Jeffrey Carroll

Tavarius Shine

Mitchell Solomon

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