OU-Lamar Postgame Quotes

OU-Lamar Postgame Quotes

Oklahoma Head Coach Sherri Coale

Opening Statement:

“I was really pleased with the way we shared the ball. Twenty-eight assists is a number that I love. I was really not pleased with how many times they drove right past us to the rim. We didn't do a great job containing the dribble at all. Our help in recovery was not as good as it was in the opening game. I think we lost our focus a bit. You have to give Lamar credit. They hit some tough shots and they played in a sort of atypical way. Our big was having to run around the perimeter and chase somebody and that extends the length of that help a little bit. They hit those early threes and we were little gun shy. Nobody wanted to leave and get into help. All of those at the end of the day are just excuses and we have to get better at that.”

On the adjustments they made to run away with the game:

“Well, one of the things we did was go small and counteract them. We put Sharane (Campbell-Olds) and we made a little run when we did that. What you're giving up on the one side, you have to make sure you are taking advantage of on the other. KayKay (Kaylon Williams) is in the game and she is having to chase people around the perimeter, but then we weren't throwing the ball to the interior on the other end. You have to figure out how to expose that a little bit. I thought LaNesia William's coming into the game sort of changed the energy level for everybody. It was two things. It was defensive intensity and putting the ball on the floor and getting to the basket. We had lots of open looks early in the game and they didn't go in. We just looked a little flat. They weren't bad shots. They were great shots and they were wide open, but we looked a little flat. LaNesia did a great job as a freshman of sitting on the bench and saying 'We need somebody to take it to the rim'. She went in and did that and then it gave us a new rhythm and we started to hit perimeter shots and opened it up from there.”

On if this team can continue scoring as much as it has:

“Well, I don't see why we wouldn't because we don't rely on two or three people to do it all for us. It's not just five. I think at the end we had 56 bench points. That's crazy. That's a crazy number and it means we have a lot of guys who can play. I like our ability to score in bunches. Tonight, I felt like, I know we had the run in the second half, but I felt like the run in the second half was more of us guarding them than necessarily scoring in bunches. I felt like tonight we sort of just spread that out. We missed two or three and then we would hit one and then another and miss two or three. It wasn't like there was just one explosion offensively and I think that's a good sign because last time I checked that's the name of the game. Score more points than the other guys.”

On if she likes the overall balance of her offensive play:

“Yes. I do. I am very pleased with the distribution of scoring and with our shooting percentage. I think that is purely a reflection of taking great shots and players knowing what are great shots for them. I think that's probably, if there is a little x-factor to our offense, that's it. It's guys understanding. They found Derica (Wyatt) repeatedly when she got hot and hit a couple. They found Nicole (Kornet) when she got hot. They just really sense that. Now if I can just get them to sense that when the other team is scoring. That guy is hot, 32 has made several in a row. I might guard her now. If we can just have that same awareness on the defensive end we will be in business.”

Oklahoma Basketball Player Quotes

G Sharane Campbell-Olds

On the consistency in the past two games compared to last season:
“We just do what we do. Of course we may get off track but we've got to come together and be like, 'Hey, we need to get back to where we were.' And that's exactly what we did in the second half. Defense generates offense and I know that for a fact. With this team, if we are connected on defense we're going to be connected on offense. If we're playing good defense, we're definitely going to have some good offensive plays going.”

On having to post up a lot:

“Yeah, I would say I've grown accustomed to it. Last year, I got really comfortable with it. At first I was like, 'Oh I don't really like having my back to the basket.' But now I'm comfortable either way, sometimes I prefer to have my back to the basket because I have an advantage – I'm quicker. Or I can make good passes, so it's just fun having choices I guess.”

On being down 17-9 and regaining rhythm:

“I always tell myself, 'Go to defense.' Just like the team, if I play defense hard, that's usually when offense really comes to me. My freshman year, that's what really got me to playing and then I slowly started getting to offense. But if I'm playing defense, having fun on defense, that will get me pumped and I'll probably run the lane hard and probably get a layup. Just my defense makes offense.”

G Peyton Little

On what they see in the flow of the offense:

“We obviously like to look for our teammates and I think we did a good job of that tonight – finding open players. But of course they have to finish. I feel like we found players and finished.”

G Gabbi Ortiz

On what they see in the flow of the offense:

“Also, Coach was emphasizing, 'Feed the post! Feed the post!' Honestly I think we could have done better on that but I think once we had the inside out game going there was a lot of open looks, we were trying to penetrate the gaps in the zone and our shooters were open and they were knocking down shots and I think we shot the ball well overall.”