Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State vs. Kansas Post-Game Quotes
February 07, 2015 | Cowboy Basketball
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No. 8/9 Kansas at Oklahoma State
Feb. 7, 2015 | Stillwater, Okla. | Gallagher-Iba Arena
Oklahoma State vs. Kansas Post-Game Quotes
OSU Coach Travis Ford
On the win against Kansas:
"We came in at halftime. It was maybe the most positive halftime we've had. I told our guys, 'All the numbers say we should be down 20. All the percentages, how we played.' We were lucky because we just spotted them 11 points because we did not play well in the first half. I didn't think we played well. We didn't have the pop that we needed. I told our team that they went on two big runs in the first half and we went on zero. I said, 'You know we have some runs in us at some point, so let's take the mentality - we've spotted them 11 points and let's just get after it and understand that this is where we're at and know we have better basketball in us.' All of the numbers said that we should have been down 20 at halftime."
On the defensive press:
"On the court I told our guys, 'Our press has to be a difference maker. Our press has to change this game. That's how hard we need to press. That's how hard we need to go about this.' I thought our guys really got after it and we changed some things around. Normally, (Phil) Forte and (Anthony) Hickey are in front of them. We moved (Jeff) Newberry on them because of Phil Forte being sick and we were trying to hide him a little bit. Hickey and Newberry really got after it."
On Jeff Newberry:
"For the last week our mentality has been, play the next play, move on and don't worry about a call. Don't worry about if you missed a shot. Don't worry about if you turn it over, move on. That's a prime example of him listening and carrying out what we want him to do."
On Phil Forte:
"What an incredible and gutsy performance. Before the game starts, he is throwing up. The trainer said he could go. The doctor said he could go. Phil said he wanted to go and it was just a concern because we have such a quick turnaround here, but great, gutsy performance. He made his free throws. He did what he could do to help. It wasn't his best, but he was very efficient and that's what we needed from him."
On foul trouble:
"He (Nash) scored the basket and it goes in. What I thought was going to be an and-one turns around and he gets his second foul and the basket doesn't count. We were really trying to get into the flow of the game. The second foul was the most costly one for us. It might have been a charge, I don't know, I haven't seen it yet. Then Cobbins gets one and we were trying to keep him out of foul trouble. We had other guys step up. Mitchell Solomon, I think he put back-to-back terrific games together. That might have been his best game. I thought Texas was the other night, but this might have been his best game. Hopefully what we are seeing with some of our newer guys starting to get into the flow of things, Newberry, Solomon, Shine. I thought Tyree Griffin gave us great minutes at the end of the first half when he came in for Hickey and Hickey came back in and had a tremendous second half. Total team effort, I told our team, 'Great win.' We have a tremendous amount of respect for Kansas and their program. It was just a total team effort and everyone got in there and just did something positive."
On the crowd:
"The crowd was unbelievable, it was an unbelievable night. They stormed the court, it's exciting and I enjoy it. We really appreciate all the fans and their support and it was loud. It was very, very loud and that made a difference for us."
OSU Forward Le'Bryan Nash
On OSU's week:
"It was a great week. We got a good win against a good Texas team that lifted our spirit because we needed a road win. When we play against Kansas, we're always ready to play them. Especially, here at home. We want to protect our home court. We had our crowd behind us and it got rowdy in GIA."
On the crowd's energy:
"It's the crowd and everybody wanting to win every game. We feel we are one of the best teams once we step on the court, and that's what we've got to go out and prove. When you do that, good things happen for you. When you play hard, and you play with the crowd behind you, you show them how much you want to win and good things happen."
On this team finding ways to win:
"We got to prove a point this off-season and we came in with a chip on our shoulders and we want to win. All we heard was that this was a rebuilding season and that hurt me, because this is my senior year and somebody said this was a rebuilding season. I take that to heart. That's why I play with a chip on my shoulder every game and I'm trying to lead my guys in the right way my senior year and trying to win a national championship."
On stepping up in the second half:
"You know how we play against Kansas, we feel like we can just press them all day. I think that's when we were best because we love getting out in transition and love turning guys over. We always like turning defense into offense and that's what we love doing. The second half we brought it and we were asking Coach Ford to bring it on."
OSU Guard Phil Forte
On playing sick:
"Just the fact that my teammates kept coming up to me wanting me to play. Sickness is kind of just a part of it and I just try to mentally push through it; and I didn't want to let my teammates down. I was just trying to go out there and give it all I had for however many minutes I was going to get."
On the biggest difference in the second half:
"I think we just got after it defensively and that led to some easy baskets on the other end. Then we got our crowd behind us a little bit. We just kind of built off that momentum throughout the game I think our fans did a great job of getting us back in the game and we just fed off that energy. It's always a great atmosphere at home and I think we have to give our fans a lot of credit for that."
On getting the crowd going after causing a few turnovers in the second half:
"That was probably one of the biggest things. We got the energy back into the building. The first half was kind of dead at times because we couldn't really get the crowd into it. Then we got some turnovers off the press and some easy baskets and then the crowd starts getting into it. So that motivates us even more and were just out there building off that; and so we go on a run and the whole second half the crowd was great. I think they really made a difference in this game."
On Shine's play throughout the game:
"Shine did a great job today. He stepped up and made some big plays defensively, they may not show in the stat column, but just some deflections and rebounds and just some of the little things he did tonight were big for us."
KU Coach Bill Self
On the pressure:
"I don't think that we turned it over a ton because of the pressure, I think we got out of our rhythm some, but when we did turn it over I think we got past it. We didn't play very aggressive. When you look at the number of turnovers, 18, and you have 11 at halftime, and we didn't play well for the first two minutes after halftime, but I don't think their pressure was the biggest reason why we lost this game."
On the play in the second half:
"I didn't think we were any good in the first half; we just made shots. If you go 7-of-9 from three, you should have a lead. The biggest difference was that in the second half, they played a lot better. We obviously had a terrible first two minutes of the second half, a 12-point lead became four and they had all momentum and we just didn't play very well. You can't look at any individual on our team and say they had a good game. Sure, we made shots, but we didn't play very well. We didn't coach them very well. We didn't do anything well."
On the points in the paint disparity:
"We don't score a lot in the paint. We don't really have guys that we can throw it to and score in the paint a lot. Obviously Michael Cobbins and Le'Bryan Nash were better than whoever our bigs were in there. I thought Mitchell Solomon played well too, he gave them some good minutes during the game. The biggest thing is the rebounding. We were up 29 on the boards in the first half and they flipped the switch on us in the second half. Our rotation rebounding was awful and that is the biggest thing. When they get points in the paint, a lot of that is transition layups, maybe six or eight of them, but I'd say a lot of them were second-chance points."
On playing in Gallagher-Iba Arena:
"I don't know what our record is here, but I don't think it's very good. They were just better than us today, I thought Le'Bryan was the best player in the game. I thought Hickey played well and I thought we did a good job on Forte. I think he only got one good look and of course he made us pay. This is a great building, and I don't follow OSU basketball enough to know what kind of home court they have on a consistent basis, but when we've been here it's been a good home court and their players feed off of that."
KU Forward Perry Ellis
On the second half:
"We weren't guarding the ball screens right, we weren't getting out there and that really hurt us. They started driving the lane and getting buckets."
On the defensive pressure:
"I feel like we just didn't execute like we should have on the offensive end and that was it."
KU Guard Wayne Selden Jr.
On if the pressure bothered him:
"No, it didn't; not necessarily. I feel like we just didn't take care of the ball in general."
On the full court press:
"I feel like we just tried to do too much at times and we didn't make the right plays."
