Oklahoma State University Athletics
Postgame Quotes
November 01, 2012 | Cowboy Basketball
Nov. 1, 2012
Postgame Quotes
OSU vs Ottawa
Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012
Head Coach Travis Ford
Opening Statement
"I was very happy with the intensity that we came out with. I thought that we really came out and showed some intensity. The unselfishness that I've seen from this group, and I've seen it for a while now, has been great. The passing has gone to another level this whole past week. I was telling John Holcomb before the game that I didn't know if it would continue when the lights come on, but it did. I was very pleased with the unselfishness and the passing of the basketball team. I liked our defense. We reached pretty much all of our goals for this game that we wanted to reach, except for rebounding. Other than that, I thought that we played very unselfish and with great intensity. I had seen some things that I was very concerned about coming into the game, because we hadn't been playing 5-on-5 very much, like execution and team defense. I saw some good things there. I did. Right now, we're just a team that is a few guys short, but I like that our other guys are fighters. It is what it is, and you deal with it."
On Marcus Smart
"He was good. He's a physical point guard that makes things happen out there. That's kind of a vague statement, but that's what he does. He just makes things happen out there. He's in all of the plays. If there's a loose ball, he's around it. If there's a rebound, he's around it...He stuffs the stat sheet. That's what he does. He's pretty much in every category, except for turnovers and blocks. We need that from him. How he played tonight is how he plays every day in practice, and that's what he's going to do in the next game."
On Phil Forte
"I had an individual meeting with him yesterday, and I told him the more shots he gets, the better off the team is. What we're trying to do is get an open shot for a guy who can make it, and he can make them. He made a lot tonight, but he may not make them next game. He usually makes pretty good ones.I thought our guys did a good job of finding him. As good as he was offensively, I loved him defensively. I thought he did a great job off the ball defensively. He helps a lot of people out. I really like Phil Forte."
On the team's three-point shooting
"I think this is a team that is going to shoot a lot of threes. 31 might be a high number, but maybe not. We'll see. I said it even before we went to Spain, even though we're losing Keiton (Page), I think we'll shoot more threes and maybe make more. It's going to be spread out a little bit more. Kirby Gardner made some, and obviously Phil Forte made some. You just can't live and die with it, but it is probably going to be a part of what we do. There are some other things that we also need to do that we've been working on that we didn't have to show tonight. We didn't get to it."
Freshman guard Phil Forte
On his first collegiate game
“It was fun to just get out there and get the pre-game jitters out of the way. It was good to just finally put everything together and play well.”
On his three-point shooting
Kamari (Murphy) and the team do a great job of setting screens for me. They give me the ball when I am open and all I have to do is simply make the shot.”
Freshman forward Kamari Murphy
On rebounding
“In practice, coach has been emphasizing rebounding. I led the team in rebounding in Spain. Throughout the meetings, coach has been telling me to focus on my rebounding because that is my job.”
On what he looks to improve on
“Coach is going to emphasize rebounding all season because we were last in the Big 12 in rebounding last season. We also just need to just focus on playing as a team and not being selfish.”
