Oregon State - USC Post Game Quotes
January 28, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2010
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
OREGON STATE HEAD COACH Craig Robinson
On the performance of the team on the defensive side of the ball…
“I am sure that they prepared for it. I thought our guys were tough today. It ha been a long time coming and it was just a fun thing to see. I thought it would have been a shame not to play well after the hard week had this week. Every single one of these guys, even the ones who didn't play in the game, helped us win this game by portraying USC the way that they play. I thought our one-three-one was fantastic. It looked long, it looked like you couldn't see passing angels and so I am really happy.“
On how the 1-3-1 bothered USC…
“I hate when teams press and trap our guys. I think that our one-three-one is hard to replicate at practice for other teams. When we try to replicate other team's defenses, we really cannot ever get it the way that they get it. So, you have to give some kind of representation and then figure it out when you get to the game.”
On how Oregon State handled the USC frontcourt…
“They ended up with six (offensive rebounds) in the first half, so if we don't give them four on that first possession, we would have been ok. I thought at the end of the game when we had to be tough and grab rebounds, I thought we did. I saw Roeland (Schaftenaar) get aggressive, Omari (Johnson) helped us out on the boards, so it was that toughness that you need against a front line like that.”
On having taller players trap USC point guard Mike Gerrity…
“It's hard at the top of that zone. There are two, sometimes three, people up there and if they are all over 6'5” with long arms, it makes it tough to see. We were in practice this week, and I was wondering how we could make our one-three-one better, because its pretty good, but we want to continue to make it better. We tried Calvin Hampton up there and he had a knack for knowing where to be. He did a good job this week.”
OREGON STATE JUNIOR Calvin Haynes
On the team following a USC technical foul…
“He yelled something negative to the bench. I came out and hit a shot, I felt the momentum swinging and I wanted to get the guys fired up and just get us going.”
On the defensive effort…
“I thought we had a lot of effort and a lot of hustle. We were just running all over the place making it hard for (Mike) Gerrity, because he's never seen our zone. Making it hard for Johnson or whoever happened to be on top during a certain possession. Trying to make them throw cross court passes, or very high passes, so we can steal some passes and get some easy lay ups. I thought our effort was there and we came out to play.”
On his offensive performance…
“Yeah, it's just a rhythm and working I guess. I've been working hard in practice, everyone has. I feel like the team is starting to click more. They're looking for me, so it's not just me trying to go out and score 25. That's not what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to help my team win. So, if scoring 25 and finding open shots and making free throws helps us win, then I'm happy with that.”
OREGON STATE SENIOR Roeland Schaftenaar
On the offensive rebounds at the end of the game…
“Yeah, I think it was a couple of things. The game was coming down to the wire, and they were in zone, and it was a little bit easier for us to rebound when they were in zone. We just fought hard when we needed it most.”
On if there was a sense of urgency tonight…
“Well, there's always a sense of urgency. We have 18 games and you want to win every one of them. We had a lot of close games already, we lost 3 in a row, and this is obviously a big home week for us. We started with five of the first seven on the road, so it's good to finally play some games at home. You have to win as many games as you can, especially at home, so yes, there was a sense of urgency.”
USC HEAD COACH KEVIN O'NEILL
On the 1-3-1 defense faced against Oregon State…
“That's half court pressure, and we're not good against half court anything, unfortunately. We turned it over a few too many times. We had plenty of chances. Dwight (Lewis) and Marcus (Johnson) go 2 for 12, and 4 for 14. It's hard to win like that. We had several stops at the end where we gave a couple of offensive rebounds and baskets that ultimately cost us the game. What can you say? It's unfortunate.”
On the technical turning the tide…
“Anytime you shoot your mouth off, you're going to pay a price.”
On what they were intending to do against Oregon State's defense…
“We wanted to dribble right through it, but we don't have enough “dribble-pass-shoot” guys. They have a good team, they have very talented players. They're ten deep. They've got a good team and we knew it'd be a tough game.”
“I thought our guys did a good job of fighting back, we had a couple chances to tie it a couple different times. We cannot give up key offensive rebounds down the stretch. We cannot give up 19 turnovers on the road. Credit Oregon State, they played hard, they did their job.”
On the turnovers…
“We had been doing a great job and unfortunately had 19 tonight. Defensively, if you hold somebody to 35% shooting, you should win.”
