Oregon State Post-Game Quotes
November 11, 2012 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 11, 2012
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Oregon State 71, New Mexico State 62
2K SPORTS CLASSIC benefiting WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT
November 11, 2012
Gill Coliseum
Corvallis, Ore.
Head coach Craig Robinson
Opening Comment...
"A couple things, first of all it's so exciting to play in this 2K Classic benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project. It's such an effort that is near and dear to my heart and my family's heart, and it is quite the honor to be asked to play in this tournament, and play well for such a good cause. I think our guys got to hang out with our wounded warrior and learned a lot, I want to make sure I say that. About the game, I couldn't be happier. I know I didn't look happy there, but this New Mexico State team is a very good team with perennial 20-win seasons. They know how to win games and they play tough. We needed a game sort of like this to see how we would fare against them. I thought after the first five or six minutes we kind of woke up and started to play well, and I was really proud of the guys for doing that. You can't say enough about the game Ahmad had. We needed someone to put the team on their shoulders and carry the offensive burden. We had three of our really good guys - Roberto, Eric and Devon - having off nights. To be able to beat a team like this with guys having this kind of night, I'm so happy with how we hung in there."
On the spark of the 22-6 run in the first half...
"Probably during the under 12 minute timeout. I was not happy with the way things were going and I let those guys know it. This is an interesting phenomenon because this team has evolved into a team that does every single that we ask them to do so I haven't had to get into them in awhile, probably not since last season. We've had good games overseas, we have had good practices and I think we just thought we could show up and win since we're playing in Gill. So they just needed a little bit of a jump start and in that under 12 minute timeout I wanted to give them a little bit of a shock and they started guarding and started taking it off the boards and then we settled into a rhythm."
On if Jamal Reid is first in the freshmen pecking order...
"I think if you're talking about someone to come in and help us defensively it might be him but if we needed offensive help it might be someone else. It was really nice to see him be able to come in and give some of the seasoned guys a break when we got into all that foul trouble. You never know how a freshman is going do in a game like this. This was a very physical game, on national TV and versus a team that is used to winning these types of games that they play. I wouldn't say there is a pecking order, if one of the guards had got into foul trouble we might have put Langston or Victor in instead of Jamal."
On the 17 offensive boards given up...
"You know I would be upset if this team wasn't number three last year in the nation in rebounding. I thought our guys did a pretty darn good job of coming back after getting smacked in the face on the boards, so I'm not concerned yet. If this turns into a habit I'd be concerned but I was on the radio before I came down here and I was trying to think of a team that we played last year that gangsters boards like that and I don't think we have, so this was a good test for us."
On how to fix the second-chance points...
"It was about offensive rebounds. If I looked at the type you would probably see some turnovers in there where we had the rebound but they got counted as second chance points. I would tend to look at it a little differently; you can give up 19 second chance points and win by nine points. You can look at the other points of emphasis, four or more stops which would take us eight points below last year, which would take us to 62 and I think that's good. I think we had ten turnovers and then two right at the end of the game there. Then you look at our foul shooting, 81 percent, that's how you counter man some of the bad things you do if some of your other points of emphasis don't hold up to what you want. You have to make sure the other three are superb."
On if Ahmad's defense goes unnoticed...
"Right, well I mentioned this at the Pac-12 Media Day, because I was asked what would be the toughest part about replacing Jared and replacing those points. I said the scoring wouldn't be a problem because we have three or four guys that can eat up 18 points easily. It's finding a guard that can be like Jared and guard on the ball. Someone asked me who I thought it would be and I said Ahmad Starks. So this isn't a surprise to anybody who has been at practice every day and kind of knows how he's been doing, so watching him guard those guards didn't surprise me at all. What did surprise me was that he was extremely vocal and quite the leader we have come to know.
On Ahmad possibly dunking on the breakaway...
"He didn't want to risk it, I'll comment on that. I'm glad he didn't risk it because I would have really been upset with him on that. Plus I think he was too tired, he had to play the whole game and I think his legs were tired. Listen, he doesn't have to dunk in the game, I'll vouch for him, I've send him dunk twice. He doesn't need to show anybody."
On if Ahmad's 40 minutes worries him ...
"No, we have a nice deep team and we have a couple days off before our next game. You know back in the day before all of these TV timeouts we played on Friday night and Saturday night and I played 40 minutes on both days with no TV timeouts. Now I sound like one of those old players that talks about how hard things used to be. TV timeouts are 90 seconds and they give players a nice break. If we had to do it every game I'd be worried about it but I don't suspect we'll have to do this all the time."
Junior guard Ahmad Starks
On expectation of his career-high performance...
"During warm-ups I was making pretty much every shot. It reminded me of a game back in high school where I made every shot, but then in the game I shot the ball terribly. I didn't want that to happen again. Some of my jump shots weren't even working, but I just kept attacking and attacking. We were down early and I just wanted to do something to give us the lead and we were able to keep it."
On playing in a close game...
"It feels good. You need these games. We have to be like these teams and we have to beat these teams. It helps us get ready for the tough games we have going into Madison Square Garden next week."
On thinking about dunking on a breakaway...
"I actually thought about the dunk, but no need to mess that play up; just go finish the layup. It was one of those rhythms early on and I had a few nice passes down to Joe and he was able to finish those. He had a nice game, as well."
On feeling pressure going into the game...
"Not at all. Like coach said, we needed to get that victory. We need to go in every single game we play and this just helps us get ready for the next one."
On New Mexico State's level of play...
"They were definitely physical. One play I remember early in the first half, they got a fast break dump off and then the guy just went up and tried to dunk it. A lot of teams can't do that. They can't play that physical and athletic so when they tried to dunk on us, it was time to wake up. I like that a lot and playing against that. It kind of opened us up a little bit and we took it to them."
On playing against a 7-foot-5 player...
"Early on, I didn't even know they had a 7-5 guy. At the beginning, we talked about him in the locker room and a couple of the women's players even knew. Immediately I thought I was going to put in the pick and roll and that worked all night for me."
Senior forward Joe Burton
On the intensity of game...
"I am usually the one going to the ground and getting hit while this guy (Starks) is standing on the perimeter. It was getting pretty physical but that is how we like to play. It wasn't like we were trying to hurt each other; we were just trying to win."
On importance of the game...
"We are going to play a lot of teams like that. In order to do stuff this year, we have to be just like them. We have to get down and dirty and get down to business. Take no prisoners."
On his reverse dunk in the first half...
"I don't even remember what happened. Did I even celebrate? I just ran back like I had been there before. It was nice. I saw an open lane and I saw the 8-footer come over and I just dunked it. I felt like it was kind of slow but it went down and everybody liked it and got hyped off of it."
On playing against a 7-foot-5 player...
"It was crazy. It was nuts. The tallest guy I played against was 7-2 before this guy. He is pretty big."
