Oklahoma State University Athletics
Postgame Quotes vs. Iowa State
January 28, 2007 | Cowboy Basketball
Oklahoma State Cowboy Basketball
Postgame Quotes vs. Iowa State
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Oklahoma State Head Coach Sean Sutton
On tonight’s game
“In the first half, we played about as poorly on the offensive end as we have all season long. I thought Iowa State had a good game plan. They slowed the game down and made it a very methodical game. They worked the shot clock and they spread us out. I thought we just took some horrendous shots in the first half and we did not go at them inside. That was one of the biggest things that we talked about at halftime was that we were settling for way too many jump shots, we were not attacking them inside and we were not attacking them in transition.
“In the second half, I thought we showed a lot more energy. We got the ball down the court and scored some baskets in transition, and we were able to get the ball inside to Mario (Boggan). He had a really good second half. Defensively, we played pretty well all night long. We held them to 32 percent shooting and 50 points all game. Our problems were at the offensive end in the first half then we missed some key free throws there in the second half that could have made it a little bit easier.”
On his team’s play in the second half
“One of the things that we talked about at halftime is that we had to have a great start out of the half. I thought that we came out and set the tone with our defense. We got some things going at the basket that opened up some outside shots for Terrel (Harris). He came back and played his best game since we got into Big 12 play. He gave us some energy off the bench and we were able to get control of the tempo. That was the biggest thing. Once we got the lead up to nine points, they couldn’t milk the shot clock.”
On sophomore guard Terrel Harris
“He is not going to get down very much. That is why I don’t worry much about him. He is a great kid and he understands how to play the game. He knew he didn’t play very well the other night against Oklahoma and he was disappointed, but he is not somebody who is going to drop his head. He is going to come back to the practice court and work that much harder the next day and it really paid off for him tonight. He had a really well-played game at both ends of the court. He shot the ball well and rebounded. Hopefully, that will get his confidence going.”
Oklahoma State Sophomore Terrel Harris
On tying his career-high with 21 points
“Basically, I just let the game come to me. I tried to get some energy off the defensive end, and that was where I got into rhythm. Once my offensive game got rolling, I just kept feeling it when I was shooting.”
On the shooting slump
“I told myself before the game that I was in a slump and that I needed to bounce back. I knew I had to get myself out of that slump because my team needs me. I feel that when I do not play as well as I should it really effects our team. I know it was time to step up because we need to win all of these games coming up.”
On Oklahoma State’s performance in the second half
“Defense leads to offense. In the second half, we got a couple of defensive stops and started running the court and that was when we started playing our game. I think when we were not scoring as much in the first half was because we were not rebounding the ball. We were not able to run the court because we were not finishing on defense. I think we did a better job of doing those things in the second half and it made us get up and down more.”
Oklahoma State Senior Mario Boggan
On going into halftime trailing by six
“At halftime, coach (Sean) Sutton came into the lockerroom and got onto us for not playing the way we should play. He told us to go out and play better defensively because that was one the worst first halves we have played this season. With (Terrel) Harris being our only scorer in the first half, coach told us to give a better effort. We just tried to go out and play better on the defensive end. Once we played better defense, everything feel into place and we started clicking on the offensive end.”
On the play of Iowa State
“Iowa State played tough. They tried to slow the game down when they started shooting three-point shots because that is the way to stay in games. We tried to continue speeding up the game. In the first half, we did not do a good job of doing that because we were not rebounding.”
Oklahoma State Junior JamesOn Curry
On the game
“I thought we played sluggish in the first half but the most important thing is that we got the win. Terrel (Harris) kept us in the game offensively in the first half. Every win is important especially protecting your home court. It was a good win.”
On protecting the home court
“It is something that is very important to us. We decided at the beginning of the season that we had to improve on that. We do not want to let anyone beat us at home. I think so far we have done a good job.”
On limiting turnovers
“Coach has really emphasized to us that we have to take care of the ball. We cannot afford to waste a possession. Each trip down the court is critical to the outcome of the game.”
Oklahoma State Sophomore Kenny Cooper
On the game
“In the first half we were sluggish. We really did not come out there like we should have. At half time coach got on us and told us how big this game was. In the second half, we came out and played hard. We started playing Oklahoma State basketball.”
On a quick start to the second half
“In the second half we came out and played Oklahoma State basketball. We started hitting shots and getting offensive rebounds. We started defending better and got the win. We picked up the pace instead of letting it slow down.”
On his role
“My role on this team is to rebound and defend. If they pass it into me I can look to score but my main focus is rebounding and defense.”
Iowa State Head Coach Greg McDermott
On the game
“Our guys followed the (game) plan about as well as we could expect in the first half. We needed to control the tempo to keep the crowd out of the game and then when (Jiri) Hubalek and (Mike) Taylor got into foul trouble, then we really had to gear it down. I hate to play that way, but I also hate to lose.”
“We had a lead at halftime because we did a good job on (Mario) Boggan and we did a good job on (JamesOn) Curry. You have to give up something, and we knew Terrel Harris could shoot it and he made us pay for being a little bit late.”
“I felt that if we executed our game plan for 40 minutes, we could get to the last five minutes and have a chance to win. I think that’s all you can expect coming into a place like this against a very talented team with a young and inexperienced team. I don’t fault our guys’ effort or their ability to follow a plan, we just made some mistakes. Our shooting percentages across the board aren’t good enough to win anywhere.”
On Boggan’s effectiveness in the second half
“They (OSU) executed a little better than they did the first half and I don’t think we executed our defensive plan as well. The second half, we were a little bit late (helping) and we tried to help once he (Boggan) caught it, but he’s just too good of a player.”
On where his team needs to improve
“The one thing we don’t get yet is the level of commitment it takes to make yourself the best shooter you can possibly be. The way we practice now compared to the way we practiced in mid-November, it’s unbelievable the change. Outside of practice time, I’m not sure we understand what it takes yet and that’s part of the growing process, something they’ll figure out over time.”
Iowa State Freshman Wesley Johnson
On the game
“They came out and picked up their defense. In the first half we had them and in the second half they just came out more aggresive. We were told they would come out aggresive but we weren’t ready for it.”
Iowa State Junior Rahshon Clark
On the game
“The second half we didn’t play as well as we did in the first half. We gave them second chance shots which hurt us. You can’t give them second chance shots, when we did they took advantage of it and built a lead up.”
On the play of Terrel Harris
“Our focus was on Curry and Boggan. We thought that if we took them away then we would have the game close like we did. Harris came out and played really well. We knew he could shoot, we didn’t get to him like we were supposed to.”
