Oklahoma Head Coach Jeff Capel
Opening comment:
“First of all, it’s good to be home. I thought this was, especially in the second half, the best defensive effort we’ve had. I thought Cade (Davis), primarily, was tremendous guarding Rotnei (Clarke) tonight. Tony Crocker was terrific, especially with the way he rebounded the basketball. He showed some toughness and maturity. We didn’t get off to a great start. I felt like we were just kind of slow and not moving out there, especially on the offensive end. There was a stretch there in the last four minutes where we started making some shots, we got some movement and out in transition were able to take the lead and get the crowd into it a little bit. In the second half, our defensive effort really picked up. When we had that 18-point lead, I thought we relaxed a little bit and they cut it to nine. We called timeout and I was really proud of our guys with how they responded.”
On defending Rotnei Clarke:
“We knew we always had to have a guy on him. And we knew we had to have a guy that had urgency to guard him. To guard him you have to be tough. Not just mentally tough, you have to be physically tough because you are going to get screened a lot. And you have to be incredibly disciplined. I thought for the most part Cade (Davis) did as good of a job as anyone on him.”
On veterans Tony Crocker and Cade Davis having big games:
“We need leadership. That is something this team has desperately been missing – leadership from within the team. I have always felt – and I played for the best guy out there – there is only so much a coach can say. There has to be leadership amongst the team and hopefully those two guys and Willie (Warren) are the guys to do that.”
On Cade Davis taking it upon himself to be a leader:
“I think Cade wants to be a leader, that’s the big thing. I think that is something he wants to do and he has the leadership abilities. It’s just about earning the respect from the guys where he can be. I think the way he’s handled himself and the way he’s attacked the past couple of weeks, especially through adversity, I think that helps him ingratiate himself with his teammates.”Senior Guard Tony Crocker
On his career-high 16 rebounds:
“They have athletic guys and Coach (Capel) was saying we have to box these guys out and go pursue every ball because they shoot a lot of threes and stuff. So I was just trying to get as many rebounds as I could.”
On if he felt that he had the edge early:
“Yeah, just attacking them and trying to get physical. They were trying to post up a lot towards the end and tried to go at me because I think I had like three fouls or something. I was just trying to work down there and play hard for the team.”
On the team’s six 3-pointers in the final three-and-a-half minutes of the first half:
“We all shoot with confidence. There are a lot of us that shoot really well, so if we have open looks we’re going to take them. It’s not going to be an, ‘Oh, I missed two just a minute ago so I’m not going to shoot this one.’ Coach (Capel) tells us if we’re going to shoot them, shoot them. We can make them. He trusts us.”
Junior Guard Cade Davis
On if the team feels more together since the trip to Alaska:
“I think so. I think we came out and showed that, especially in the second half. We were playing great ‘D’. The whole entire game we were moving the ball. Sometimes we were stagnant on offense but the more we got movement, I think the more we kind of jelled. We’re finding that chemistry.”
On his defense against Rotnei Clarke:
“Coach gave me that opportunity tonight and, coming in, we knew his stats. We knew he was shooting the ball really well. I think he’s leading the country in 3-point percentage, so I took it upon myself to try to limit his shots and obviously we came out with the win.”
On his defensive strategy against Clarke:
“Just straight denial. No catch, chase, don’t go under any screens, don’t get screened. Just basically matched up against him one-on-one.”
On OU’s run of 3-pointers at the end of the first half:
“Some of them just came off our defense, mainly. We picked up our defense on that end and that led to transition buckets. I think that’s when we’re most deadly; when we can get out and run and find the open guy.”
Arkansas Head Coach John Pelphrey
Opening comment:
“I think Oklahoma is a very good basketball team. They have a basketball team that’s getting a lot better. They have some experienced guys back from last year’s team and have some great pieces, some great young guys. For tonight, I had a chance to study them a little bit coming into this basketball game. It looks to me like they’ve gotten better defensively in a short period of time. I think that’s encouraging. They’re very difficult to defend because of the four-guard lineup and then the big fellow inside. I think they have the chance to get a lot better.”
On Arkansas’ performance in the first half:
“I know the score may not indicate that, but I thought we played beautifully for the first 18 minutes of the game, having an eight-point lead going into that last TV timeout. The last two minutes were what were bad for us. We had a couple of turnovers, and I think we had a bad shot, and they capitalized on every single one of them. They were 6-of-7 on those shots to end the half. You have to give them credit. They capitalized on our mistakes. We had some plays that were made from inexperience. It was the only place in the first half that it showed for our guys.”
On Rotnei Clarke’s performance:
“He worked very hard. Oklahoma gave him a lot of attention. I thought they made it hard on him. I thought Rotnei seemed patient for the most part, he wasn’t forcing up bad shots. He drove the ball more than he has. He had to.”
On Oklahoma’s defense:
“I thought they did a good job of pressuring us and, obviously, making us miss. We didn’t get a lot of second-chance opportunities.”
Sophomore Guard Rotnei Clark
On Oklahoma’s defense:
“I think they did a good job defensively. They made sure they knew where I was on every possession, pretty much. That’s a tribute to their defense. They were talking and communicating every time I came off a screen and were switching and doing different things. They did a good job.”
On playing a game in his home state:
“It was a special game for me, being back in the state, knowing I was going to have a lot more family and friends and people I know coming to the game. It’s a tough one to lose but any game we lose is going to be tough. I hate to lose.”
Freshman Forward Marshawn Powell
On Oklahoma’s defense:
“It was a struggle. They played real physical. It took me a little while to get used to it, a little too late.”
