OU-Tulsa Postgame Quotes

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Head Coach Lon Kruger
Opening comment:
“Tulsa is a good ball club, so we feel very good about the result today. I thought our guys, from start to finish, were pretty solid on both ends of the floor. They were a little sloppy, a little careless with the ball in the first half but really handled it well in the second half. Tulsa's guards are so good off the dribble and they have big guys who can step out and make shots, but I thought our guys played their personnel pretty well. Offensively, I thought we had really good flow in the second half. Jordan (Woodard) ran the club very well. Isaiah (Cousins) and TaShawn (Thomas) obviously had big days and pretty efficient in the second half, especially. Good road win, and we have to keep getting better.”

On TaShawn Thomas:
“Coming out of the Bahamas, we realized we have to get the ball into Tay and Ryan (Spangler) a lot more. Last game, Ryan had a big game against Missouri, Tay had a big game today. We had just gotten away from that balance, and Ryan and Tay give us a good chance to get back to it a little bit. We want to play more through the post. We have the last couple of ballgames, and we like the results much better.”

On Tulsa:
“It always takes a little time in transition (with a first-year coach), but they've played good basketball. We watched all their tapes, of course, and I thought against Creighton they were very good, a good win at Little Rock. Obviously the box-and-one stuff screwed everything up in the Southeastern (Oklahoma State) game, I guess. They've played well. We've prepared all week expecting them to be a good basketball team and play well, and I thought our guys did a good job in fighting that.”

On Buddy Hield struggling from the field:
“Buddy is going to be fine. Buddy is going to work at it and he's going to stay in the gym and if that's our biggest problem, Buddy not making shots, we will feel pretty good about that because we know he's going to make shots and going to make plays. He's got to keep being aggressive for us.”

On the guards rebounding well this season:
“Our guards have rebounded the ball pretty well all year. Jordan (Woodard) can get the ball on the defensive end and go, or Isaiah (Cousins). Buddy (Hield) is rebounding the ball well also. I think they've helped Tay (Thomas) and Ryan (Spangler) do a good job rebounding. Our guards rebounding the ball is probably going to make the difference for us. That's big when Jordan and Isaiah rebound the ball like that.”

Senior Forward TaShawn Thomas
On his performance against Tulsa:
“I don't think it was me being the focal point. It was just Coach telling me to be more aggressive when I touch the ball. There would be times where I'd get in the lane and pass it out and turn the ball over. Coach would say he would rather me have a shot attempt than a turnover, so that's one thing we have been talking about the last couple of weeks.”

On what he takes from the game:
“This is definitely positive for me, but I am just trying to stay humble. After we got back from the Bahamas, Coach (Lew) Hill and Coach Kruger told me to stay in the gym and get extra reps in the gym, and since then I've just been in the gym. I feel like it's finally paying off. Today was the result, and I've got to stay in the gym more and just be ready to play like that every game.”

On having success in the past against Tulsa while at Houston:
“Of course. I told a couple of my teammates my stat line when I played here, so that was definitely in my mind when we came here.”

Sophomore Guard Jordan Woodard
On the team being more comfortable playing inside-out:
“I feel like we have had some good practices the past couple of weeks focusing on playing inside-out. I feel like that gives us a great flow on offense, and we've got some guys inside who can get the job done, and it just makes it easier for the guards in the long run with our bigs handling business down low.”

On having nine assists to one turnover against Tulsa:
“Coach just really wanted me to focus on taking care of the ball and make sure the guys are getting involved. We just got up and down a little bit in the first half and we executed on offense and teammates hit shots. It was a good flow taking care of the ball today.”

On Tulsa:
“They have a lot of guys returning from last year's team. They've got a good ballclub. They're experienced, but so are we. We've got another year under our belt, and I feel like we came in and competed hard, ready for their best shot. I feel like we played well throughout the whole game.”

Junior Guard Isaiah Cousins
On how playing inside-out helps the players on the perimeter:
“It just gives us a chance that when we are open to shoot it and be able to make the shot. It just makes the whole game easier for us and opens the floor up for us.”