Postgame Quotes

Feb. 11, 2012

Head Coach Lon Kruger

Opening statement:
“Congratulations to Billy [Gillispie] and his club. I thought they worked hard, competed, beat us to loose balls and dictated all night long. We got pretty good energy to start the ball game and then when they evened it up there in the first half it seemed like, from that point on, they were the ones dictating, getting to loose balls and doing what they wanted to do. We didn't have a lot going on either side of the ball.”

On overall energy:
“That's one thing we've had from… pretty consistent throughout. I thought, again, when they took the lead at halftime and came out in the second half playing with a three to seven point deficit there for a while and couldn't get anything going. I thought right there at that point we were playing to not lose as opposed to being aggressive and our defense didn't have much going on all night.”

On Texas Tech's defense against Pledger:
“They did a good job on getting up into his body, taking away the catch and shoot. Something that we will continue to work on is that people are going to play him that way and he's got to be able to work off the dribble a little bit and create some looks.”

On struggles shooting the three:
“Pledger shot the ball, percentage-wise, pretty good on the year. Otherwise, we haven't shot it very well on the year. I thought Billy's group did a great job. They worked hard, were committed, and a good win for them.”

On frustration of the game:
“From an energy standpoint and a competitive standpoint I didn't feel like we brought it like we have. Even ball games that we haven't won, we battle it pretty good. I thought when they took the lead tonight we just didn't quite have the enthusiasm and energy that you have to have to come back on the road.”

On Tech's potential layover:
“Didn't see any of that out of our guys. We had a couple good days of practice and preparation. Their enthusiasm was really good and they knew Tech is continuing to play really hard and had a lot of respect for that.”

On Texas Tech senior forward Robert Lewandowski:
“They did a good job of giving him the ball. He had some open looks; got a couple jumpers and that got him going. Then when we started trapping a little bit, they started to give it to him down low. He did a good job finishing opportunities and making shots.”

Texas Tech Head Coach Billy Gillispie
Opening Statement:
“Obviously a great win for us and I think our guys deserve to win. They battled. They've been battling the whole time, haven't always executed very well but they battled hard in practice and played good enough defense the other night at Kansas State to win on the road against a very good team, just turned the ball over too much. They built on that game the next day at practice, and had the right approach. You think about things not going your way for a while, its been a while since we won a game. You hang in there like you do, and you keep fighting like they have. No matter how many mistakes, they keep on fighting, and it says a lot about the character of our players, so I'm very proud of them.”

On Turnovers:
“I think that we pass and caught it better. We turned it over a world record amount yesterday in practice, which for us, the world record amounts are pretty hard to obtain for this year, but they made their minds up they weren't going to turn it over and I told them I didn't care if they turn it over just defend rebound if they turn it over, just play and get another stop. So, it just turned out tonight that we didn't turn it over. That's a real good formula for winning, not fouling too much and defending and rebounding. That's what we've been trying to do all year long because we have some guys that made some shots, and made some plays tonight, but as far as the turnovers, what we need to do every time is we got 58 shots and I think on Tuesday we might of got 30-something shots because of the lack of turnovers tonight. That's what we need to do as our best chance to move forward.”

On Robert Lewandowski:
“I didn't realize he was one for eleven or I probably would have taken him out. When you talk about 'Lew', he's one of the best young people I've ever been around. He's a lone senior on our team and for him to try to change to the way I want him to play, that's best for our team and its got to be hard for a senior, the way its gone so far. He keeps on battling and battling and battling. Its always great to see good things happen to young people who do continue to battle and he just missed some shots, and I didn't realize he was one for eleven, but he played better defense tonight and he rebounded better tonight and got on a roll tonight and got those seven out of eight. He was feeling pretty good about it after the win as he should have been.”

Texas Tech Senior Robert Lewandowski
On how it felt to get the win:
“First of all, just thanks be to God, man. He saw fit to get us the win tonight, and I just praise be to Him for everything. That win, it's kind of surreal, man. It's real nice. It was the shortest post-game speech coach has given us, and it was the happiest one he gave. He's definitely proud of us, and we're all proud of each other. It's been a long time coming. But, you know like coach said, it's not last. It may be the first, but it's not the last.”

On second half difference:
“It's all confidence, and it comes down to hitting shots. I think once one falls, it makes it all easier. I still wasn't perfect, there were still some shots…I mean, if I hit all the shots I should have hit, I would have ended up with a lot more than I did. But at the same time, a win's a win, and I'm going to take it, and just learn from it, and move on. A little better shot selection on my part. Just keep getting in the gym and working on it, and it will work out. You just knock one in and it makes it a lot easier afterwards.”

On success of taking more open jumpers:
“Give Oklahoma the credit. They're a great team and stuff, but we were able to find some weaknesses in the pick-and-roll game, and we exploited it, and it worked out really well to our advantage. Another thing, I know it's off-topic, but thanks to the fans. You guys have stuck with us forever. And we couldn't have done it today without the fans. That could have been a 10 point or a 5 point win, or even a loss, but turn it into a double-digit win with the fans on our side. It was great to hear 'Raider Power'. Any other fan base would have turned their back on us, but we live in a great town, great sports town, and we love all the fans. So thank you very much.”

On lead at half giving confidence:
“Definitely. We haven't had a lead in the half in a long time, especially at home. At home, you know, Under Armour puts it great, “We must protect this house.” We haven't done a very good job of that, but you have to start somewhere, and tonight, we started.”

Texas Tech Sophomore Javarez “Bean” Willis
On win:
“It's always been played up, like it's supposed to be. [Coach Gillispie] gives the scouting report, and he tells us exactly what it takes to win. He tells us if we don't turn the ball over, and I haven't been hitting shots lately. So in film, he got on me and told me “The reason why you're not hitting shots is because you've been taking bad shots.” So I decided to change that today, and took all good shots, and stayed under control. It's just amazing how if you do what he says, it works. We had seven turnovers. I think that was the difference in the game.”

On intensity:
“It all started from Kansas State, even though we lost. We had 22 turnovers, eleven buckets, but for the most, I think we lost by 16. It was close at the end, got it down to 10. There were a couple of plays that we made, but we had 22 turnovers. I think it started from that game. We played hard, in my opinion, for 40 minutes in that game as well. I think we just played stupid.”

On turnovers:
“It affects your defense. That's the type of team…when we turn the ball over a lot, we stop guarding. So it's a lot of motivation tonight. I' mean we've been sticking with it. Everyday. Trying to go hard as we possibly can. I kind of figured the win was going to come soon. Just happy it came tonight. I just feel like it's good it happened tonight. I just feel like we're going to get the next one, and the next one, and the next one. “

On post-game team in locker room:
“It was just a whole bunch of screaming, jumping, hollering…We were just excited about the win. We are a family, but it's the most that I ever touched my team mates, as far as hugging them, I hugged my coach…It's crazy. It just felt like a family bond in the inside of the locker room. It was crazy.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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