Oklahoma State University Athletics
Postgame Quotes
November 21, 2014 | Cowboy Basketball
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Postgame Quotes
Oklahoma State vs Milwaukee
Friday, November 21, 2014
OSU head coach Travis Ford (from postgame radio show)
On Milwaukee's offense
"They are a tough team to guard because they can shoot threes and they have guards that can post. All five guys on the court can shoot threes. They were clicking in the second half. They really got their offense moving. They just kind of fed off of each other, but I thought we relaxed a little too much and became passive instead of continuing with the aggressive defense we were playing in the first half."
On going to Michael Cobbins early in the game
"We (went inside with him early). We saw some things on film that made me think that they would have trouble guarding our fours and fives off the dribble and inside if we got some multiple-screening action to keep our bigs moving. We saw some things that we might be able to take advantage of and we were able to do that very early."
"He did a very good job, was aggressive defensively, made a three, got to the line. There were some things we had seen in practice that I thought he had gotten away from that he did a good job of tonight. He would have kept playing, but he sprained his ankle. He's fine. He gave us some very good minutes defensively and offensively."
On Anthony Hickey
"He was a little more aggressive offensively with shooting the ball. He took one ill-advised shot, but other than that, he was very good. I liked his pace. With his speed and quickness, he has not been playing to that, and that's a strength of his. I've challenged him the last couple of days to play to his speed and his quickness. I just don't think that he's been using it enough, and tonight I think he took some good steps toward that."
On if he's satisfied with his team through four games
"We're learning more and more. I'm glad we're 4-0, but we've got a long way to go. You saw two halves tonight: one really good half and one not so good half. We've got to become a little more consistent with our pressure. That needs to be our identity. We show glimpses and when we're doing it, we're very good defensively, but for some reason we go in stretches where we become a little more passive. There's no reason for that, because we've got enough players on our team to play. Nobody should be pacing themselves whatsoever. (Going to Vegas this week) is going to be a good challenge. It's our first time on the road in a different environment. This is going to be a good test. As I just told our team in the locker room; we want to try to come back 6-0, but more importantly, we need to continue to get better and climb the ladder. When we come back, we want to have an even better understanding of our basketball team and hope that we're 6-0."
OSU senior post Michael Cobbins
On his first game back
"It felt great, just to be back out there under the lights and out there with my boys, doing what we love to do."
On his quick start
"I was really just trying to get lost in the game and let the game come to me."
On his first basket
"It was one of those, this is it, you're back type of moments. It just kept me going throughout the game."
On playing 32 minutes
"It was good for me, a chance to get out there and get my game wind up versus just regular conditioning, so I was glad coach played me."
OSU senior guard Anthony Hickey
On playing with Michael Cobbins in a real game
"Mike got me going early on in the huddle. He said I've got to keep doing the same thing you've been doing. The first play, he told me to get after it. It's what everybody has been waiting for and he gives the offense and defense what we've been needing."
On if energy was different this game
"We started off great, give us credit for that, but we've got to close it out. We've got to close out and get some of these other guys in. I think we let up a little bit trying to run down the clock and we had some empty possessions, but we'll keep getting better and working at that."
On how the team feels
"We're not satisfied right now, we've got a whole lot more to get better at. We're 4-0, I think we play better as we go. We'll go to Vegas and take it a game at a time, that's basically all we need to do. Take it a game at a time and not look ahead too far, go one by one and everything will take care of itself."
Milwaukee head coach Rob Jeter
On the game
"If we were able to redo the first 20 minutes, then I would feel a lot better about the game. In the second 20 minutes, we really competed and played Milwaukee basketball. We got the ball into the post, we only had four turnovers and allowed only eight fast-break points. The key of the game was not to turn the ball over and to keep up the tempo. The tempo was better in the second half, we limited their fast-break points and we got post touches, and as a result, in the second 20 minutes we outplayed them, and that's a positive sign."
On senior Steve McWhorter
"Steve is a senior leader for us. He's been around for our championship teams and just understands the pace of the game for us. He's doing a nice job of picking his spots where he can become more of a scorer rather than just a facilitator, but his play is valuable for us. We're much more efficient with him on the floor."
On the positives for Milwaukee
"The last 20 minutes was a bright spot. When you look at it, we scored 41 points against that team, against Oklahoma State, that's a lot of points. In the first 20 minutes, they put it on us good. They're very talented, they've got a good inside outside game, (Phil) Forte really keeps the defense honest, the point guard (Anthony Hickey) runs the squad and (Le'Bryan) Nash is a pro. Nash just has a pace to his game that we couldn't match, but we competed and that's what I liked about the game. We competed in the second half.”
On where the Panthers go from here
"We've got to duplicate the second 20 minutes. We've put together a really tough schedule. It's going to challenge us, it doesn't get any easier from here, but if we continue to play like we did in the second half- with intensity, sharing the ball, making post touches - we're going to improve and good things will happen."
