Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus Auburn on February 24, 2026 , Win , 91, to, 79
Final
Men's Basketball
91
vs Auburn
79
University of Oklahoma Athletics
OU Shifts Focus to Louisville
March 22, 2008 | Men's Basketball
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Less than 24 hours after defeating St. Joseph's, the Oklahoma men's basketball team shifted its focus from the opening round victory to its second round opponent, the Louisville Cardinals.
The Sooners had an hour-and-a-half practice session Saturday afternoon at BJCC Arena and met the media afterwards to discuss their second-round matchup with the third-seeded Cardinals. Quotes from today's press conference are available below.
Opening Statement:
"We're excited to still be playing. We get to move on and play against a very talented Louisville team who was tremendous last night in every facet of the game, offensively, defensively and making threes. We're excited about the challenge. Once again, just like yesterday, no one will expect us to win, won't predict us to win, but we'll show up and we'll play and see what happens. We're excited to be here, excited to be one of 32 left, and we'll see what happens."
On what the team has gone through to get here:
"I think it's an honor to be here considering what we have been through as a team. It kind of shows you what kind of team we have been. I think we have done a good job of fighting and not giving up, even though we had some rough patches where we lost three or four games. I just think we have done a great job of staying together overall as a team and bouncing back from big losses or games that we shouldn't have lost trying to put a run together."
On playing alongside Longar Longar:
"I think it's just been a process over the season and all summer, getting used to each other. I give a lot of credit to Longar for kind of taking me in and showing me some things that normally players wouldn't pick up on as quickly. He has kind of shown me the ropes a little bit. At the same time, we both try to help each other out as much as we can.
"It makes it easy because he's a good passer, so when he gets double teamed he can normally find me or any of the other guards, so I think that we both kind of take a little bit of pressure off each other."
On the Louisville Cardinals:
"They're definitely a tough team. They get after you and play great defense. They have some big bodies and they also have some talented guards. We're going to have our hands full, but I think if we just do a good job of staying together and playing as a team and controlling the tempo a little bit and handling their pressure, we should be all right."
On playing alongside Blake Griffin:
"Just like he said, playing alongside each other makes both our games easier. With double teams, you have two bigs that can pass out and work with our guards. We kick it outside or we pass it to each other down low. It also helps in rebounding, just trying to attract attention. If he gets the ball, he gets doubled or if I get the ball, I get doubled and it frees him up or it frees me up."
On Louisville's David Padgett:
"He's a really good player. He's really big and he can really pass the ball. I think he's the guy that makes them go. He runs their offense real well and their guards are really athletic, so they're always cutting in and going to the glass. He can score down low, rebound and he runs the floor. We are just going to have to do a good job of containing him."
On the Louisville Cardinals:
"They're a really good team. They bring a lot of defensive pressure and they're not afraid to push it on offense at any given moment. We have to come out and be aggressive and try to get them to play at our tempo. They like to play fast and we want to pound them inside, so we're going to just try to execute our game plan as best as possible."
On the success of the Big 12 in this tournament:
"It's always good when we're not facing another Big 12 team, to see them competing and doing well. It kind of shows the Big 12 Conference is one of those power conferences and right now they're having a good showing. Just us as the Oklahoma basketball team, we want to prove that we're a good team, too. We're from the Big 12 and we want everybody to kind of look at us as we're a good team in the Big 12 and to try to get some exposure for us too."
On how he expects Louisville to defend OU:
"Just looking at our team, I know the strength of our team has always been the big guys inside. So as another head coach, I would say you're still going to have to stop the big guys inside. They're obviously going to be a presence. Hopefully, they'll still demand a double team. If that does happen and I do get left open again or any guard, hopefully we're all ready to step up and make shots. I just got lucky the other day being wide open and the post men did a great job passing it out. But maybe we'll see something different from Louisville."
The Sooners had an hour-and-a-half practice session Saturday afternoon at BJCC Arena and met the media afterwards to discuss their second-round matchup with the third-seeded Cardinals. Quotes from today's press conference are available below.
 |
Oklahoma Head Coach Jeff Capel |
Opening Statement:
"We're excited to still be playing. We get to move on and play against a very talented Louisville team who was tremendous last night in every facet of the game, offensively, defensively and making threes. We're excited about the challenge. Once again, just like yesterday, no one will expect us to win, won't predict us to win, but we'll show up and we'll play and see what happens. We're excited to be here, excited to be one of 32 left, and we'll see what happens."
On the challenges Louisville presents:
"They made shots from the three-point line at a high rate yesterday. That's something they haven't done all year long consistently. They are very capable shooters, but that's something, especially as they headed into the Big East tournament, that they struggled with a little bit. If they're making shots like that it makes them even tougher to beat from beyond the arc. One of the things they do, they do such a good job of harassing you and pressuring you and creating scoring opportunities from their defense. We're really going to have to value the basketball, be strong and make good passes. We're going to look to attack their pressure, but we'll attack it in a smart manner. And we can't take bad shots. We have to understand the tempo of the game and understand what's going on in the game to figure out what kind of shots we get, if and when we break their pressure."
On how is youth as a coach may be an advantage:
"I don't know. You have to ask my team. I don't know what they will say, but I am who I am. That's one of the things I learned very quickly when I was named head coach at VCU at 27. Probably one of the best pieces of advice I got came from my dad, and a day later received the same advide from my college coach, and it was don't try to be anyone else but you. That's what I try to do. I'm 33, and I like a lot of the same things my players like.
"Does it help? I don't know. I don't think it hurts, but I do think there is a line. There's a line we draw where they have to understand that I am their coach. I do want to be a friend to them and I want to be someone that they feel confident and comfortable coming and talking to me about anything. I don't have an office hours, they don't have to set appointments, they can just come in and see me. We sit down and we talk about whatever is going on in their life."
On the journey his team has taken this year:
"It has been, but our guys have continued to fight and persevere, I've really enjoyed coaching this basketball team. I think we have grown so much since the beginning of the year. Last year was difficult for all of us, but last year's team was really like coaching a team full of freshmen because we really didn't have any experience with a new coach coming in. Our returning guys got better over the summer, and I think the experience last year helped them out, but then we also got an influx of energy from our new guys.
"Obviously, we have a special talent in Blake, but then Cade Davis, with the energy he brings, along with Tony Crocker and Omar Leary. One of the things that helped us earlier in the year was we were able to have really good competitive practices. As we started going through injuries, that maybe that had something to do with our play being inconsistent because we were very inconsistent in what we could do in practice. Some days we would have eight guys, some days we would have ten. Some days we had a manager practicing with us just to do some five on five stuff.
"As we have gotten here, especially this week in preparing for this tournament, we have been pretty healthy, probably as healthy as we have been. So we were able to have good practices, which I think led to us playing well yesterday. Hopefully that leaves us playing well tomorrow."
On the state of the Oklahoma program:
"We have had to overcome a lot, but it's nothing that's been unexpected. Any time you take over any new program, the majority would say about 90 percent of the time you don't hear many coaches saying, 'Oh, that's easy. This is easy. This is easier than I expected.' Usually it's some kind of challenge, and obviously we faced some with some NCAA restrictions on recruiting and different things like that.
"The thing that I've always told our guys is that you can't make excuses. You have to figure out a way to make things happen. I have a poster that my wife got me for Christmas of Jackie Robinson and framed under it are the words, 'Don't complain. Find a Way.' I was watching a special on Jackie Robinson when he first went to the Brooklyn Dodgers, about how he couldn't complain. It was in his contract that he couldn't complain. You look at the pioneer that he was for all black athletes, there's no reason to ever complain. You have to find a way. That's life. You are going to go through pitfalls, highs and lows in life and life is not going to slow down.
"You have to figure out a way and we found a way to win some basketball games this year through all the adversity we've faced. Whether it was injuries or whatever came our way, we found a way to get here and to be here and to be one of 32 teams or I guess 31 left, because Duke just lost. To be one of 32 teams left playing, we're excited about that and look forward to it."
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Freshman Forward Blake Griffin |
On what the team has gone through to get here:
"I think it's an honor to be here considering what we have been through as a team. It kind of shows you what kind of team we have been. I think we have done a good job of fighting and not giving up, even though we had some rough patches where we lost three or four games. I just think we have done a great job of staying together overall as a team and bouncing back from big losses or games that we shouldn't have lost trying to put a run together."
On playing alongside Longar Longar:
"I think it's just been a process over the season and all summer, getting used to each other. I give a lot of credit to Longar for kind of taking me in and showing me some things that normally players wouldn't pick up on as quickly. He has kind of shown me the ropes a little bit. At the same time, we both try to help each other out as much as we can.
"It makes it easy because he's a good passer, so when he gets double teamed he can normally find me or any of the other guards, so I think that we both kind of take a little bit of pressure off each other."
On the Louisville Cardinals:
"They're definitely a tough team. They get after you and play great defense. They have some big bodies and they also have some talented guards. We're going to have our hands full, but I think if we just do a good job of staying together and playing as a team and controlling the tempo a little bit and handling their pressure, we should be all right."
|
Senior Center Longar Longar |
On playing alongside Blake Griffin:
"Just like he said, playing alongside each other makes both our games easier. With double teams, you have two bigs that can pass out and work with our guards. We kick it outside or we pass it to each other down low. It also helps in rebounding, just trying to attract attention. If he gets the ball, he gets doubled or if I get the ball, I get doubled and it frees him up or it frees me up."
On Louisville's David Padgett:
"He's a really good player. He's really big and he can really pass the ball. I think he's the guy that makes them go. He runs their offense real well and their guards are really athletic, so they're always cutting in and going to the glass. He can score down low, rebound and he runs the floor. We are just going to have to do a good job of containing him."
|
Senior Guard David Godbold |
On the Louisville Cardinals:
"They're a really good team. They bring a lot of defensive pressure and they're not afraid to push it on offense at any given moment. We have to come out and be aggressive and try to get them to play at our tempo. They like to play fast and we want to pound them inside, so we're going to just try to execute our game plan as best as possible."
On the success of the Big 12 in this tournament:
"It's always good when we're not facing another Big 12 team, to see them competing and doing well. It kind of shows the Big 12 Conference is one of those power conferences and right now they're having a good showing. Just us as the Oklahoma basketball team, we want to prove that we're a good team, too. We're from the Big 12 and we want everybody to kind of look at us as we're a good team in the Big 12 and to try to get some exposure for us too."
On how he expects Louisville to defend OU:
"Just looking at our team, I know the strength of our team has always been the big guys inside. So as another head coach, I would say you're still going to have to stop the big guys inside. They're obviously going to be a presence. Hopefully, they'll still demand a double team. If that does happen and I do get left open again or any guard, hopefully we're all ready to step up and make shots. I just got lucky the other day being wide open and the post men did a great job passing it out. But maybe we'll see something different from Louisville."
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