Oklahoma State University Athletics
Postgame Quotes vs TCU
January 09, 2013 | Cowboy Basketball
Jan. 9, 2013
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Postgame Quotes
Oklahoma State vs TCU
Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013
OSU head coach Travis Ford
Opening Statement
"I'm glad we won. You never want to sound to greedy, but I'm not too happy with how we played. I didn't think we played with the passion we normally play with, but it was just an ugly game. It wasn't pretty on both sides and we better bounce back quickly. We rebounded the ball and that was a positive, but that was about the only positive I saw in that game. I hadn't seen that kind of game yet and I told our team that. It's bound to happen. I'd rather win and learn from it."
On possibly getting out to an early lead and relaxing
"Not this time of year. Hopefully we would be a little more mature and able to handle a lead. It was never out of reach for them -- we never put them away -- and give them credit for that. We threw that ball around everywhere. We were just forcing plays, throwing it to guys who couldn't catch it in certain spots and throwing it to guys who weren't looking. Just forcing too many things right now and we have to shore that up. I wasn't too happy with our defense. I just didn't think intensity level was there that we've seen."
On not being able to rest the starters
"We sure didn't. We were looking to have a bigger rotation tonight, but the game was too close. Again, it never got out of reach, so we had to keep playing until the end."
On a short turnaround before the OU game
"We have a lot to learn from. That's a positive. We have some film we can really learn from. The problem is, I don't know if we have enough time to go over it all, because we have to prepare for Oklahoma as well. I think our guys understand that effort won't cut it Saturday. Hopefully we got it out of our system. We have to get to practice tomorrow, go over a few things, show them the mistakes and hopefully learn from them."
On OU having a week to prepare
"Obviously, they've had a long time to prepare for us, but at this time of year everyone knows what each other is trying to do anyway. They'll be fresh and ready to go, and we come off a fairly hard-fought game, but I don't know how much of an advantage that is. Anytime you have a week, it helps your basketball team, no matter who you're playing."
OSU senior center Phillip Jurick
On the win
"A win is a win, especially in the Big 12. It means a lot, so we just need to move on to the next one and prepare like we did for this one."
On the rebounding
"That was a big focus in practice this week because we got beat rebounding in the three losses this year."
OSU sophomore guard/forward Le'Bryan Nash
On his improved play
"I changed my mind focus. I had a rough week last week and I met with Coach (Ford) and we watched what I did in Puerto Rico and what I didn't do. It was a mindset issue and I wasn't attacking the rim enough. I just tried to be more aggressive this game and it worked out for me."
On his aggressive play
"There is no doubt in my mind that I can score a lot. My team needs me to score, so that's what I focused on. Getting back in a groove and scoring the ball. I blame myself for the three losses because I wasn't in a groove and I just want to help this team out as much as I can."
TCU head coach Trent Johnson
Opening statement
“Obviously for us, I don't think there's any team you can catch at the right time. This is a basketball team that had a little chip and they were ready to play like they always are. They're very balanced and they play truly hard and they have a nastiness to them that I really like. I'm very impressed with Markel's (Brown) improvement on the perimeter. There's not a lot of guys who are explosive like he is. He shoots it well from the perimeter. And (Marcus) Smart makes every one better. I thought my guys fought and did the best they could. We had some guys who struggled to score and struggled to shoot. The disappointing thing for me is 40 to 17 on the glass, so we didn't exactly fight like I thought we were capable of. I think they had a lot to do with that.”
On Markel Brown
“There were about three good players in the state (of Louisiana) when I was with LSU, and he was one of them. It's hard not to be familiar with any of these guys across the country. When you're a basketball junkie like I am, it's a way of life and it's how you live.”
On struggling in the paint
“Six-eleven and 270 (Philip Jurick) was the problem. We don't have Devonta (Abron) and Adrick (McKinney) both aren't going to jump over top and shoot over everybody. One of the things that was disturbing was they tried to force the issue and create angles. What I mean by that is we have an offense where we set big-on-little screens and try to create an angle. So now a guy has an angle to the post and we got caught trying to face the big fella and it just doesn't work like that. Not against good teams; not against well-coached teams; not against tough players. You have to tip their hat to them, I thought they did a good job. I love (Philip) Jurick. He's got a lot of edge to him. He's going to be key to them going a long way if he can control his temper. I like guys like that because it's easy to slow them down, but you never want them to get started.”
