OU-TCU Postgame Quotes

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Oklahoma Head Coach Sherri Coale

Opening statement:

“I love the pink-out game because I think it's inspirational to us as a basketball team, hopefully to our community and to all who get to see it. It's always a very emotional day, when you think about all the people who are in that arena who have fought fights so much more significant than the one we're trying to fight. It's instant perspective for what you're trying to do on the basketball court and yet we have a platform and an opportunity to provide an outlet for people and to inspire by the way we play. The team, particularly in the first half, was very inspirational. I thought we competed, we played together, and we played with joy. I liked everything about it. The second half we were affected by the zone and we're going to work on that. But I couldn't be more pleased about the start today.”

On having a good start to the game:

“It was about having the right mindset and that's the next thing that this young team is trying to build. We're trying to build that hard mindset offensively. It's that 'you can't guard me' mentality from all five players on the floor. Not from two, not from three, not from one after she makes a shot-but before any shot is ever taken to have that demeanor about you. That changes everything and that's what made the difference tonight in the first half.”

On playing the kind of defense they worked on:

“We were much more focused on the scout. I thought we did a very good job of communicating, being on the same page together, switching out of necessity, covering for one another, helping when we were supposed to help, staying on shooters when we were supposed to stay on shooters; but that being said, TCU didn't shoot it very well either. Maybe we rushed them. I got the feeling at halftime that they were sort of [like] a boxer who you punch [and] is dizzy for a little bit. I felt 'I know what they feel like', because that's how we felt in the first half against Baylor. Where we weren't scoring, mainly because we couldn't stop [Baylor] from scoring. And we were just in this blur trying to get to the offensive end and I felt like that was the same thing that happened to TCU today. They couldn't stop us from scoring and so then they were making mistakes then on the offensive end.”

On young post-players impact inside:

“Both [McKenna Treece and Vionise Pierre-Louis], I don't think either of them get enough credit. Both of them are really getting better and they're learning more about how they can best play their role for our team. Again, Vivi [Pierre-Louis] was two of two tonight and McKenna came in and scored. McKenna is going to run like crazy and compete and Vivi is going to rebound like crazy. And so you get something different from each of them, but they positively impact the game. And many times those guys come in, and I don't think we talk about it enough, but they come in and immediately produce. They're not just holding when they come for KayKay [Kaylon Williams], they're making something happen. It feels different to guard each of them than it feels to guard KayKay so it throws different looks at our opponents. But Kay [Kaylon Williams] was just fantastic today in efficiency, if you had a number for that. Every time we threw her the ball something great happened. And when those freshman come in and play that's a hard thing to do better than.”

On Kaylon Williams lone foul of the game:

“That's discipline that comes from maturity as a player. She's done two things: she's disciplined herself to stay out of those precarious situations, but she also when she makes a decision, whatever that is-'I'm going to go, I'm not going to go. I'm going to try to block it, I'm not going to try to block'-she's wholly in that decision. Where most of her fouls in the past have come from second guessing herself-going to block it and thinking 'I shouldn't.' It's that fence sitting that gets you in trouble. And I just think that commitment to herself when she is decisive, to stick with that, keeps her out of trouble as much as anything.”

On what the team can take away from the game:

“Well I think we built something that we didn't have before. I think we came out with a hardwired start with an intention and a purpose that we would not be denied no matter what. I had not really seen it, not like that, 'til this point this year. I think the zone defense had as much to do with our less-than-efficiency I guess that we had in the first [half], because it's a tempo- it effects tempo. You have to be really disciplined against the zone in order to get great shots. And by definition that changes the tempo of the game. Early we were able to get out in transition and run, and penetrate and pinch, and get 3s. And then when they began to guard us in the zone we couldn't do that quite as much. It took longer. So probably when I go back and watch the film I may not be quite as disillusioned with the second half as I am here. Because I'll tell you I don't know that I would love [Chelsea] Prince being on the front of the zone if I was trying to distribute the ball around either. She's big and long, has great instincts. I know there were some passes that probably look pretty easy from the chair I'm sitting in, and if I were on the floor wouldn't be quite so easy. So let's give them some credit for that too, but I think our energy dropped as we started the second half. We didn't have a snarl on our face like we did when the game started. And now we gotta figure out how to do that.”

On the youth of the team being a security blanket for future success:

“Well I think there's no lid on the potential of this young team. I was watching tonight the connection that Stu [Peyton Little] and Maddie [Manning] had on the floor. Just kind of a basketball savvy connection without saying a word. They just kind of get it. I'm thinking to myself 'this is their first season on the floor together' and how much that's going to grow over the next three years. A freshman point guard [Gabbi Ortiz] who's backed up by an old sophomore [T'ona Edwards] point guard. I mean it's just everywhere; there's youth everywhere. So I think as long as we keep that youth hungry, and improving, and willing to get better, and push themselves and stretch themselves, then we have something special for a while.

Redshirt Sophomore Guard Peyton Little

On being able to get 3-pointers off:
“Yeah, they were obviously playing zone all of the second half and I think our teammates – we were able to find each other, get in the open gaps. We were able to knock down shots and that is the most important thing, obviously knocking down shots.”

On being able to help offensively with other teammates are struggling:
“I don't think any particular planning goes into that. The ball just happened to be in my hands when we needed a shot, and I was able to knock it down.”

Freshman Guard Gabbi Ortiz

On relying on Peyton Little when the rest of the team is struggling offensively:
“She was shooting lights out. She went 5-9 from three. That's a pretty great percentage. I told her she was picking up my misses. We were confident in her and she was shooting the ball. She knocked down open shots so you can't ask for much more than that.”

Redshirt Junior Kaylon Williams

On feeling like she had the advantage with her size tonight:
“Tonight was making sure that we had presence in the paint. I think our post players did a great job – the rotation between myself, McKenna Treece and Vionise [Pierre-Louis] – making sure we demanded the ball. I think it helped a lot of the guards get open and take a little pressure off of them. TCU has some really active guards. I think us playing inside out was a really big offensive positive for us.”

On only committing one personal foul:
“That's great. I can't really say anything bad about that – that's awesome. One foul is the one thing I was looking at. I think the biggest thing and the most important thing Coach [Coale] has told me is to not focus on not fouling, because when you do things like that you kind of put yourself in the position to commit a foul. Taking it possession by possession tonight was really important and I remember at times I would catch the ball and I was thinking, 'Who has a hot hand? Miss Little over here does.' and finding Peyton, finding shooters and cutters. Sharane Campbell, I thought she did a great job tonight with her constant movement. Gioya [Carter] being able to kick out and penetrate and knock down a jump shot was beautiful tonight. I think that was just awesome. So all my success came tonight from them so I want to say thank.”

TCU Head Coach Raegan Pebley

On if the first 10 minutes of the game were more on them or Oklahoma:

“I think it is a combination of both. They have one of the most potent offenses in the conference right now. They have a lot of scoring threats that they start the game with. We have not been taking care of the beginning of games very well. We just got done challenging our starting five very strongly and talking about productivity and producing and that's something that we aren't doing to open games. You can come back from early deficits every once in a while, but it's really hard if you make a habit of it. You know exactly what it takes to come back from it. I think Oklahoma is a team that, when I think about our conference and our conference on a national scene, I think OU should be a team that should really come out representing our conference with a really strong seed in the postseason tournament with the potential to go deep. There's no reason why they can't with the way they are built and playing right now.”

On slowing Oklahoma down in the second half:

I think, when I have watched them play, they tend to slow down quite a bit against a zone. We looked at utilizing our zone as much as we could in the second half. We played a little bit bigger of a lineup to help us with the boards. It was a less experienced lineup, but a bigger lineup. I think our team played with a lot more sense of urgency in the second half than we had started the game with.”

On the depth and parity in the Big 12:

“It's very polluted, I would say. From two down right now, you can find yourself finishing anywhere from second to last in our league with the way things are playing out. I think a couple of things contribute to that. There's the parity, the recruiting that is being done in our conference and every team is getting better. I think also, the way the scheduling is, the fact that there are teams that play…we play two opponents both times early and the first time we saw Kansas State was the other day. I know that's the way that everybody is with their schedule. It kind of depends who you play early. It depends, I think, on where you are sitting right now. This conference is just a grind too. There is no bye week involved in it. A lot of times it is a war of attrition. We are getting ready to play our fourth game in 12 days and it will be five games in 14 days I think it is. That's a lot of BCS level games to play in a short amount of time and the West Virginia road trip, this road trip, tough games to play. It's a grind in this league. It's a dogfight. I think Sherri [Coale] has one of the deeper teams and that's one reason why I think they are having some success.”