Head Coach Lon Kruger
Opening comment:
“It was a good battle. We were working for the most of the night from a little bit if a deficit. We made two or three runs but Baylor did a good job of responding to those runs. I like what our guys are doing from a standpoint of competing and wanting to get after it, yet we have to figure out ways to get some stops, especially in the second half there. With all due respect, Baylor is very, very good. But we still have to figure out a way to get some stops and get into bodies a little bit more; they had a couple big offensive boards at critical times. Our guys will keep working at it. They are not happy with coming close. They are not happy with not getting it all the way done. We have some work to do to still get there.”
On defending Baylor beyond the 3-point line:
“Early in the game they hurt us bad. I thought we were helping a little bit on the penetration and helping a little bit inside and didn’t get back to their shooters. They had good rhythm jumpers that they can make. We’ve got to do a little bit of a better job of covering both inside and outside. The last 10 minutes of the first half I thought we really covered as well as we have for a while. We got into them and took away some 3s. But, they are a good ball club and they are going to respond. In the second half we didn’t cover them like we have to in order to have a chance to beat a top-10 team in the country.”
On battling from behind:
“It takes a toll it any sport if you’re having to expend a little bit to get back from a deficit as we were doing much of the night. It wears on you, no question about that. But, that is the game. If you are behind you have to do what you have to do to catch up. That’s just the way it is. You have to try and fight through that; try to keep [guys] a little fresher if we can. But again, we need people on the floor to make the run, too.”
On Cameron Clark back in the starting lineup:
“We are needing Cameron to knock some shots down and he’s gotten a little bit more active defensively. Carl [Blair] came in tonight and I thought gave us some good energy defensively. But we need a little bit of all of that. We are kind of getting that from different people as a package. It is a combination. I still think Carl is going to make shots. He works at it as hard as anyone. He needs to step up and do that and I think he will.”
On the team’s overall persistence and effort:
“The guys have worked hard all year; no problem with that. I love their attitude. I love their desire to get there and have a good basketball team. I think we are still searching a little bit with regard to just what it takes to win Big 12 games. I think we are making progress in that area. Roe [Osby] is doing a terrific job of kind of leading the way with regard to being more physical and attacking and being a little bit more aggressive. I have no doubt that that will continue to spread among the team. We just have got to understand the objective. Each possession is important. [We need] to lock in there and really do those things that we did to cut into that 12-point lead in all 40 minutes. Easier said than done, but that is what we are after.”
Junior Forward Romero Osby
On Baylor’s run at the end of the game:
“Like Coach (Kruger) said, you need stops. You’ve got a team as talented as they are and you’ve got guys on the floor as talented as they are, you can’t give them second chances. You’ve kind of got to limit them to one shot, really be physical with them because at the end of the day, they’ve got athletes and they’ve got a lot of shooters and stuff like that. You can’t really give them anything is what I’m trying to say. You just kind of got to take everything away from them. They did a good job of finding ways to score towards the end to pull away from us.”
On if fatigue was a factor towards the end of the game:
“Yeah, but I don’t really like to blame stuff on fatigue. If you’re tired, Coach always tells us to get a sub. I think it’s selfish to stay out there if you are tired. I don’t want to blame it on fatigue. Like I said, we’ve got to get tougher, mentally and physically. We’ve got to find a way to get stops in crucial times.”
On how close OU is to breaking through:
“I feel like we’re making progress but moral victories are something we don’t really want to accept. We kind of want to say, ‘OK, we’re close but let’s get there.’ Let’s not continue to say, ‘OK, we’ll get closer next game,’ or, ‘We’ll get closer next game (after that).’ That’s not how it is. Coach always says that we’ve got 12 more, got 11 more, got 10 more. Well one day it’s going to be one more and then one day it’s going to be no more, and then it’s going to be, ‘Well, we can do something next season.’ We want to try and start making this progress now, go out and get some wins under our belts and get some confidence. See where we can go from here the rest of this year.”
Junior Guard Steven Pledger
On how close OU is to breaking through:
“We’re a step away. I feel like we’re just one more. We’ve just got to make that one more extra step, get that one more extra rebound, box out one time harder. We’re just one more step away from everything.”
