Oklahoma Head Coach Jeff Capel
Opening comment:
“I’m really proud of our guys. We got off to a great start. I thought we executed and did a great job defensively early in the game. We were able to get out and get some easy baskets in transition. Our crowd was absolutely phenomenal. What a great day to celebrate the greatest Sooner basketball player in the history of the program. With our win today we honored Wayman (Tisdale). I thought our guys played with the heart Wayman displayed so much -- not just in basketball, but in his life.
“Cade (Davis) and Tommy (Mason-Griffin) were tremendous, especially in the first half. I thought Ryan Wright played his heart out and had maybe his best game here. (Steven) Pledger came up and did some good things. I thought the biggest basket of the game was Willie’s (Warren) basket, and we weren’t sure if he was going to play. He wanted to try to give it a go and he wasn’t 100 percent, but he thought he could help us. That was a huge basket for us and extended the lead for the rest of the game.”
On Tommy Mason-Griffin:
“He’s good. That’s what it comes down to. When I recruited him, this is kind of how I saw him -- a guy that could be very difficult to guard. And he’s certainly been that, especially since we started conference play. With the way he shoots the ball and the way he can attack and how strong he is, he should be a guy that gets fouled a lot.”
On when the light came on for Ryan Wright:
“He’s always played hard for us. He has more opportunity now. He rebounded well for the most part tonight. He gave up some, but he’s scoring down there. We tried to really simplify things for him. You just have to have one simple thing and make them stop that. Just play hard and be aggressive, and he’s done that. No one deserves it more than him because we don’t have a kid in our program that works harder than Ryan Wright.”
On rebounding:
“That was a point of emphasis for this game and we knew we were going to have to do a somewhat decent job of rebounding. I thought we did OK. They still had 18 offensive rebounds. I thought our defense in the second half was pretty good. If we can rebound the basketball then I don’t think they have nearly the percentage that they could have in the game.”
On Wayman Tisdale:
“(He’s) one of the greatest human beings I have ever had the privilege meeting in my life. I think a lot of people here in this state -- certainly a lot of Sooners and probably some of you guys -- had very strong feelings toward Wayman. He is truly one of the most unique people I have ever met. Any time you come across a person like that, you can’t help but be changed and touched in some way. I am just very lucky I had the privilege my first year here to get to know him and become a friend. I’m really glad Blake (Griffin) got that opportunity too, because they became very close.”
Freshman Guard Tommy Mason-Griffin
On how the little things helped OU today:
“That’s what wins big games, is the little things. Just being aggressive, take every possession one at a time, getting them out of their rhythm, not letting them make a run so we can keep the momentum and control the whole game. That’s the key to winning big games.”
On handling different Texas defenders:
“It’s like a mental thing. I wanted to know what I was getting into before the game, so I was asking Willie (Warren) like a hundred times, ‘Are you playing today? Are you playing?’ Because I knew without him playing I would have the ball in my hand a lot. I knew they’d be pressuring me with (Dogus) Balbay and Avery Bradley with the aggressive defense.”
“With Balbay and Avery (Bradley), they’re both aggressive and want to get in to you. So I just wanted to get into them also. (I) might flop a little to get them into foul trouble and to make them back up a little and give me some space.”
Junior Guard Cade Davis
On Ryan Wright’s performance tonight:
“He was incredible, just coming in and getting us huge points, boosting the offensive game, and on defense there coming in early and getting on (Dexter) Pittman and those guys. We needed somebody like that to step up and really be physical because this was a man’s game today. And he really stepped up and did a great job for us. He’s done that in the past, so we expected that from him.”
On Tommy Mason-Griffin’s offensive boost:
“That was huge for us and got the crowd into the game early. We kind of saw (Texas’) faces. They were getting down a little bit, so we knew that’s when our offense kept going and kept attacking the rim and just played good defense. His boost helped us tremendously and it helped us kind of carry on through the second half.”
Senior Forward Ryan Wright
On handling Texas’ physical presence:
”I think a lot of our credit for big guys getting ready, even though he didn’t play (today), is Orlando Allen. All week in practice he’s been our Dexter Pittman. He’s been banging us inside, pushing us around in the block when we’re going for rebounds and just being physical with us -- beating us up all week. He definitely got all the bigs ready this week. We practice like we play, and in practice it was a war. It was a war every time we got in the paint. It definitely helped me get ready for this game.”
On waiting for a chance to make an impact:
“Just the chance to be out there, be a big contributor to wins like this; this is something I’ve been waiting my whole career for, and to finally be able to do it my senior year, it’s just a dream come true. I’m just enjoying the ride, trying to have fun every game and play hard and just win. I’ve obviously enjoyed it and am trying to finish off my senior year right.”
On tonight’s tribute to Wayman Tisdale:
“It’s just a chance for all the fans and a national TV audience to hear about what Wayman Tisdale did for this program, what it means for us. We really wanted to show that on the court, and to get a big win today I think is the best way to do it.”
Texas Head Coach Rick Barnes:
Opening comment:
“I could start at a lot of places. I felt coming in that the energy level and their emotion level would be high today, which we’ve seen all year. We knew they had the ability to make a lot of shots from the perimeter. We didn’t start the game defensively the way we really wanted to, but even with all that said, free throws and then them playing as good as they have all year. We make some free throws, and when you start missing free throws it puts so much pressure on you on the defensive end. I told the team at halftime that there was no doubt we were going to come back in the game. With all that said, we had chances in the second half and, again, the free throws hurt us.
“You give Oklahoma credit. They knocked down shots early. You have to give Tommy Mason-Griffin a lot of credit. He got loose, he let them get comfortable, he made a lot of shots and he created shots. Basically, he was responsible for a lot of their points. Again, you give him credit for it.
“I felt like defensively we could speed the game up and get a high-possession game. Then on the offensive end we were playing way too fast. Guys were coming down the floor and I don’t think any us have any idea sometimes what somebody’s going to do with the ball. We just don’t settle in and play together and don’t follow what we need to do in terms of our scouting report. You can’t say that we are young anymore. Even the young guys. We can’t do that.”
On his team’s free throw problems:
“I mean 10-for-27. What else can I say? I mean 10-for-27. I have to truly believe that there’s a junior high school team that could do better than that. You know what, I’m not so sure that there are not some other teams in lower level than that. Is it frustrating? It’s frustrating because it has been the same in every game this year that we have lost.”
Senior Forward Damion James
On UT’s free throw woes:
“Missed free throws. It was big. Me personally, I work on them so much and to come out here and miss that amount of free throws is unacceptable. Being a leader of this team -- it’s tough man. You know we let them get going early and it hurt. We have got a big turnaround coming up here on Monday. It’s hard for me to let go but at the same time we have to because we play (Kansas) Monday.”
On what the team is missing that it had earlier in the year:
“I don’t know, man. I wish I could tell you. We have to come together as a team and figure this thing out. When we made a run, we got a stop, and we might have taken a shot that wasn’t acceptable. We didn’t play as a team and it’s tough. We work so hard and I don’t think there is a team in the country that works as hard as we do. To come out here and do this is bad.”
Freshman Guard Avery Bradley
On guarding Tommy Mason-Griffin:
“He is a real good player. My coach wanted me to guard him and just play hard defense on him. I just took the challenge and wanted to step up and make plays for my team.”
On what makes it difficult to defend Tommy Mason-Griffin:
“Like I said, he is just a good all-around player. He is so quick and fast. He is a good player and so he is a hard player to guard.”
