Postgame Quotes

Jan. 11, 2012

Oklahoma Head Coach Sherri Coale
On the game:
“I would venture to say this is one of the gustiest performances our team has had in a long time. Not just this team, but our program. To shoot the way that we shot and to hang around and put ourselves in the position to have a chance to win and to make that happen. It's different sometimes at the end of the game when you have a chance when it lands in your lap. We had to make that happen through the final minute and a half of the game. Big plays from young players and unbelievable heart and will from Whitney Hand. I am just really proud of our kids.”

On not scoring a field goal for ten minutes
“It was uncanny. It is one of those things where we just keep talking about how to defend and try to take all the attention away from the offense. We were watching it mount on the side. We were rebounding though. That's one of those things that can give you a little bit of life. You miss shots and it snaps you, but when you can get some offensive boards it can change the way you approach the next possession. Those kind of kept us afloat when we weren't able to make a basket.”

On the teams reaction to Aaryn Ellenberg diving into the sidelines:
“Actually (assistant coach) Jan (Ross) jumped in the huddle and said, “Your teammate just dove three rows into the sideline. Go win this game for her.” These guys really care about each other. That's a team. If she gives that kind of effort, we are going to rally around and do this for her. This is just a special group. “

On Sharane Campbell's performance down the stretch:
“Toughness. Physical toughness. Mental toughness. She missed a free throw earlier in the game and I thought she was going to come completely unglued and the thing about Sharane that I love is her resolve. She has it in the classroom, she has it in her personal life and she has it on the basketball court. If something doesn't go right, the next time it is going right. You can count on it.”

Oklahoma Redshirt-Junior Guard Whitney Hand
On OU's offensive drought:
“Coach (Coale) had said they don't score a lot. They don't score 80 points normally so we knew if we could get it up in the 70s, which we barely did, we will win. That's what happened. They shot incredible. It was a really good shooting night for them. The fact that we pulled that out shows that it was definitely a defensive effort.”

Oklahoma Freshman Guard Sharane Campbell
On what she remembers of her play in the last two minutes:
“I remember the excitement. My teammates , I wanted to play hard for them. I knew that I wasn't really helping the whole game. I knew I had to help. I have got to be the energy. I am supposed to have the energy. It just happened to go my way. I just happened to be the one that scored tonight.”

Oklahoma Freshman Guard DaShawn Harden
On having mostly guard on the floor for the final minutes:
“We just played more mellow. The more ball-handlers you have the easier it is to handle it at the end of the game. I think that's why Coach Coale put us in together because we are both able to move the ball and make good decisions toward the end of the game.”

Texas Tech Head Coach Kristy Curry
On the game:
“We just didn't do a very good job. I think the first thing you have to do today is credit Oklahoma. I think the worst thing you can do in these situations is criticize mistakes we made and not credit the other team. We hear that all the time. So credit Oklahoma for being able to make more plays down the stretch than we did, and that's the bottom line.”

On the last few minutes:
“We got some great looks. We just couldn't finish. Sometimes that's the way the ball bounces. I think down the stretch they didn't hold us for five minutes. I'm not sure I could be wrong on that, I'd have to go back and look. But if I'm not mistaken I was aware of that. So it was that defensive battle and who was going to win the play and they were fortunate. So credit them for making a few more than we were able to.”

On coping with foul trouble at the end of the game:
“I'm not sure that played much of a factor into, defensively, not being able to get stops. We were giving up straight line drives after shooting free throws to score. And that's just poor job by us. We talked about that a while ago and we talked about some things that we did well and some things that we didn't do well. We were giving up straight line drives on a make or a free throw. And you just can't do that in this league. Not getting your defense set. It wasn't so much the foul trouble as it was doing a better job defensively and getting stops.”

On the battle every game in the Big 12 looks like it will be:
“Well the thing is that's why you have to have short term memory in this league. It's really important that you understand it right now; you have 15 more games to play. So much can happen. When we move to an 18-game schedule with no bye week, it's going to come down to toughness and perseverance and staying positive and staying together and having short term memory. And if you don't have it, you better find it real quick. Whether something good happens or something like tonight happens to us. You have to lace up those shoes and be ready to go tomorrow and turn the page and continue to improve throughout the year.”

Texas Tech Guard Christine Hyde
On scoring opportunities:
“I just let the game come to me. Last two previous games, I was forcing things and things weren't going my way. I just kind of told myself that I'm just going to play, set good screens and those other things and eventually scoring will come my way.”

On her second half:
“I just felt that plays needed to be made. We were kind of moving sort of slow so I just tried to speed up the process. Coach Curry talks about instant gratification, so I guess that's what I was doing a little bit. But I just felt like we needed a run to start the second half.”

Texas Tech Guard Monique Smalls
On sustaining the tempo:
“We want to push the tempo because when we push the tempo we get easy buckets. So we don't let the defense set up. It was kind of like run the tempo, run back, do plays. Run a couple offenses, run the tempo. I mean we're doing different stuff because we can't run the whole game because we would tire ourselves out. You have to be mentally prepared and just run things and be smart.”

On foul trouble:
“It was a little tough because you had to change the mindset into no touching. Everybody was sloppy and everybody was getting into each other. You have to be smart. You can't play into each other.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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