Oklahoma State University Athletics
Postgame Quotes vs. East Tennessee State
December 09, 2007 | Cowboy Basketball
Oklahoma State Cowboy Basketball
Postgame Qutoes vs. East Tennessee State
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Oklahoma State Head Coach Sean Sutton
On the game
“That was a good win and I'm really proud of my players for the way they competed down the stretch. We needed to be in a tight game like that with a good team. I thought the last seven or eight minutes we really fought and battled and showed some signs of getting tough. We shut them out the last seven minutes without a point. That's a great accomplishment. I'm proud of their effort and the fight they played with down the stretch.
“This win tonight was against a good team and they know how to win. They've been in post-season play the last three years and I think they will be there again this year. They have a chance to be in the NCAA Tournament.
“Early we came out and played really well and built that 15-point lead. That's where an experienced team would have taken the game by the throat and not let them get back in it. I knew at halftime it would be a dog fight the last 20 minutes. We grew up a lot within this game and showed some signs of maturing as a basketball team and getting tougher. Our veteran players rose up and made plays. Something they didn't do against Texas A&M Corpus Christi.”
On Byron Eaton
“I really challenged him at half time. In the first half he had nothing going for him. I told him at half time this is a huge game and one that we have to win. You have to get out there and be a warrior, be the player that you can be and be tough at both ends. We're a lot better when he plays up to his capabilities. I thought he played well at both ends in the second half. He played with some fire and grit. He's a lot better player when he plays with that mindset.”
On James Anderson
“He's pretty hot. One thing he did better tonight was take care of the ball. He only had two turnovers. That's another thing with Byron I was really pleased with was he didn't have a turnover in 24 minutes. I think the last three games he's had a total of two turnovers. He's doing a lot better job of protecting that basketball. Every time James shoots it, he's been in such a rhythm, you think it's going in. He had some good looks that didn't go in, but he still shot 6-for-11. We've been trying to get him a lot more aggressive on the boards. He makes a big difference out there because he makes plays and he makes shots.”
OSU Junior Guard Terrel Harris
On the last five minutes of the game
“We played hard. When you play hard and do everything you are supposed to do, the game takes care of itself. That is what I believe. We didn’t play as hard (in the first half) as we could and we let them get comfortable. They got confident and they were hitting shots and out-hustling us.
“We really wanted to win this game. We had that feeling way too much last year, losing at home by one or two points. We had a little leadership this time. We have grown up a little bit, as Coach Sean says. I believe this is a good win for us. We really stuck together instead of splitting up.”
On the play of Byron Eaton in the second half
“He was more aggressive and he was just running the show. He was getting inside the paint and getting the ball to the other players in the paint, and that really helped us. In the second half, they were running a triangle-and-two on me and James (Anderson), so he was getting wide open shots. In the first half, he really wasn’t shooting them as much, but in the second half, he started shooting and he was knocking them down.”
OSU Junior Guard Byron Eaton
On the difference between the first half and second half
“We were talking amongst ourselves before the coaches came in at halftime. We were just telling one another that we can’t lose in our house. We had to pick it up. This is going to be a big game for us when we are getting into the NCAA Tournament and we needed this win.”
East Tennessee State Head Coach Murry Bartow
On the game
“Very frustrating, the last five or six minutes of the game. I thought we did a lot of good things in that first 33, 34 minutes, but unfortunately the last five or six minutes are five or six minutes that we want to forget. Oklahoma State executed well, defended well and did a lot of good things in the last five or six minutes and we didn’t. It was a very frustrating way to end a game.”
“I was proud of our guys, I thought we fought hard, played hard and did a lot of good things against a very good Big 12 opponent. It’s (Gallagher Iba-Arena) a great place to play, it’s a beautiful place and great crowd, but the last five or six minutes we just didn’t do a good job.”
“We didn’t finish the game out very well, No. 1. No. 2, we had 25 turnovers and when you throw the ball away 25 times we’re not going to able to win in our league, let alone beat a Big 12 team on their home floor.”
On the five-game road stretch
This is a very tough stretch and we knew that and I wished we would have finished this one out better, but as I said to the team, it’s a 35-game journey and these games against Oklahoma State, Syracuse, Georgia, and at Dayton are going to help us be a better team once we get to January and we’re in the Atlantic Sun.
