University of Oklahoma Athletics
Oklahoma Postgame Quotes
March 05, 2008 | Men's Basketball
March 5, 2008
Oklahoma Head Coach Jeff Capel
Opening thoughts
"I'm really proud of our guys. I thought we showed toughness and determination. It allowed us to get this win. I'm not surprised though everyone else probably is. No one really thought we could win without Blake. I think our guys showed the determination that they could. We had two great days of practice, two great days of preparation. We went with different lineups and we went smaller. We knew if it worked we would be able to do that against this team because they don't really throw the ball inside a lot. Our guys battled and Longar got us started early. We wanted to go to him early and he did a great job delivering for us. Crocker got into some foul trouble quickly. He was able to get back and put them in late in the first half when we got down. Austin Johnson was terrific in the second half. David Godbold does so much for us. He did so much for us today that won't show up on the stat sheet. Plays that are very, very important to win. To come into this type of environment we knew we had to be tough and competitive at an extremely high level tonight."
On chances of making the NCAA Tournament:
"I hope so. You look at what we've done and our body of work, not many teams have done that. Not many teams have had to go through some of the things we've had to go through. We've played four conference games without our two leading scorers. Yet, we still continue to find a way. You look at our strength of schedule, you look at our RPI, you look at all those things and it's at a very high level. I'd like to think so."
On the Sooners' Defense:
"We knew that was the most important thing we had to do for this game. Coming into this game, O-State was the hottest team in the league. There were three things we wanted to do: We wanted to contain dribble penetration, play without fouling and we need to defend the three. I thought we did the last thing at a high level. We didn't give up a lot of threes and we contested shots. They were able to break us down early and drive to the paint and create some opportunities. I thought as the game went on we did a better job with that. I thought we did a better job of playing without fouling. We did a great job on Eaton. We played good team defense. Our zone, we thought, gave them some problems. It slowed them down a little bit and made them take a longer shot. And then we were able to come up with some key rebounds."
Oklahoma Guard David Godbold
On the play of the Sooners to end the first half:
"We wanted to go on a 'silent run' as coach would say. You know, go out on like a four or six point run and come out the second half and open up with like a two or four (point run). It was big for us coming into the second half."
On the absence of freshman standout Blake Griffin:
"We knew that without Blake everybody was going to kind of doubt us and we would just use that as motivation and bring our A game."
Oklahoma Center Longar Longar
On the absence of freshman standout Blake Griffin:
"We talked about it before we came here. We just had to believe in ourselves. We've been in these situations before without Blake.
"If we executed and do what coach told us to do, follow his game plan, we should come out with a win."
Oklahoma State Head Coach Sean Sutton
On the game:
"I was concerned about this. I have spent the last two days talking to our guys about not letting down their guard just because Blake (Griffin) wasn't playing in this game. Over the years I have seen situations like this before: where somebody's best player is out and all of a sudden the other guys on the team elevate their game and come in and play at a high level. I mentioned (Tony) Crocker being somebody that could be really dangerous in this situation."
"We had to do certain things in order to win this game. We couldn't let Longar (Longar) get established early in the game and we had to do a good job on their guards. We had to pressure them and not give them open three-point shots. I thought their guards played better than ours. Our defensive intensity wasn't anything like we've seen the last two or three weeks. We let them knock in some shots early and they got their confidence going. They played extremely smart and disciplined and did the things that they needed to do to win a game like this. It was a tough loss. I feel for our fans and I feel for Marcus (Dove) and Tyler (Hatch). But Oklahoma played a heck of a basketball game."
On Oklahoma's offensive performance:
"I thought those guys would be ready to play. With Blake being out those guys were going to step up and compete. We let them get some shots early and that got them going. They played at their pace pretty much the whole game. We wanted to play a little bit faster this game. But Austin Johnson dictated the tempo and played really well for them."
On Oklahoma State's performance:
"We did not have the same energy level that we have been playing with. I didn't want our players to be relaxed, I wanted them to be on edge and know that this was going to be a tough game. We just didn't have the same pep in our step that we've been having."
Oklahoma State Guard Byron Eaton
On the game:
"I think that they did some good things tonight. We didn't do a good job on defense. They got some easy shots that we shouldn't have let happen. Defensively, we weren't playing the way we have been lately. We have been playing good defense against teams, letting them get one shot, and then rebounding and running with the ball. We just didn't come into this game mentally prepared. I think some guys thought that we had it won since (Blake) Griffin wasn't playing. Coach (Sean Sutton) kept telling us not to think about that and when one player goes down, other players elevate their games. Some of their players definitely did tonight."
On not getting the seniors a win in their last home game:
"On my way out, I want to go out with a win, and I know these guys wanted to go out with a win as well. Not only that, but this could have been a big step closer to the NCAA Tournament. Now we are one step back. I'm sorry for not helping my friends go out the way they wanted to, but now all I can do is elevate my game a little bit more so I can get these guys to the NCAA Tournament."
Oklahoma State Forward Marcus Dove
On the game:
"I'm very disappointed. We just got out-toughed and out-played, and I am embarrassed. We came into the game preparing as if (Blake Griffin) was playing. I think they just came in with a tougher mindset and beat us."
"Every game since we lost to Kansas State has been critical. Since we've been on this streak, Coach Sean has stressed that each game we were going into was the most important game of the season. Before this game, last game was the most important game of the season. We have had that mindset throughout this whole winning streak, so for us to come in here and play like this is unexplainable."
