Postgame Quotes

Nov. 10, 2011

Oklahoma Head Coach Sherri Coale
On the Sooners play in the second half:
“We opened up the second half with giving up another offensive rebound and then, from that point forward, we only gave them two. Our attention to detail to the things that were giving us trouble in the first half were corrected. I really credit Whitney (Hand) for taking care of the locker room. I didn't have to do anything but tell them what to run in the second half because she really took care of everything that was wrong in the first half. She got them focused and ready to compete and I thought our freshmen in the second half were just phenomenal.”

On how the play of the defense lead to points on offense:
“It makes everything a little bit easier. It's just like room to breathe when you do that. It was really mano-a-mano defense, just the guy on the ball being aggressive, being active and making them unsure about what they would do next. Again, those two freshman deserve a lot of credit for that. But team defense was really sound in the second half as compared to the first. We got a little bit lost on those cuts and we did a great job of talking and switching off those screens. We haven't really worked on that at all. These guys set a gazillion screens and so we began to switch them. We did a really nice job, it's not a easy thing to do if you haven't work on it very much, I thought they did well.”

On the play of the freshman guards:
“I really thought DaShawn (Harden) looked like a different kid than she did in the first exhibition game. That's just a little bit of what she's going to be able to do, finally late in the second half there were a few possessions where she really put the ball on the floor and used her first step. That's one of her greatest gifts that we didn't see any in the first exhibition game or up until those last few possessions. As well as she played tonight she didn't add that facet of her game to really exploit the defense in that regard. I thought Sharane (Campbell) was just fantastic going to the rim. She does an unbelievable job of finishing when she's getting fouled and that's a art and one that we have missed. Danielle (Robinson) could do it. Beside from that we haven't had that in the last few years and it's nice to see somebody that can finish in traffic and she knocked down a 3 and she did a little bit of everything tonight. I thought both of them just looked a little more comfortable and they got lost in the game which is necessary.”

On having the consistent on-court presence of Whitney Hand:
“Worth its weight in gold. I thought that was probably her best part of her leadership tonight, halftime got their attention but without the steady way she performed halftime is empty. Even if she goes crazy halftime is empty. But they knew, they watched her, they've been on the floor with her. They understood and I thought her calm in the first half just her workman like effort that's the true leadership. That's when freshman don't panic, that's when people around you don't get all locked up in a ball, because she's doing her deal. I knew early in the first half, I needed to get her a shot. She was the calm face on the floor and we got her a little shot off the secondary. She made that and you could almost see the body language of everyone on the team just kind of relax a little bit and that's because of her demeanor. I've said it for three years and I'll continue to say it, regardless of her stat line, her presence is invaluable.”

On the play of Morgan Hook:
“Wow, I think she's been really, really good. Steady, making open shots, making good decisions, she's improving defensively, that was the biggest flaw of her game last year, still got to work on blocking out as all of us obviously. But I really couldn't be more pleased with her progress at this point.”

Oklahoma Redshirt Junior Guard Whitney Hand
On her halftime talk with the team:
“I don't have a voice simply because I am not much of a screamer. We just have to realize that we are in the Big 12, we can't be up eight points to Grand Canyon in an exhibition game. It is just not acceptable. Nothing against Grand Canyon, I thought they played really hard. I got punched in the face the first possession and I thought, 'this is going to be a long game.' They worked hard, they crashed hard, but still, there is a standard. I think everybody responded really well.

On the team's response in the second half:
“I think that everybody knew what they were doing wrong. I think I had only taken three shots and I was thinking there were things that I had to fix. Rebounding obviously was awful. They responded really well, and I thought everybody came out really well in the second half. ”

Oklahoma Freshman Guard Sharane Campbell
On her play in her second collegiate game:
“I feel incredible. My teammates were getting hyped, so I felt like I needed to get hyped along with them. It is like you have no choice but to feed off of their energy and they fed off of mine.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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