Oklahoma State University Athletics
OSU vs. Baylor Postgame Quotes
February 02, 2013 | Cowgirl Basketball
Feb. 2, 2013
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OSU Head Coach Jim Littell
Opening Statement
"I thought we competed tonight, That was one thing that I was really wanting when we went into this game. Line up, compete, really fight. I thought we did that a lot. In the first half, if you want to hang with Baylor, you've got to make shots, and you've really got to make easy shots. We missed about five two footers in the half. We could have easily gone to half tied or right there. We did good things to get the ball there, but you've got to get the ball there. There are a lot of positive things that we could take from this game. We had 22 offensive rebounds against a very long, athletic team. We had 27 second-chance points. That's something you can build on in the second half of the season. We forced 20 turnovers on Baylor, which is proving that you're playing hard. We only had 12 turnovers ourselves. So, there are a lot of positive things that we can take out of this game to start the second half of the season. I told the players that tomorrow is the start of a new season. It's the second half of Big 12 play. We need to be locked in, and compete that way against every one, and if we do that, we'll be fine."
On the team's defense and forcing turnovers
"We were just more scrappy. We fought harder. We were more active with our hands. We stuck our nose in there and competed harder. We just had more scrappy play in our game than we have had. That's what forced a lot of the turnovers."
On starting Kendra Suttles
"Kendra Suttles has played very well the last three or four games, and she deserved to start. We've always gone on the premise around here that you earn it, and that people that are playing better at that time are going to play. That was our decision."
On Liz Donohoe
"She competed very hard. Liz has been playing very hard. She's a young lady that loves basketball. She's a perfectionist. She loves to do things well. If I had to be critical about something about Liz Donohoe, it's that she puts too much pressure on herself. She wants to excel, she wants to please, she wants to do well for her coaches, teammates and school. I thought she relaxed. We talked to her before the game about relaxing and letting the game come to her. I thought she had an exceptional night tonight. She just needs to realize that there are going to be bad plays, but she needs to turn the page and move on. That's her biggest challenge, is handling a little bit of adversity, but I thought that she was exceptional tonight."
Tiffany Bias
On The Team's Performance
"We just didn't hit shots when we needed to. I think we did have a lot of good runs and we were in there the whole time. There was just that spurt where we couldn't hit shots and our offense wasn't working to our advantage and that happens we just didn't react as quick as we should have."
On Lingering Effects from Tonight's Game
"It does. We played great, we competed well for the most part. I think that as long as you compete like that against this Baylor team then it's going to be a good learning experience for the next one. If we can play that hard every game and compete that hard every game then I don't think it will be a problem for the rest of the season."
On Tonight's Game Compared to Previous Losses
"We just didn't compete as hard. We were out-scrapped in the last couple of games that we lost and I think we were really scrappy, focused and ready to play today. Against a team like that you're going to have to be focused, ready to play and stick to the game plan."
On Ending Season Series with Baylor
"It's kind of up and down. You always compete really hard against Baylor, but at the same time you know you don't have that team coming up and you don't have to scout team for Griner up the middle. But it's good for us and for the rest of the season to play the other teams."
On First Half of Season
"We saw a team that we could be and should be and we also saw a team where we didn't finish as we should have. We expect a lot more out of our team in the games we lost or let up the lead and that shows a lot about our learning experience that we should have by losing. We would just grind it out and get to the next one. But I think the second half of the season we'll look back on that and we'll make it better."
Brittney Martin
On Second Half Rebounding
"We should have done that from the beginning, but at halftime we said, 'We need to get offensive rebounds.' We put an emphasis on that at halftime so we have to come out and do it."
On Brittney Griner
"Well you can't really drive. They don't need to play defense because they're going to let you try but you can't drive in to the basket."
Baylor Head Coach Kim Mulkey
General thoughts on the game
"We turned the ball over too much. I give credit where credit is due, but I don't think we turned it over because of what Oklahoma State did defensively. We turned it over in transition by trying to create things that weren't there. That's the most turnovers that we've had all year. We were very lucky to win on the road with turning it over that much. I thought that we scored a lot of points in a short period of time. We weren't very good on keeping them off the offensive boards. I thought they got a lot of second-chance points and a lot of 50-50 balls."
On trailing by five in the first half, the most so far in Big 12 play
"Well, I put the starters on the bench. We have enough talent on this team to start a different five if we need to start a different five. If I have to put a different player on the floor to wake us up, I will."
On Brittney Griner's seven assists
When you're a freshman, you've got bodies flying at you. She had more turnovers than assists back then, but she has the experience and the teammates now that move and give her someone to pass to. She's going to make you look good. You can't just stand there, and if you move, she's going to get a bucket for you."
On Liz Donohoe's play
"She's a great player. Not many people are as good as she is with as young as she is. With her, you have to fight over screens and give it everything you have. She is an outstanding player. We didn't double her or anything like that, we just played straight man. She's a great player, though."
Center Brittney Griner
On her play
"My teammates did a great job of of cutting off for me when I got the ball and they [OSU] came down to double me and I was able to find my teammates. They got me the ball when I needed it so i could put it in the basket.
Guard Odyssey Sims
On the 13 point run in the first half
"Coach was on us about being down five. We didn't have any intensity and we didn't have any energy so we kept trying our best to pick it up. We just kept running and we got easy baskets in transition. we just had to try and fin intensity within each other."
