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http://www.soonersports.com/sports/m-baskbl/archive/011712aab.html
Head Coach Lon Kruger
Opening comment:
“It was a good win. Not necessarily a pretty win, but a good win. I thought the guys really worked hard on both teams all night long. Defensively, both teams had the other out of rhythm because neither shot it particularly well, but they both worked really hard. We played a little zone and we haven’t played that in a while. I thought we were pretty active there. Overall, a good effort. Again, we have to shoot better and execute some things better. I like the energy and I like the enthusiasm, we just have to keep growing and keep getting better and the guys know that. Anytime you can win a ball game it reinforces a lot of good stuff. We have to keep making progress.”
On tonight’s defensive effort:
“I thought defensively the activity was pretty good all night. Again, [we played] in man for the most part. I thought we were pretty active. Tolbert is a really good player, so we wanted to make him work a little bit inside. I thought our big guys did a good job on their big guys by catching the ball out on the floor. They missed some open shots, but then defensively I think we created a little activity that caused some of that. When you limit a team in field goal percentage like that you can feel good about it. We just have to keep working at it.”
On defending Texas Tech freshman Jordan Tolbert:
“He is really an active post player and a good scorer for them. He is active driving the ball from the elbow. He does a lot of things. We just tried to get some people around him and make his efforts as difficult as we possibly could. He missed a couple that maybe he could have made, so I thought our guys had a crowd around him pretty much when he caught the ball. We just tried to get people there.”
On if being outrebounded for the second straight game is cause for concern:
“It is. We have got to do a better job. We have to be more physical. We have got to get a body on people, especially on defensive boards. In this league, you try to hold your own in as many areas as you can, win some battles in others. Rebounding is an area where we have to at least hold our own and we haven’t done that in the last couple ball games, especially. So we have got to keep working on that.”
Junior Guard Steven Pledger
On how to win in Big 12 games:
“Just stay focused and get consistent on defense. We have to be able to stop everybody on defense, keep our man in front of us and rebound. Things like that. That will definitely get us a win in conference.”
On if the game was frustrating:
“Yes, very frustrating. I hadn’t seen a triangle-and-2 (defense) since I was 11 years old, so it was very frustrating toward the end.”
On how his 3-point shooting success affects the opponent’s defensive strategy:
“When I come off of screens, the big men are staying a lot longer than usual. So it’s me more playing the defense and seeing what the defense will do and making plays off of that.”
Junior Forward Romero Osby
On the game:
“I thought we played hard. I thought a couple of times we got caught in a little stretch where we were kind of lackadaisical and didn’t really play with the defensive intensity that we are accustomed to playing with. But we picked it up. I’m proud of the guys that we fought really hard. We actually had a few guys get on the floor for some loose balls and Coach has really been preaching that, so that’s a good sign. There are still a lot of things we have to get better at.”
On if his late dunk sparked the team:
“I feel like we were starting to get a little momentum there. We kind of got the crowd energized and it kind of got us seeing the ball go through the basket, because we had a little stretch there where we didn’t make a couple baskets. Carl [Blair] made a great move and got it to me and I did my best to finish it and it ended up going our way.”
Texas Tech Head Coach Billy Gillispie
On Texas Tech’s own mistakes hurting the team:
“It’s very frustrating when (the Sooners) weren’t making the shots and we were right in the position we needed to be, even after turning the ball over 15 times in the first half. They just were missing some shots and giving us some opportunities. And we go to the foul line and we’re down by four and miss the front end of a one-on-one. And we go down to the other end and we miss the front end of a one-on-one down six. And we miss a 12-foot uncontested shot on the baseline. And we just make so many bad decisions. Stepping out of bounds twice unforced. And just like I said, turning the ball over 15 times, that really puts you in a hole in the first half.”
On why his team turned the ball over so many times:
“I don’t think we see very well. I don’t think we can see. This has nothing to do with intelligence; I’m talking about we can’t count to 10 very good. The greatest players can count and account for every single player on the court. So they’re able to pass the ball on time on target, whether it’s football or whether it’s basketball or whatever. And we have a hard time. The ball sticks in our hands. So if a guy’s open and we don’t pass on time on target, we’re not really for sure where all the defenders are and those kinds of things. I’m not talking about guys not able to count in the word of just counting, because we have very intelligent guys. But as far as being able to count the moving pieces, like you have to be able to do to pass the ball on time on target to give your offensive players a little more time to shoot it and more time to score it on the seal and those kinds of things. We’re not very good at it.”
On if Oklahoma’s zone bothered Tech:
“At times, we just didn’t carry out assignments. I think that our inability to execute against it was probably as equal as their ability to execute it defensively. We stood around too much, didn’t penetrate the gaps at all, and we have to do a better job of that. We have to play inside out against the zone. We had a few possessions that were OK, but for the most part we didn’t really execute against anything. That’s my fault. We have to do better.”
