Oklahoma State University Athletics
Postgame Quotes
January 25, 2014 | Cowboy Basketball
Jan. 25, 2014
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Postgame Quotes
Oklahoma State vs West Virginia
Saturday, January 25, 2014
OSU head coach Travis Ford
Opening Statement
"We battled foul trouble. Foul trouble hurts every team, but it really hurts us as far as rotations and things we like to do. That was more like a football game. That was a really rough, physical game. Obviously, we didn't shoot the ball well. We had some really good looks, too. I thought we defended a lot better in the second half than we did in the first. We were able to press a little more, which is always a positive for us. I wasn't happy with our assists in the first half, but we almost got double-digit assists in the second half. That was just a hard-fought game."
On Le'Bryan Nash's performance
"I thought Le'Bryan gave us an incredible effort and an incredible game. We needed it, especially with the adversity we had in many different ways. He really held down the fort for us. We were running a few sets for him, but really we were just trying to get him the ball. We made it clear we wanted to play through him. Then, they started to double-team him in the post, which is what we wanted. I thought he did a great job. He played a heck of a game — 29 (points) and nine (rebounds) — and we needed every single one of them."
On the run to end the first half
"I thought when Phil Forte and Stevie Clark were on the court together for the last six or seven minutes of the first half, that was the difference in the game. The energy they were giving us and the plays they made, effortwise, might have been the difference for us. Overall, the last five minutes of the first half were the difference in the game."
On Phil Forte's ability to affect the game in other ways, even when his shot wasn't falling
"Phil did a great job, and that's what I love about him. He is affecting the game and being a difference maker in a lot of ways besides just shooting the ball. His rebounding, defense and effort plays are things you can count on from him. That's why he is one of the most efficient players in the country, to be honest with you."
OSU junior wing Le'Bryan Nash
On playing aggressive today
"That was just my teammates giving me shots, I'm in the right place under the basket and when they dump it off, I'm going up strong. That's the way it is, I just give credit to my teammates because without them I don't know where I would be. But they keep telling me to be aggressive and that's what I did today and today was my day."
On stepping up with Marcus Smart and Kamari Murphy in foul trouble
"I was thinking about rebounding, I wasn't thinking about scoring. My scoring just came. Losing (Kamari) Murphy, he's a team-rebounding guy, so I was really thinking about rebounding playing with four guards out there. But, the scoring came for me today because they put a bigger guy on me and my teammates just gave me the ball in good situations."
On taking advantage of the and-one's
"If I get going, I feel like I'm hard to stop. I really believe that in myself, I feel like I'm a great scorer. I'm just playing hard and it comes natural for me, it starts on the defensive end rebounding, wish I had 10, but I just start out with that and the offense just came."
"It was really physical, especially down in the paint. We're going to have games like that, it's just another game we have to adapt to and we came out with a big win. Hope we can get better on the rebounding, they beat us, we're in a rebounding war because every game you're not going to knock down shots and we need defense to win."
OSU senior guard Markel Brown
On Stevie Clark
"Stevie came in and just played his tail off. He's getting great within this Big 12 run and we're going to need that. He's getting a lot of experience, he's going up against Marcus (Smart) every day in practice, so what better player do you want to go up against? So, when he comes into the game, he's our spark."
On leading the team in rebounds
"I do like seeing myself higher than all of those guys. Coach (Ford) always reminds me to help those guys rebound, we're short a player (without Michael Cobbins), and especially with the foul trouble of Marcus (Smart) and Kamari (Murphy), LB (Le'Bryan Nash) needed a little help on the glass tonight so B-Will (Brian Williams) and I chipped in, that's how it has to be all year long."
On his 360-degree dunk
"I didn't care if he was going to jump or not. Either way it was going to be a foul or two points, but when I got it I just knew I was going to do it. Every time I get a break, I have a great set of athletic ability, it would be a shame to waste it and not do something for the crowd. Fans like to come to the games and see things like that, so I had to give it to them. It's a great spark for this team, when I do a dunk like that and the crowd gets rowdy, it gives us a boost of energy on defense."
On his offensive rebound at the end of the first half
"That was very important. I actually wasn't paying attention to the clock, I got the offensive tip back for the dunk and the crowd went crazy. Little Phil (Forte) and Stevie (Clark) were playing great defense again, created a steal and Phil got the ball and gave it to LB (Le'Bryan Nash). I was ready for some more. I turned around and the backboard was red, so that was a great spark going into halftime and it gave us a boost."
WVU head coach Bob Huggins
On his team's performance
"We kind of let it get away from us at the end of the first half, but then we came back. We got back in the game. You know, it's hard when we lose Eron (Harris). Eron gets 21 in 21 minutes, so losing him for us is like (Oklahoma State) losing Marcus Smart."
On Le'Bryan Nash
"I saw him in high school, and I knew how good he was. He's been terrific all year. I think he's probably the hardest guard in our league. He can bounce it. If you let him catch it inside of 15 feet, he's got a great chance to score."
WVU sophomore guard Eron Harris
On having to sit with foul trouble
"To me, it didn't matter if I was sitting. We have enough good players to win with anybody in the game. Our walk-ons even got to play today and I have 100 percent confidence in all of our players. It really doesn't matter who was in the game, we had the game regardless."
On the small things WVU struggled with
"The little small things were finishing layups, missing free throws. Everything else was just mistakes that were probably going to happen. Sometimes we let guys get shots that we know shouldn't get shots. You can't always control that, the guy is going to shoot it sometimes. Hitting layups and free throws are something we have to get better at."
On if Le'Bryan Nash's play surprised them
"No, that didn't surprise me. I just felt like at a certain point we have to say, 'He's not going to get the ball.' I think we have got to make a bigger effort to do that — because he was their only inside presence. They didn't get any points in the paint besides him. I mean, they probably did, but if they were in half-court offense and they got it inside, it was him. Regardless of how refs were calling the calls, we don't have to let him get the ball to score."
WVU junior guard Juwan Staten
On the missed Nathan Adrian shot to tie near the end
"It's a great team, they have great players. We came in here and we played hard. We fought the whole game. We got down, we didn't hang our heads, and we kept fighting. That's all you can ask for. Nate's a freshman. He's played a lot of minutes this year, but he's still a freshman. This is the first time he's been put in this situation; playing a team like this on the road. He made big shots and he'll continue to make big shots. This is just one that he missed. We're not going to place the blame on anybody. As a team, we gave up a lot of easy baskets that we shouldn't have given up. We didn't capitalize on a lot of shots and free throws that we should have capitalized on. That's what leads to a loss, but we're still growing."
On why OSU was better without Marcus Smart on the floor
"When (Marcus) Smart plays, he dominates the ball. He is a great player, he needs the ball in his hands, he makes the team go. When he's off the court, or he's not getting it going, other players step up. Even though Smart is a great player, I think they have a real matchup problem in (Le'Bryan) Nash. Whenever he gets the ball and gets going, it's hard to stop because he can put the ball on the floor like a guard. He's a power forward in size, he can shoot the midrange, he can do a lot of things. When he get's it going and starts making shots, it's hard to stop."
On how the team slowed Marcus Smart down
"That's just something we've been talking about in practice. We definitely scouted him, and we played him once so we know how he plays. He likes to be physical, so you have to be physical back. Try to get in his head a little bit, try to get him to commit some fouls he doesn't want to commit, try to get him in foul trouble. That's what we did. We knew that if we could get him in foul trouble in the first half and slow him down that we'd have a pretty good chance of winning this game. We executed our plan, there were just a couple key moments that we didn't really execute on that cost us."
