Oklahoma State University Athletics
Postgame Quotes vs Iowa State
February 07, 2012 | Cowboy Basketball
Feb. 7, 2012
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Postgame Quotes
Oklahoma State vs Iowa State
Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012
Oklahoma State head coach Travis Ford
Opening statement
"I'm really proud of the effort our guys put out, really excited about the execution of our offense in the second half. We really executed some plays and some things and some options that we wanted to look at and talk about at halftime and timeouts. I thought our guys did a great job of executing. We just challenged our guys defensively. I know (Iowa State) made some shots, but I thought they earned those shots that they made. Overall, I thought we did a great job defensively."
"I thought Michael Cobbins might have been the most valuable player in the game with the job he did on Royce White and figuring out, somehow, how to have enough energy to go get 14 rebounds, and then we tried to throw the ball in there to him several times and he was trying to do some things. I just thought he was tremendous in this basketball game, as well as some other guys. I thought we played the second half very focused, and I commended our guys on the job they did on the scouting report on both ends of the court for us, offensively and defensively. Our guys did a great job."
On Le'Bryan Nash hitting the game winning shot and blocking ISU's final shot
"He should be (proud) and I'm proud of him. To make the last-second shot and block the shot, it's good to feel good about yourself, but also understand you have to play defense all the time, that's what you're capable of doing. That's a big thing we've been trying to harp and bring L.B. in to watch film with him and show him, 'Here, look at this. Look what you're capable of doing.' He's had instances this year when he's just been a lock-down defender and he's had some great defensive games. He has to become a little more consistent, but he'll get there, no question he's trying. I'm glad he feels good about himself because we are on him a lot."
On if the win was redemption for losing at Iowa State
"I promise, I hadn't even thought about that. Obviously, it came down to the wire, but no, that's long gone, forgotten and I probably didn't even think about it until you said it. We were just trying to win another game, period. You guys have heard me talk about, 'We don't play a game for revenge.' We're just trying to compete and stay in the game and hopefully have a chance to win at the end. That's kind of been our theme, just be in there."
Oklahoma State freshman guard/forward Le'Bryan Nash
On making the game-winning play
“I live for the big moments. Coach (Ford) drew a play for someone to get the ball at the top of the key. I went and set the screen, pick and pop. He gave me the ball in a good situation. I had a smaller guy guarding me. I rose above him and made a good shot. I knew that Iowa State was going to pass to Chris Allen. I told Brian (Williams) to stay with him. My man set a pick and so the players switched on me. Allen did not jump that high off of the floor. I got a good block.”
On blocking the final shot
“It felt good. I think coach (Ford) believes I am the weakest link on defense. It made me feel good. I was able to go into the locker room and say 'what now!' I made a good defensive block. It was good to get the win. I wanted the win the most. I try to do what I can on the defensive end.”
Oklahoma State sophomore guard Markel Brown
On holding on to the ball
“We wanted to run as much time as we could off of the clock. We waited until there were seven seconds on the shot clock. Coach (Ford) drew up an "outie" (perimeter) play. We thought that they were going to blitz me or K.P. (Keiton Page). He (Nash) was going to pop, and he did. The defense stayed on him and he made a great play.”
On beating Iowa State at home
“It is always good to win at home. They got us on a last-second shot (in Ames) that we should have won. We were not going to let that happen again. We bowed up on defense. Coach (Ford) told us not to give up any threes this time. Le'Bryan made a good play on the ball.”
On Le'Bryan blocking a shot
“I was excited. For L.B. (Le'Bryan) to block a game-winning shot is unusual. It was a good defensive stop. Usually he does not get off of the ground. He made a good play at the end.”
Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg
On the final play of the game
"We executed our play. We had a big guy guarding Chris (Allen) and he took it in there, made a move. We thought he could get in there and get fouled or go for the layup. He was obviously the hot guy for us at the time and we wanted to get the ball in his hands and let him make a play."
On Le'Bryan Nash
"He's a heck of a player. The kid hit a big-time shot at the end of the game. He's a matchup problem when he plays the four because of his ability to step outside and hit shots. That's why we went small for quite a bit of the game. Give the kid credit; he stepped up and hit a huge shot."
On playing in Gallagher-Iba Arena
"Each time you go out there it's a new challenge, a new opportunity. We just didn't get it done down the stretch tonight."
Iowa State senior guard Chris Allen
On the final play
"We were just trying to get the shot, get it tied up and win it. Coach put the ball in my hands. I couldn't come up with it. I saw two guys running at me, and I thought if I'm gonna got out like this, I better get to the hole because maybe I'll get a foul or a wide-open shot. Once I turned that corner, it seemed like I had a good shot. (Nash) is a great athlete, and he made a great play. It was clean. Coach set it up for me and trusted me, but I couldn't come up with it."
On OSU freshman Le'Bryan Nash
"He was making great plays the whole game. He's a great player. He won the game for them. However you want to look at it, he won the game for them. He did it in the first half and in the second half."
On his game
"It just kind of happened. I kept getting open looks. In my mind, I was thinking, 'If I can just make that shot, we could win this.' I took my chances on those shots."
On Oklahoma State
"They played a great game. I don't know what their shooting percentage was, but we were playing pretty good D(efense), and they were just better at offense. They were hitting all the tough shots. It was a great game for them. This is tough."
