Oklahoma Postgame Quotes

Dec. 8, 2007

Head Coach Jeff Capel
Opening comment:
"First off, I want to say congratulations to Stephen F. Austin. They were terrific. They deserved the win and they displayed great passion and determination. They out-everythinged us - they out-coached, out-hustled, out-passioned. Everything. So we give them all the credit. They were terrific, they beat us. It wasn't anything we didn't do or (anything) about not coming to play or not (being) ready. They beat us, so give them the credit."

On the Stephen F. Austin's defense:
"We really had a problem with that early. They got after us and we haven't had anyone get after us like that probably since Memphis. It knocked us back. We couldn't get into anything, we were trying to make passes on the wing from half court. We had no continuity (on) offense, and once again that was them. It was their defense. It wasn't anything with us, it was just their defense. We have to get better at that and we'll play against a team in our next game that is a great pressure defensive team. We have to learn really quick."

On OU's guard play:
"It's tough to win when you don't have good guard play. You look at the last two games prior to this, we won them. You look at our guard play and it was very good. Tonight it wasn't good. It's tough to win when you don't have good guard play. We didn't play well this afternoon.

"When you play against a good team - Stephen F. Austin is a good team, that's why they're 7-1 - when you don't come with the respect for the game and the respect for yourself late in those game situations like that, that's what usually happens. They had the momentum. We had a little bit there in the second half, but we could never get over the hump. They got every loose ball, they got every roll. We had a couple in and out, but that's just how the game goes sometimes, that's how the game went.

"I'm very disappointed. I would have liked for us to have shown a little bit more maturity. When I talked to our guys right before the game and earlier this morning, that's one of the things I talked about. We have a chance to show some maturity and to take a step as a team. We've had success. As a team, how do we handle success? Are we hungry for more or are we content? It looks like we were content. Stephen F. Austin is a team that had won four straight. They are a team that has had only one loss. They were a team that was hungry for more and the team that was hungry for more won tonight. So hopefully we use this and we get better from it. We will have success again this year. Hopefully we can use this experience when we have that success."

Senior Guard David Godbold
On today's game:
"They really came out and pressured us and kept us off of our cuts. Everyone was standing around being stagnant. We let their pressure bother us and that is something we're going to have to work on every day, try to get better. This is a lesson that I hope teaches our guys that we need to be ready to play from the jump no matter what time it is or who we're playing."

On Coach Capel's suggestion that the team could possibly come out flat after the Tulsa victory:
"I can see where he would say that. Everybody was not ready for the game and it showed. We tried to battle back but there is a hump that we could not get over no matter how hard we tried. They had that edge today and they came out with the victory."

Senior Center Longar Longar
On today's game:
"I didn't think we came out ready, like David (Godbold) said. We came out sloppy with our post-ups and didn't really demand the ball down in the post. The guards tried to get the ball down in the post but we weren't posting up. Blake and I have to get better at that."

Stephen F. Austin Head Coach Danny Kaspar
Opening comment:
"It looks like we caught OU a little flat in the first half. They came out and really tried to take it to us in the second half. I have been noticing that OU has been playing some great defense by watching their box scores and statistics. Most teams have been shooting under 40 percent against them, except for maybe Memphis. But Memphis could compete in the NBA right now. That being said, I think our guys played some pretty good defense, too. That is what has sustained us so far through a 7-1 record.

"Our guys are buying into the theory that if we can play defense then we can give ourselves a chance to win against these bigger schools. I thought our kids played with a lot of heart. I thought our little kid, Eric Bell, did a great job. He had 12 points, seven rebounds and nine assists. He had a heck of a game. I thought Gerald Fonzie played great in the second half the way he hit some clutch shots and hit some big threes. This was our best free throw shooting game of the year, we needed that. That was something that was said to our kids, that we were going to have shoot well from the free throw line.

"We did a pretty good job of stopping their set plays. We had a good extra day (more) than they did to prepare for them. We really tried to get our kids to learn everything they run as far as their offensive plays are concerned. One thing we were not able to do was stop their high-low offense. It was fortunate for us and unfortunate for them when Blake Griffin got two fouls early in the first half."

On the keys to victory down the stretch:
"We got some steals and some clutch shots from Josh Alexander and Gerald Fonzie. We also had some clutch free throw shooting at the end. The final score of 66-62, I don't know what you would consider it. It might be considered an ugly game, but in my eyes it was a beautiful game."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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