Oklahoma Postgame Quotes

Feb. 6, 2008

Oklahoma Head Coach Jeff Capel
Opening comment:
"I want to congratulate Texas. They made plays down the stretch to win the game. I thought we were off to a good start, but we couldn't sustain it. We couldn't make shots in the second half, and couldn't guard three guys."

On Texas' 3-pointers in the second half:
"They were running (A.J.) Abrams off screens. He really does a good job using screens. He was getting open looks. (D.J.) Augustin is a tough guy to guard. He's a tough guy to contain."

"The thing that really hurt us the most was (Justin) Mason with those three 3's. In conference play, he was 1-of-8 in six games and we didn't want to leave him. I don't think we left him. We gave him one open look in the first half, but he had two big 3's in the second half when we were in the zone and trying to control Augustin and Abrams a little bit."

On Austin Johnson:
"He's got to play better. There's nothing I can do. He's got to play better. I can't put a jersey on. I can't figure out any magical formula to give him. He's got to play better and it's as simple as that. These guys are on scholarship and the guys are here for a reason: to be student-athletes. They're here to be students and good basketball players. He's got to be better. He makes our team better. We're good when he's good. He's got to be better."

On getting ready for Colorado:
"We've got to move on to the next play. We can't do anything about this anymore. We can't do anything about Texas. We can try to get better and try to watch tape and try to do things to get better from there. But we have to be ready for Colorado. We've been a really good road team, and hopefully we can be a really good road team on Saturday."

Junior Forward Taylor Griffin
On the second half:
"They came out with a run to start the second half and got it close. We hit some shots and stayed even with them for a while. Then we just could not get a shot. Abrams and Augustine were coming down and getting their shots and making tough shots. It came to a point where they were hitting shots and we weren't. That's when they got up. With eight or nine minutes left we were getting shots but we were struggling to make our open looks."

On the team improving:
"It really comes down to defending. We will hit shots; these things happen sometimes where teams go cold. I think we can work on executing our offense a little better and getting the shots that we want to get. We did a pretty good job of defending Texas' post players tonight but their best players are their guards and that is what we needed to stop."

Freshman Forward Blake Griffin
On tonight's game:
"We couldn't stop them from hitting outside shots. The problem was not inside. We let A.J. Abrams and D.J Augustin get hot. They are always hot but we let them get too many good looks. They converted all of those opportunities."

On finishing games:
"We need to work on closing out games. When we have a strong first half we need to keep our focus and momentum and come out in the second half and finish teams off."

Texas Head Coach Rick Barnes
On the difference in the two halves:
"We made some more shots in the second half. I figured we would because we are a pretty good shooting team. What I admire about D.J. (Augustin) is he is really working hard trying to figure out exactly what he needs to do and where he needs to go. He was working really hard early and getting the other guys involved. I told him that we had to push the tempo in the second half. We were just dribbling too much and not doing anything in the first half.

"Defensively we were good, other than the first five minutes when they got some baskets and beat us down the floor. They are going to score some points because they are hard to guard and they know what they are looking for. Overall, we got some really good play tonight from our guards. Justin (Mason) made some big shots when we needed them.

"We had no flow to our offense in the first half. We would get the ball down the floor but then stop and allow Oklahoma to adjust their defense. Again, we would just dribble and dribble. Guys just didn't get enough done and we had no flow. In the second half, we just had better flow."

On Blake Griffin:
"Oklahoma understands what they have to do to win and play well. They have really worked with him (Blake Griffin). We haven't doubled the post at all this year, so we only worked on it about a day and we were not good at it early. He is so good and he could dribble out of it (the double team) a few times. He is really good at passing and following his pass. He has a lot of bounce, I like him a lot. We recruited him, so we know what he is about. When people talk about the best freshmen in the country, I don't think you can talk about the best without talking about him."

Texas Sophomore Guard D.J. Augustin
On what they did differently in the second half to have success:
"We just came out and played aggressive in the second half. That really turned the game around. In the first half we were hesitant, and in the second half we really came out aggressively."

On the importance of getting a road win in the Big 12:
"It is big because every road game is big. We are just trying to get better. We have to put this game behind us and get ready for the game on Saturday against Iowa State. We have to take one game at a time."

Texas Junior Guard A.J. Abrams
On if he used more ball screens to get open shots in the second half:
"We just wanted to come out in the second half and be more aggressive. I might have used the screens more, coming off the balls screens and down screens. I just knocked them down and my teammates did a good job of making good passes."

On overcoming the halftime deficit to win:
"It is just the game of basketball. Sometimes they go in and sometimes they don't. It is a game of runs and you can never lose confidence. You have to be able to sustain a run from the other team. If you are able to create your own runs, then you are a good basketball team."

Texas Sophomore Guard Justin Mason
On not hesitating taking an open shot tonight:
"No, I didn't hesitate at all. I know my teammates have confidence in me and they are ready for me to step up and knock those shots down. I need to keep taking them when I am open."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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