Oklahoma Head Coach Jeff Capel
On the game:
"First of all I want to congratulate Baylor; they are a very good team. This is the best Baylor team since I have been (at Oklahoma). They are different. What is different about them is defense. In my first three years here we always felt playing against them that we could get anything we wanted to offensively against them. We just really had to do a good job of playing defense and stopping the runs. I think it is a great decision with their personnel to go zone. It happened last year in the Big 12 tournament and it has really changed their team. You can tell that their guys really believe in (the zone) and they are good at it because of their length and their athleticism. They are still a very good offensive team. We are not a good defensive team but they are a very good offensive team and they showed it tonight with a lot of different weapons. They have older guards, which is key. They have what looks like very good leadership with Tweety (Carter) and you can see that he has a sense of urgency with this being his last year. I am very impressed with them.”
On the presence of Ekpe Udoh:
"He is a huge difference. They have a guy that can protect the basket. His presence is felt even when he is not blocking shots because you are always looking for him with how many shots he is changing during the game. He changes them offensively too; sort of similar in the way that Blake (Griffin) did for us because you can play through him. He is such a skilled guy and he can really pass and he is not a guy that is just a pig where he is going to try and shoot it all the time—he is just a good basketball player. He changes them on both ends of the floor.”
On the second-half play of LaceDarius Dunn and Tweety Carter:
"I don’t think we quit and I don’t think we laid down; we just couldn’t defend. They were driving on us. I think 18 of their first 20 points in the second-half came from LaceDarius Dunn and Tweety Carter. Tweety was driving us and Lace scored five straight. I thought we had done a pretty good job of keeping (Dunn) under control and all of the sudden he gets a wide-open three and an easy lay-up. With a scorer like him you can’t let him see the ball go through the basket because he has always been a great scorer since he has been (at Baylor).”
On the streak:
"We talked about it but not from the standpoint of just trying to extend the streak but just how hungry (Baylor) was going to be. When we played them last year, I remember reading about (the steak) and hearing about how it was such a big deal to (Kevin) Rogers and (Curtis) Jerrells for them to beat Oklahoma. I told our guys that this is a very good basketball team but to also understand how hungry they are going to be to beat you; especially guys like Tweety Carter when this was his last chance at home.”
Baylor Head Coach Scott Drew
Opening Statement:
“Well the first thing we said in the locker room was that was for all our old players and old coaches that haven’t had a chance to beat OU in a long time. That was one of the last thorns we needed to get out of our side. After that (the lights turning out) I thought we came out and were much more composed, much more aggressive and the game really changed from that point on. I think this is probably the best we have played up to this point and Tweety Carter set the table with almost a triple-double. He was outstanding and this Lace (Darius Dunn) and Ekpe (Udoh) almost with double-doubles, but you look across the board and us coaches are always going to find some negatives, but it is hard to find too many negatives with today’s performance.”
On Baylor’s first half run
"Credit Oklahoma at the beginning of the game. They did a great job moving the ball and were aggressive and took it to us. I thought we came out a little tentative. I think a lot of that is your first conference game and we have so many freshmen also. Everyone’s a little nervous when it comes to that first conference game. I thought we were tentative. Credit Oklahoma for really playing well at the beginning then our leadership, those guys took over and did a great job.”
On balance of the team’s play
"Again I think all year long we have had great balance and the most balance comes on the defensive end. Holding them to 35 percent was excellent. I think Ekpe, Tweety and Lace probably all played three of their better games today. They really set the tone.”
On Tweety’s play:
“Well Tweety starts the offense, starts the defense, so when he is on it just makes everyone else that much better. I think Tweety really did a great job tonigh.”
Senior Guard Tweety Carter
On ending the 30 game losing streak to Oklahoma:
"We have to enjoy this one, but we also have to get prepared for Colorado. Like I said the other day we take one game at a time and we took care of this one. We have to get prepared for Colorado.”
On if the streak was motivation:
"We had it in the back our minds. It is something we thought about, but at the same time these three leaders, these two and myself, you put that behind us and said, ‘We are going to come out and play better basketball.’ We came out tonight and got down early, but we stayed together. Inside they started off well, but when you got a guy that is capable of blocking 10 shots any given night that is going to come to a stop and I think that is what happened. Ekpe came up big. After the first six minutes he started to play like himself and we just came out as a team and got stops when we needed too.”
Junior Forward Ekpe Udoh
On the team’s defense:
"Just our mentality has changed. We are tougher on defense. We know when we get stops that leads to offensive opportunities. On the run we got stops and got the crowd going. That is a big thing for us this year.”
On getting a home win to open conference play:
“It is great that is par t of our goals this year. Just to come in and get a win the first conference game. We need to focus in and get ready for Colorado.”
Junior Guard LaceDarius Dunn
On his play in the second half:
“Well I just came out ready to play. I went into halftime with five points and came out second half and did a good job of taking good shot and making them. And my teammates did a great job getting me the ball.”
On the next week:
“I know one thing we are going to keep working hard and focus and take it one game at a time.”
