Oklahoma State University Athletics
Postgame Quotes vs Central Arkansas
December 16, 2012 | Cowboy Basketball
Dec. 16, 2012
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Postgame Quotes
Oklahoma State vs Central Arkansas
Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012
OSU Head Coach Travis Ford
On the rough start
"We didn't defend, we turned the ball over, everything that could go wrong went wrong. We talked about it before the game that's kind of how we practiced the past two days. I had to call two fairly quick timeouts, I don't like to call early timeouts. The first one I was pretty calm, and just tried to ease it, but the second one I was not quite as nice. I had pretty much seen enough of it because we were doing things I haven't seen us do all year like getting beat off the dribble left and right, being very careless with the ball and our demeanor. We just weren't into the game the way we needed to be, but for the last 32 minutes it was very good. The last 32 minutes of the game we defended, rebounded, passed the ball and there were some good things that happened during that time."
On Central Arkansas' fast pace
"I think it took us a little while to play against that style of basketball. We haven't played against somebody that's had the freedom that they have on offense such as they're not going to run the plays that control, we've played some fast teams. N.C. State and Virginia Tech are very up-tempo teams, but it's more of a structure fast-break and once they get into half court they're going to pass it around. This team, from the time they touch the ball they're looking to score. This is a very good offensive basketball team so to hold them to 63 points, it's not bad and considering they had 11 points in the first four minutes of the game. The last 32 minutes, we actually defended."
On Le'Bryan Nash's play
"I really liked the flow of his game. He actually passed up some shots that he normally could have taken. But I liked him showing his unselfishness, his shooting percentage is good right now, he got to the foul line, which is big for him. When he's getting to the foul line, I know he's playing his best. All I have to do is look at that stat, if he's getting to the foul line, then he's doing what we're asking him to do. Then he gets five assists, 19 points, six rebounds, that's a pretty good stat line for him. That's kind of what we expect, it's not like he's not capable of doing that night in and night out."
On Alex Budke's first points of the year
"What a great feeling. It's great anytime some of those guys who don't get to play get in the game, play well and make shots. Everyone was pulling for Alex to make shots, he works so hard everyday in practice, we're so excited to have him on our team. What a terrific young man, he's doing well in school and practices hard every single day. That's the thing with our guys who don't get to play a lot, most teams, those guys don't even get to practice a lot, but these guys, because of our numbers, are practicing harder than anybody. They run the scout team and learn our offense and the other team's offense and defense, and Alex is right in there everyday. I thought he did great. Christien Sager goes in there for seven minutes and gets five rebounds, Ford Stuen scored and Mason Cox got a rebound. I love that our guys get so excited for them, it shows the closeness of our team. It's always good to see those guys get in there, play well and get rewarded for it."
On three games in seven days
"We're cramming it all in there. We have a very good team coming in here Wednesday in UT Arlington that's only lost a couple of games and went to the NCAA tournament last year. They're a very big team, so I told our team that we better play better than we did today. So hopefully, we can get some of these turnovers out of our system and things like that, because we're actually going to have to play better than we have the last couple of games in order to get this victory Wednesday night. Hopefully we'll get a big crowd because UT Arlington is a really good basketball team."
OSU junior guard Markel Brown
On not taking opponents lightly
"Right now, we're just taking it one game at a time and preparing for teams one team at a time. These teams that we've been playing have been pretty good offensively, though. We've never been up against a team like Central Arkansas, where they have so much freedom and the ability to do what they want to do with the offense. In the first half, they kind of hit us in the mouth. We had to respond quickly and get back in to the game before it was over."
On making adjustments after a slow start in the first half
"They came out and were real aggressive with us. We were looking at the refs for calls, but we had to stop doing that and start scoring points our own way. We did that. We forced them to miss some shots."
On Alex Budke making a three-pointer at the end of the game
"It wasn't big for just the team, it was big for everyone at OSU. Seeing Budke go out there and get a few minutes with a three-pointer was big. The fans loved it."
OSU sophomore guard/forward Le'Bryan Nash
On picking the pace up after a slow start
"Coach Ford talked to us during one of the timeouts and told us that we needed to get it together or we would get beat. We didn't want that. We didn't want to get beat and get nationally exposed. We just came together and played. We played Oklahoma State Basketball and played some defense. It started leading to easy baskets."
On not taking opponents lightly
"That's one of my weaknesses in my game. I play to the level of my competition. It happened earlier on this year, playing guys like Tennessee and N.C. State. I've been better about it now, and I can play how I want to play. I just have to keep telling myself to play hard and go out there to get the win. I let the game come to me and let my teammates give the ball to me in good situations where I can get a good shot off. When you play together, good things will happen for you."
On Alex Budke making a three-pointer at the end of the game
"It just shows you how great our team chemistry is. We're always happy for everybody. We all enjoy this team so much. We love being around each other. We support everybody. When Budke hit that shot, you saw how the team and the crowd reacted. We were jumping for joy. That's how our season is going. It's going well."
UCA Head Coach Corliss Williamson
Opening Statement
"I wish we could talk about a win, but Coach [Travis] Ford does a great job with his team. We knew we were going to be in for a tough matchup tonight. I'm proud of our guys' effort, coming out tonight, not being scared and trying to compete early on in the game. Oklahoma State did an excellent job of withstanding our run early and taking control of the basketball game. They're going to be a tough team to beat in conference, and I look forward to following them in the future."
On the status of injured guard LaQuentin Miles
"With his injury, he should be back at the beginning of conference play. It was something unexpected in the game against Southeast Missouri. We definitely missed him tonight. We have to have other guys step up. Hopefully the injury will heal soon and we'll have him by the time conference starts."
On how different OSU looks now compared to the last time these teams met
"Last time we came in here, I thought they were disciplined and they played defense. But, when you looked at their caliber of players, the talent level, you can tell it's a lot higher now than it was before. The young men they have now are taller, stronger and I think their basketball IQ is really high. They picked us apart. We wanted to speed up the game, but they took their time, were able to take control, pick us apart and find want they wanted to do on the offensive and defensive end."
On what changed that allowed OSU to go on its big run
"For us, we're pretty good when we're pushing the ball in transition, but once OSU went on a run, we were kind of froze or shell-shocked, and we stopped attacking on the other side of the court. I felt through the entire stretch, we didn't push the basketball. It wasn't until near the end of the game when they got a dunk and one of our guys decided to push it for an easy basket. But, it was too late by then. I always talk about momentum — like guys hitting big shots or getting dunks — but we still have to get that basketball out and push it in transition, because sometimes you can catch them sleeping and get an easy basket. We didn't do a good job of that the entire game."
