Quotes: Oklahoma State vs Wichita State

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton
On WSU's performance:
"Credit to Wichita State. They came in and physically dominated us. It started early on the glass, specifically, but it was throughout. They played with an edge and a confidence that you come to expect from Coach Marshall and his group. We certainly did not respond the way necessary to have a chance in a game like this."
On the second chance opportunities WSU got in the first half:
"They play with a nastiness about them, and in a good way. They're not dirty or anything like that, but they make sure that you're physically ready to go. If you're not, then they certainly did the job tonight against us. They dominated the glass and got themselves some easy second-chance points and really made it hard on us tonight."
On what he said to his team:
"We have to be honest with ourselves. I like to face adversity head on, and we're dealing with some adversity right now in multiple ways. We were physically man-handled on our home court and that's not acceptable. Our fans deserve better, our former players and our supporters all deserve a better performance than we gave today. It's my job as the head coach here to get that corrected before we take the court again."
On what he hopes the team learns from this loss:
"I do believe that something positive later on may come from this. I can't really put my finger on what that is right now, but what I can say is that we have a room full of guys who will respond when their backs are against the walls. This isn't the first time, especially our older guys, have faced some challenges. They have always came back and fought the next time out. Right now I'm really just focused on how to get our guys to play with an edge again."
Ongoing on the road to play Houston and a busy finals week:
"Finals week is huge. Absolutely, without a doubt this is the most important thing we do here, is helping these guys get their degrees and put them in position to have success later on in life when basketball is over. Our schedule will be a little bit adjusted this week to give our guys ample time to study and prepare for finals, but I'm certainly from a coaching perspective looking forward to an opportunity to get them back on the court and try to figure out exactly how to make this team better."

Oklahoma State forward Cameron McGriff
On today's game:
"The tale of the story today was we have to get tougher and play at our pace. We definitely have the talent, but today we just were not tough enough."
On Wichita State's defense in the second half:
"They made a lot of shots. It wasn't their defense as much as it was we couldn't get our offense going, especially transition, which is what we do best because they scored the ball so well in the second half."
On Chris Harris' effort:
"It was off the charts. The coaches definitely show a lot of trust in him. Playing this early and this often even when we had Isaac he was still a spark off the bench. I'm proud of the effort he has given us and his growth."
Oklahoma State guard Chris Harris Jr.
On adjusting to point guard:
"I've had to be more of a point guard because I came in as a two guard. Now I'm having to control the tempo and find guys in spots and trying to turn into a floor general. I'm confident in the switch and am still learning."
On how this will help development:
"It will make me a better player knowing I can be on and off the ball."

Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall
Opening Statement:
"Any time you can go on the road against a team and a program like that and win. I don't care what day it is, what year it is, it's special. Our team really performed well. We played a beautiful game of basketball for a great majority of the game. I know that they were without a tremendous player [Likekele]. That makes a huge difference and there's nothing you can do about that. Congratulations to my guys. We turned the tables on the glass from the West Virginia game to the Oklahoma State game which is a big key for us."
On the biggest difference without having Likekele:
"Well he's a tremendous player. If you take a tremendous player away from your rotation, especially when it's a point guard. You take Jamarius Burton, Erik Stevenson, Tyson Etienne or Grant Sherfield away from us it's the same factors. That's basketball. I know Mike wishes he had him, but he didn't. That doesn't take away from the win. You play the game with who you got. Today we were a ratty team that looked like Wichita State basketball."
On what was the key to making three point shots:
"We were unselfish. We were getting into the lane and finding Tyson [Etienne] or finding Erik [Stevenson], whoever. With their defense, they deny so much and they help so well, you have to attack the paint and look and make the extra pass. Today we were able to do that and found the bottom of the net. Tyson [Etienne] was on fire and the guys were finding him."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Chris Harris Jr.

Cameron McGriff

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