Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Basketball Hosts Media On Opening Day Of Practice
October 05, 2015 | Cowboy Basketball
STILLWATER – The Oklahoma State basketball team hosted the media on the opening day of practice for the 2015-16 season. Check out what the Cowboys had to say.
• Head coach Travis Ford
Opening statement:
"We started our first official practice this morning at 6:15. It was very spirited and guys were in a great frame of mind for that early of a practice. I think they were excited. I'm really pleased with where they are attitude-wise and with where their bodies are. When I say that, I mean we had a lot of guys that either needed to gain or lose weight. We have a lot of freshman from last year that have really transformed their bodies. We still have a couple of guys who need to lose a few pounds, but once we go through two-a-days this week, I think it will take care of that. We haven't spent much time working as a team in the preseason as far as during the two-hour week sessions. We've spent a lot of time on individual work. We have a lot of guys on our team that need to be better than they were last year scoring the ball and different things like that. Then we have a few new guys that we're going to count on. As a team, we're still defining roles and that could go on for the next couple of weeks at least. Our guys seemed excited about the challenge that is ahead of them."
On team's offensive ability:
"What we have to figure out right now is who's going to score the ball, how they're going to score it and where. We don't know that yet. With that, we have to figure out where our points are going to come from and how we're going to get them. That's a work in progress and my No. 1 thing right now. We have some point guards who can really create and make other people around them better. We have some shooters. Right now, we're developing low-post scoring and Chris Olivier is the most natural low -post scorer we have. He is really hard to stop in the post. Mitchell Solomon is much improved. We're hoping he gets to double digits and that's a big jump for a guy that we couldn't even get to shoot last year, but he's playing with so much more confidence. Leighton Hammonds has an increased role, and Newberry and Phil we're going to count on. We think Jawun Evans and Tyree Griffin can create shots for other people. That's something we didn't have last year because Hickey was a score-first point guard rather than traditional. Are we going to have a guy that averages what [Le'Bryan] Nash did last year? I don't know if we'll have that, but Phil Forte would be your No. 1 candidate. But I think it's going to be a lot more balanced than we've ever had. In the past with my teams, when we've been balanced then we tend to score more points."
On ways to score more points:
"We need to create offense from our defense, offensive rebound more and get to the free-throw line. Those are some areas that we're looking to add to our points when you look at a team that lost some scoring. From that standpoint, we need to get those bonus points. We've been at the bottom of the league for offensive rebounding. It's never been a major emphasis. We've spent a lot of time on defensive transition to try to keep people from scoring and those defensive numbers have been good. What we've been discussing late is that we need to be great at both. We want to get more offensive rebounds, but not let up on defensive transition to give up easy baskets. We're going to spend an enormous amount of time working on both and maybe we can get six to eight points per game from that. Some of these guys have a nose for it, so we're going to allow for more freedom to get in there and offensive rebound."
On defensive improvements:
"I think we are going to be very good defensively. I think this could be the best defensive rebounding team that I've had since I got here. It should be, based on the fact that we have a good core that are big guys. We have true Big 12 size. We are counting on defensive rebounding to be our identity."
On Phil Forte's value to the program:
"He's been very, very important. We had a team meeting last night to talk about the week ahead. He has a lot of experience and I had him talk about that, the big moment he's had since he got here. There aren't too many seniors sitting in a room, going on their fourth year that have been to the NCAA tournament every year. I asked him some questions about what else he wanted to do and he shared with his teammates. He's valuable because he has so many experiences to fall back on. This is his basketball team. We're going to be naming captains here any day and he will be one of them. Here's a guy that many people questioned could even play at this level and I never questioned him one bit after I saw him play. He's been a starter, leading scorer and done a lot of things. Going into my 19th year as a college coach, I don't know if I've ever been around a player that deserves it more for the time he puts into it."
• Senior guard Phil Forte
On his leadership role:
"We have a lot of new guys and we have to teach them. Last year, we lacked a leader so that's something on and off the court I've been working on to try and make my teammates better."
What are your team and individual goals for this year?
"The first thing is to win an NCAA tournament game, I haven't won one since I've been here. But at the same time, the season is so long and we have other games and opportunities we have to take day-by-day. I want to really enjoy my senior year."
On watching Steph Curry in the offseason:
"Just how creative he is and ways he can shoot the three off the dribble. Whether it's an off the ball screen, just creating little space, it's just things like that to help expand my game."
• Freshman point guard Jawun Evans
On the chemistry of the team:
"Everybody here is just a big brotherhood. Everybody is together on the same page, so we're all just brothers together."
On the adjustments to college basketball:
"The speed is different. You go hard every play. There's no breaks and you take no plays off, so it's very different."
On the competition with Tyree Griffin:
"They've been good battles, just making each other better on the defensive end and the offensive end, so it's really just helping each other out."
• Junior small forward Leyton Hammonds
On being one of the team's veterans now:
"My freshman year, having Le'Bryan (Nash), Markel (Brown), Brian Williams, Marcus Smart and I was like the baby, two years have gone by fast and now I feel like I'm the old man on the team. It goes by fast."
On his role on the team:
"We've been working all summer expanding my game back to the four. I mean, kind of what Le'Bryan (Nash) did last year. Mid-range game, low-post game, just doing it all. Stretch four. We're working on it a lot so I'm excited to see what I'm going to be able to do out there this year."
On stepping up to fill the void left by last season's seniors:
"After losing Le'Bryan (Nash), Michael Cobbins and Anthony Hickey last year, there's a lot of points on the board that need to be scored and I feel like I can take that role, and with Jawun (Evans) coming in - he's a scorer himself, he just doesn't know it yet, but I feel like I can step in and take that role."
• Sophomore forward Mitchell Solomon
On this morning's practice:
"It was tough but we made it through. We got a lot out of it. We went through our offense and worked on rotation, so it was productive"
On his conditioning going into the season:
"I'm definitely much better than I was last year. I feel like I'm in some of the best shape of my life in terms of being able to go up and down multiple times. I'm really excited about that aspect of my game."
On what he worked on this summer:
"One of the biggest things was my metal toughness, not getting down if I miss a shot or make a mistake, so that was big. Also just getting stronger physically was important to me so I spent a lot of time in the weight room trying to get as physical as I could."
On improving his mentality:
"I just am constantly thinking about it in my head. When I shoot I'm trying to think about not worrying about whether it goes in or if its a miss and trying to stay focused on the game."
On his confidence level as a scorer:
"I'm much more confident than I was last year, I feel like this year I'm more of a threat to score and the coaches are expecting it more. I'm not as much as a role player as much as I was last year, I'm one of the bigger players."
On being comfortable as a bigger player
"It's new to me, but growing up it's the role I played so I'm kind of used to it, but it's going to take some getting used to at this level."
• Head coach Travis Ford
Opening statement:
"We started our first official practice this morning at 6:15. It was very spirited and guys were in a great frame of mind for that early of a practice. I think they were excited. I'm really pleased with where they are attitude-wise and with where their bodies are. When I say that, I mean we had a lot of guys that either needed to gain or lose weight. We have a lot of freshman from last year that have really transformed their bodies. We still have a couple of guys who need to lose a few pounds, but once we go through two-a-days this week, I think it will take care of that. We haven't spent much time working as a team in the preseason as far as during the two-hour week sessions. We've spent a lot of time on individual work. We have a lot of guys on our team that need to be better than they were last year scoring the ball and different things like that. Then we have a few new guys that we're going to count on. As a team, we're still defining roles and that could go on for the next couple of weeks at least. Our guys seemed excited about the challenge that is ahead of them."
On team's offensive ability:
"What we have to figure out right now is who's going to score the ball, how they're going to score it and where. We don't know that yet. With that, we have to figure out where our points are going to come from and how we're going to get them. That's a work in progress and my No. 1 thing right now. We have some point guards who can really create and make other people around them better. We have some shooters. Right now, we're developing low-post scoring and Chris Olivier is the most natural low -post scorer we have. He is really hard to stop in the post. Mitchell Solomon is much improved. We're hoping he gets to double digits and that's a big jump for a guy that we couldn't even get to shoot last year, but he's playing with so much more confidence. Leighton Hammonds has an increased role, and Newberry and Phil we're going to count on. We think Jawun Evans and Tyree Griffin can create shots for other people. That's something we didn't have last year because Hickey was a score-first point guard rather than traditional. Are we going to have a guy that averages what [Le'Bryan] Nash did last year? I don't know if we'll have that, but Phil Forte would be your No. 1 candidate. But I think it's going to be a lot more balanced than we've ever had. In the past with my teams, when we've been balanced then we tend to score more points."
On ways to score more points:
"We need to create offense from our defense, offensive rebound more and get to the free-throw line. Those are some areas that we're looking to add to our points when you look at a team that lost some scoring. From that standpoint, we need to get those bonus points. We've been at the bottom of the league for offensive rebounding. It's never been a major emphasis. We've spent a lot of time on defensive transition to try to keep people from scoring and those defensive numbers have been good. What we've been discussing late is that we need to be great at both. We want to get more offensive rebounds, but not let up on defensive transition to give up easy baskets. We're going to spend an enormous amount of time working on both and maybe we can get six to eight points per game from that. Some of these guys have a nose for it, so we're going to allow for more freedom to get in there and offensive rebound."
On defensive improvements:
"I think we are going to be very good defensively. I think this could be the best defensive rebounding team that I've had since I got here. It should be, based on the fact that we have a good core that are big guys. We have true Big 12 size. We are counting on defensive rebounding to be our identity."
On Phil Forte's value to the program:
"He's been very, very important. We had a team meeting last night to talk about the week ahead. He has a lot of experience and I had him talk about that, the big moment he's had since he got here. There aren't too many seniors sitting in a room, going on their fourth year that have been to the NCAA tournament every year. I asked him some questions about what else he wanted to do and he shared with his teammates. He's valuable because he has so many experiences to fall back on. This is his basketball team. We're going to be naming captains here any day and he will be one of them. Here's a guy that many people questioned could even play at this level and I never questioned him one bit after I saw him play. He's been a starter, leading scorer and done a lot of things. Going into my 19th year as a college coach, I don't know if I've ever been around a player that deserves it more for the time he puts into it."
• Senior guard Phil Forte
On his leadership role:
"We have a lot of new guys and we have to teach them. Last year, we lacked a leader so that's something on and off the court I've been working on to try and make my teammates better."
What are your team and individual goals for this year?
"The first thing is to win an NCAA tournament game, I haven't won one since I've been here. But at the same time, the season is so long and we have other games and opportunities we have to take day-by-day. I want to really enjoy my senior year."
On watching Steph Curry in the offseason:
"Just how creative he is and ways he can shoot the three off the dribble. Whether it's an off the ball screen, just creating little space, it's just things like that to help expand my game."
• Freshman point guard Jawun Evans
On the chemistry of the team:
"Everybody here is just a big brotherhood. Everybody is together on the same page, so we're all just brothers together."
On the adjustments to college basketball:
"The speed is different. You go hard every play. There's no breaks and you take no plays off, so it's very different."
On the competition with Tyree Griffin:
"They've been good battles, just making each other better on the defensive end and the offensive end, so it's really just helping each other out."
• Junior small forward Leyton Hammonds
On being one of the team's veterans now:
"My freshman year, having Le'Bryan (Nash), Markel (Brown), Brian Williams, Marcus Smart and I was like the baby, two years have gone by fast and now I feel like I'm the old man on the team. It goes by fast."
On his role on the team:
"We've been working all summer expanding my game back to the four. I mean, kind of what Le'Bryan (Nash) did last year. Mid-range game, low-post game, just doing it all. Stretch four. We're working on it a lot so I'm excited to see what I'm going to be able to do out there this year."
On stepping up to fill the void left by last season's seniors:
"After losing Le'Bryan (Nash), Michael Cobbins and Anthony Hickey last year, there's a lot of points on the board that need to be scored and I feel like I can take that role, and with Jawun (Evans) coming in - he's a scorer himself, he just doesn't know it yet, but I feel like I can step in and take that role."
• Sophomore forward Mitchell Solomon
On this morning's practice:
"It was tough but we made it through. We got a lot out of it. We went through our offense and worked on rotation, so it was productive"
On his conditioning going into the season:
"I'm definitely much better than I was last year. I feel like I'm in some of the best shape of my life in terms of being able to go up and down multiple times. I'm really excited about that aspect of my game."
On what he worked on this summer:
"One of the biggest things was my metal toughness, not getting down if I miss a shot or make a mistake, so that was big. Also just getting stronger physically was important to me so I spent a lot of time in the weight room trying to get as physical as I could."
On improving his mentality:
"I just am constantly thinking about it in my head. When I shoot I'm trying to think about not worrying about whether it goes in or if its a miss and trying to stay focused on the game."
On his confidence level as a scorer:
"I'm much more confident than I was last year, I feel like this year I'm more of a threat to score and the coaches are expecting it more. I'm not as much as a role player as much as I was last year, I'm one of the bigger players."
On being comfortable as a bigger player
"It's new to me, but growing up it's the role I played so I'm kind of used to it, but it's going to take some getting used to at this level."
Players Mentioned
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