Postgame Quotes

Dec. 12, 2010

Oklahoma Head Coach Sherri Coale
On the game:
“Sometimes it's good to be lucky and I think we were, we're very fortunate. But I also think unless you play hard and unless you believe, you're not in a position to accept good fortune. Because we did keep competing and because we did believe we were in a position to accept it, we won the game. Incredible poise by Morgan Hook, incredible poise by a true freshman, to want the ball and go make a play. There was horrible spacing there on the perimeter when she caught the three. It was very crowded and she kind of bobbled it and took it to them rim and made a tough basket. Then to make a couple free throws that followed, sometimes you've got to be lucky. It's good to be good, but it's also good to be lucky and I like to be both.”

On if she expected New Mexico to double-team Danielle Robinson to being OU's final possession:
“It happened so fast and we had a odd line-up in for what we wanted to do at that time. We didn't have time to make the substitution, so we sort of had to ad-lib a little bit. We were wanting a flash and a back-cut. We were wanting (Lauren) Willis to cut to the ball and maybe Danielle get away from those guys on the back-cut and get to the rim. If not, we had Morgan on the strong side. It didn't really turn out as pretty as all that but we got the basket anyway.”

On New Mexico disrupting the Sooners consistent play at home:
“I don't have an explanation for it, if I did I would have fixed it. You just keep trying to change the rhythm and do something that will wake them up. I think about a game we had last year at Manhattan, Kansas, we slept walk through the entire first half and half of the second half. Then all of a sudden Amanda Thompson makes this big, strong rebound and everybody remembered 'that's what we're supposed to do' and then we started to mount a comeback and we ended up winning there.

“You just try to find something that will shake everybody and one of the things that I thought happened tonight was we didn't play real hard defensively to play the game, we weren't communicating well. We were trying to use our speed and speed them up a little bit and create some transition which we felt they would have trouble guarding us in transition and we missed shots early and it became baggage. We shot 50 percent from the 3 tonight, but from the line we were very low. We're shooting 84 or 85 percent for the year from the line and we were 60-something (percent) tonight and then our field goal percentage was horrendous, something in the 30's and it became baggage and weighed us down. Then we tried to fix everything in one play. Everybody tried to fix everything and you can't do it that way, you have to do it together and involve one another.”

On if the play of Nicole Griffin sparked the team:
“Yes. I thought Kodi Morrison too, coming in the game. (Kodi) just did the simple things, we had a hand off and she used a ball screen, the big jumped out so she reversed it to the wing and we had a basket, just simple, what we do in practice every single day. I think that and Nicole's presence, the shot block gave us a little bit of energy, just an instant fusion and I think it also made New Mexico think twice about going inside, so I thought her minutes were critical.”

Oklahoma Senior Guard Danielle Robinson
On Morgan Hook:
“I think Morgan's confidence brings a lot to this team. Just her ability to come in and kind of change the game. She comes in and hits 3's automatically and immediately when she subs off the bench. She just brings that momentum that we need whether we're down or we're ahead. She just keeps pushing.”

On missing three free throws in a row:
“They didn't feel bad either. I don't know what happened. I'm not going to change anything about my free throws.”

On her second-half turnovers:
“That was just passing up open shots. You know, trying to make plays when I wasn't on the same page as other people. That's my fault, just communicating with them. I just have to take open shots, which allows our posts to get more touches and our perimeter guys to get more looks as well. I think I was getting rid of the ball to early, especially coming off screens, being indecisive. Then when I just rockered and kept going, I hit the shots.”

Oklahoma Freshman Guard Morgan Hook
On final field goal:
“I just remembered in my head, 'I just got to take this to the basket. We're not going to lose this game.' I just went with my instinct.”

On game-clinching free throws:
“I knew if I thought about it, I'd miss it. So, I just went up there like it was just any other free throw. I couldn't think I'm not going to make this in my head.”

On her play in the first six weeks
“I just had all my teammates help me with my confidence because at the beginning of the year I wasn't as confident. I wasn't making my shots. So I know if I've got everybody's back, I'll play a better game.”

New Mexico Head Coach Don Flanagan
On the game:
“I thought we played a good game. Obviously, it was an entertaining game for everybody. I like what we did, that is our best game so far. I'm happy with our players' play. I wasn't happy with the result, but that's the way it goes. We wanted to just compete for a full 40 minutes. I thought we did that and it turned out to be a heck of a good game. We had some young players really step up and play well. Overall, I thought it was decently played by us. We had too many turnovers. We tried to stop transition offense. Oklahoma is really good in transition offense and spotting shooters and attacking with athletic kids. I thought we did the best we could. We were a little bit in foul trouble the first half, that hurt us. But, it came down to a last shot or a free throw. It's a good game. We will live with the results but I like our improvement.”

On the last minute of the game:
“We both tried our best to run a play that we think will give us a good opportunity, and we both did. That last sideline inbounds play, if I had to do it over again I wouldn't have double-teamed the point guard. The other player got it and just drove the middle. Really, our job is not to allow the middle to be driven and she drove the middle effectively. We had a couple good plays down the stretch. One of our players hit two free throws -- big free throws -- to give us the lead. That was big. We ran a play to get her an open shot on that. I liked what we did there. We got out of offense a little bit and that had happened to us throughout the year, I think to date. Overall, I am proud of what we did. I don't like the fact that we went that far and then lost. But, those are things you can live with—a good hard effort, and I live with that good hard effort.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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