Oklahoma State University Athletics
OSU men's basketball postgame quotes
January 08, 2001 | Cowboy Basketball
Jan. 8, 2001
OSU Coach Eddie Sutton
On Maurice Baker's triple-double
"It is amazing that with all of the great players that have come through this institution -- boy we have had a lot of them -- that's only the second triple-double. I didn't know that. He (Baker) is a special player. If our big guys could have finished shot he would have had about 15 assists. I thought we played better. I was really concerned because of our youth, how we would react after the way we played in the second half out at San Diego. I though overall we played a pretty good ballgame tonight."
On Victor Williams being late
"We've had this thing going on about promptness, getting places on time. I told them, I have a responsibility to teach you guys that when you get out in the real world you better get there on time or you'll get your fanny fired. So he (Victor) came in a little late to suit up tonight so I didn't start him -- the bench will get your attention."
Asked if he is ready to start the Big 12 season
"No. Not going to Austin, I don't feel like it. I think Texas, right now, is one of the three best teams in the league, they are really playing well. (Darren) Kelly, since he joined their ball club, has made a real difference. But there is nothing we can do, we've got two days before we have to go down there and play."
Oklahoma State Players
Guard Victor Williams
On the attendance
"We want to thank the crowd for coming out tonight instead of staying home to watch the Orange Bowl."
On Maurice Baker
"Maurice (Baker) is a great player. I helped him on his recruiting trip and it was like love at first sight. I knew that he was going to be a great player for us. I catch myself watching him sometimes out there, just watching him make plays."
On the upcoming Big 12 season
"I feel like we are ready. I think we play in spurts. If we can combine a whole game together, two halves together, then we'll be pretty good. I think we come out and we play really hard the first half. Then the first five minutes of the second half we kind of get lazy, and then we try to pick it up again. We just need to try to put two halves together and I think we would be a good team."
On his three point percentage in tonight's game
"He (Coach Sutton) really wanted me to work on my shot this week. Right now I'm shooting about 19 percent, and I really think he thought I was a better shooter than that. He really wanted me to work on my shot, and I've been working on it. I think it paid off today."
Guard Maurice Baker
On his triple-double
"I was still kind of mad at the loss that we took to San Diego State. So, I just told myself to try to do everything to make my team win tonight. I just tried to get every rebound and get loose balls, everything to try to make us win tonight. At first I didn't know. My teammates on the bench kept telling me that I needed two assists and five points. So I just kept trying to pass the ball and give my other teammates the ball to try to get the triple-double. I just wanted to be active early in the game, to make a statement. We played a bad game last week and I just didn't want to get off to a slow start like we did at San Diego."
Forward Melvin Sanders
On defending Devin Brown
"In the first half I played pretty good on him. In the second half, I played pretty good on him even though he got a three-pointer that he shouldn't have had. Besides that, I think I played pretty good defense on him."
On his offensive performance
"I was feeling pretty comfortable tonight. Since it was my birthday, I wanted to have a good night for me and my teammates. I took my time and shot the ball a little better tonight."
On Maurice Baker's triple-double
"It was unbelievable. He is a great player. He gets better everyday and he works really hard in practice. He is just unbelievable."
Texas-San Antonio Coach Tim Carter
"It was very difficult to get back (into the game). They came out and really focused on making sure that we couldn't make our down the court passes. They did a great job defensively. We did a very, very poor job of getting back into our defensive transition. We caught a team at the wrong time. They did a great job of just crashing and manhandled us inside on the backboard."
On rebounding
"They (Oklahoma State) were the aggressive team. I've always said it doesn't matter how big you are to be a ferocious rebounder. Tonight, I think I'm changing that philosophy. It does matter how big you are. If you're a ferocious rebounder and you're going up against a guy who is 6'10" who is a ferocious rebounder, that makes a huge difference."
On Maurice Baker
"He really played great. He played sharp and did a good job of running the show for them. He's a very complete basketball player. He's going to have a good time this year in the Big 12 and next year when he comes back as a senior."
UTSA Players
McEverett Powers
On his team's performance
"Today, we just got outrebounded. They got most of their points off transition. We didn't do a very good job of getting back. We just couldn't get any rebounds today. That was our biggest fault today."
On OSU's size advantage
"The y have big players. They were bigger and stronger than us inside. In the first half, they just played better basketball than us. We just didn't get it done. "
On what his team can take from this game
"It is going to help us a lot because we need to rebound the ball a whole lot better than we have been doing. We have to learn to box out the bigger players even though they are bigger. In our conference, they are not quite as big as Oklahoma State's players. It is going to make us a better team having gone against OSU."
