Oklahoma State University Athletics
No. 7 Oklahoma State 91, Northwestern State 53
November 20, 2004 | Cowboy Basketball
OSU Basketball
vs. Northwestern State
Friday, November 19, 2004
Postgame Quotes
OSU Senior Guard John Lucas
On multiple weapons
“Joey (Graham) took control at the begininng. He opened up the game for all of us. As a point guard, you keep feeding him. You know he had a mismatch problem. The guy that was guarding him really could not contain him. So I kept going back to him. Once they doubled down on him, it opened JamesOn (Curry) up for shots and drive-throughs. In the second half, they just quit worrying about me. We have a lot of weapons on this team. Everyone can have big scoring nights.“
On playing together
“We have to go out with the mentality that we are going to go out there and have each other’s back. Every time we break out, we say ‘1-2-3 family’. That is what we are on the court, a family. We have to stick together as a family. If you see one of your teammates on fire, keep feeding him. “
On JamesOn Curry
“He is so talented and gifted. When he is on the court, I know he is going to run it. When I see him go, I am going to make sure that I throw the ball to him. He is not a freshman, at least not to me he isn’t. That is just his mentality. He loves basketball. He has the mentality that he can not be stopped on the court. “
OSU Freshman Guard JamesOn Curry
On his offense
“My dad always told me, just play the game. Take what the defense gives you. Playing with a great bunch of guys like this makes it easier for me. I do not have to work as hard. In high school, I had to work hard for my points. I still work hard, though.”
On his defense
“You can be the most athletic guy or not the most athletic guy, and you can still play defense. I think 90 percent of defense is heart. You have to have heart. I might be one of the smallest players out there, but I am going to play as big as I can. “
Northwestern State Head Coach Mike McConathy
On the performance of Northwestern State
“I think that our kids played hard, but when playing a team like Oklahoma State, you have to take care of the basketball if you want to get easy buckets. We turned the ball over and they got so many run-outs and things like that killed our spirits. We worked hard defensively, but we didn’t get anything on offense because we were turning the ball over. That is unfortunate because I felt like it was a better ball game than the score showed. I have to coach my team to try to make them better.”
On the defense of Oklahoma State
“They are awfully good. They do a great job and communicate. They are unbelievable, they should be the No. 1 team in the country.”
On John Lucas and Joey Graham
“They are unbelievable. Some of the greatest players I have ever seen.”
NSU Sophomore Forward Demetrius Bell
On the post play of Oklahoma State
“They are deep in the post. I think we played a good game and crashed the boards well against them.”
On the play of his team
“I think we had an all-around good effort. We just broke down and lost our focus in the second half.”
NSU Sophomore Guard Keenan Jones
On the guard play of OSU
“Well, they’ve got John Lucas that could be an All-American. They are good, but we contained them. You can’t stop them, but you can contain them.”
On the overall competition of playing a ranked opponent
“I feel good because playing a team like Oklahoma State prepares us for conference play. We aren’t going to play anybody like this in conference. They were one step away from the national championship last year, so I feel really good. We could have just laid down, but we didn’t.”
