Oklahoma State University Athletics
OSU vs. Colorado Postgame Quotes
January 25, 2010 | Cowgirl Basketball
Jan. 25, 2010
Colorado Head Coach Kathy McConnell-Miller
General
"This is not the outcome that this team wanted. When you have a top-20 program in here, you have be prepared and play for 40 minutes. You also have to adjust to what the game brings, and I firmly believe that we beat ourselves tonight. We had open look after open look, and had plenty of opportunities to hit shots and unfortunately they did not fall. I thought that statistically we rebounded the ball well, our assist to turnover ratio was good, and we made our free throws. There were a lot of great things that happened. Nothing surprised us. We knew what Andrea Riley was capable of, and the only thing we would have done differently was on the defensive end. We did not adjust to Tegan Cunningham as well I we should have. The shooting was our biggest concern, and that is something that we can get better at."
On the Missed Shots
"I think that their defense was pretty good, but we missed a lot of open looks. Megan [Malcolm-Peck] had her first two shots blocked. I think that they also did not give Bianca Smith an open look all night."
On Oklahoma State Guard Andrea Riley
"I thought it would be a surprise for some of our players with how she took so long to bring the ball up the court, and then she would be in a dead sprint up the lane. When she has the ball in her hands we know what they are going to do; she is either shooting it or at the last second she is going to find the open player. She is good at that, and I thought that we fell asleep too often. She has capable players around her who can score and make plays, and it is very evident with her assists."
Colorado Players
Courtney Dunn, Sr., C
ON NOT BEING 100% HEALTHY- "I was hyperventilating during the game and was on the breathing machine during the game."
ON HAVING A CAREER NIGHT DESPITE LOSS- "I don't really look at my stats like that. I care more about the win, and it's frustrating that we didn't end up winning the game. It was frustrating on my part that my shots weren't falling. I take those shots all the time in practice and make them and tonight they just weren't going in."
Bianca Smith, Sr., G
ON LATE SECOND HALF DROUGHT- "We thought we had some momentum at that point. I think everyone on the bench and everyone in the area thought we were going to come back at that point. I think we stopped executing and it hurt us."
ON BOUNCING BACK FROM GAME- "I think we have to bounce back quick. We go to Kansas on Wednesday. We have no choice, except to take the positives from this game, whatever they may be, and get better in the next two days at practice. Then go out there and get a win in Lawrence."
Brittany Spears, Jr., F
ON TOUGH SHOOTING NIGHT FOR THE TEAM- "It was just one of those nights when shots are not falling. So we should have taken it to the rim more. That way we could get to the free throw line, because we were shooting well from the free throw line. We should have attacked the rim, instead of taking those three point shots."
Oklahoma State Head Coach Kurt Budke
On bouncing back after loss to Texas
"We thought we played well at Texas. Except we had a great player go off on us at Texas. I am very proud and you hope your senior leadership leads you after a loss. We play a lot of young people, just like Colorado does, and you hope those young people understand how important it is to not go back-to-back losses in conference."
On winning on the road
"It is a big deal because Kathy [McConnell-Miller] does a great job. She's got her team playing well, and watching them on film, you can just see that her team believes in what she is teaching. Colorado is a very dangerous team and that team is going to get a lot more wins."
On putting away Colorado
"They are a great team. We knew coming in here that it was going to be forty minutes of fight, and that's exactly what it was. It's hard to come here and play forty minutes. Tonight was really more of a team win for us because you saw a little more of a rotation than we normally put in."
On rotation being due to altitude
"We just try to keep people fresh and save timeouts until the second half and give them some rest. I was really proud of the contributions off the bench."
On senior Andrea Riley playing full forty minutes
"She was tired. She knows how important it is when you have an opportunity to win a game and she knew we were in a position tonight that we could get this done and she didn't want to come out."
On the difference in the game
"We shot a pretty good percentage for the game and they shot 30 percent, and I think that really was the difference. I thought talent wise the teams were pretty even, but it was just a matter of us shooting a better percentage."
On missed free throws
"I was hoping that if we made our free throws, like we normally do, we could have put it away earlier. Andrea [Riley] has won so many games for us; she doesn't need to worry about that. She will go home and she will work on it and be fine the rest of the year."
On using the bench during later in the season
"We're just five games into this Big 12 schedule and I have been telling these young ones to keep working hard every day because you just don't know when you can help this team win a game. We had some of those kids do that today. Andrea [Riley] and Tegan [Cunningham] do the bulk of our scoring but we need to find that other option that you can go to and find some points."
Oklahoma State Senior Guard Andrea Riley
On missed free throws
"It was just one of those nights that the free throw wouldn't go in. It was frustrating because I hate missing free throws because they're free. I easily make them all the time but today it just didn't work."
On performance of teammates
"I think my teammates really stepped up tonight, it wasn't just about me. It was about Tegan [Cunningham] and Toni [Young]; everybody just did the little things today."
On bouncing back after loss to Texas
"Coming into this environment is tough and they [Colorado] just beat Kansas State at home, so we had to come in and bounce back. We really wanted that road win at Texas but at the same time you can't dwell on that and you have to bounce back."
On difference in the game
"I think the difference was the blocking-out. They were really on the boards in the first half and we really talked about it at halftime, especially about getting a body on [Courtney] Dunn because she had a really good game. Everybody just pitched in and the post players got down and did what they had to do to keep her off the boards."
On playing forty minutes at altitude
"I was tired right after the game. It's so hard to play in here because you aren't used to this air so you have to adjust quick or you get tired the whole game. I played here a couple of years ago so I already knew what to expect, so I had to fight through it and I knew my teammates were counting on me."
On bouncing back after loss to Texas
"Coming into this environment is tough and they [Colorado] just beat Kansas State at home, so we had to come in and bounce back. We really wanted that road win at Texas but at the same time you can't dwell on that and you have to bounce back."
