Oregon State Post-Game Quotes
February 03, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 3, 2011
Oregon State vs. Washington
February 3, 2011
Gill Coliseum
Corvallis, Ore.
Head Coach Craig Robinson
On what was the key to the win ...
"I would say it came from those guys in the locker room over there. I'll tell you, it's tough when you are turning things around and things aren't going your way. They could have easily could have said `ah heck with it' and cashed in this week at practice. But they came right back after that Bay Area trip and came back to work on Monday and Tuesday and put in an effort that said `hey we are not ready to hang things up just yet.' My hats off to those guys; they worked hard. Then they worked hard the entire game, which all of you know is our hardest thing to do."
On what he sensed at practice this week ...
"It's a funny thing, because we've had poor practices this year. But compared to when I first got here, it was so miniscule. Now it's odd when we have a bad practice. I have to remember that you have bad practices. But I certainly didn't think we'd play this well. What really gave me a hint of this was our times playing these guys before. The way you kind of scout a team is you look at tapes when you played them and you look at tapes from when they've played. For some reason, I was watching more of the tapes when we played them because it feels like we've been close to playing better against them and something happened at the end. I thought this really started when we played them in the Pac 10 Tournament last year. It felt like we could play with these guys if we played well. But we have to play well. Then the last two games, after that we knew we could play with these guys, if we had a great effort and you need a great effort to beat a great team like that."
On the play of Ahmad Starks in his first start in a Pac-10 game ...
"He has come so far in a very short time and I'll tell you why. We all have seen Ahmad play, especially me. I've seen him play for a very long time and I know what he is capable of doing, but what most people don't realize is that when you make the transition from high school to college, it's probably the biggest leap there is to make. I think it is harder than going from college to pro. You don't understand the speed of the game unless you had brothers who played in college and you went to work out with them all the time. And to his credit, he worked his way into the starting lineup and lost it, because I probably put him in a little too early and he has worked his tail off every day to get better. On defense especially. Like you said, he could stay right in front of whoever it was that he was guarding, it was really a good reward for all the hard work he's put in. His main function was to play an all-around game. We didn't have `this is why you are starting' talk. I just needed to shake it up because we were not having success with the other lineup. I intended to give the seniors, the guys who have been starting, a chance to take a lot of the pressure off their shoulders of having to win games constantly, because that's a lot of pressure."
On big plays down the stretch by seniors Calvin Haynes and Omari Johnson ...
"Full team effort. You know Calvin's been such a great sport and he has not been playing well. He has been stopping by the office, he is a special guy, because he knew he was playing poorly and said to me `I know I am playing poorly and I don't even deserve the time that I am getting and I just want to know that you haven't lost confidence in me.' And I said no, a matter of fact, we need you every single day. So that's the kind of senior we have. Omari, I can tell you guys, you don't know this, but I have worn that kid out. He's like a wet dishrag by the end of the game. It was really nice for him to get a bunch of rebounds like he had been getting. Washington is the kind of team that you can lose to just on the lack of toughness. It was nice for all those guys to see, not only their hard work pay off, as I mentioned before, but their toughness."
On the team's defensive effort ...
"It was primarily the 2-3. I don't think we played any 1-3-1 tonight. The game plan has been altered a bit when we play them, because they're just such a good team that we thought that we could keep it packed in and make them beat us from the outside that would be what we would try and do. Our guys did a great job. Our guys did a really good job on closing out on their shooters. I mean (Scott) Suggs really hurt us in the first half, but we did such a good job on getting out to guys when they were open for a second quickly enough where they didn't think they were open. That's huge when you are playing zone. I think going with a bigger lineup helped that."
On whether this is his first-ever technical at Gill Coliseum ...
"I don't know, but I didn't swear at him. I was mad because there was a foul at the other end and it was similar to the one that wasn't called on this end. He could have easily come over and given me a warning or something like that. But whenever you are right that is when you get a `T.' I'm positive of it."
On shooting twice as many free throws as Washington ...
"We were trying to erase last weekend by getting the same amount of attempts near the basket and making them. So, as a result, we got fouled. I thought in the Bay Area the reason why we missed so many chippies, especially in the Stanford game, was we were worried about the contact. You can't worry about the contact. So we had basically the same game plan trying to get stuff around the basket except don't worry about contact and see if we can score this time. And what happened is that we got fouled and we weren't worried about the contact."
On the rebounding effort ...
"It is hard to mimic the other team when you don't have the same kind of talent on second and third teams. But we tried our best to do it all week long and our second and third string guys just made it a nightmare for our guys on the boards. We have just been doing a better job of blocking out and being tough. That is a real function of rebounding. There are some of the greatest rebounders that aren't that big of guys, they're just tough guys who know how to keep guys away from the ball. The second thing that I noticed was, without looking at the film, we had quite a few rebounds where the closest guy didn't get the rebound, he just kept his man from getting it, which is great teamwork in rebounding. I saw Devon (Collier) keep (Matt) Bryan-Amaning away from the ball. The guards actually got more rebounds than they usually get, because I think that they were coming in and getting those balls that were there for the taking."
On feeling good at halftime or worried the Huskies would explode again in the second half ...
"I was not feeling well at halftime, and I was not happy because they called that travel right before. I was anxious, I was mad and I was probably fearful of what happened last time. So I went into the locker room and my head was spinning around, because I was so mad. But what I said at halftime was that we have been here before, we've played even with these guys for a certain period of time and then we just let them, as my dad would say, Jeff Davis us, that is another word for bully us. We can't allow that. We have to match their intensity, because they come out of these halftimes, you know with two threes and a dunk, and it feels like it's a 20-point swing and it's eight points. So you can't let them do that. And our guys did a great job. I was just told, and didn't realize until the first media timeout, that they didn't score in the first four minutes. I mean that's good no matter who you're playing. But it's really good against a team that prolific."
On whether slowing down the game toward the end was deliberate ...
"Yes, it was deliberate. Have you seen their game? What we figured was if we kept going up and down like we have been, they're better than us at that. And that is how they scored 60 on us last time (in the second half). It's a fine line between winning the game and looking like you're going to win the game and then losing it. So we wanted to win this game. Everybody was on the same page and the team actually started doing it before I wanted to. We pulled the ball out a couple of times when I thought `okay, they're going to throw this pass' and I was ready to call a timeout, but sure enough they pulled it back out and ran the shot clock down and then got fouled or got an easy layup. That is the mark of a team getting better and starting to understand. When I first got here, you remember how we had to control the tempo of the games and we would actually have to work on controlling the tempo of the game. This time we didn't. We were playing the way we play. If we can get a fast break we'll take it. If not, we try to run our offense. If we get a lead on a team that's as powerful as Washington, we have to make sure every single possession you suck the life out of it and make sure you get something out of it at the end."
On the win being a relief for the coaching staff or a case of where was this all season ...
"There is a little bit of both. We know what these guys are capable of. So it is my job to manage my own expectations. My worry was managing their expectations, because they want to do well. Especially those four seniors that don't have very many of these games left. Having said that, what we are trying to do is build a program that we are confident that every time we go out and play a Gill that we are going to win the game. The crowd helps us with that. Execution helps with that. Defense helps with that. We don't want to feel that there is this collective sigh. We want to feel that is how it's supposed to be and do it again on Saturday."
On getting the crowd to stay in the game before it's over ...
"We have to retrain the crowd, too. We haven't beaten this team since we've been here and I'm sure their expectations were managed to `well these guys are playing a good game'. When we first got here, people were saying `thanks for not getting blown out.' And now, when we play a good team close and lose, they are like `dang that was a good game.' We are trying to train them to say we have to win these games, because we are trying to win every single game especially at Gill."
On saying anything different to avoid the same thing that happened in Seattle ...
"No, no, I didn't say anything different at halftime. I said it at one of the media timeouts. We had a four-point lead, then it was three, then it went back to one point and then we built it back out. I tried to tell them listen, `we have done work to deserve and be in this position, let's take advantage of it.' I don't remember what timeout it was, but one of them I was trying to calm them down and say `look we're right where we want to be. Keep playing hard and you won't regret it."
Senior forward Omari Johnson
On the team's defense in the second half ...
"We put together a few minute stretches in the beginning of the second half where we stopped them from doing what they wanted. I think they only scored 24 points in the second half and that's what we've needed to do all year. Here we finally got to do it."
On gaining confidence from the victory ...
"We started the second half (of the Pac-10) with a ranked team and a good team in Washington and beating them kind of sets the tone for the second half of the Pac-10. We don't want to come out celebrating too much, but be happy that we won, get our groove back and try to beat Washington State the same way we just beat Washington."
On the team's ability to contain Washington's offense ...
"In the past we have been pretty use to playing from behind and kind of having to catch up. We have been good at it, but it's not a good habit to have to come back all the time. I guess we tried to stay ahead this game and we kept it close for the most part of the game. Toward the end we focused a little more, made our shots and we made more free throws."
On the team's success playing at home this season ...
"It's always good to play in front of your crowd. People you know are rooting for you every time a shot goes in. You get a crowd behind you and it's really a comfort thing."
On Washington's reputation for talking during games ...
"They really didn't say much tonight. They are usually flexing, barking and yelling and stuff, but we kind of kept that quiet today."
Senior guard Calvin Haynes
On the week of practice coming into the game ...
"It was a good week of practice. We came in focused and our defense was really there. Coach really emphasized that we needed to rebound, and we did. We outrebounded them, we didn't make free-throws other than down the clutch but the game plan really was rebound, rebound, rebound."
On the team's game plan ...
"We wanted to make them shoot contested three's, we clogged the middle and didn't let them have the ball in the paint. Isaiah (Thomas) likes to drive and dish it off to the bigs for easy point. We try to keep that from happening and that's what we did tonight."
On Ahmad Starks defense against Isaiah Thomas ...
"It was good for him; good for his confidence. We know what he can do and now the world is going to see it. It's a good thing for us because he's a guy who can put the ball in the basket so that takes a lot of pressure off other guys that are scorers in our offense."
