Post Game Quotes >>> Soonersports

[Sam]

All quotes
Capel

Opening comment:
“First of all, Texas is very good. They’re the best team we have played all year by far. I think they have all the ingredients to really make a deep run. I though we competed, they are just better than us. Our inability to make a shot in the first half and our inability to guard effectively just dug too deep of a hole. When you play against a team as talented as they are and playing with as much confidence as they are, you have to do almost everything right. That didn’t happen to us tonight. I thought we got some good looks. First half, first play we got a layup and missed it. I thought we had some shots rim out. I thought the first half we had some guys that allowed their inability to make a shot affect their total game. We can’t have that. I’ve said it, guys around here know. We have to control what we can control. Again give them credit, they are very good defensively. That is the reason why they lead the league in field goal percentage defense. So they took us out of
a lot of stuff. Great team, wish them luck and we will continue to get better.”

On freshman forward Tyler Neal’s performance:
“He played really well. If he’d have made some shots, he plays great -- if he had finished a couple of those. But I thought he really, really competed. For him to have seven rebounds and six points, I thought he really, really competed against a very tough senior in Gary Johnson.”

On if his young team gains confidence by doing some things well against quality opponents:
“Not really, to be honest with you. I’m not trying to be funny, but not really. I think you get confidence by winning and having success. We know it’s a tough stretch coming up. I know (we play) Missouri on Saturday and I honestly do not know who is after that. All my attention right now is on Missouri and we’ll figure out who we play after that and we will start getting ready for them.”

Cade

On the crowd:
“They were incredible; a big shoutout to our fans coming out and dealing with the weather. We know it’s a big rivalry with Texas coming in, so a lot of people are going to come out for the game, but they were cheering for us loud and we appreciate it. Were just disappointed that we couldn’t give them something more to cheer about.”

On the play of sophomore forward Andrew Fitzgerald:
“We’ve been able to lean of Fitz all year long; he’s been consistent. We want to play inside-out as much as we can and go through him and get him started early. With his post moves and with his ability to move with the ball -- his footwork is really good -- we know when we get it to him we’ve got something really good, especially now since teams are starting to double him. We need to make sure our spacing is right so he can kick out to our shooters. Hopefully we can knock down shots for him.”

Pledger

On if he should have taken more than 12 shots:
“I think 12 shots is fine. It’s just the layups that I was missing. If I make those layups, the game turns around. So I feel like (those) 12 shots were definitely the right shots. They were coming within the offense. But I’ve just got to capitalize on the free layups.”

Barnes

On OU sophomore forward Andrew Fitzgerald:
“I really like him. I think they’ve done a great job with him. He’s one of those guys -- he’s undersized but he just has a great feel for the game, he’s got great body control and great hands. They do some good things that make it hard to guard him and get help from people, but he’s really improved, and again, I think their staff has done a great job. They found him and by the time he’s done he’s going to be really terrific.”