Postgame Quotes

Jan. 19, 2008

Oklahoma Head Coach Jeff Capel
Opening comment:
"I am really proud of the character that we showed and the manner in which we won after being down by seven. I'm really proud of Taylor Griffin. He stepped up and played well and he did it with character. He did the things he could do. Longar was good for us down the stretch. (Tony) Crocker made a huge 3. It was a really good win, we beat a good team. We have a little break which is needed for us. We don't play until next Saturday, which is really good for this team. Hopefully we can get healed up in some other places with some of our other guys on the team."

On getting movement with the offense:
"One of the things that we talked about at halftime was getting movement from our offense. In the first half we were kind of standing around. We talked about getting movement. We thought we had it managed inside with Longar. We noticed that when we were screening across they were switching. Tech was kind of smaller with (Mike) Singletary. We were giving some looks that we liked, and at the start of the second half we didn't finish. Longar was missing some shots that he wasn't finishing.
"Then, during that stretch we started getting those baskets. Taylor (Griffin), rolling back on top, started making some drives and getting some shots from up there. I thought we went too quickly in transition. We took two really bad shots in transition. But fortunately we were able to overcome that by them missing a shot at the end of the game."

On adjusting to playing without Blake Griffin:
"We know we're going to get Blake back at some point this season, no one knows when. But the thing that we talked about with our guys is we're not going to feel sorry for ourselves, no one else is. I don't like being around people that feel sorry for you and we have to figure out a way. One of the things that I wrote up on the board today was `Whatever it takes.' We have to find a way to win. I don't care what it takes as long as that scoreboard is plus one or more for Oklahoma. We have to figure out a way to make that happen, and our guys did that. We went too quick at the end. I probably should have called a timeout, but we've done that situation so many times in practice so I thought we were okay with it. We were able to survive that and get back in transition."

Senior Center Longar Longar
On getting first Big 12 win:
"This was a very important win. We have been talking all week about how important this win is. Texas Tech is a very good team and they just showed it by getting a big victory at Texas A&M. We knew that it was going to be a battle and we came out ready to play. They made a lot of good plays and we just kept fighting and we ended up with the victory."

On his possession down low at the end of the game:
"I got the ball and felt the defender on my right and I turned left and the baseline was wide open. I leaned in towards the basket and just laid it in. That was an important bucket for us. Taylor (Griffin) stepped up big for us as well. My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball down low."

Junior Forward Taylor Griffin
On the victory:
"This was a very important victory. It was big because it was our first Big 12 win and it gets us started and gives us some momentum going into the rest of conference play. It was also big because we didn't have Blake (Griffin), and he is a big presence on this team. It's good to get a win without him because we are going to be without him for a couple of weeks."

On his offensive performance:
"Offensively, my game was there. The free throw line jumper is always there and it was about time that some of the shots started falling. The opportunity was there to step up offensively for the whole team since Blake was absent. It was good that we were able to come up with the victory."

Texas Tech Head Coach Bob Knight
Opening comment:
"I think both teams really played hard. I think that was pretty indicative of the fact that it was pretty difficult to score. There were not a lot of easy baskets made."

On the decision to not call a timeout before their last possession of the game:
"We had a chance for a win at the end. They had the game won, so we needed to stop and take a 3. That's my fault, but we didn't have a lot of time. We had about eight seconds left and I just didn't think we could take a chance of getting the ball in and getting it up the floor.

"I remember doing that years ago against Villanova. We were down by a point and we crossed midcourt with six seconds to go. We couldn't get the ball in (after the timeout) and really didn't get a shot and got beat. If we had 15 seconds or more, then I would have taken a timeout. I just didn't think we were going to get the ball down there.

"They had to pick us up full court and there was an open-court scramble. What we had to do was stop and take a 3. We needed to have (Alan) Voskuil or (John) Roberson pull up and take it. If we miss it, they win and if we make it, we win. We just didn't get that chance."

On Oklahoma overcoming a seven-point second-half deficit to win:
"They did a good job coming back. I think we had them down seven in the second half. It was just a tough game both ways. It is not nearly as tough when you win as it is when you lose."

On Oklahoma limiting Alan Voskuil to five shot attempts:
"They did good job defending him, a really good job playing him."

On Oklahoma forward Taylor Griffin's impact on the game:
"I think (Taylor) Griffin did a great job in the second half and made us do some things defensively. He did what he had to do in order to beat us."

On how much of an impact Oklahoma's center Longar Longar had on the game:
"I don't know, all big guys have an impact."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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