Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State vs. North Texas Postgame Quotes
November 27, 1999 | Cowboy Basketball
OSU Coach Eddie Sutton
"Overall, I thought we did some really good things. They force you to play a little bit like that because they shoot the ball quickly. I thought we did a good job of running the floor and for the most part didn't give up too many transition baskets to them until the second half. Our defense was spotty in the second half, and we gave up too many points, 38. We had hoped that we could hold them to under 60, and we didn't do that. Offensively, we scored a lot of points and everybody got to play, even on a night when Desmond (Mason) didn't shoot the ball very well. I think the one thing that jumps out at you again is the amount of players that we can play. It really doesn't hurt your ballclub when you can bring some of these guys off the bench."
On comparing the two teams' athletic ability
"They (North Texas) want to play strictly a transition game, and they can
force you into doing that where you really don't see very much half-court
offense or half-court defense. For the most part, we're pretty athletic.
When we have certain players out there, we might have a couple that aren't,
but our team's pretty athletic."
On Andre Williams
"For a freshman, he's played four games, and I think he's done fine. He's
still learning."
On Jason Keep
"We were pleased to get Jason back in the game. He's only practiced once
since he got hurt, and I wasn't sure he would play tonight. When he warmed
up he said he was okay, so we did get him in the game for a little bit.
"Jason's a tough kid. I wouldn't want to mess around with him. I told him 'You've got to keep yourself under control because there will be players that will try to get your goat if they know that you have a short fuse."
Oklahoma State Players
Guard Glendon Alexander
On coming off the bench
"As long as we win, I don't care. So far, it's working. As long as I come in
and contribute the way I did tonight, I really don't care as long as we get
a W."
On North Texas
"So far, athletically, they're the best team. They get up and down. In the
first half, we were scoring layups, and they were coming right back at us.
They like to get all their points in transition, and all their players can
shoot outside. They hit the glass pretty well, and they played all right on
defense. So far, I don't think they've been the best team we've played, but
athletically, I think we needed a challenge like that. I know next week,
we're going to start playing some teams with athletic ability and are well
coached too."
Forward Brian Montonati
On the domination of the team throughout the game
"Coach has really influenced us to come out and play hard. He compares us to
other teams that are ranked higher in the country like Kansas, Duke and
Kentucky. He says that those teams come out and jump on you right from the
start and don't give you a chance. We've been trying to do the same thing.
We still come off kind of slow a little bit. We're not to the point where we
need to be, but it is a big influence in the way we play."
On his double-double
"I feel pretty comfortable. A couple of those offensive rebounds were off of
my own shots and tips, but I'll take them as they come. The last game
against Arkansas-Little Rock, I had a pretty bad rebounding game."
Oklahoma State Locker-Room Quotes
Fredrik Jonzen
On only missing one shot in the last two games
"The last game and tonight we were all getting easy layups. It sounds bad,
but Doug (Gottlieb) and Joe (Adkins) give me all the assists. It's all
layups, and you're supposed to make all layups. I am just happy I'm making
them right now."
On how his role on the team is expanding
"So far we have played some short teams. Their big men are only 6-6 or 6-7,
so it's been really important to dominate inside, and I think we have. Our
inside guys are posting up and getting good looks."
Doug Gottlieb
On his sixteen assists
"I wish I could have made some drives, it would have opened up some more
assists. I missed some easy bunnies (shots). The team is starting to come
together and play well. We are really pushing the ball well in transition
and obviously with our athleticism is a big plus. Like I said last year,
it's easy when you've got guys that can really shoot in Joe (Adkins) and
Desmond (Mason). You give them an open look and they are going to make it. A
lot of those assists aren't creating anything, it's just standing up there
and they cut and you just hit them when they are open."
North Texas Coach Vic Trilli
On matching up with Oklahoma State's size and experience
"I looked out there once and we had one junior and the rest of the guys were
all freshmen and sophomores. Where we struggled is that we just don't match
up with the tremendous size that this team has. This is a huge basketball
team. This is an NBA caliber basketball team, with this great size. With
players like (Desmond) Mason and (Joe) Adkins and (Glendon) Alexander, they
have great athletes. They're fast, and they get down the floor and they can
shoot. This is going to be a fun team to watch."
On North Texas not backing down
"They good thing was you had Deginald (Erskin) diving to try to save a ball
from going out of bounds. You have to appreciate that. The kids didn't
quit, they stayed in there. They hung in there and they played as hard at
the end as they were at the beginning, and I'm proud of them for that."
On Kenneth Mangrum
"Kenneth hasn't been really feeling well, so it's one of those situations
where I just decided not to play him."
On Eddie Sutton
"He's got a job to do. He's got to get his team ready for the Big 12. I
appreciate the fact that he gave us an opportunity to play, and he's going
to come to Denton next year with a good team. He's had an outstanding
recruiting class. You've got to realize that this team has seven seniors,
five of which are fifth-year seniors, and most of the time, we're out there
with a really young basketball team. I was really proud of the fact that
these kids didn't quit, they hung in there, and they played hard."
North Texas Players
Guard Chris Davis
On OSU's Defense
"They play great team defense. The coaches told us that before the game and
we took some bad shots. They shut us down in the second half. At the end of
the first half, they really started to come on with their defense. They
really play good defense."
"It will teach us what we need to do on offense and how we need to move the ball on a team with such a good defense. It is going to make us work hard in practice. The way we played out here, we could have played a whole lot better. We need to learn from the way they play defense. That is how we are supposed to play if we want to be a good team."
Guard Kyle Crawford
"This is a learning experience for us. We came out and played hard. We should have stayed within the system. We are a young team so I think we can take this as a learning experience. Hopefully, we can bounce back against (Texas) A&M.
