Oregon State Post-Game Quotes
December 01, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 1, 2010
Oregon State vs. Utah Valley
December 1, 2010
Gill Coliseum
Corvallis, Ore.
Head Coach Craig Robinson
On the players' emotions after the game ...
"When you care about what you're doing, losses like this hurt. You should feel horrible and that's what they do. I know Omari (Johnson) feels horrible because he has been playing so consistent and this is the first game where he didn't get the result that he wanted out of the effort he put in. The same thing with Ahmad (Starks). They should be that way and maybe that's something good. I hope the rest of the locker room is that upset. We still are fighting that little last layer of the past."
On the stats from the game ...
"There are a couple of things with these stats. Number one is foul shots. If we just shoot our average, we win the game. Not only did we not shoot our average, we missed them at critical times, which we haven't been doing. We have been making foul shots at the right time, down towards the end of the game at the last games we have played. Number two, our success to their defense was taking it to the basket, and we didn't have guys take it to the basket when we needed to or made a turnover. You fix any of those, that means all of us, myself and anyone who was in the game, could have helped us win that game. If you want to win close games, that is what you have to do."
On the leadership of the team ...
"We have to get that last layer of the past by us. Learning to win is just that. I always talk about this process as recovery, so if you slip off the wagon, you slip all the way back to where you were. I thought we were fighting well down the game. There was a lot to be sad about but you need to have somebody on that court who is going to say `okay, fellas, we're going to win this game anyway' and we are still looking for that."
On having a leader last year ...
"I don't think we had one last year. I think it was by committee last year and I think it's going to have to be by committee this year. We can only give them so much from an emotional standpoint. What we try to do is having them so prepared that they feel confident all the time. We are at a point at our development where we are still struggling to figure that out and we are struggling to find someone to take on that responsibility because that is a huge responsibility."
On looking for a leader on the team ...
"I don't even want to jade the process. It has to be done organically or it won't have any credibility."
On the mindset of attacking the basket ...
"I have to figure out the right combination of guys, because we have so many more guys we can put in the game. So we need to have the right combination and they have to understand the game situation, I have to make them understand that more. It was pretty apparent and you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that we were winning because we were going to the basket. It still goes back to the culture of knowing what to do when you have a lead or when things are going well. We still have that layer of not knowing that."
On how to break through that layer ...
"I think you break through it by winning games. When you have an issue and you fix it within the game, they will feel more confident. As I said before, up until now we saw some progress in that. Today we took a step back."
Senior forward Omari Johnson
On what went wrong in the game ...
"We gave them too many open shots and too many offense boards. They weren't as big as us and we let them come in a crash the boards on us. That wasn't our mindset coming out of practice, we just faltered I guess."
On not being able to put a winning streak together ...
"We're still not focusing at the end of the game. I thought we were these past two wins but we just haven't been pulling it out. Our youth is catching up to us and us as seniors aren't doing a good job of handling how young they are."
On what the seniors need to do ...
"At the end of the games, we need to huddle up more and take control and let the freshmen relax and not have to make all the plays."
On if they need a 20-point scorer ...
"I don't feel like that. We just need to make shots. It's not about scoring; we can score. We are a better scoring team than last year. It's not about scoring, it's about defensive stops and that's how teams are beating us because we're giving them open threes and that's not how we were last year. So we have to get back to where we were last year."
On the difference between the first half and second half ...
"We were just passing the ball and making the right plays. That's what we usually do, but in the second half, we made the wrong play and bad shots."
On finishing games ...
"It's obvious we can do it for the first 30 minutes, but the last ten minutes something seems to go wrong. I don't know what it is yet but we'll fix it."
On going into Saturday's game against Colorado ...
"We have to look past this one. Again this is our fault; our loss. I don't think they beat us, to be honest, I think we beat ourselves."
Freshman guard Ahmad Starks
On the turnover down the stretch ...
"It was just a miscommunication. I was driving to the basket and I heard Calvin (Haynes) call my name and I thought he would have been open. I guess I just turned the wrong way. It was a terrible turnover."
On the success of the 1-3-1 defense ...
"We've been doing a good job. Omari (Johnson) at the top is getting a lot of steals. Jared and I have gotten some steals. It's working pretty well, but when we drop back to the 2-3 or to man-to-man, we tend to get out of place a little bit. We just need to get out on the shooters. The offensive rebounds are killing us, so we need to match-up to get in better box out positions."
