Oklahoma State University Athletics
Postgame Quotes vs Tulsa
November 30, 2011 | Cowboy Basketball
Nov. 30, 2011
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Cowboy Basketball
Postgame Quotes vs Tulsa
Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011
OSU Head Coach Travis Ford
On the youth of the team
"You saw our youth on display at its best. You saw what we see in practice every day. We're good for 30 or 40 minutes (in practice) and we're getting after it hard, we're excited, and then we're having to bring them back. But, to be able to pull this out after getting behind by six to a very experienced basketball team, which we have a lot of respect for Tulsa, I'm proud of us."
On the close nature of the game
"I knew this game was going to be like this, I was hoping it would be close, to be honest. That's just our basketball team right now. I'm glad we won the game, and it does say a little bit about our team. We saw glimpses of what some guys can possibly do."
On Keiton Page
"I thought Keiton showed probably the best leadership he's ever shown since I've been here. In timeouts, on the court, not allowing his team to quit and just staying engaged the in the game. It was fun to watch for him."
On the beginning of the second half
"At halftime, I told the guys we should be content with 10 points, and to make sure we understand that Tulsa was going to come out with a sense of urgency. I told them in the first five or six minutes, we would need to set the tone, but you all saw what happened. Young teams, normally after having a 10 point lead and playing like that, get deflated. I've seen it before. Our team didn't do that, and I'm proud of them for that."
OSU freshman guard/forward Le'Bryan Nash
On his game tonight
"It was a bounce-back game, but I think it was an average game. I think I could've (done) more, especially on the defensive end. I could've boxed out my man more but, it was just a good win. My team wanted me to score the ball, so I was just trying to give them whatever they need. If they need a pick, I'll do it. I just want to win and get ready for Big 12 play."
On what his gameplan was
"You play as hard as you can. That's what my coaches always told me. So I had that on my mind pre-game. I said 'If I go out there and play hard, then good things are going to happen for me and my team, not just me'. I'm a big contributor to this team, so I just gotta play hard with these guys."
OSU senior guard Keiton Page
On the offensive struggles early in the second half
"That was frustrating. I think we here up 10 at halftime, and the gameplan was to come in and try to put it on as hard as we could that first five minutes, (and) it went exactly (the opposite way). They came down and put it on us, and ended up taking a six-point lead on us. I think that just showed signs of maturity for us tonight as a basketball team, to come break off the deficit of six points against a Tulsa team that he was saying was an in-state rivalry, so it was going to be intense. It's better to win and learn than lose and learn. We got the win tonight."
About Le'Bryan Nash's game
"LB was on his game tonight, but we all know on this basketball team (that) Le'Bryan's got a lot more in him. Yeah, he did play better than he did in New York, and we needed him to have that kind of game tonight. We know what kind of player LB's going to be midseason, and once he gets to that point, he's going to be a scary guy. I'll be glad he's on my team."
On the drama of the last two wins
"If we get the wins, we'll take them. We'll take them any way we can get them. Like I said earlier, it's better to win and learn than lose and learn. We've just got to keep progressing each day in practice, we've got to limit the turnovers and bump up those assists. Tonight wasn't very good. We had six assists, 17 turnovers. That's not gonna cut it when Big 12 comes. That's something we've gotta clean up, start rebounding better. Once we start doing those little things, we could be a great basketball team."
Tulsa Head Coach Doug Wojcik
Opening Statement
"I'm proud of my team. I'm frustrated. We're a turnover-plagued team right now. It turned out to be a pretty boring but pretty good college basketball game in the end. Neither team could really shoot it well and neither team really handled it well. Give them credit; they found a way to come back after we got them down. We'll just move forward and be ready for Arizona State on Saturday."
On not being able to close out two games in a row
"I kind of did it to them with the schedule. We are a good team. We really had a chance to beat Northwestern and had a chance to beat St. Joseph's over the last two games. It would be different if we were laying down and not competing and not fighting. We continue to do a great job on the glass. We have to shoot it better and we have to take care of it better."
On the start of the second half
"I think what you see in this game that we didn't have last year is we were able to attack Oklahoma State inside. We weren't able to do that last year because Steven (Idlet) was hurt. Steven came out and had a better second half for us. I thought Joe Richard had a very good second half and made three big free throws for us, which is big step for him. We were able to do that, free some things up and I think we settled down with our pressure. We actually had a point guard taking it out in the second half, so we had three guards in the back court which is a little bit better for us."
