Oklahoma State University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Oklahoma State vs ORU
November 06, 2019 | Cowboy Basketball
Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton
On close games:
"I'll be perfectly honest, I want as many of those games as I can have between now and Dec. 31 before we start playing conference play. I get that people want to see us run away and win by 25 points. There is certainly things you can learn about those wins, but these situations that come up where our guys have to stay engaged the whole time are going to be good for us."
On playing a lot of players:
"We are still trying to figure out which groupings work best together. As you saw, when it got close, we went to the group that we know works pretty well together. They made the plays, knocked down the free throws and got stops when they were necessary. We are still trying to figure out who we are as it relates to how we play on a night in night out basis."
On Isaac Likekele:
"When he is playing in attack mode and playing downhill, he is a bear to guard for most point guards. Tonight he had six inches on the guy who was guarding him for most of the game. He is hard to contend with when he gets into the paint. He stepped up and made a couple of key free throws for us late."
On Yor Anei's defense:
"He was a force in there. He was able to change the complexion of the end of the game because of his aggressiveness and making them have to change their shots and kick it out more."
On what he wants the offense to look like:
"We want to be a team that can get out and score quickly. One that can get out in transition and use our athleticism, length, and Isaac Likekele and Avery Anderson's ability to attack the basket in transition. Then, we want to try to play inside out. We want to play through Yor Anei, Hidde Roessink and Kalib Boone. Finally, we want to score late by putting the ball in Lindy Waters' and Likekele's hands to make plays for us at the end of shot clocks, at the end of halves and end of games."
On making plays late in the game:
"We went through a similar situation in our first game last season. We had a lead, we let it go and we didn't make plays late to seal it. I was proud of the way our guys responded to this situation. It got dicey there, but our guys bowed up and made defensive stops when we needed to and knocked down free throws to put it away."
OSU sophomore guard Isaac Likekele
On what he thought about the young guys playing:
"They were all ready to play when their names were called, simple."
On Anei has had the same rhythm of blocking shots in practice:
"Yor is going to block shots at the beginning of the season, middle season, I mean that's just what he does. In practice since it's not him playing as much as he does in games, he still gets blocks during practice. We all know he's going to come over and defend on the hoop side."
On the mental focus of hitting free throws:
"We were in those situations all last year. Last year we lost a lot of games due to one or two plays. The five guys that were in the game at the end were the same that were in the end last year. So you know we are just trying to find different ways to make those changes that actually gets us a result of winning and not losing. Last year I feel like all the mistakes and experience from us five, we just learned off us which allowed us to capitalize off this wind tonight."
On how Avery Anderson played:
"To me he played really well. I didn't expect him to do spectacular since it's his first college game but one thing about practicing against Avery every day is that I know he can flat out just go. Once he gets to filling in and he gets comfortable, Avery's going to be amazing to watch in GIA. He's going to have games where he looks like the best player in the country and games where he's struggling. That's just freshman struggles we all have been through. I know he's going to get in the gym and build on this and be even better every time he steps on the floor."
OSU sophomore forward Yor Anei
On what it's like to have so many substitutions compared to last year:
"It's a little bit refreshing and it's a lot less pressure on your mind knowing you can play freely. That you can go for that extra steal that might become a foul."
On getting eight blocked shots:
"It's a great way to start the season. I was just trying to block everything at the rim. I mean that's my job to protect the rim every game."
On the different atmosphere in GIA by the fans:
"I love the crowd. That's really how I get going. The crowd gives me energy and it showed tonight."
Oral Roberts head coach Paul Mills
On the game:
"Mike has a good team. Oklahoma State is obviously really good. Having been in this league 19 years, I've seen a lot of good teams. They have physical guards, they have bigs an elite level shot blocker, which we saw at the end. We are disappointed in the outcome of this game, but I'm proud of my guys."
On teams fight:
"Down at the half, and down nine with nine to play, I told the guys, it's our job to hit singles, not home runs. We opened the half down 9 and tried to hit home runs whenever we needed to hit singles. I thought we eventually chipped away and got better."
On Yor Anei:
"You just look at the stats and see he's top five in the country and just say "wow". There is no way to game plan for that. You can talk to them about it, but to get it they have to see it. I thought down three we have a 44% three point shooter a shot he usually can make, and he wasn't even able to get it off. That is a great luxury to have."
On the play of the team:
"I don't think we will go 7 for 32 the rest of the year. They had a lot to do with that. Coming into an environment for the first time, you can show it on TV, or film, but it doesn't translate until you come here and play, and from this it will translate, we will get better and hopefully we don't have any more shooting nights like this."
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