Oklahoma State University Athletics
Postgame Quotes vs UC Davis
November 09, 2012 | Cowboy Basketball
Nov. 9, 2012
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Oklahoma State Cowboy Basketball
Postgame Quotes vs UC Davis
Friday, November 9, 2012
Head Coach Travis Ford
Opening Statement
“I told our team that I'm glad we won. This game could have gone either way, but I saw this kind of coming this week. We're so out of sync offensively right now. It was a product of us playing lineups tonight that we haven't even played in practice. We thought Phillip Jurick would have a tough time playing in this game, and he did running around trying to chase those three-point shooters. Our offensive chemistry is not because of selfishness but because of everything we've been through during preseason. I don't think anybody has gone through what we went through to develop that chemistry we needed to have some offensive flow. If you combine that with a team that's a little unorthodox in everything they do. I knew it was going to be like this. I told our staff that yesterday because we didn't have a great week of practice. It was good to have a game like this. We have a long way to go. Our offensive execution was poor, and obviously, our rebounding was not very good. We had one guy that played tonight and also finished the season last year, and that was Markel Brown. We had a bunch of new guys out there and a bunch of guys that haven't played in a long time. We're going to be all right. We're going to have to work on a few things. We did have some guys do some things that help you have a good team. Everybody out there did something good that can help us win a lot of games. I saw this coming a little bit.”
On Phil Forte
“He made a couple good plays. He made a big shot at the end. We need him on the court. He can obviously make shots. He's a reliable defender. Tonight, I definitely knew he was going to play 31 minutes. Kamare Murphy made an unbelievable block out there. The guys did some good things. We're just a team that's trying to figure everything out right now. We played against North Texas on Sunday and played really well. It was more traditional matchups. Everybody got to play through their role that they were working on through the summer. Tonight, everybody's role changed. We had to adapt to this team. We got in foul trouble. It was good that we got out of the game with a win. That was a dog fight. They're going to win a lot of games. When you shoot the ball like they do, you've got a chance to win. We didn't guard the three-point line very well. We didn't rebound the ball very well, and we didn't execute our offense.”
On Marcus Smart
“He got called playing the four spot a lot. He did some good things. He got an early quick foul. He was hesitant with his game a little bit. He got seven assists and one turnover in his first college game. That's pretty good. You know you're going to get the effort from him every night.”
Freshman guard Marcus Smart
On finding a way to win a hard-fought game
"UC Davis came out blazing. We knew they were good. They hit some tough shots and we gave them some good opportunities. For us to come back in the second half and dig down deep to find a way to win was definitely a positive. Obviously, we have some negatives that we need to work on, but that's OK because it's the first game. Not everyone is meshing together yet with some players hurt, so we just kind of have to fix all that with practice. Winning was a positive for us tonight."
On how he felt commanding the team at the point
"I definitely felt comfortable. I had seven assists and one turnover. For a point guard, that's a great stat to have. I think I commanded the floor pretty well. I found open players, I got players the ball when they needed it and we came out with the victory. I think I did pretty well."
On working on controlling the rebounding game as a team
"We're just going to have to keep practicing. We need to come up with the 50-50 balls. We need to go after every ball like it's the last. There were a lot of guys going after the same ball and not communicating, but we will fix all of that. We had a couple of balls slip through our hands too, but it's little things that can be fixed."
Freshman guard Phil Forte
On getting the opportunity to take some big shots in the second half
"I had two (shots) rattle in-and-out. I don't think I could have made those shots any closer to going in. My coaches and teammates were great though, telling me I was just a few inches off and to keep shooting. They find me when I'm open and they have the most confidence in me, so my job is to go up there and knock it down. It's easy to do that when your coaches and teammates believe in you."
On being given the role of a shot-taker as a freshman
"That's what I came here to do, is make shots. That's my role on the team. Once again, the guys do a great job of trying to get me open and find ways for me to get my shot off. I have the easy part, I just knock it down."
On seeing Markel Brown go down with an injury
"When I saw him go down on that shoulder, I just thought it was the last thing we needed. We already lost Brian [Williams] for the season and Mike [Cobbins] for a couple of weeks, so that's the first thing that entered my mind. We have had some bad luck with injuries, but he came back. Hopefully he'll be good to go."
