Postgame Quotes

Feb. 26, 2011

Head Coach Jeff Capel
Opening comment:
“Kansas is a great basketball team, incredibly efficient on the offensive end. We tried as much as we could in that first half to stop them. It's kind of like pick your poison. They had such an advantage of size against us. They were making shots beyond the arc. They lead the country in field goal percentage and they were in such a great rhythm. But we got off to a great start and it was kind of a shootout there early. We felt that if we executed and got the ball moving we would be able to get good shots off, which I thought we did. But our inability to slow them down in the first half is what did us in. I thought we continued to fight throughout. I thought we had some guys do some really good things. In the second half I thought it was a little bit better, our defense. But they are a great basketball team and they have a chance to go a really long way.”

On OU's game plan against Kansas:
“We came into the game knowing we were at a size disadvantage like we are in most games. I thought we could have fought a little bit more on the boards with our blockouts and being physical and perhaps we could get an over-the-back call, but I don't think we did that. They just absolutely annihilated us on the boards. Again, they are a great basketball team but I thought our guys fought throughout the game.”

On freshman guard Calvin Newell:
“I thought he did a really good job. It was maybe his best game all year. I thought he was in control. I thought he played at a good pace. He was able to get us into our stuff. He didn't turn the ball over. I thought he did a really good job out there for us today.”

On the Morris Twins:
“Those guys can shoot it, they're skilled. They can play with their backs to the basket, they can pass it. They are very, very good. I knew that coming in from watching them and watching tape. Great size, so they can rebound it on both ends of the floor. I am just impressed with everything about their game. Especially with how much they have improved. That's one of the things for a guy that's a fan of basketball, when you see guys improve like that you know they have done it by work. As a fan of basketball, it's really good when you see young people working on their games and getting better.”

On OU's margin for error:
“Most teams have little margin for error. We have none. We have to do everything at a certain level. For our young guys, this is making them better basketball players and this is helping me become a better coach. I don't like losing, our guys don't like losing. But this is helping us for our future.”

Senior Guard Cade Davis:
On how the team competed:
“We fight, we try to leave everything we have out on the floor each and every game. We know that's what we have to do to compete and stay in games with people like Kansas; they are a great ball club. There were times in the first half we were struggling defensively. Guarding the post, we would have to come double and they are a great passing team. They share the ball really well. They weren't missing any shots from the outside, which got us down early. In the second half, we kind of made a little run, but it was just plays throughout the game that hurt us and we can't get down to a team like that because they won't let up.”

On defending Kansas:
“It was frustrating. We were there help side, we were rotating over and they did a real good job of swinging the ball and finding the open man. They were all shooting the ball really well and they didn't miss too many.”

On OU's toughness compared to last year's squad:
“It's a huge improvement from where we've started this year compared to last year to now. There are still areas for improvement. We can still get tougher in areas mentally and physically. There has been growth for this team throughout the entire year and I'm proud of these younger guys stepping up and being thrown into the fire like this. They've done a tremendous job and it's just going to help them be a better ball club for next year.”

On why this team hasn't given up:
“The coaches are always telling us each and every day that you can either fight or you can quit. That's something that you'll live with the rest of your life; if you quit now you'll quit now with everything else in your life. Just having a mentality of staying the course, always competing, never giving up. These guys have really taken that to heart, they've shown pride and they've tried to show as much pride as they can for this university and for the fans. So that's something that (head coach Jeff Capel) harps on each and every day; to never give up. The circumstances are what they are and we've got to battle through them. We have to change that and we have to make sure that we do what we do to fight and get back out of it.”

Kansas Head Coach Bill Self
On junior forwards Marcus and Markieff Morris:
"Well, offensively in the first half we were terrific; you know the first 16-17 minutes we were great. We missed two shot inside the arc the first half, one by mistake, and we look up and we're only up 12. Shoot 71 percent and we're only up 12, so that means we obviously didn't guard very well. But they were really good and they're so unselfish and they share it and they do a lot of things that maybe fans don't see. If they were hockey players they'd get a lot more assists because their passes out of the post lead to the next pass a lot. And they're good at getting guys the ball on time, on target and they're really good players."

On the Sooners:
"They don't play kind of hard, I think they do play hard. You know, I've been there -- every coach has been there. You should really evaluate, in my opinion, the coaching staff on where you start and where you finish, and this team's improved a great deal over the course of the season. I told Jeff (Capel) that before the game. They've lost some close games in the league. You know, the Nebraska loss was a heartbreaking loss here at home. They're a little shorthanded, obviously, from what maybe they've been in the last couple or three years, but he'll recruit guys and he'll get that back. I think they're well coached and I think they play well, just like today. We could have broke the game open and they didn't go away."

Junior Forward Marcus Morris
On the team's performance:
"I feel like offensively we did really well, and then defensively they scored 70 points so we really didn't guard as well as we wanted to. We just have to get out there and practice and get back."

On what the team's key to success is:
"It all comes down to coaching because Coach Self is just a great coach and the coaching staff is one in a million to me. I mean having D-Man (Danny Manning) to coach you and have you practice and give you insight on what move you should make and what openings you should get to - you've definitely got to cherish that because it won't happen all the time."

Senior Guard Tyrel Reed
On the team's performance:
"I thought the twins (Marcus and Markieff Morris) played really well -- I mean really efficient. Offensively we played well. Defensively I thought in spurts we were alright. We guarded, but definitely just have got to get better on that side of the ball."

On if anybody in the country compares to the Morris twins inside:
"When they're on? There are definitely other good players in the country but when they're going-- I don't see it. They're just so talented. They can bring you out on the perimeter, they can go at you on the inside, in the mid-range, and they're unselfish. They'll pass the ball when they're guarded and it's been really fun playing with them and I just look forward to continuing."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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