Oregon State Post-Game Quotes
November 14, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 14, 2011
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Oregon State vs. West Alabama
TicketCity Legends Classic Regional Round
November 14, 2011
Gil Coliseum
Corvallis, Ore.
Head Coach Craig Robinson
"I really like the way our team handled this game because this type of game is the hardest game to play. When you are expected to win, you get out to a big lead in the first half and you are not used to having big leads; you have to keep that lead. Everybody is out of the game, your starters are out, you are up by 20, the crowd is out of it and the staff is out of it, but you have to find a way to build on your lead. We did that today and we hadn't had much practice doing that so I was pleased to see that."
On sharing the ball...
"That has been pretty consistent from our exhibition game, to our first opening game, to this game. This team really shares the ball. There are a couple of things that work there. Number one, we are unselfish. There is a real unselfishness about the way these guys play. The second thing, you can't have that kind of unselfishness if you don't have great camaraderie. These guys are really starting to get to know each other and like each other. That helps in games like this where they could have cared less on who was scoring."
On gaining confidence from the wins...
"There's a fine line when building confidence. I think our confidence came more from a defensive standpoint because we were playing an undersized team with a lot of fast guys who were decent athletes. I think being able to dictate the game from a defensive standpoint while we were scoring more points gives you some confidence. I can see it in the way we are approaching ourselves at the foul line and the way we look shooting three pointers. We look like we are comfortable. We know the difference between a good shot and a mediocre shot."
On having a good start...
"It is great. These guys have to understand that these past two games don't mean a thing now. We are moving on to Hofstra and we have got to focus on them because they are going to be the best team we have played to date and we have to execute at a higher level. It is learned behavior and hopefully with good scouting from our scout and good execution on our part, those guys will be ready for Wednesday night."
On Jared (Cunningham)'s minutes...
"He likes to defend so I wanted to put in somebody to make a statement on the defensive end as well as not turn the ball over. But like I said earlier, he doesn't care about how many minutes he plays. He wants to win. He wants to help turn this program around. I still have to manage our roster in regards to playing this many games in a row. We still have three more [games] before we get a nice break where we can take a breather and work on things."
On relaxing as a coach...
"You don't really get to relax until, in this game, under ten minutes in the second half where I was able to ease up. That's when you have your younger players in, the less experienced players, but there are more turnovers and that's when you get wound up again."
On limiting turnovers...
"There is room for improvement. Our goal is to have under double digits in turnovers for the entire game, so we have plenty of room to improve on that."
On keeping the team motivated with a lead...
"When you are in games where you're not so far ahead, you would rotate your starters back in. You are really using your second team as a way to give your starters a break. So the substitution pattern is a little different. What I'm trying to do is get those second-team guys some needed experience in a game when it counts, so I left them in a little longer in the first half because we could afford to."
On Rhys Murphy getting in the game...
"It's really important. He's been hurt for two years and to be able to get in there and get some real reps is tremendous and it's valuable to him. What I try to remind him is that, number one, he is still really a freshman - he hasn't played yet. Two, I try to remind him of how hard it was for Roberto (Nelson) when he was out for almost two years. It takes time to get back your basketball mojo when you've been out that long. To see him to understand that and not try to do too much [is great]. He passed up a couple of early shots when he just got in the game, which made it easier for him to make the ones he made. We're all rooting for Rhys and it's great to see him out there doing what he can do. Now we have to get him to where he feels like he's comfortable enough to defend, get down and bother guys. He'll get there."
Junior guard Jared Cunningham
On the team notching 21 assists and how they worked well together...
"It was a great team effort out there. Everybody played hard from the beginning. We just tried to start off early and hit them first, before they could hit us. We did a good job today and we're going to come to practice tomorrow and be prepared."
On what he could take away from the game tonight...
"We did a good job of execution. We kept our lead and that was amazing. Everyone played really well and we shared the ball - that is going to help us in the long run."
On checking back into the game late in the second half...
"Yeah, I happened to get back in the game and it turned out I got a little fast break. I tried to please the crowd, but couldn't have done it without my teammates."
On what winning these early games means for confidence...
"It helps our confidence a lot. We have another game against Hofstra and they've gone to the tournament in past years. We just have to come out with the effort we came out with today against [West Alabama] ... and be ready."
On the feeling going into these recent games...
"We believe in each other and we know what [everyone] can do. It starts from practice, from the shoot around and on to the game. Everybody does a great job of being focused ... and [to] complete this game to the end was good."
On the team's chemistry...
"When one person makes a basket you'll see the whole team on the bench get up and cheer them on. Down the line from the first guy to the end on the bench, everybody wants each other to do well."
On what it means to get confidence going early on in the season...
"We don't need these preseason wins going into the Pac-12, but if we can close out the game early and just give a hard effort from the beginning, that's what we're going to need."
On what more he knows about Hofstra...
"We're just going to focus in on the scouting report in practice tomorrow and go over that, and just be prepared."
Junior forward Angus Brandt
On the team's 15 turnovers ...
"It's something we have to work on. When we're up on a team we can't get complacent and throw the ball away."
On his 6-of-7 performance from the floor...
"I think a lot of those points came off passes from my teammates when I was in good position. I credit my teammates for most of those points."
On interior post and help defense...
"It just goes back to trusting our teammates. That's one thing that coach has really been drilling into us all season long; working on the man-to-man, having the confidence to be out playing really deep help-side defense and knowing the help is going to come."
On a desire to develop an identity as a tough team...
"I think the part about identity is that we want to be a tough team. I think to be a tough team you have to step up and take charges. Even if we're winning by 30, I think that's a good habit to get into."
On team chemistry...
"The chemistry is great and I think it shows on the court. I really think that helps the defense. It helps just helping guys up if they're on the ground and giving guys high-fives. The guys on the team this year get along so well together and we all have each other's backs 100 percent."
