Cowboy Quotables: West Virginia / Remember the Ten

The Cowboys will honor their past Saturday while taking hopeful steps toward the future. Head coach Mike Boynton and players spoke with local media about the importance of the annual Remember the Ten game, signs that the team is turning the corner and Saturday's home matchup with West Virginia. Read on for highlights from Oklahoma State's weekly men's basketball press conference.

Head coach Mike Boynton Jr. on…

… The importance of the Remember the Ten game:
"It's always, in my mind, the most important day on the calendar of our season. I really don't care what anybody thinks about that. If we played in the Big 12 Conference tournament championship game, the Remember the 10 game was (still) the most important game that we played that year, because it honors a commitment to real human life. Winning the game was important, but when I think about seeing those families here all the time… Those people continue to show up and support the program. I visit with them a couple of times a year at the (Remember the Ten Run) and at the game, and I'm just always stunned by how gracious and thankful they are that they get to come here still and be honored. We'll talk to our guys about it today again, and obviously, we'll make sure that we play with a little bit more of an edge. Understanding that this is bigger than just a game against West Virginia on Saturday."

… Teaching the new players about the accident and its impact:
"We'll walk them over (to the Remember the Ten memorial) and tell a little bit of the story… Quite easily this stuff just becomes a thing in the building that sits over there, that they walk past every day because they're going in that academic center. To have a moment to reflect on what happened. How it happened. Why it happened. Why we're fortunate. We travel a little bit differently now than they did – in part because of that. We take more precautions. And so, to be thankful and appreciate of that aspect is really, really important for us."

… Rising to the occasion:
"It's an important game, and our guys need to understand that there's some people in the stands that are sitting there hopeful that we are playing in a way that honors of the legacy of those folks who lost their lives that day."

… West Virginia:
"The team was expected to have a really good season, partly because they got the Pac-12's assist leader, one of the nation's best scorers, a double-double guy from Syracuse. The really racked up in the portal. So when you look, they've got a lot of talented guys. They haven't figured out how to put together consistently…. They're really talented. They can score really, really well. They rebound it well. They shoot it well. So there are a lot of things we've got to prepare for in the next couple of days to give ourselves a chance to win."

… Improved execution on offense:
"That's part of the challenge, is to have your team -- even when you're struggling -- continue to get better. Quite naturally, what happens is, you tend to look inward and focus more on how it could be better for you. Younger guys start feeling sorry for themselves a little bit. But there's no question, I see us getting better. I mean, the truth about offense is: what most people see is whether the ball went in the basket or not. They can't see that the screen happened, the pass was on time, it was in rhythm. And that's okay. We don't expect that. But as we watch film, we evaluate how we're getting better… We understand our cuts. We understand our passing. We understand our spacing. We've got to be more consistent throughout the game. When we get late in games, and our jump shot is kind of letting us down, we've got to find a way to get to the free throw line and to get to the basket more. That's one of the area's, offensively, that we've got to continue to explore."

… The team's defensive struggles:
We've kind of flipped the identity of our team on its head from a year ago. A year ago, I was sitting here talking about holding these teams to 65 points, we're in the 50s, and we're not coming close. When you (can't score), you feel like your defense has to get a stop every possession. Now you feel like you've got to score every possession, and it's just not realistic."

… How to fix those defensive issues:
"We've got to figure out how to defend the paint a little bit better. We're doing a pretty good job defending the three, but teams are exposing us inside. That's an area we thought we'd have challenges in. We probably need to get Mike (Marsh) in there for a little more physicality. But it's really just keeping the ball out of the paint as much as possible, because we don't have the rim protection that we've had. You never know the kind of luxury you have – I knew it when we had it, because you felt like, game plan wise, as long as a team didn't blow you away from three you were going to have a chance. But just, get more force. Playing a little more compact and not taking as many chances – which we don't force a lot of turnovers anyway – and being able to guard with secondary defenders a little bit better.

… The use of timeouts and what factors play into those decisions:
"The game flow really determines a lot of that. I'm gonna let the guys learn, just as a general philosophy, figure it out. But with young guys, you can't do it as much, because the game can get away from you quicker at this level, with inexperienced guys, because they don't know how to respond… With the majority of these games being close, and you want to have them available to you in the last 4-5 minutes to set up your defense. You don't want teams to just be able to blow the ball up the floor. So it depends on the scenario. Fouls. I want the guys to have one that they can use if they're in a jam… So a lot of it just depends on the flow of the game. I don't really try to manipulate that as much, but I do, from game to game, have an idea of 'Okay, going into this place, it can get crazy. I've always kind of talked about Texas Tech in that regard. They can get on a run quickly. If you let the game get away from you early, it's hard. So maybe you use two in the first half. Maybe you allow yourself to think that way, whereas most game you won't."

… The resilience of college athletes:
"I think kids are more resilient than adults generally think they are. I think sometimes we create crutches for them because we want to protect them. As parents it's natural, but there's also an element that they're not as aware as maybe they used to be either. They're kind of in their own world and sometimes things don't necessarily affect them as much as maybe they affected me when I played. But I think there's an element of resiliency with this particular group, because many of them are living this for the first time. Everything that they're living as being lived for the first time. You can't speed up that process for them. You've got to go out there and do it. I think one of the best things that happened last week at Kansas State was watching Connor Dow shoot an airball and then take a shot the next possession. I pointed that out to him, not because it was good for him to shoot an airball, but that showed his courage on the road. That okay, there's some real substance here and belief and that he belongs out there. Because I know a lot of players, even older guys, who would not have taken a shot on the next possession, on the road, down, or whatever. I do think there's a level of substance that we can continue to build with this group. In this day and age, you hope you can keep them all together, so that they can learn how to win together. That process is underway, but it's not quite finished yet."

Graduate guard Jarius Hicklen on…

… The satisfaction that comes with making a three from in front of the opposing team's bench:
"It's real fun. You can hear them talking as you go up to shoot, and when its leaving your hand and you know it's good, sometimes you just want to turn around and look at them to see them talking. It's always fun. Coaches get mad and you can hear them just saying 'sub him out,' stuff like that. It's fun."

… Experiencing his first Remember the Ten game:
"Just hearing about it and learning about it, you just come back to realization that this is just a game that we're playing. This is something that's bigger. For us, it's just a humbling experience."

Senior guard Bryce Thompson on….

… The mood in the locker room:
"You can just feel the hunger in the locker room… Just seeing the progress we're making. We haven't won, but I feel like we're a better team than the one that first started league play. We're giving ourselves a chance to finish out these games. Now, it's just a matter of finishing strong. Then, from there, we can make some stuff happen."

… Coach Boynton's approach:
"He's been keeping a positive mindset, always keeping a next game mentality. I applaud him for still coming and coming to work every day, coaching us like he's supposed to, going through film, doing all the things that he would be doing if we were winning all these games."

… Remember the Ten:
"It means a lot to me. I've been here and I understand what happened, those families and everything… We're really blessed to do this every single day. So I think just understanding that -- it'll give us a little bit extra energy to go out there and play for them."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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