OU-Yale Postgame Quotes

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OU vs. Yale

Dec. 30, 2014

Oklahoma Quotes

Opening Comment:

“I thought we opened with a great rhythm and a great sense of purpose. I thought we closed the game really strong and, again, with a great sense of purpose and intensity. There were lots of spots in the middle for improvement.”

On how they got both their best play and worst play so close together:

“A lot of it is youth. There were some different combinations. We were forced to substitute a lot in the middle of that second half because of quick fouls. We never really got a lineup that we were real comfortable with for whatever reason. All of the guys can play, it just didn't have any continuity. We lost our sense of purpose. We forgot that we were supposed to be attacking the paint and the middle of the floor. Sometimes it takes a glance at the scoreboard to see what kind of position you are in to really listen to what we have been saying at every timeout up until that point which was attack the paint. We did with three or four consecutive shots right in the middle of the lane. It's like they remembered, 'Oh yeah, this works'.”

On if she was trying to let them figure it out:

“For a while and then you couldn't anymore. It became time. I think that's, in a crazy sort of way, a real positive sign of our growth. When you're on the road and you have those situations of adversity, now you have the ability to gain maturity to be able to regroup and do what we did at the end. If you haven't been in those tough situations, maybe you get really tight when it's 52-50. Maybe you lock up, get passive, and just panic. We did just the opposite of that. I think that is probably a reflection of the tough situations we have been in thus far.”

On if coming through in the end was what they needed going into conference play:

“I think that whatever experience you're having is experience that is going to prepare you for what's next. It's as good as you want to make it. Yeah, we were challenged tonight. They were very physical, made some plays, they never went away. They're nothing like West Virginia. They pressure a little bit, but so does West Virginia. Their people who pressure look a little differently though. I just think it's good to win, it's good to be at home, and we did get some tempo things moving in the right direction. We improved our free throw shooting. Let's talk about positives. We improved our free throw shooting, outrebounded them, and played a really efficient, fundamental first half. I think we had maybe nine turnovers. Six. Very efficient. The second half was recess. It's better to have at least one good one.”

Junior forward Kaylon Williams

On being a huge force offensively and how she feels about her game:
“I feel really good about tonight. Our key for the game was getting points in the paint and having a presence down there had a big, big impact tonight. I thought our guards did really well with attacking. I know Gioya Carter had a couple of great attacks to get layups and Peyton Little also attacked the rim and got in there. And throwing the ball into the paint and going in and scoring was really a big deal for this game, today.”

On Peyton Little responding helping momentum:

“I think that possession where she hit that jump shot – that got the ball rolling. From that position we got a shot, we got what we wanted, so we went and jumped to the next possession so we had to get a stop. I remember Gabby (Ortiz) was yelling at us, 'We've got to get the stop! We've got to get the stop!' I think taking it one position at a time after that was probably a really big thing for us. Like Gioya [Carter] said, we came together after that. We did have a point in the game where it got really yucky and it wasn't very pretty and we just sped ourselves up and kind of took a breath and relaxed and took it one step at a time and good things happened.”

On playing at home again:
“It felt great being at home again. I love to be home. It did feel nice being back on our court, getting some shots in this gym, a great atmosphere – a lot of people came. It was just great being back in the Lloyd Noble Center and I can't wait to be back for another game.”

Sophomore guard Gioya Carter

On what she thinks happened when the team got going and closed well after struggling:
“I thought that we kind of sped ourselves up and we had some miscommunications but we're trying to learn how to fight through those and come together more when we have adversity that we face. I thought we did a great job when we did have some turnovers – just a charge or something – we came together and we tied it out the next play.”

On playing at home again:
“I liked it because I don't like flying. Staying here in Norman is fine with me.”

On attacking the paint tonight:
“I just told myself to slow down and I just was watching my defender and seeing what they gave me.”