Oklahoma State University Athletics
Postgame Quotes vs Langston
December 04, 2011 | Cowboy Basketball
Dec. 4, 2011
Postgame Quotes vs Langston
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Oklahoma State Head Coach Travis Ford
Opening statement
"We just played in spurts, like we have been. Tonight unfortunately, there were more negative spurts than positive spurts, but just enough to get us over the hump a little bit. I was interested to see how we would play tonight. I think Markel (Brown) stepped up for us in a lot of ways and really passed the ball well tonight as well as scored some points for us. Keiton (Page) made some threes for us, but I was disappointed that we didn't keep Langston ahead of us better (defensively). We were very casual tonight, unfortunately."
"I saw some groups of five out there that I really liked. There were different groups that I thought did well. The group at the end of the first half, I think, did extremely well. At the end of the second half, I thought they did really well. I was hoping to use this game to really make our team better and learn some things. We have maybe one of the toughest stretches (coming up) in our conference. We need to learn from this and put it behind us. We have to learn from it and break it down. We break down and grade every game. By this time of the year, you're hoping to have a little more positives than negatives. Tonight, I have a feeling that when I watch this, we are going to have a few more negatives than positives. We shot the ball 57 percent, but it didn't feel like it."
"In my staff meeting today, I was talking to my coaches and I told them we have got to find the right people for the right places (positions). I like all of our players, and it is difficult getting everybody time. It is a challenge. We're asking certain guys to play different positions, and I'm really starting to see the effects of them not understanding different positions, right now. It's something we have to work on. I would say Markel has really stood out at this point and probably Keiton. With other guys, it depends on what night it is."
Oklahoma State sophomore guard Markel Brown
On Langston
"They went out there and played hard. We underestimated (those) guys a little bit. We had to come out there and play harder than them and seal the deal."
On the turnovers
"It was bad. We went out there and turned the ball over 21 times against Langston University. That's way more than what our goal is. It was bad."
On if having so many new teammates is to blame for turnovers
"We're not gonna use (being) newcomers as an excuse. I feel like we went out there and (were) a little casual, and didn't play hard. Like I said, Langston played hard and they did good things."
On his assists
"I actually like getting assists. I like getting my teammates open looks and I like to see what they're going do with the ball. I like to make that a big part of my game."
Oklahoma State redshirt freshman forward Michael Cobbins
On what Coach Ford said after the game
"Mainly that we need to cut out all of the baby stuff, like underestimating teams and coming together as a team and really (playing) the full 40 minutes."
On the tough schedule coming up
"I feel that we're ready for it. Things that we've gotta critique for ourselves, you know, cutting down turnovers, doing a better job on the defensive end, and just keep getting better. That's all it is. It's just a mindset."
Langston Head Coach Nigel Thomas
On if he's proud of the way his team competed
"My guys competed their butts off. I can't say anything bad about the effort. It really came down to us executing late, stopping their runs early. When you make a big play in this building, you've got the crowd behind you. Markel (Brown) had a couple of dunks there, Keiton (Page), just some missed assigments on him and he had some threes early. When you try to battle back against teams like that, you spend a lot of energy trying to battle back and you really don't have anything left at the end. My guys competed hard and I'm proud of them."
On Langston's second-half run
"The thing about it was we tried to make adjustments, tried to go to a diamond press, try to pick up the tempo a little bit. They obviously had the lead, so we had to make them play a little faster since they were running some clock. Coach Ford and his staff do an excellent job. They called a timeout, made adjustments, broke (the pressure) and kind of took the rhythm out of our guys. I have so much respect for that coaching staff, and I worked a summer camp here and talked to the whole coaching staff regularly, so I'm just happy they gave me the opportunity to come in here and play."
Langston Forward Modteets Williams
On playing in Gallagher-Iba
"It was fun playing on a big stage, but at the same time, we wanted to come out and compete. We felt like we could win this game, and that's what we came here to do. It didn't turn out that way, but I'm proud of my team, I'm proud of myself and I'm proud of my coaching staff. They prepared us the right way."
On making the game close in the second half
"They stopped our run, they stopped our momentum. We didn't make the right adjustments at the right times. We tried to play hard for 40 minutes of this game, and I felt like we did, but they slowed our momentum and slowed our run. I know my guys were tired, but at the same time we competed.
On the rest of the season
"We feel like we are going to be a contender, we believed that coming into the season. Since this was like a big game and we competed with them, we feel like we should definitely have a chance to win the Red River Conference."
