Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State Postgame Quotes
January 05, 2000 | Cowboy Basketball
Jan. 5, 2000
OSU Coach Eddie Sutton
On the benefits of playing Langston
"It doesn't hurt you any, but I don't know how much good it does you. We're always going to try to play Division I teams, but we just couldn't find anybody to play. So where we've played Houston Baptist or schools outside of the state, we just decided we'd play somebody here in the state. In the future, if we can't find a Division I team, then we'll play an Oklahoma Christian, Oklahoma Baptist or someone because they'd just as well take the guaranteed money home as us give it to someone outside the state. But I hope that we can always play Division I schools.
"I think Langston was pleased that we scheduled them, and for a lot of those kids this was probably the biggest crowd that they'll play for this season. If they have an opportunity to come into Gallagher and play our team, it's probably a big thrill for them."
On OSU's play and the high score
"I thought we played real well offensively. I thought defensively we gave
up too many points and had a lot of defensive breakdowns. That was a lot of
points to score. I look at scores sometimes and I wonder, 'How in the world
did we get 123 or 125 points?' Then I saw where TCU had 143 and the other
team had 105 or something. I can't imagine how you can score that many
points.
"There were some fun plays. Desmond (Mason) had some dunks that were pretty good. I thought Glendon (Alexander) really shot the ball well. Brian (Montonati) had a terrific game, and Desmond had a terrific game. If Doug (Gottlieb) had hit his free throws, he'd of had a sensational game. He really played well, and he hit some big shots."
Forward Brian Montonati
On his 21-point first half
"In the first half, I got a lot of open 15-footers. That's something I've
been knocking down lately. I've been working on it after the LSU game. I
missed a couple in the first half, and I just kind of hung my head a little
bit. But we've had shooting practice the past couple of days, and I was
continually knocking them down. My teammates have tremendous confidence in
me at the top of the key. They're the ones who give me the ball when I'm
open."
On his shooting touch changing from his days of being a guard
"When I went to junior college, I still shot the ball a lot, but I kind of
struggled a little bit. I worked on my low post game and worked on that
instead of working on my jump shot. Lately, it (jump shot) has just been
there, and I have so much confidence that every time I shoot I think it's
going to go in. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it."
Forward Desmond Mason
On his dunk on a missed free throw
"It was an act. Nobody really blocked out. I kind of just stepped off the
paint and got a running start. Nobody really blocked out. At first I didn't
think I could get to it, but it bounced off hard to the right. I reached up
there, and it landed in my hand pretty much."
On Langston's James Lee
"I think he played well. He hit a lot of big shots. I had my hand in his
face a few times, and he still hit them down."
Guard Doug Gottlieb
On scoring 18 points
"It feels really good. People seem to be critical of how I shoot. I know
that's not a key to how our team plays, but in the summer and in the
preseason, I put in a lot of time shooting. When the season starts, I
stopped working on it as much. This week I was sick for two days, but I
still shot for an hour before practice this week and a little bit on my own
at night. I think it's going to pay off. I have to concentrate on my free
throws, but other than that, I didn't take any bad shots. The only two I
missed were round-and-outs.
"I know my role on this team, but if they're not going to guard me, I have to make shots and I can make them if I keep working on them and taking them with confidence."
On starting Big 12 play on Saturday
"The season really starts on Saturday. This is fun because it's good that
somebody like me gets to have 18 points and Brian (Montonati) has 21 at the
half. If things like that happen in Big 12 play, it will be great, but the
likelihood isn't really there. It's good for almost everybody because
almost everybody got a bunch of shots. With the exception of Joe (Adkins),
everybody had a bunch of shots to shoot. You get your confidence up, but
this isn't the type of competition that we're going to play and we know
that.
"We'd like the arena to be packed on Saturday. This is the last year that Gallagher will be a true home-court advantage. We want the fans to come out and be crazy. Just because it's a 12:45 p.m. game doesn't mean that you can't be nuts. Come on out and support us because we have a chance to go very far this year."
Langston Coach Gregory Webb
"I thought our kids played hard. They knew that they were coming in as the underdog. They knew they were going to be out-manned, but I think they came out and played well. I thought that Oklahoma State shot the ball extremely well and I think that hurt us. They're a great team and I take my hat off to them."
On his team's performance
"We had a couple of freshmen that I thought played well tonight. I thought
Jimmy Mackey played exceptionally well. I thought that Jarriel Vicks came
in and gave us a good job. As always, James Lee is our leader offensively
and I thought that he contributed well to the team's offensive output."
On their next game at Southwest Adventist
"Our next game is our first conference game. We've scouted them and we feel
like we ought to be able to win that one. We ought to be able to get off
this losing streak. Tonight was a big help for us. We hadn't played in
over a month, so we were a little bit rusty. They shot the ball well. I
feel that this was a big help for us. Our first conference game ought to be
a pretty successful one."
Guard Lee James
"Man for man their size was a factor, the home court was definitely a factor. We got tired toward the end and they got off to that run in the first half. That put us away early."
On how his team will benefit from this game
"The score doesn't really tell the true story because we got a lot out of
this game. We got a lot mentally out of this game. They beat us by sixty,
but we are getting stronger as a team. We are building our trust in each
other and helping each other on defense. This game will help us out a lot as
far as the competition level compared to what we will be facing in the next
couple of weeks."
On Oklahoma State
"They are solid. They have a solid point guard, two solid shooting guards,
an NBA swing man, two players on the blocks that do their job. They have a
lot of chemistry. They know their roles and exactly what everyone is
supposed to do."
On his 26-point performance
"I feel like I had an okay night, but I didn't play well enough because we
got beat. We just came up short. I am my own worst critic. We weren't even
close to winning the game, so obviously I could have done a few more things
to better the game."
