Postgame Quotes: Oklahoma State vs Rogers State

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton

Opening Statement:
"Something that obviously needs to improve is our rebounding. I thought Rogers State was the more physical team inside all night. They have some older guys, but I think they also had a better mentality when a shot went up. That is an area we are going to address tomorrow. On the positive side, I thought we played hard. I think our depth showed. We have quality guys coming off the bench that can help us and I thought our guys played unselfishly."

On Kalib Boone:
"That kid has a lot of upside. I think we saw some glimpses of it tonight. I'm glad our fans were able to see the type of play that we've been witnessing in practice every day. He is going to be a guy that is going to be a force for a long time as soon as we can get his body up to speed and help him understand positioning defensively when he is defending a guy in the post."

On the seniors helping the freshman:
"Those guys have been invaluable in terms of helping teach the younger guys what it takes to have success not only in games, but they've done it in practice. They constantly talk to those guys about making good decisions and I'm glad to see it show in a game because I think those moments will pay big dividends for us down the road."

On limiting the starters minutes:
It was by design that we didn't play those guys very much over 20 minutes. We really wanted to get the young guys an opportunity to go out there and make some mistakes and figure some things out. Some of it was ugly and I expected that, but there are some things we need to improve on before Wednesday."

OSU freshman forward Kalib Boone

On his first game In Gallagher-Iba Arena:
"The first half I was really nervous, I'm not going to lie to you. The first half, I was sitting on the bench and my palms were sweating so bad I had to grab a towel to wipe my hands. When I got in though, I was so tired the first two minutes of the game. I just had to remember this was just like practice, just another day, just another game. It was fun, it was an amazing feeling."

On His Defensive Game:
"It felt good. At one point, I just started playing and let the nerves get out. I knew the team had my back if I did something bad so I just played my game. I'm a shot blocker out of the paint so that's what I do."

On How It Felt To Play with His Fellow Freshman:
"It felt good because when we first got here, obviously the seniors have seen it and how we have improved. When we first got here it was upper classmen versus lower classmen. We knew what we had to do because we know what we can do. We huddled up, we said we had to put on a show, we had to pick it up and that's what we did."

OSU senior forward Cam McGriff

On His First Exhibition Game
"I just remember going out there and playing free and I think that's what he did. I could definitely tell he was a little nervous but as you can see in the second half, he opened up and he effected the game in many ways. He went out there and had fun and that's what we want him to do."

Key Takeaways On The Freshman From The Game
"Those guys are fearless. All the freshmen, all the new guys they have a swagger that you can't really teach. They play on both ends of the floor. When it comes to being in front of the people and the bright lights, it comes easy to them."

On Rogers State Outshooting Them In The First Half
"They made some shots, I give credit to them. They went against our scout. The guys we wanted to shoot, made their shots. We can't discredit them at any point. They made us respect them especially at the three-point line. They made a lot of tough shots most definitely. We hang our hats to them.

On What Happened When All The Starters Got Pulled
"Coach Mike Boynton just said we needed to get focused and rebound. We did not rebound the ball well tonight. We need to go out there and set a good example for the other guys. They went out there and did what they were supposed to do and we commend them for that."

On What Hidde Roessink Brings To The Team
"He brings a lot of versatility. He also brings a different personality to say the least. He can step out and shoot, put the ball out on his floor with his size is very rare it's a different type of skillset."

Rogers State head coach Justin Barkley

Opening Statement:
"First of all, I probably didn't have our basketball team quite prepared for the intensity that coach Boynton's defense plays with. It's honestly something you can't really simulate in practice. We had to completely scrap our entire offensive game plan about six minutes in and try to play a little more space. In large part because their athleticism, their length, we thought maybe we could get past the first line of defense and then there's guys there in the lane. Of course, I thought we made some shots that allowed us to hang around in the first half. Coach Boynton obviously has their program rolling in the right direction. I was proud of our guys. For a team that's only returning two players that have played over 10 minutes in our system and bringing in so many new guys in such a short amount of time, we started practice October 15th. I was proud for our guys, and the way they fought. We probably couldn't control makes and misses, but we definitely wanted to compete and play our tails off. I thought we did that on the defensive end. I thought our defense was pretty sound for the most part. We had some breakdowns in transition and maybe with some help side stuff. To win the rebounding battle against a team with that kind of size, I think it speaks a little bit to our kids' character and toughness."

On if he was pleased with the energy:
"I thought we had to match their effort, and if not, honestly, exceed it. That's the way we had to play. We are working on our depth. We need to get past seven or eight guys, I'd like to get more. I thought they wore us down. I thought our effort and energy was great. We were chasing on the glass, 11 offensive rebounds, for one slows that down in transition. They had a few leak outs where we didn't do a good job picking up and stopping the basketball in transition. I thought we really tried to put an emphasis on 50-50 plays in our program. Those are things, loose balls on the deck, that has nothing to do with anything over the rim. I thought our guys showed some grit. You know how it is, we have guys at the Division II level, and this is their opportunity to play guys at the big school level, the Power Five. Then of course, their motors are going, their completely juiced up and we are going to have to find a way to use this not to feel complacent, but we've got to use this as motivation going forward."

On how a game like this helps prepare the team for their first season in MIAA:
"It is a really good league. I was fortunate enough to play at the Division II level and a lot of the teams that are in our league now, I played against at Northeastern State when I played. You have a really well-coached league. You've got multiple coaches that have won national championships at different levels. I think the league we were in was very solid in the Heartland Conference. Obviously, with us moving forward, it is a big jump. As I've told people it is like us moving from the American Conference or Conference USA to the Big 12. We are joining the best league of the small college level. Missouri Southern, Northwest Missouri, Washburn University, who lost by 10 points last night at Kansas State. I think on opening night, Fort Hays State was down four points early in the second half at Kansas. It is really good. It won't be a picnic for sure, but I think it's going to allow our program to take another step forward. We've only had basketball for 13 years. When we talk about tradition, we don't have a longstanding tradition. It's going to take some time, but I think we've got a product we can really sell, and we can get people around our community and the state of Oklahoma excited about. Hopefully that'll help us recruit quality student-athletes."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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