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http://www.soonersports.com/sports/m-baskbl/archive/122111aab.html
Head Coach Lon Kruger
Opening comment:
“Another good ball game. We didn’t shoot it quite as well as we have been, but I thought that South Carolina State did a good job mixing up man and zone; maybe we didn’t have the same rhythm that we shot the ball with the last two ballgames. But, still, we had a lot of good plays for each other, a lot of good looks. We rebounded the ball very aggressively; Roe (Romero Osby) getting 18, which is a big number, and C.J. (Washington) getting 12. That’s terrific to see that. The guys were moving the ball well and making good plays for each other. It was good to see that continue. Defensively, I thought for the most part it was a pretty solid effort. We took pretty good care of the ball offensively, a lot of good plays. They’ll get a few days’ break now and come back in preparation for Cincinnati on the road.”
On OU’s 63 rebounds:
“That’s a big number of boards. Any time you get up in the area of 60, that’s a bunch; a lot of shots as well. The pace in the second half tailored more to the guys’ liking and I thought they took advantage of that. It’s very important. Rebounding is something the guys talk about every day. The guy that you know is going to go out and get you that near average of 10 or in that area, then that’s a good starting point. Other guys feed off of what Roe’s doing and there are guys at different times that jump up there and have gotten double-figure boards. Drew’s (Andrew Fitzgerald) done it, C.J.’s done it, Roe’s done it a few times. When you have several guys that have the capability of rebounding like that, it shows that as a group we can be a good rebounding team. To this point, the guys have done a really good job.”
On the defensive performance:
“I thought defensively we were pretty consistent from start to finish. We had a few breakdowns, which you’re going to have in 40 minutes. South Carolina State’s not an easy club to guard because they’re very mobile, they can spread you out, they can run that motion and back cut. Their ability makes that difficult. I thought our guys did a pretty good job at staying grounded and patient defensively and getting some pace out of the game as a result.”
On the Dec. 29 Cincinnati game:
“It will be a good test, no question about that. Cincinnati’s a tough club anywhere, but we get them (in their home town). We expect the crowd to be a home-like environment. It will be good for us, great for us. We’ve had a few opportunities away from Lloyd Noble but it won’t be quite the environment that we’ll see up there in Cincinnati. It will be great preparation for Big 12 play.”
Junior Forward Andrew Fitzgerald
On his strategy tonight after a tough shooting game Saturday:
“Basically to come out and just take my time, really, and let the game come to me. Just try and get my teammates open and sometimes I’ll be open. But I just went out there and took my time tonight.”
Junior Guard Steven Pledger
On his steady production across the board tonight:
“I just tried to pick and choose my spots, that’s all. It was just coming through the flow of the offense; just don’t force anything. Just do whatever the team needs to me to do at that moment.”
Junior Forward Romero Osby
On his double-double of 10 points and 18 rebounds:
“Coach (Kruger) always tells me before every game to go out there get every rebound. And it’s just something I have to do and it just seemed like one of those days where they were all coming to me. I didn’t go out with an intent to (specifically get a double-double). I always go out with an intent to get a double-double, don’t get me wrong, I (just) don’t try to force anything offensively. I just rebound and play offense and defense.”
On the team’s 9-1 start:
“We really don’t try not to focus on the wins or the records or the losses. We just try to focus on getting better. That’s something that Coach preaches every day, and our coaching staff preaches every day. The wins and losses will take care of themselves. You just do what you have to do, defensively and moving the ball offensively and really just playing with heart. We feel good about it, but we know that we have a lot more basketball to play. So we just get ready for that.”
South Carolina State Head Coach Tim Carter
Opening comment:
“In a nutshell, Lon (Kruger) has really got these guys playing. I have always respected him as a coach, but he has got them guarding as well as any OU team that I have seen. They play hard. They play together. They hit the open man. They do things the right way. I did a very poor job of convincing my guys of how hard you have to cut just to get open because they were denying all five spots on the floor. We couldn’t do anything right tonight. The only thing right we did tonight is give (our team) some pizza and they are going to eat it.”
More on Oklahoma’s play:
“I don’t have a whole lot to say other than I thought OU played a tremendous game defensively and they ran us out of everything we tried to do, period. We played Pitt, who at that time I believe was ranked No. 14 in the country, and with three minutes to go we’re down nine. But Pitt’s defense was nothing as difficult as what we faced tonight.”
On OU attempting 81 shots tonight:
“We are smaller, we’re a little slower, we’re not as athletic. You can’t get people -- I believe they are shooting 44 or 45 percent from the 3 -- you can’t give them that many looks. I was trying every combination I could just to get fresh people on the floor. They got great looks. They knocked them down. That is way too many shots to give people. We just stunk it up.”
More on the game:
“We were just out-manned, totally. I kind of knew what was going to happen tonight, but I just didn’t think it was going to be this bad. I hate to lose the way we lost tonight. It was great to be back here. (OU is) going in the right direction. (OU has) got the right guy and he is doing a tremendous job.”
Head Coach Lon Kruger
Opening comment:
“Another good ball game. We didn’t shoot it quite as well as we have been, but I thought that South Carolina State did a good job mixing up man and zone; maybe we didn’t have the same rhythm that we shot the ball with the last two ballgames. But, still, we had a lot of good plays for each other, a lot of good looks. We rebounded the ball very aggressively; Roe (Romero Osby) getting 18, which is a big number, and C.J. (Washington) getting 12. That’s terrific to see that. The guys were moving the ball well and making good plays for each other. It was good to see that continue. Defensively, I thought for the most part it was a pretty solid effort. We took pretty good care of the ball offensively, a lot of good plays. They’ll get a few days’ break now and come back in preparation for Cincinnati on the road.”
On OU’s 63 rebounds:
“That’s a big number of boards. Any time you get up in the area of 60, that’s a bunch; a lot of shots as well. The pace in the second half tailored more to the guys’ liking and I thought they took advantage of that. It’s very important. Rebounding is something the guys talk about every day. The guy that you know is going to go out and get you that near average of 10 or in that area, then that’s a good starting point. Other guys feed off of what Roe’s doing and there are guys at different times that jump up there and have gotten double-figure boards. Drew’s (Andrew Fitzgerald) done it, C.J.’s done it, Roe’s done it a few times. When you have several guys that have the capability of rebounding like that, it shows that as a group we can be a good rebounding team. To this point, the guys have done a really good job.”
On the defensive performance:
“I thought defensively we were pretty consistent from start to finish. We had a few breakdowns, which you’re going to have in 40 minutes. South Carolina State’s not an easy club to guard because they’re very mobile, they can spread you out, they can run that motion and back cut. Their ability makes that difficult. I thought our guys did a pretty good job at staying grounded and patient defensively and getting some pace out of the game as a result.”
On the Dec. 29 Cincinnati game:
“It will be a good test, no question about that. Cincinnati’s a tough club anywhere, but we get them (in their home town). We expect the crowd to be a home-like environment. It will be good for us, great for us. We’ve had a few opportunities away from Lloyd Noble but it won’t be quite the environment that we’ll see up there in Cincinnati. It will be great preparation for Big 12 play.”
Junior Forward Andrew Fitzgerald
On his strategy tonight after a tough shooting game Saturday:
“Basically to come out and just take my time, really, and let the game come to me. Just try and get my teammates open and sometimes I’ll be open. But I just went out there and took my time tonight.”
Junior Guard Steven Pledger
On his steady production across the board tonight:
“I just tried to pick and choose my spots, that’s all. It was just coming through the flow of the offense; just don’t force anything. Just do whatever the team needs to me to do at that moment.”
Junior Forward Romero Osby
On his double-double of 10 points and 18 rebounds:
“Coach (Kruger) always tells me before every game to go out there get every rebound. And it’s just something I have to do and it just seemed like one of those days where they were all coming to me. I didn’t go out with an intent to (specifically get a double-double). I always go out with an intent to get a double-double, don’t get me wrong, I (just) don’t try to force anything offensively. I just rebound and play offense and defense.”
On the team’s 9-1 start:
“We really don’t try not to focus on the wins or the records or the losses. We just try to focus on getting better. That’s something that Coach preaches every day, and our coaching staff preaches every day. The wins and losses will take care of themselves. You just do what you have to do, defensively and moving the ball offensively and really just playing with heart. We feel good about it, but we know that we have a lot more basketball to play. So we just get ready for that.”
South Carolina State Head Coach Tim Carter
Opening comment:
“In a nutshell, Lon (Kruger) has really got these guys playing. I have always respected him as a coach, but he has got them guarding as well as any OU team that I have seen. They play hard. They play together. They hit the open man. They do things the right way. I did a very poor job of convincing my guys of how hard you have to cut just to get open because they were denying all five spots on the floor. We couldn’t do anything right tonight. The only thing right we did tonight is give (our team) some pizza and they are going to eat it.”
More on Oklahoma’s play:
“I don’t have a whole lot to say other than I thought OU played a tremendous game defensively and they ran us out of everything we tried to do, period. We played Pitt, who at that time I believe was ranked No. 14 in the country, and with three minutes to go we’re down nine. But Pitt’s defense was nothing as difficult as what we faced tonight.”
On OU attempting 81 shots tonight:
“We are smaller, we’re a little slower, we’re not as athletic. You can’t get people -- I believe they are shooting 44 or 45 percent from the 3 -- you can’t give them that many looks. I was trying every combination I could just to get fresh people on the floor. They got great looks. They knocked them down. That is way too many shots to give people. We just stunk it up.”
More on the game:
“We were just out-manned, totally. I kind of knew what was going to happen tonight, but I just didn’t think it was going to be this bad. I hate to lose the way we lost tonight. It was great to be back here. (OU is) going in the right direction. (OU has) got the right guy and he is doing a tremendous job.”
