Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma Basketball Post Game Quotes
November 09, 2000 | Cowboy Basketball
Nov. 9, 2000
2000 OSU Men's Basketball Postgame Quotes
vs. Athletes First, Nov. 9, 2000
OSU Coach Eddie Sutton
On Athletes First
"You have to give them a lot of credit. They really hit some big time
shots. When you get behind, you really have to play catch up. Sometimes it
hard to do that when you are playing an experienced ball club like they are.
They're a nice team.
On OSU's defense
"I thought the biggest thing, as far as me being disappointed, was our
defense, our transition defense in particular. I thought we gave up too
many baskets. When we did play half court defense, we allowed too much
dribble penetration, and it broke our defense down. Then they would force
the help and kick it out and either (Chad) Wilkerson or (Tim) Gill would
knock it down.
On the second half
"I thought we played better in the second half from an offensive standpoint.
The first half I thought we were a little stagnate. Andre (Williams) played
much better the second half. As I told the team, you take guys who can
shoot like that and you want to stop them early and kill some of their
initiative because once they start shooting the ball like they were shooting
it, then all of the sudden the basket looks like it is the Pacific Ocean. I
thought we did a good job rebounding the second half. I didn't think we did
a very good job of rebounding the first half.
On Maurice Baker
"I think everybody can better appreciate what I've been saying about
(Maurice) Baker. Baker's got a chance to be a great player. He really had
a good game. He is a terrific competitor.
On improving defense
"We have a week now to go back. Defense can be taught and I think we will
get better defensively. When you score as many points as we did tonight,
you're going to win 19 out of 20 games."
Oklahoma State Players
Fredrik Jonzen
On the expectations of this OSU team
"You can't compare this year's team with the team from last year -- that's
not fair. This is our first game together. Of course we wanted to go out and
win tonight, but we knew we had a lot to work on. The thing I'm most
disappointed in is our defense. That should have been our strength. We let
them get too much defensive transition. We played good for the first 10
minutes and then we let down. That is something we are going to have to
work on this week."
On the fouls
"That's something in practice too, we've been fouling way too much. That's
coach telling us we need to get our hands off. It's hard to adjust when they
change the rules as much as they have. It is going to take a while to
adjust. When you are in practice it is totally different than when you're
playing in games. I think it is going to take a few games to adjust to the
referees. You can't foul that much and expect to win a game."
On ball movement
"They were playing a zone and we were just standing still. We have got to
get the ball moving and get the ball inside. I think one of our problems was
we were just standing still. We have got to get the ball inside and then
back out. Right now we are just passing around the perimeter and shooting
jump shots. We have got to get the ball inside and then kick it out from
there get open shots. It's all about chemistry. We've been playing in
practice together for about a month but we need to start playing games
together more as a team. It's going to come."
Maurice Baker
On the game
"I hate losing. I play hard and my teammates play hard. Early in the game we
were playing hard. We came out and just thought we should beat them because
they are an all-star team. Then we just stopped playing hard."
On carrying the scoring load
"I was just getting the shots and knocking them down. My teammates just kept
coming to me and I just kept knocking them down."
Athletes First Players
Center Alex Webber
"It was almost like a dream. I was kind of nervous a couple of weeks ago with the thought of it. He (Eddie Sutton) was my coach and my mentor. He taught me almost everything I know. He is a great teacher and because of him I am where I am at today. I was nervous because I know what kind of firepower they have. They are a young team, but they are going to mold and mesh and become a good team."
On his performance
"I was out there having fun. I hit a couple of shots and was trying to run
the floor. I was clowning around with the other team because Andre, Fredrik
and I have been around each other for a while."
On taking on his former team
"It was kind of creepy. I have always thought that OSU has intimidated other
teams and that crowd of orange kind of got me going at first because I felt
like I was at home. I was on the other team, but it felt good to see a home
crowd."
Guard Chad Wilkerson
"I have ORU roots and Scott Sutton is at ORU, so I know Sean Sutton and Coach Sutton. They are great coaches and it is always fun to play OSU because they have a lively crowd and their players always play very intense. That makes it easier to get up for the game and play hard."
On his performance
"I have to give credit to my teammates, they found me when I was open and I
was able to knock down some shots. It is always fun when your shots are
going down. You play a little bit harder and you are a little bit quicker
and have a little more enthusiasm for the game. The ball started rolling and
I hit some shots to keep it going."
On OSU
"They have a young team and I am sure they will get better each game this
year. I know their plays when they call them out because I remember the
scouting report at ORU. We had them scouted pretty well. So I was familiar
with some of their plays."
