Head Coach Lon Kruger ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opening Comment:
"I am really happy for the guys. I thought they fought hard from the start. It was a little bit of a trouble to get going, I thought it seemed. I thought Texas played really hard and very physical early with us. It took a little while to get through that. The guys did a terrific job of creating the energy in the second half and were really aggressive on both ends of the floor. Of course, all of us kind of played off of Romero [Osby]. He was fantastic all night long. Other guys played well as well but I am really happy for the guys."
On the post play:
"I thought they were fantastic. I thought Roe [Osby] and Amath [M'Baye] established early that they were going to be aggressive and attack. The guys did a good job of getting the ball in the rough spot. But, again, those guys did great being very aggressive on the offensive end."
On the importance of Romero Osby's leadership:
"Roe's leadership has been invaluable to the entire group, but especially the young guys. Again, it is not just the young guys that he sets the bar for. He sets it for everyone. I think our guys, like Amath [M'Baye] said, they appreciate the fact that he is very genuine and is doing it for all the right reasons and is all about the team. No one puts more time in or works harder or is more consistent in practice than he is. That is what you want out of your leading scorer and a guy that everyone else is kind of rallying around."
On playing Kansas:
"It's a big challenge. They are a terrific ball club, top three or four team in the country, and deserving of that. Allen Field House is a great place and will be a good challenge for our guys. Again, I think this group continues to grow and learns by every experience, and we learned from tonight. We just need to be even better, hopefully, on Saturday."
Senior F Romero Osby ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On offensive game:
"It is just a testament to my teammates and Coach [Lon] Kruger. He was running good plays for me, and my teammates were finding me and giving me the ball so I didn't have to do much with it but just make a good move. I have to give my postgame to them. Things were just clicking for me tonight."
On getting his first win against Texas:
"It felt good. I was telling Sam [Grooms] when we were coming back to the huddle that we finally got these guys. Since I have been here they have beat us. Twice my first year when I was redshirted and twice last year, so to come in and finally beat them, it feels good."
On a career-high 29 points:
"I was just trying to focus on making my free throws, defensive plays, and getting rebounds and I knew the offense would come. I knew Coach [Lon] Kruger and my teammates had faith in me and they would get it to me. I was just trying to do some other things besides score."
Junior F Amath M'Baye ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On Romero Osby's presence:
"I am not surprised to see Ro [Romero Osby] get a game like that. I see him in practice every day and he is one of the most humble post players I have every played with in Europe or here. He is a workhorse, and he is just amazing. It is always easier to work next to someone like that because all of the attention is on him and they tend to forget you a little bit. He is a role model for me. He is a great senior and a great leader. The fact that he was able to get so many points and so many rebounds is just a model of how hard you should play and how well you can play."
On the alley-oops:
"Lobs are always a huge part on the guard. It is just about finishing them. Our guards are doing a terrific job finding us around the basket."
Freshman G Buddy Hield ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On the energy that stems from alley-oops:
"It is fun. I see Amath [M'Baye]] running down the court and I hit him; I like making plays like that and getting the crowd into it."
Head Coach Rick Barnes ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opening comment:
“If I was watching on TV, I would have turned it off. The only thing that helped us during that time was that they weren’t scoring, but we were rebounding the ball a little bit. We had to work through a lot of different situations. You have to give a lot of credit to their post players. We really believe that [Romero] Osby is one of the best players in the league. This is a guy that can score in a lot of different ways and we love the way he plays. Our guards have to understand, we’ve got to get to the foul line, and we’ve got to put fouls on other people. Our guard play just wasn’t very good early."
On the difference between OU’s team last year:
“I think [OU head coach] Lon [Kruger] has done a really good job blending his younger guys in with the older guys. The older guys have definitely gotten better and I like the chemistry and I like what he’s done. I think they’re a really good team, I do. I don’t think they were characteristically the way they played at the start of the game; I hadn’t really seen that from any tapes I’ve watched."
