OU-Kansas State Postgame Quotes

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Head Coach Lon Kruger
Opening Comment:
“It was a disappointing loss, for sure. I thought Kansas State played great. I thought they were quicker to loose balls, more physical on the boards, dictated pretty much the majority of the day, and certainly that's disappointing. We have to play better. We have to play better than that to win in the Big 12. Credit Kansas State for that. They played well and did what they needed to and we didn't.”

On if it's disappointing that only one player got into the offensive flow:
“Yeah, again, it seemed like we didn't have that rhythm, didn't have that flow that we normally do. We weren't moving the ball very crisply. Kansas State certainly had something to do with that. Buddy (Hield) was aggressive and making plays for us, which we definitely needed. Again, we have to do a lot of things better.”

On what Kansas State was doing to limit them on offense:
“I thought they just dictated by where we were catching, by pushing us out of the post. They were just a little bit more physical than we were in fighting for spots. They kind of won those little battles that kind of go unnoticed sometimes, but I thought they were certainly dictating on both ends.”

On the offense not looking the same as a year ago:
“Well, it's different from a year ago. Since the Bahamas, we have actually moved the ball pretty well. We have been in a pretty good flow offensively. When we don't get the results tonight it will be more glaring, for sure. We haven't been too disappointing. We have shot a pretty good percentage since the Bahamas. We moved the ball pretty well. We didn't tonight; didn't tonight, for sure. Certainly that's an area we have to improve. We have to better with executing things.”

On if there was too much celebration after the Texas win:
“That's human nature. That's what we were talking about all week. Are we good enough, mature enough to handle a couple of good ball games and take care of business again. It's a tough lesson. That's the message that we worked…. again, credit Kansas State for that. That's not just… we were interested, we were trying, but we weren't quite doing the things that you have to do to win. That's what happens when you're not quite as sharp. That's human nature. That's what happens. That's why these things happen, partly.”

On if they got tired with four players playing over 40 minutes:
“Perhaps. We need to keep stretching our bench a little bit more and get more from it. We have to keep working on that.”

On how much more importance this puts on the West Virginia game:
“It's a long grind. There are going to be moments where we feel like this. We have to learn from it. We have to prepare for the next one like it's the only one. We have to treat them all with urgency. It's the only healthy way to do it. It's a great league. It's a great league. Hopefully, there are more good moments that we feel good about than the way we feel right now, but that's the nature of the game. We're playing good people every night and we have to do better.”

Junior Guard Buddy Hield
On having a good scoring game in the loss:
“It feels bad, losing. We just have to do better at getting ready and coming out attacking people to get guys going earlier. This is a good loss to learn from. We have to go prepare for next week.”

On if he was happy with the shot he forced Marcus Foster to take at the end of overtime:
“When you give a good player any good look he is going to take that shot. I thought I contested it really well, but when you are playing against a good player, any shot is a good shot for him. He elevated and put up a good shot. There's nothing I could do about it.”

On if the loss tonight takes away the momentum from the Texas win:
“I feel like we came in ready. Kansas State came in and they popped us. They had guys who stepped up and made shots. Credit to them. We have to go back and hopefully we get them in Manhattan.”

Junior Forward Ryan Spangler
On why the team struggled offensively:
“I just don't think we were executing the way we have been lately. That is something we work on in practice, to go out and execute every play. I don't think we did that tonight.”

Kansas State Head Coach Bruce Weber
Opening comment:
“Honestly, it was a great win and I'm just excited for them. We had a bad, bad week after Christmas. Kevin Stallings and I talk a lot. I coached him and then he was a grad assistant and friend and roommate and all that stuff for a long time, and Kevin always says that there are games that no matter what you do, you're going to lose; a game or two a year. And then there are other games where things just work out and you find a way to win. Obviously in the Texas Southern game – the last 15 seconds – everything was a disaster. And you look back and you can't figure it out. Today, we just kept hanging in there, battling. We told them we were coming here to win. And I told them we are going to make SportsCenter tonight for a good reason. Two weeks ago, we made it for a bad reason. So, we had a lot of guys step up. I thought toughness was going to be really big and they out-toughed us a little bit to hang in there the first half. But we made some tough displays. We had a lot of guys play well and then the last thing I put on the board – 'Somebody be special.' – obviously Marcus (Foster) was really special early. He struggled in the middle with foul trouble; got tired, and then he made some huge plays. And Stephen Hurt was big-time. Stephen has kind of been stuck in the middle because we rely so much on Thomas (Gipson). We trust Thomas so much. I told our guys that two guys have really been shorted minutes and time and that's Brad Rohleder, our walk-on – he lives and dies it with his heart and soul – and then Stephen Hurt comes every day and plays hard. He's probably not ready physically and he needs some time in the weight room, but he's been really patient and kept a great attitude and he got his chance tonight through foul trouble – some things we thought he could take advantage of – and he made some huge, huge plays for us. So, I'm happy for all of our guys. They (OU) are very good. I think they're a Sweet 16 team. I think they'll be competing for the league. I was kind of hoping we would catch them after a high at Texas – you can't play any better than that. Maybe a little letdown. Obviously Buddy (Hield) was not a letdown. Buddy, I think he had been struggling a little bit, and you hear the announcers talking about him being in the gym all the time and he must have done something because he was big-time tonight. He made huge plays for them. We made enough plays when it counted and I'm just excited for our guys to get a road win and get one of those miserable losses back. Now we've got Texas Tech at home on Wednesday and we'll see if we can continue making progress.”

On wanting Marcus Foster to have the ball:
“Yeah, I was so afraid. With (OU), they switch everything. They fight for things. I just thought, 'Get it in his hands.' We put a little attack in that we saw some people have some luck against them and we ran it a lot during the game. Jevon (Thomas) was in it most but we had talked about Marcus being in it at the end of the game and Marcus took advantage of it. The runner was unbelievable, but then he came and got the layup, which we've been asking him to go hard into overtime, and obviously the huge 3 at the end was big-time.”

On the team's bench involvement:
“I tried to sell it. I told them last night that we were here to win. You are going to be right there and someone is going to have to be there to make the plays. Maybe they believed me. We were much more focused as a group. Our defense was better, too. I think that they are one of the best offensive teams in the country. We held them in overtime to 63. I think that it was an impressive effort. We did some things different defensively, too. They have dudes like Buddy [Hield] and [Isaiah] Cousins. It is tough to defend them.”

On the emotional swing from last week to this week:
“I hope they are happy. They are excited now. That goes back to maturity, taking it another step. Our two radios guys said, “They were picked third, you were picked fourth and you battled them like you should be there with them.” It took us a while to get to this point, now where are we going to go with the rest of the way.”

Kansas State Sophomore Guard Marcus Foster
On his shots at the end of regulation and in overtime:
“I was struggling at that time, so I was just trying to concentrate on that my next shot was going to go in.”

On starting to get his confidence back:
“I'm getting my confidence back. I think I was worried about too many other things going on and now I am just playing. Now I am playing better than I was.”

On his emotions after the game:
“Yeah, of course I am happy right now. That win was big time. Oklahoma is, in my eyes, one of the best teams in the conference. This is a real good win for us, especially being away. It has been rough getting wins away from home. I think we are figuring out what we need to do to win on the road.”

On the mindset during the last five minutes of regulation:
“We were down four. We definitely didn't get our heads down. We knew that with our defense and rebounding that we could come back and win the game or send it to overtime, which we did. We never got our head down and just kept playing how we should play.”

On playing as a team throughout the game:
“It was all we had tonight. We had a few fans here, but all you can hear on the floor is your brothers on the bench. We were all cheering on the bench even if we weren't playing well. That is something we struggled with. We didn't have the energy from the bench just cheering for us. It is always good looking to your bench and seeing your brothers cheering for you being happy.”