OU-Iowa State Postgame Quotes

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Head Coach Lon Kruger
Opening comment:
“It was a pretty good win. Any time you can beat a club like Iowa State, I think they're great. I thought they had us trying to catch up there in the first half. Their transition was terrific out of the gates and I don't think we had a very good handle on the [first] half defensively. The first 15 or 16 minutes I thought they were too fast out of the backcourt. When we did finally get it slowed a little bit and got a little foundation defensively, I thought from that point on we battled pretty well. The guys hung in there when we were down 10. They just kept plugging. We kept talking about getting stops. Iowa State was making some shots at the time, which they can do. I thought we moved the ball really well, made good plays for each other and turned to attacking in the second half.”

On how much it helped that they could go to the block on offense:
“We're doing that more and more with each game. Tay (TaShawn Thomas) and Ryan (Spangler) are doing what they're doing and can do, I think, a little bit more. The guys on the perimeter love that because if we play inside and out that makes better shots for everyone and you get a chance to get to the free throw line and it gives us a chance to establish a little bit of low post stuff.”

On how important it was to get second-chance buckets and put themselves in position to make a run in the first half:
“When you're down like that and they're making shots, anything you can get whether it's a transition bucket, if you can get a steal and a bucket, if you get a bubble shot, you take them any way you can get them because they were scoring quickly. We had to, like Tay said, just hang in there and keep working and keep plugging and I thought our guys did a pretty good job with that.”

On how big of a spark Frank Booker was tonight:
“Huge. We haven't had that from our bench. Frank had a time when we were trying to stay within touch and he knocked down a couple of 3s there to keep us within reach in that first half and made some more in the second half. We need that. Frank, Dinjiyl (Walker), Khadeem (Lattin) gave us good activity. D.J. (Bennett) and Austin (Mankin) played some tonight. We need some production from the bench. We need more. That was a big plus.”

On how big it is to play with such tempo and only commit seven turnovers:
“That's a good number. The pace of the game was very much up-tempo and I thought the decision with the ball was very good. I thought we shared the ball. We got it out of our hands quickly to one another. The big guys caught it inside, made good decisions to kick it out and took care of it. The goal is to get a good shot on each possession. If you only turn it over seven times in an important game then that's a pretty good percentage of good shots.”

On if it was good to see his team play with a fast tempo:
“It seems like we have had our good spurts where we have been up-tempo and up pace but we haven't had a continuous pace for 40 minutes. Yeah, it was great to see that. I thought we showed just a little sign of fatigue there two-thirds of the way through the first half, but I thought we bounced back out of the timeout pretty well from that. It was good to see. I think they hung in there and found it pretty well.”

On if the quality of their game with Iowa State makes them want to sign up for more:
“It was a good game. I think it was a great game from a Big 12 standpoint, promotion wise. I thought both teams swung away. They (Iowa State) could have easily made the first three buckets coming out of the second half and it might have flipped the whole way so that's how, even though the margin got up a little bit, we know how good they are and we respect that. We know the next one starts out new and the one on Saturday starts out zero to zero, too, so there's a lot of work ahead.”

On if he could tell his team was on a roll when they scored on 20 of 27 possessions:
“Well, we finished the first half strong and really opened the second half. We got it up to six or seven right away and then they cut it back so we knew we had a good run. I thought our flow was good. The flow was good, they guys were coming out and I thought midway through the second half we started to get it going downhill pretty well. They were making plays for each other. That's when we're at our best, when we're attacking and kicking and making plays for each other.”

On how they felt after ISU started well from behind the arc and if they tweaked game plan:
“We talked about that in the huddle. Number one, we have to work harder and guard a little better, but still, 9-of-12, we just have to keep working and that will level out, you hope. We also have to work harder. I thought [during] our recovery, we were a little too conscious, maybe, of their post-up. We were doubling a little bit, staying too long, not acting quickly enough on recovery. They made 9-of-12, but we didn't guard it very well either. Credit them, they made them.”

On Buddy guarding Georges Niang:
“Yeah, he did a good job. They have three perimeter guys [and] when they start big, Niang becomes a perimeter guy in our minds. I thought our perimeter guys worked hard on him. Buddy and Isaiah [were] our two primary guys. He's a good player. He's a terrific player. You have to give him a lot of attention.”

On how they defended Monte Morris:
“Yeah, Morris is good too. They have so many weapons. Morris is a guy that's very much right there and ready to attack all of the time. If you give him an angle and relax a little bit, he is a very good layup shooter. He missed a couple tonight that he probably won't normally miss. But he's a terrific player.”

On if they exit the game viewing themselves as a better team because of their second-half run:
“Well, I hope so. Again, we challenge our guys and we talk every day. It's about getting better every day. We talk about this after every ballgame, the last five especially, that we have raised the bar a little bit and we have to challenge ourselves to keep going and not get happy with ourselves and just challenge ourselves to get better. This group has done a really good job of getting better each day in practice and not just going game to game and I think that's why we're optimistic and the expectation will be to keep getting better. We said that from day one in conference play that in this league you have to get better, otherwise, you're going to fall behind. And this group has done that.”

Junior Guard Buddy Hield
On pushing the tempo and taking shots early during possessions:
“That is something we did last year, and we have four returning starters. Tay (TaShawn Thomas) is new, but he is used to playing fast, too. Jordan (Woodard) and Isaiah (Cousins) were able to push the ball as well as me and Ryan (Spangler). We were able to play through each other well. We adjusted back to the up-tempo pace, and we executed and made plays.”

On what kind of statement tonight's win made:
“The statement is we are trying to come back. We are for real and we are trying to make progress every game. It's tough and to win a game like this. It shows that Oklahoma is no joke. We just [take] every game [one game] at a time and get ready for the next one.”

On tying the game before halftime:
“It was big for us. Everybody did good; we got a couple of transition buckets. Everybody did a good job finding each other in open spots. Everyone played well in spurts. Isaiah had a good spurt, TaShawn had a good spurt, Ryan had a great spurt, I had a good spurt, Frank (Booker), Jordan (Woodard) had a good spurt. We needed a good team effort and we are capable of doing that. Everyone is capable of making plays for each other, and we just have to keep finding open guys and making plays.”

On the atmosphere in the locker room at halftime:
“There was a good positive vibe. We knew that we could play with them. They had their heads up and they were making a lot of shots. We got adjusted — we only had one day to prepare for them — and it was fun after seeing that we could play with them. A couple of shots we made gave us momentum in the second half. We just kept rolling after that.”

On if the tempo was fun for him:
“Yeah it was fun. We like playing fast. Watching film of Iowa State, I didn't know they played that fast. In the previous games I didn't know they played that fast. We adjusted back to that tempo. I feel like we can play like that. We just have to execute right, and turn the ball over less like Coach said. I like it. It was fun.”

Junior Guard Isaiah Cousins
On if the fast pace was fun for him:
“It was pretty fun. I thought I was back in New York City again with how fast the game was going. I haven't had a game like that so it was pretty fun.”

On if the tempo of the game helped him get into a shooting rhythm:
“My teammates were passing me the ball, and I was just making shots. I was feeding off my teammates and getting them when they were open. I was looking for whoever was hot.”

Senior Forward TaShawn Thomas
On if having Sunday off helped his scoring performance tonight:
“I just think I need to watch more film the day before a game. That is all I did yesterday. After practice I just went home and watched a lot of film. I feel like I need to do that more often.”

On the importance of erasing the 10-point deficit before halftime:
“That was a very important stretch right there, because we tied it up and built momentum going in to the second half. Going into that one we just told each other to stay together and keep fighting. We are at home it will be easy to get momentum to go with us if we can keep on grinding.”

On if the win raises the ceiling of the team's expectations:
“I think it does. We have a lot of momentum going right now. That's five games in a row. We are just going to keep taking it one game at a time. I feel like everyone on the team just needs to stay humble. We talk about not overlooking any team and being ready to play every game. I feel like if we keep doing that we are going to be alright.”

Iowa State Head Coach Fred Hoiberg
On the difference in halves:
“I thought we came out of the gates with great energy. Obviously the one thing we did not do a good job of was rebounding early in that game and that's how they were staying in it. We had a 10 point lead with five minutes left (in the first half) and then we started turning the ball over and giving them opportunities where they took all the momentum going into halftime – hitting those shots in the last minute. We wanted to get a two-for-one and we shot it too quickly. We allowed them to come down, they got a two-for-one and it just kind of snowballed from there. And I didn't think our urgency coming out of the gate in the second half was like the first. When you see the box, I mean, they scored 44 in the paint and they didn't have 3s. That's tough. Sixteen points off of turnovers; it's tough to win games like that.”

On if missing shots affected their defensive tempo:
“Yeah, maybe. Again, I think more than anything, we allowed them in transition to get the rhythm. That's an excellent basketball team. I think it's as talented as any team in the entire country. The way those guards play and (TaShawn) Thomas playing the way he is right now with Spangler – we wanted to stay closer to their shooters. They got the ball in the right spots. Lon Kruger is one of the best in the business of taking advantages of mismatches and seeing where something is working to keep going to it. We tried to get in there and shrink and do both but they were in too good of a rhythm at that time and they hit some tough shots. Again, I think the key point in this game was the last five minutes of the first half where they took momentum going into the locker room.”

On Dustin Hogue shooting well from behind the arc:
“Look at his 3-point percentage – it's over 40 percent. (He's) shooting the ball well. He got us off to the right start. He really guarded Buddy Hield well out of the chute and then again, (Hield) gets that late one in transition and he gets that off quick. (Hield) and (Isaiah) Cousins are leading the league in 3-point shooting and it's tough to get a play. They're really good.”

On sticking with Jameel McKay in the starting lineup:
“I liked the urgency he played with last game so we stuck with him. We'll see how it plays out.”

Iowa State Junior Forward Jameel McKay
On the experience of getting his second start:
“It was a cool experience. I wish we could have got the 'W,' but it was a cool experience. We started off fast. We were playing together and hitting shots. We were trading baskets with them early and getting more shots than them.”

Iowa State Junior Guard Naz Long
On the difference between the first half and second:
“I feel like we were trading baskets there at the beginning of the game. I thought that we were able to get more shots than them. Then they definitely caught us. They outscored us by 10 in the last couple of minutes in the first half. That came [back] to bite us. We didn't come out of the gate in the second half the right way. We had nine assists in the first half and only [three] in the second. Those type of things catch up to you right there.”

On if Oklahoma was making shots or if Iowa State had a defensive breakdown:
“I mean it is a little bit of both. We let them space us out a little bit and they were knocking down shots. They have great guards and it was something that the coaches were emphasizing. The coaches came in with a great game plan. It is really on us to execute it. We will get back and watch the film and see what we didn't do. With that being said, defensively it was a little of us and a little bit of their offense too, so credit to them.”

On if they relied too much on shooting 3s:
“I don't know if I would say that. If it is falling, one of Coach's philosophies is to keep shooting. We were just trading baskets with them. That is all it came down to. We need to do a better job. Our guards need to grab more rebounds and our bigs have to get in there as well.”