Postgame Quotes

Feb. 15, 2012

Oklahoma Head Coach Sherri Coale
Opening Statement:
“Well, once again, I'm really proud of our kids' resilience and we find ways to win games. That's pretty important down the stretch and in the months of February and March. It's pretty important to find ways to grind them out. I thought we did. I thought the folks who were here tonight, not a very big crowd, but the ones who were here really got after it and helped us. And our team needs that. We need a home court advantage. Those folks who were here, I really appreciate their attendance and their involvement and their game giving us juice down the stretch.”

On Aaryn Ellenberg's performance
“Well there was some praising going on when those 3's went in. I thought it was, maybe, 'We're going to talk about the 3's and it's been a long time since she's made two in a game.' But it was the defensive effort. It was creating the offense when we were just trading back and forth. She was fresh. She wasn't exhausted. She hadn't been out there for 40 minutes. And I thought you could really tell that she had a little different spring in her step that a lot of Kansas State players, and our guys, too, that had played a long time, didn't have. She just looked fresh and ready and really changed the game with her defensive intensity.”

On how winning this game sets up OU for a good Big 12 finish:
“Well it's huge, obviously. We'll talk about it now and when I wake up in the morning, the game at Iowa State will be the biggest game on our schedule. Every one of them is so important when there's such a log jam in the middle. Baylor has a distinct advantage and the rest of us are fighting, scratching, clawing for second third and fourth. Down the road even a little bit. But we do give ourselves a little bit of room if we can control our home floor from here on out. Then we're in a great position. So we just take them one at a time.”

On the changes to the starting lineup:
“I think that people from the outside, they always make a much bigger deal about who's standing around the circle at the start of the game then any team does. There were rewards for good play and Sharane Campbell and Kay Kay (Kaylon Williams) have been fantastic. Not just in that they fought in an exceptional way against Connecticut, but their production over the last 5-6-7 games has been really good. And you reward kids for that. Also, there's some match up things sometimes. With Jelena (Cerina), I thought that they we could have an advantage inside and score. And then with Vegas (Aaryn Ellenberg), you think, 'What could I do to just make it feel just a little different to maybe get her going again?' I know one thing for sure: if you keep doing what you've always done, you're going to keep getting what you've always gotten.”

Oklahoma Sophomore Guard Aaryn Ellenberg
On getting out of a shooting slump:
“I think everyone goes through those struggles sometimes and I have had mine over the last couple of games. But, I think my teammates have just did a really good job of finding me when I was open and giving me some really good looks so I just had to make them.”

Oklahoma Redshirt-Junior Guard Whitney Hand
On the offensive execution in the final minutes:
“I feel like, for some reason, this team has fight. It is a special thing to look into everyone's eyes and see how they all want to win really badly. I am really proud of our finish. I think our goal is to not be put in that position, but to play like that the entire game. It is a really good thing to have three freshmen on the court and to be able to execute like that.”

On the difference in the teams' expectations on winning close games:
“I think that is something special about coming to the University of Oklahoma. I have been to two Final Fours and won a Big 12 Conference championship. We know what it feels like to win. We were just talking about this earlier (in the season). Missouri is a great team and they are going to find ways to win, but we have the advantage of being in this program. Sometimes I think we take that for granted, but I think this team has really owned the name on our jersey. We don't lose game like this and we are on top in the Big 12. A rebuilding year is not what we really think about. I remember my sophomore year, I was hurt, and we went to Kansas State and we were down by 18 at the half and we just find a way to win. I think that just really marks our program and that is something I am really proud of.”

On using different options when everyone is making shots:
“Yeah, that helps a lot. I feel like it gives us a little room to breathe. It is always so much easier to know that you can rely on others to make plays and to know that we have so many threats out on the court. We have talked about how we have a lot of offensive threats, but during a season people will go cold or get hot and it is just kind of the game. The good part of that is that we are still up in the top of the Big 12 regardless if someone is in a slump or not. Because I feel like I've been in a slump all year and I can understand the feeling."

Kansas State Head Coach Deb Patterson
Opening Statement:
“The key about this game is we competed most of the game with poise, and most isn't enough. You have to compete it all with poise. I think our perimeter players, as evident by our one and two spots, we had 16 turnovers combined. That was enough right there to separate the two teams. I know they turned it over a lot as well, but our turnovers, with the kind of team that we are, we've got to maximize those possessions and those trips up the floor. That, really, to me, was one big factor. The other factor was late in the game. We had handled their runs and maintained a real competitiveness, but then we got soft on the boards. They began to get some second and third shots, not the least of which was on a free throw miss. So when you combine that with some turnovers and you give Oklahoma two and three attempts, they are going to get to the line late in the game or they are going to score on you. I thought that snowballed on us.”

On Difference From the Game in Manhattan:
“In the second half, I felt like we lifted the line a lot. Obviously we didn't defend the penetration as well as I had hoped. We just did a better job on our perimeter defensive assignments. Late in the game, we got a little soft on penetrations, a lot of middle drives. They stepped up and made big plays.”

On the play of Brittany Chambers:
“She had a spurt. She was sick tonight. She was sick in the hotel, so I wasn't sure if she was going to play. I probably played her too long, needed to give her some more blows. She did, down the stretch, hit some big 3's that gave us an opportunity to stay in the game. Fought extremely hard.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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