OU-Kansas State Postgame Quotes

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Oklahoma Head Coach Sherri Coale

Opening Comment:

“I'll tell you what, I missed 6,000 elementary school students today. I did. It does not take you very long to get addicted to that kind of energy and I felt like, I don't know if they felt it or not, but at the beginning of the game I needed some squealing. I needed some folks jumping around and dancing on the big screen. We got spoiled by that real fast. I thought our team was very focused on the task at hand and I thought Kansas State played really well. They did some really good things, hit some big shots, made some big plays. We shot it well, which you have to do against that zone. We shot 47 percent from three I believe. That's how you win games. That's how you beat teams who play that way. I was just proud of our resilience. It took every single one of us and the entire 40 minutes to do it.”

On if it took a while for the offense to get into the flow:

“I thought early we made some great passes and had some great movement. We got into the seams of the zone and had some extra passes and didn't finish plays, but I felt like we got a little bit panicked because of that and a little bit frustrated. That's what the zone does, it forces you to be patient. It forces you to be wise. Everything in you says 'Let's go score so we can get some tempo in this game. Let's go score, let's go score, so we can get some tempo' and when you do that, you start to make mistakes and so you battle that for an entire 40 minutes. They ran a very patient offense on the other end too. Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass….deep in the shot clock. I can't tell you how many times today I looked up and there is still 12 seconds on the shot clock. We have been guarding, guarding, and keep guarding and so that, in turn, makes you want to hurry up on the other end. You fight that internal desire to get tempo at a level that you're comfortable with.”

On if Peyton Little and Gabbi Ortiz are clutch players:

“Absolutely. You don't anoint someone a clutch player. They get that title by what they do and they have done it. The bigger the moment, the better they are. It's great to have those guys on the floor in crunch time. Gabbi's three to erase their lead…I don't know how long they were ahead…it was about 15 seconds…we have been on the other end of that. That's hard to come back from. I thought that one was big. Stu [Peyton Little] just has ice in her veins. She was wide open, but that's a lot harder of a shot than it looks like to anybody who is in the stands looking at it. It's just another shot to her.”

On Nicole Kornet getting big minutes off of the bench:

“I was really proud of Nicole today. I thought she was ready when we called on her. It's not just hitting the three. The thought of her for an opposing coach changes the way that defense plays a little bit. That's one of the reasons we were able to get in seams and get the ball to KayKay (Kaylon Williams) on the block so much, because she stretches it. What I was most proud of, was that she defended. They immediately called an 'iso' play and she did a great job and made her take a tough, contested shot and got the rebound. That's what allows her to stay on the floor, to have those opportunities to score at the other end. I thought she made great decisions with the basketball. I don't know if she got a turnover. I don't remember her having a turnover. Just part of the process, passes and great movement in the zone.”

On the Big 12 conference this season:

“I think this is important too. As you guys are asking questions, I'm thinking about what it is that makes our league so tough. There is just not…and you can look at the scores, not just our scores, everybody's scores. You can watch these games tonight and see what happens. There just aren't big blowouts in the Big 12 conference because every team is well coached, every team has weapons, every team believes they can win. We have a whole bunch of teams in the middle who have beaten each other up. I don't know if they are 5-5 or 4-6. Teams are so good in the bottom, whatever the bottom is. I don't think there is a bottom. There is a top and a big ol' middle. That just doesn't happen around the country. You look at other leagues and there are two or three games where you can go in, not have your best game, and win by 25. We don't have that. It doesn't happen in our league. I hope that people across the country who make decisions about what happens in the postseason understand that. The quality of this league is just tremendous.”

Oklahoma RS-Sophomore Guard Peyton Little

On feeling confident in herself:
“Yeah, I think she [Coach Sherri Coale] said it perfect. The bigger the moment, the more comfortable that I feel on the court and it just kind of flows.”

On shooting well at the line and the importance of it down the stretch:
“Oh yeah, definitely. We work on free throws every day in practice and obviously getting some extra work outside of practice pays off.”

On accepting that you are going to have to win a tight game against KSU by the way they engineer the tempo of the game:

“Yeah, any win in the Big 12 is a huge win no matter who you are playing. Kansas State is a great team and we knew they were going to come out and fight us and we were able to come away with the win today.”

On how she feels going into Baylor:
“I think we feel confident. We were able to get these past two wins and I think that built momentum for us to go into Waco. We know Baylor is obviously a great team and we are going to be ready to play come Wednesday.

Oklahoma Freshman Guard Gabbi Ortiz

On feeling confident in herself:
“Yeah, I think a big part of it – when you have that mentality of wanting the ball, you're that much more confident in yourself and that you're going to make the shot. And think we've been through tough and close games so many times this year – Peyton [Little] is more experienced than I am – but just being in those games and having that experience and just being confident in yourself. I live for moments like that. The closer the game is, I usually rise to the occasion.”

On playing a team like KSU and accepting that they are going to impose the tempo on the game:

“Yeah, Coach Coale is spot on. They're really slowing it down and we know we can't rush ourselves and you feel – you're like, 'I want to score.' You have that feeling. You want to move the ball around and that's what we were doing – moving it around the arc – but you really need to get it in the gaps and I think the more we got it down low and played inside out, the more we got a better feel for it. But it's frustrating at the beginning, but I think we did well overall.”

On playing her first game against Baylor on the road:
“We are taking it just like any other game. We are excited. It's obviously the first time I'm going to play them, the first time we're going to play them this season. Rankings don't matter at this point. Like Coach said, everyone will come to play. We don't care about the ranking we're just going to play our game and I know we will be ready.”

Kansas State Head Coach Jeff Mittie

Opening comment:
“Give Oklahoma credit. They made some big shots down the stretch. It was a pretty solid basketball game all the way around. Both teams had their runs. They made the last one of the game and that was the decisive run of the game.”

On if his team's press was successful:

“We kept them out of rhythm a little bit, but I thought they hurt us with some penetration at times and certainly in the middle part of the second half. They stretched it out to nine I think. I think our players cinched in and stopped penetration and got them to take some tough shots. We had some shot clock violation stuff and some late plays that we were pretty good on, so maybe a little bit, but at the end they made some big shots.”

On Breanna Lewis:

“I thought she was solid all day long. Five blocks is huge. She does a great job in the paint for us and blocks a lot of plays. She's tough to score on. Her line was pretty good with 11 points and eight rebounds. Williams (Kaylon) played well in there as well, so there's a great battle between those two. Their bench came on and played well I thought. Vionise (Pierre-Louis) played well whenever she came in and went two-for-two in just a couple of minutes. She had two moves down there that were strong. For Bre (Breanna Lewis) to play 39 minutes the way she did, that's tough for a big, and I thought she battled all day long. We needed her out there and we were fortunate that there were enough stoppages in play that we could get her a little rest. We had back-to-back media timeouts a couple of times that allowed her to do that. She's a difference maker for us, and she's really just learning. I think Oklahoma's inside game is very strong and very physical, and you could see that in this game.”