Oklahoma State University Athletics
Photo by: Bruce Waterfield
Cowboys Preview Weekend Big 12 Slate
January 17, 2017 | Cowboy Wrestling
STILLWATER – Head coach John Smith and members of the Oklahoma State wrestling team met with the media on Tuesday afternoon to preview this weekend's home matchups against Big 12 foes West Virginia and South Dakota State.
Head Coach John Smith
On keeping the team motivated after the Iowa win:
"We have some great matchups on the road coming up, and even this weekend. West Virginia has had a tough season up to this point, but South Dakota State has shown that they have pretty good balance on their team. These are some key matchups for us in the conference, so I look at it as a tough challenge It's easy to get up for Iowa, it's easy to get up for big matches. It's these kinds of matches that you'd better get up for. We find ourselves in trouble a lot of times because we didn't get up, and maybe we'd have a costly injury because we went out flat-footed at the beginning of a match and somebody buckled our knee and we're out for a month or the season. For that reason, it needs to be a little tougher this week so we recognize that it's very important to continue to build and not have a week off."
On if he plans to work on riding more this week:
"To be honest with you, I probably won't even focus on who we're competing against this weekend. I think we need to get some things done in practice, focus on ourselves and focus on what we need to do to be successful. We need to score points because if you score points, you win matches. If you score points, you win dual meets as a team, so my emphasis is going to be scoring points and sustaining that in the match. We saw last weekend that where in only one match out of the 10 we scored points on top. Very little riding time, very little riding. It's not the most important area, but it's an area that we want to see improve."
On South Dakota State's emergence as a program since joining the Big 12:
"I knew when we brought them in that Chris Bono is one of the finest young coaches in the country. I knew immediately when they came in what that was going to do for their recruiting. He capitalized on that and changed the Big 12. You're seeing his results, and will see them become a team that will soon be competing in the top 10."
Kyle Crutchmer – Sr., 174 pounds
On the development of Preston Weigel and Joe Smith since they made their dual debuts against West Virginia last season:
"I think when you see guys that make their debuts, they might be a little nervous because they wrestle for Oklahoma State. You see a lot more maturity. You see some guys who are a little more seasoned than they were then. You see guys who want to be here and want to win. They want to do everything they can for our team to win. If you see anything from those two guys, it's maturity and the fact that they're trying to help this team win a national title."
On getting his first win over Iowa:
"I haven't beaten them as a starter since I've been here, so that was huge for me as a senior to get over that hump. It helped me (see) how good we can be as a team. There's an opportunity to grow from this. You have some individuals that got wins they were looking for these past couple years, like (Anthony) Collica or even Kaid Brock. There are things you take from that match that are positive, even in the matches that we lost. We need to focus a little bit more on not worrying about the outcome as much. Environments like that can be a little rowdy, especially in a rivalry match. I think you look at guys that finally got over a hump in their critical matches. The rivalry between us and (Iowa), I don't think will ever die. That's something that's great about this sport. It's nice to get that win as a senior, but that doesn't define the season at all. We're looking forward now."
On maintaining momentum heading into this weekend's matches:
"You look at getting better as a team and individuals. In some of these matches, you might not go up against the types of kids you would go up against with Iowa or Cornell. You go out there and you work on things that you need to work on, whether that's getting a takedown or extending leads. These are the matches where you do that. We've got a bunch of guys in here that want to win a team title, and they'll do anything to do that. These next couple of weeks, the potential of us being able to win a national championship should be enough to keep these guys motivated."
Head Coach John Smith
On keeping the team motivated after the Iowa win:
"We have some great matchups on the road coming up, and even this weekend. West Virginia has had a tough season up to this point, but South Dakota State has shown that they have pretty good balance on their team. These are some key matchups for us in the conference, so I look at it as a tough challenge It's easy to get up for Iowa, it's easy to get up for big matches. It's these kinds of matches that you'd better get up for. We find ourselves in trouble a lot of times because we didn't get up, and maybe we'd have a costly injury because we went out flat-footed at the beginning of a match and somebody buckled our knee and we're out for a month or the season. For that reason, it needs to be a little tougher this week so we recognize that it's very important to continue to build and not have a week off."
On if he plans to work on riding more this week:
"To be honest with you, I probably won't even focus on who we're competing against this weekend. I think we need to get some things done in practice, focus on ourselves and focus on what we need to do to be successful. We need to score points because if you score points, you win matches. If you score points, you win dual meets as a team, so my emphasis is going to be scoring points and sustaining that in the match. We saw last weekend that where in only one match out of the 10 we scored points on top. Very little riding time, very little riding. It's not the most important area, but it's an area that we want to see improve."
On South Dakota State's emergence as a program since joining the Big 12:
"I knew when we brought them in that Chris Bono is one of the finest young coaches in the country. I knew immediately when they came in what that was going to do for their recruiting. He capitalized on that and changed the Big 12. You're seeing his results, and will see them become a team that will soon be competing in the top 10."
Kyle Crutchmer – Sr., 174 pounds
On the development of Preston Weigel and Joe Smith since they made their dual debuts against West Virginia last season:
"I think when you see guys that make their debuts, they might be a little nervous because they wrestle for Oklahoma State. You see a lot more maturity. You see some guys who are a little more seasoned than they were then. You see guys who want to be here and want to win. They want to do everything they can for our team to win. If you see anything from those two guys, it's maturity and the fact that they're trying to help this team win a national title."
On getting his first win over Iowa:
"I haven't beaten them as a starter since I've been here, so that was huge for me as a senior to get over that hump. It helped me (see) how good we can be as a team. There's an opportunity to grow from this. You have some individuals that got wins they were looking for these past couple years, like (Anthony) Collica or even Kaid Brock. There are things you take from that match that are positive, even in the matches that we lost. We need to focus a little bit more on not worrying about the outcome as much. Environments like that can be a little rowdy, especially in a rivalry match. I think you look at guys that finally got over a hump in their critical matches. The rivalry between us and (Iowa), I don't think will ever die. That's something that's great about this sport. It's nice to get that win as a senior, but that doesn't define the season at all. We're looking forward now."
On maintaining momentum heading into this weekend's matches:
"You look at getting better as a team and individuals. In some of these matches, you might not go up against the types of kids you would go up against with Iowa or Cornell. You go out there and you work on things that you need to work on, whether that's getting a takedown or extending leads. These are the matches where you do that. We've got a bunch of guys in here that want to win a team title, and they'll do anything to do that. These next couple of weeks, the potential of us being able to win a national championship should be enough to keep these guys motivated."
Players Mentioned
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Tuesday, July 07
Tuesday, July 07
Friday, June 05
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