Oklahoma State University Athletics
Postgame Quotes vs Texas
February 18, 2012 | Cowboy Basketball
Feb. 18, 2012
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Postgame Quotes
Oklahoma State vs Texas
Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012
Oklahoma State head coach Travis Ford
Opening statement
"I'm very proud of our team today for responding from two tough road games. You know, we've been through two tough battles in the last two games. It took a lot out of our basketball team and we've done everything in our power, as a group, as a team the last two or three days to really rejuvenate ourselves and to really instill some life back in us. Not that I thought we were overly down, but that just takes a lot out of you, the past two games, it really does, those two environments."
"I'm just proud of how they responded today. We were very focused from the beginning and it's exciting to see that, you go through the stat line and everyone had an impressive stat. Whether it was, obviously, Keiton Page (who had) an unbelievable day, you look at Brian Williams with six steals, you look at (Le'Bryan Nash) with 18 points, Michael (Cobbins) has four blocks and 12 points, Markel (had a) double-double. Just some impressive stats from each person and that's what team is all about, getting contributions from everybody. That's what's fun. It's fun to see all the guys happy for Keiton. That just shows a lot about this team, I think. About how excited they were, and kept getting him the ball, and kept wanting him to get fouled. Good effort, because we have a lot of respect (for Texas). Texas has been playing as well as anybody in our league, and we've got a lot of respect for them, and Rick Barnes, and their ball club."
On Keiton Page's ovation from the crowd at the end of the game
"He deserved it. One of the assistants said when he made that one free throw, 'That's 40 points. My goodness.' I'm glad we were able to get him out and get (him) what he deserved. It was great that the crowd recognized him, as you knew they would. He had just an incredible effort. You know, when a guy gets 40 points, and the other team's gameplan is to stop him, it's pretty good."
On the moment him and Keiton Page shared at the end of the game
"I just told him that that was one of the most impressive performances I've seen, and that I've been part of as a coach. I mean, for him to do that again, as not the biggest guy in the world, and (Texas's) whole gameplan is to play on top of him. What he did is not easy to do. He continues to almost defy the odds. It's impressive to watch him play.
On free throws
The coach coming out in me, you know, I looked at the stat sheet, and I go, Keiton goes 20 for 20, but we only shoot 77 percent. I thought we should be able to hit (those). We shot them when we needed to, but we've been shooting free throws even better than that, so we've got to get in the gym and shoot more free throws. That's not good enough. We've got to get back up in the 80's. When we needed them down the stretch, we made them.
On Le'Bryan Nash's game
Very steady. I thought he played great defense. We were a little concerned about the matchup. I thought he did a great job, of not just guarding, but really did a lot things we were trying to defensively, of helping. And then he made shots when he got in a good flow. It was like, (Le'Bryan) a lot of times would just get hot for about four or five minutes. Througout the game, he was pretty consistent. Getting to the free throw line, hitting some jumpers, scoring different ways."
Oklahoma State senior guard Keiton Page
On execution of the game plan
"Coach talked all week about how we need to control the tempo on offense, not force anything and get the shots that we want. My teammates were doing a great job of finding me tonight and getting me good looks at the basket. Fortunately, they were falling for me tonight."
On whether he was aware of previous struggles against Texas
"Yeah, Coach (Butch) Pierre jokes around with me quite a bit. He knows everyone's stats, and gets everybody. So, any game that a team plays good defense on you, he's quick to let you know. He's always giving me a hard time about Texas playing good defense on me."
On what it was like to score 40 points
"It was a complete team effort. This was a huge a win for us to get back home off of the Kansas game and the Missouri game, where we didn't play very well. I'm just glad the guys came in extremely focused tonight and executed the scouting report. Like I said, they were doing a good job of getting me the ball. We did a good job of getting aggressive and getting into the bonus early."
On the embrace with Coach Travis Ford near the end of the game
"He was just saying congratulations, great game, stay focused and let's keep playing like we're playing right now."
Oklahoma State freshman guard/forward Le'Bryan Nash
On trying to get the ball to Page when he got hot early
"Usually when a guy like that gets hot, Keiton Page, a senior leader, you want to get him the ball. He's a shooter, so we always look for him. He's the first option on the team, so we go through him anyway. When he's on like that, it's tough to beat us. He did a great job of getting open and we found him.
On whether he thought Page would have a game liike this
"Yeah. I love being around shooters. Guys like me like to drive and kick it out to them. When you have guys like that, that can shoot the ball, you try to get them the ball every time. He wasn't just shooting, he was getting to the free-throw line. He got to the line 20 times. He showed his whole offensive ability. I thought it was like a high school game to him. I looked at his high school highlights, and he was doing stuff like that in high school."
Texas head coach Rick Barnes
On his respect for Page
“I think as a coach you always have respect for a guy who you know he maximizes his ability and you know he plays with the passion that he plays with. I'm not sure he hasn't been guarded harder than any player in the four years he's been here in the 14 years I've been in the league. Nobody tries to give him anything because he's capable of shooting it deep. I've enjoyed competing against him, but I really do think he's had to work for everything that he's gotten and he's made himself quite a player.”
On if Page is an All-Big 12 player
“Based on what he did today – he played as well as anybody we've played against all year. Based on today, he would be an All-American because he was terrific. I admire him for the fact that he has to work really hard and he's smart. You've just got to applaud what he did.”
On Keiton Page's game
“A player like Keiton, if he gets going, he can get going. We were leaving our feet and fouling and bailing him out. I think you've got to give him a lot of credit over the four years, the way he's competed and worked and had to do the things he's done. We gave him separation and he knocked down shots and got to the foul line. We fouled him in ways that we should never foul and ways that we haven't in the past. Give him credit because he kept working and kept doing what he was doing and he played a terrific game.”
On the game
“They deserved to win the game. I thought from the very beginning that they did pretty much what they wanted to do the whole day.”
On moving forward
“We're going to have to play a whole lot harder and we're going to have to play a whole lot harder mentally. I don't want to take anything away from Travis and his team because I thought they had a terrific day doing what they wanted to do, but the losing coach always looks at what his team didn't do. There was a lot of things I wasn't happy with today. It will be a whole new ball game against a totally different type of team. We're going to have to better both mentally and physically.”
Texas junior guard J'Covan Brown
On Keiton Page
"He just had a great game today. He was getting calls and staying physical. He went to the line 20 times; that's unbelievable. Give credit to him."
On being in foul trouble early
"It changed the game big time. Myck leaves when he has two fouls and our bigs (had two fouls). We had to make an adjustment by going small, putting me at the four. They just took it from there. They started being more aggressive and just driving. They were getting the whistle. Just give credit to them."
Texas freshman guard Myck Kabongo
On Keiton Page
"He got to the free throw line. Any time anybody gets to the free throw line 20 times, they're getting every call. He went to the free throw line and made his shots when he took them. He got fouled two times, three times at the three point line for three shots, and that's unacceptable on our behalf. Credit to him, he had a great game."
On if he's making improvements
"Everyone on our team is making progress. You see where we are from the beginning of the season until now, everyone's been improving. Our coaches have been doing a great job just improving everybody. That's all it is, really, just imrovement of everybody on the team."
