Oklahoma State University Athletics
Postgame Quotes vs. Texas
January 22, 2008 | Cowboy Basketball
Oklahoma State Cowboy Basketball
Postgame Quotes vs. Texas
Monday, Jan. 21, 2008
OSU Head Coach Sean Sutton
“I told our guys afterward that we didn't win the game but I was really proud of the way they fought in the second half. They played the type of defense that we have to play. We took care of the basketball the best we have all year long. I rolled the dice with the small lineup because we were defending them so well. We missed two front-ends of one-and-one's that were really costly. We had two shot clock violations, which should never happen with three guards on the court. There was a key turnover when Byron stepped on the baseline. Those mistakes late in the game are magnified. You don't have time to recover from them.”
“But I'm proud of the way they played at the defensive end. Texas has a special player in (D.J.) Augustin. We kept everybody else in check throughout the game. They're an excellent basketball team. They're going to win a lot of games.”
“I told our guys if we play with this mindset at the defensive end, have the same determination to take care of the basketball, and make sure we don't waste possessions, I think we can still go on and win a lot of basketball games. I felt a lot better tonight than I did after Baylor or Iowa State. We were in a position to win both of those games on the road and we didn't. But tonight I thought our guys really, really fought and I'm sorry that we couldn't figure out a way to win the game for them.“
OSU Senior Forward Marcus Dove
On the game
“This is a tough loss. We thought this was a very winnable game for us. Even when we were down ten at half, we knew that, here in Gallagher-Iba with this crowd, that we would have a chance if we played smart and fought, which we did. We just came up short. We had a couple miscues there late in the second half that really hurt us. It is a tough loss and it really hurts, but we just have to learn to put it past us and get ready for Texas A&M on Saturday.”
On the improvement of the team since the start of the season
“We’re playing a lot better on defense. We’re holding teams below their point average for the season. I think we held Texas to 22 points in the second half tonight. We are playing a lot better defense, but we just need to play smart, offensively and defensively. We can’t gamble like we do sometimes, we can’t turn the ball over. I thought we did a much better job of that tonight. We just have to learn that, in those situations, we need to play smarter.”
OSU Junior Guard Byron Eaton
On the mistakes late in the game
“Those things like that hurt. We had chances like when we missed the one-and-one, we were down by one when James (Anderson) stepped up and we were down by one when Obi (Muonelo) stepped up. Then I made a terrible mistake. I was just trying to make a play when the shot clock was going down. I drove myself toward the baseline and got trapped and stepped on the baseline. That was a crazy play by me and it hurt my team.”
Texas Coach Rick Barnes
Thoughts on the game
“What I liked most was D.J. getting it done at the free throw line. He has struggled a little as of late, but tonight I liked his demeanor and the way he carried himself and the fact that he went out there and made those plays. Justin Mason was a big factor in the game doing things that won’t show up on the stat sheet. It was a really good win for us.”
On the First Half
“We did play a good first half. The zone helped us at times. Where we needed to make plays we made them. Early in the game, if we would have taken care of the boards, we would have had more of a lead at halftime. We didn’t and they got them. They were more aggressive. I thought they were picking up the loose balls and getting rebounds, so we told our guards to get involved. Overall, it’s a good win for us.”
On OSU’s run in second half
“They’re at home, you would expect them to make a push. You got to give them credit. We came out and we were careless. We have to continue to get smarter, but I do like the way we carried ourselves. They did a better job tonight with the ball screens than I thought they would, and they really hurt us with that.”
Texas Sophomore Guard D.J. Augustin
On Oklahoma State’s second-half comeback
“When it gets down to it in the last four minutes you have to play tough defense. That’s what it comes down to is playing defense, and we did it as a team. We just communicated in a hostile environment and we played well.”
“We knew they were going to make runs. They play well at home and we knew that. The crowd’s going to get behind them and push them and they were going to feed off of that. We just had to get stops and play together and that’s what we did.”
“Shots just weren’t falling, but coach tells us all the time ‘keep being aggressive and keep shooting’, and my teammates do a great job of doing that.”
Comparing this year’s environment at GIA with last year’s game
“It wasn’t quite the same, but we love playing here. My teammates love playing here and it’s a great place to play.”
Texas Sophomore Guard Justin Mason
On James Anderson’s good start
“He got out to a good start with a couple of threes and I just wanted to focus on the second half and tried to limit his points and limit his touches.”
On team chemistry
“I think it’s starting to click a little bit more for us. We’re starting to get our chemistry back on offense and I think as good defensively as we have been the past two seasons so I would say that it’s starting to click for us a little bit more.”
