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Stats: http://www.soonersports.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2012-2013/02-23-13.html
Photos: http://www.soonersports.com/view.gal?id=135850
Quotes: http://www.soonersports.com/sports/m-baskbl/archive/022313aaa.html
Notes: http://www.soonersports.com/sports/m-baskbl/archive/022313aab.html
Photos: http://www.soonersports.com/view.gal?id=135850
Quotes: http://www.soonersports.com/sports/m-baskbl/archive/022313aaa.html
Head Coach Lon Kruger |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opening comment:
"It was a good win for our guys. I thought the first half was pretty good offensively and maybe a little better defensively. I thought they opened the game really well-focused and have done a great job getting each other ready to play. I thought they did that again today. The second half got pretty chopped up, but still a good win. These guys played great and we need that to continue."
On getting off to a good start:
"This group has done such a great job of getting each other ready to play. We have talked about that several games in a row here. They really opened up the game with good energy and good focus. Again, the older guys have done a terrific job with that from a leadership standpoint. It doesn't just happen; you have to prepare to make that happen each game. They have done a good job of that, but we have four more times they have to do that."
On the success of the offense:
"We aren't really trying to do anything that differently. We still are looking to push the ball in the backcourt. Today they were fouling to try and get back in the ballgame, so that was a big part of the game with all the free throws. But still, they are moving the ball better and making good plays for each other. I think offensively we have as many guys playing with a high level of confidence than we have had all year. Anytime you have more guys playing with confidence you have a better chance of making shots. The guys are doing a good job of that.
"There was good activity (as far as) the guys moving the ball and moving themselves and setting screens. They are getting the ball out of their hands pretty good and making that extra pass."
On the status of Buddy Hield's injury:
"We want to make sure he is very much healthy. The doctors and Alex [Brown] our trainer are terrific. I am sure Buddy will want to be back sooner than later but we will not rush that. We will make sure he is healthy."
On the seniors playing selfless:
"Our seniors are good people to start with. They all want to play and all want to compete for minutes, but at the heart of it all they are really good people. They are concerned about the team. They are competitors and they want to get in there, but they handle it well. If not then we probably wouldn't be having the success at all. So credit to them in terms of thinking about the team and what we have to do to make the team as good as possible."
Senior G Sam Grooms |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On being more relaxed as a starter:
"I don't think it really matters either way. I'm happy to start, but if I came off the bench I would still try to do the same things I'm doing."
On his offensive improvements:
"I've just been in the gym working hard, just about every day, trying to build confidence in myself first. And then every day, my teammates, Ro (Romero Osby) says every day that if I don't shoot the shots that I shoot in practice in the game, how are people going to actually respect me. He has said some things that have motivated me. I'm a senior and I want to win right now. If that's going to help the team, I'm just going to do whatever it takes at this point in time."
On improving his free throw shooting percentage:
"I was just stepping up to the line and shooting. Eventually, the stuff that I worked on in practice and in my off time would have to show up sometime and it just so happened to show up now."
On helping to build Isaiah Cousin's confidence:
"We're going to work on it. We all still believe in him, no matter what anyone else says. We believe in him as a team and I'm pretty sure the coaches do. We've got a couple practices to the next game, so we're going to pick him up as much as we can. I know I'm going to do my part to do that, because he plays the same position that I do and I've been there before. I'm going to do whatever it takes to build him and try to get him going again, because we need him, point blank."
Senior F Romero Osby |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On playing physical against Baylor's Isaiah Austin:
"I thought I played alright. I got mad at myself when I missed those last two free throws; I hope I didn't show that too much. Other than that, I thought I tried to battle him. He is a seven-footer, so he's a couple inches taller than me. I just tried to use my strength and my size against him. I just tried my best, but it's hard hanging on against a seven-foot guy with long arms like that. He's going to be a terrific player in this league eventually. I just tried my best to use my experience against him."
"I give all the credit to my coaches and my teammates. They've really been on me about not hanging my head about what happened at Kansas. Ever since then I've just been relaxing and just playing, not really worried about going out there and scoring. I just try to do the little things and everything else will fall into line I guess."
On rebounding:
"Coach made it a point and we made it a point. It was a team effort on the rebounding. We were just trying to keep them off the glass with their length. They got a couple on us in the second half, but it was nowhere near like it was down there at Baylor. We just tried to make it a point to rebound better."
On motivating Sam Grooms:
"I've just told him to play with confidence, because you know a lot of times last year he would get down on himself and he would only shoot when people would sag off of him. And he still hesitates, so I said to let it fly, and if you miss it, you miss it and if you make it, you make it. We all miss shots. I just told him to work on his game too much to not take those shots in the game."
On keeping rhythm through foul calls:
"You've just got to adjust to it. That's the only thing to say, is to just adjust to it and adjust to what the referees are calling. You try to adjust the way you play defense and make sure you're not being overly aggressive on offense, especially when they were switching like they were switching."
Freshman G Je'lon Hornbeak |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On it being tough to leave the game:
"Yeah, I wanted to come back, I didn't want to go up there. They said it was in my best interest to stop my nerves from being exposed, especially if I really wanted to get my teeth back on. They thought that was really the best thing to do. I came back and it was just regular pain like playing with a hurt ankle, just any pain really. It was just throbbing, I had to be mentally tough and we work all offseason to be mentally tough."
On if he has ever chipped a tooth before:
"This is my first one. I always told my granny, because she was worried that I didn't wear a mouthpiece, not to worry, because I'm not going to chip my teeth, I've never chipped my tooth. Today would be the day; they came to this game and I chipped both teeth. They're mad at me and said they paid too much money for those teeth."
On wearing a mouthpiece:
"I had. I got my braces off in seventh grade, and I never chipped a tooth in six or seven years, so I thought I'd be fine. We also played (Baylor center) Isaiah Austin today, and he took a couple pictures and made a couple jokes. They'll probably end up on Twitter or something.
"I think it would probably be best to wear a mouthpiece from here on out. I'm trying put some fangs in, or a little 'OU' on my teeth."
On sweeping Baylor:
"I really don't like Baylor, honestly. It's good to sweep anybody. We swept Texas Tech, we swept Baylor. We can't sweep Iowa State, but we can try to sweep Texas and TCU."
On the play that knocked his teeth out:
"I think me and Franklin were battling for the ball, and we ended up losing footing. I'm pretty sure he fell on top of me and kind of hit my head. I just kind of broke my fall with my teeth, which was the wrong thing to do."
Baylor Head Coach Scott Drew |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opening comment:
"I want to start out by apologizing to Baylor Nation. [That was] the worst job of coaching I have done this year in the first half. I apologize for the team's effort and lack of focus and intensity in the first half. Baylor deserves better than that. I am proud of the second half, how we responded and how we played. We came back and competed. I think Oklahoma did a good job game plan-wise and did a great job of getting to the free-throw line. Obviously we were not trying to foul as much as 45 free-throw attempts, and then to make 39 of them at the end of the day...We know Sam Grooms came in shooting 44 percent from the free-throw line, I believe, in conference and he shot 15-of-17, hats off to him. [Grooms] had not made a three, and [was] 2-of-2 from three. So again, Oklahoma won this game and their players stepped up and did a good job. "
On Oklahoma's improvement since last year:
"I think Coach Kruger has done a good job of recruiting because the players that have played a lot of minutes now come off the bench and play a different role. It does not mean that they are not talented, it just means that they have brought in others that can help the team. I think that a big thing is the chemistry from the standpoint that it is hard for a senior to go to the bench for a freshman. And for them to put the team first, I think chemistry-wise that is really impressive by their team."
Senior G Pierre Jackson |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On the tough loss:
"It was really tough. We settled for a lot of jumpers when we have been practicing going to the rack. They were just executing and we did not do enough to stop them. "
On Oklahoma's improvement since last year:
"Their returners from last year are really stepping up and knocking down big shots for them, scoring the ball for them.
On guarding Sam Grooms:
"He was just aggressive. He did not think twice about shooting some of the shots he does not usually take and he knocked them down."
Notes: http://www.soonersports.com/sports/m-baskbl/archive/022313aab.html
Oklahoma Team Notes
Oklahoma scored a season high in points and won for the fourth time in five games with its 90-76 home victory over Baylor. OU, which never trailed, improved to 18-8 overall and 9-5 in the Big 12 while Baylor fell to 16-11 and 7-7.
OU raced to a 19-8 lead with 14:30 left in the first half and led 47-21 at halftime. The 47 first-half points and 26-point halftime advantage marked season highs.
The Sooners made 39 free throws (most by a Big 12 team this year) on 45 attempts (tied for most by league team on season) for a .867 mark. Baylor went 15-for-21. The Bears were whistled for an OU-opponent-season-high 32 personal fouls (previous high was 23 by Texas Tech on Jan. 16).
After getting outrebounded by 13 (47-34) in the teams’ first meeting on Jan. 30 in Waco, the Sooners posted a 38-37 glass advantage today. OU outscored Baylor 15-11 in second-chance points (got outscored 24-6 in Waco).
The Sooners shot .449 from the field while holding Baylor to a .371 mark. OU has shot better from the field than its opponent in five straight games and in 11 of 14 conference outings.
Baylor senior guard Pierre Jackson scored four points in the first half but responded with 24 in the second for a game-high 28. He was 8-for-23 from the field, 3-for-13 from 3-point range and 9-for-11 from the free throw line while adding eight assists. He leads the Big 12 in scoring and assists.
OU’s bench outscored Baylor’s 11-10, marking the eighth straight game the Sooner reserves outscored their counterparts. Cameron Clark finished with five points and was followed by Andrew Fitzgerald’s four and Isaiah Cousins’ two.
The Sooners are back in action on Wednesday when they play at Texas at 8 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
Senior G Sam Grooms
Grooms continued his recent scoring spree, finishing with a career-high 23 points despite making just three field goals. He made a career-high 15 free throws on 17 attempts (entered game shooting .576) and added a team-high four assists and two steals. Grooms has 53 points over the last three games (17.7 average) after totaling 54 in his first 22 games of the year (2.5 average).
Senior G Steven Pledger
Pledger, who scored a then-season-high 20 points at Baylor on Jan. 30, netted 19 today on 7-for-9 field goal and 3-for-4 3-point shooting. He has 59 points over the last three games (19.7 average) and is 12-for-23 (.521) from behind the arc during the stretch.
Senior F Romero Osby
Osby finished with 17 points and a game-high eight rebounds while adding a block and two steals. Osby was 6-for-9 from the field and has shot at least 50 percent from the field in 15 of his last 19 games.
Freshman G Je'lon Hornbeak
Hornbeak chipped his top two front teeth in the first half but returned in the second and finished with 13 points (his second-highest season total) and a season-high-tying five rebounds in just 22 minutes. He was 4-for-6 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
