Oregon State Post-Game Quotes
January 24, 2013 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 24, 2013
Recap |
Final Stats |
Notes |
AP Photos 
Oregon State 74, Washington 66
January 23, 2013
Gill Coliseum
Corvallis, Ore.
Head coach Craig Robinson
Opening Comment...
"I would say needless to say, but it's not needless to say. I want to say this was a good win. We needed that win obviously and it feels good. The best part about this is it was a complete team effort. You look at the stat sheet and see five guys in double figures, that's one thing but what you don't see on the stat sheet is the guys who didn't play but were playing the University of Washington's offense for us all week long. Once again my team sort of stands up for me when I'm absent. We had to have a good practice this week and of course I am out of town and I am watching Monday's practice on tape and these guys didn't treat it as if there was a substitute teacher there. They treated it as if I was there and that makes you feel good as a coach and as a teacher, that the guys take what they are doing seriously enough that when you are not there they still do what they're supposed to do. I came back yesterday and obviously I am exhausted but I don't want to say it to the guys. Just seeing their excitement for the game has got me going again. This was a complete team effort from top to bottom, scholarship guys to walk-ons."
On overcoming the Washington run late in the first half...
"What was different about tonight was that I thought we had our lull in the first half and I was thinking, `okay maybe that's a way to get it out of the way.' The second half it was different in that we didn't have trouble scoring. We had trouble stopping them (Washington) but we didn't have trouble scoring right at the beginning there. That gave us a little bit of confidence on the offensive end and it wasn't until later in the second half when they were making their run that we needed to kind of refocus our defensive efforts. Again there is no magic potion in the locker room at half time and what we have to avoid doing is feeling like we are going to have a letdown in the second half. We have to come out as confident as we did in the beginning of the game."
On the team celebration at the end of the game...
"These guys have won games before and they know we have a lot of work to do. I would say there was probably a little relief there and there was legitimate happiness about winning but there wasn't a slapping around, high fives. We have a lot of work to do and we have a lot of basketball to play. What you saw was what we are capable of doing but have even still more that we can accomplish."
On his team's intensity during the first half...
"Desperate times call for desperate measures. I think that's what they were feeling. I mean they came ready to play and we talk about all the time how we all try and get ourselves prepared but once you roll the ball out there or throw the ball up, it's up to those guys from an effort standpoint and I though they just answered the bell. I could see it and then you do your best as a coach to try and let it permeate through the whole game, not just the very beginning."
On what caused the Washington comeback heading into halftime...
"If I knew, I would fix it immediately. What I try to keep them aware of is that the lull might be created by the fact that you think there is going to be a lull. You just have to execute and fall back on your fundamentals, which we've been talking about during this whole negative stretch here. We've been talking about getting back to our fundamentals and do the things we know how to do offensively and defensively. When Washington cut it to one, we refocused our defense and started making stops, getting scores, making stops and getting scores and then we stretched it out to six or seven during that stretch. That gave us our own confidence and then we were back to playing the way we were in the first half."
On his decision to use the same rotation for the majority of the second half...
"Because they were playing well. Usually I would take the guys out if they were not playing well or they weren't playing hard or they were tired. Tonight in the second half I took them out when they needed a breather and then I put them right back in. I will use Roberto Nelson as a perfect example. He didn't have the greatest shooting night and yet he was very effective in the game because he was defending and getting a lot of hustle plays, so it is a feel thing for me. We are trying to snap out of a slump, what's the best way to do it? Go with the guys who are playing well."
On whether or not he needed to send a message to his team heading into Wednesday's game...
"With these guys I don't have to send a message, I just tell them what I want. I can just tell this group what I want. They know, they've been in a lot of wars and we're trying to bring this program up to a level where there are high expectations. I think for the first time in a long time the locker room put the expectations on themselves. "
On starting Jarmal Reid coming out of halftime...
"He was playing well and I told Jarmal (Reid) at halftime, he didn't do anything wrong, I just figured I would try a different lineup coming out of halftime and maybe if they (Washington) went on a run, he would block a shot or make a rebound or something. In my mind I am trying all kinds of things or thinking about all kinds of things and I decided to try Eric this time and we'll see how it goes."
On Eric Moreland guarding Washington's C.J. Wilcox...
"I think when you're a player, I know when I was a player and a guy who is that much taller and longer than me is on me, who can keep up with me, that is disturbing. I thought Eric did a pretty good job on him. I also think the team did a good job on him as a whole."
On creating turnovers and getting fast break points...
"That's been our style since we've been here. Even when we were playing slower, we would use our defense to generate some offense in transition. We've caused turnovers [in the past] but couldn't convert. This was a game where we caused some turnovers and were able to keep those points off turnovers number higher than it's been.
On moving the ball faster...
"That was something we focused on practice. We needed to get back to moving and sharing the ball. My favorite number tonight is 18 assists on 25 baskets. When we play like that, we're hard to beat."
On Ahmad Starks' improved play tonight...
"The poor kid has just been up and down. Whatever it is that gets him up, I have to figure it out. And whatever it is that brings him back down, I have to get rid of it. Ahmad is one of those players on our team that when he does well, everybody feels good about our team. Roberto [Nelson] will play well, the guys are like, `Okay, Roberto's supposed to play well.' Joe [Burton] plays well, it's like, `Okay.' But when Ahmad plays well, it's like we can beat anybody. I don't know why that is. Is it because he's a small guy or because he can make threes? Is it because he's from Chicago? I have no idea."
On motivating the starting five at practice...
"The teaching point for the first team during those practices when you say things like that is that it doesn't matter who you're playing against. You have to put out the effort to beat them even if it's your second-string team. That's what we're trying to get across to the first team. Anybody can beat you guys if you don't play well. If you play well and play hard and lose the game, then you feel like those guys beat us. You don't want to shoot yourself in the foot."
On managing the team's emotions...
"These guys care for each other so much that you don't have your typical leader who gets on everybody. That's me. I need one of those guys on the floor to do that when I can't run out there and get them going. So that's good and bad. The bad part about it is that in a tough game against a team like Washington who knows how to win all the time, you need somebody out there to be vocal and smacking guys on the butt. The good part about it is that they do work hard for each other. They are fearful of letting their teammates down. At some point, that's going to flip and work to our advantage and we're going to have somebody rise up and become that sort of vocal leader."
On coaxing that leadership mentality...
"I try on a daily basis to make them afraid of me, but that hasn't worked. But I feel it coming. I see it in their confidence. Before this game, you wouldn't have believed that locker room was 0-5. I can say that now that we won the game, but I'm sitting there listening to that locker room that those guys thought they were going to win that game. Somehow I have to get that to think like that on a constant basis. It is psychological and it is emotional, but it's very consistent."
Junior guard Roberto Nelson
On hitting a crucial three pointer...
"I always say that we have great forwards. Devon did a great job. He is money inside the paint, and when he got the ball he found me and passed it. I was thankful to make one of my threes tonight."
On higher energy from the team...
"We definitely had a sense of urgency as a team. The scout team did a great job of getting us ready for this game."
Senior center Joe Burton
On five players doing the post-game press conference...
"There should be 15 of us up here. We are a team. We practice as a team and win as a team."
Junior guard Ahmad Starks
On Washington making a push in the second half...
"We seemed to keep our heads up a little bit. We didn't get down on ourselves while they were making their run. We just played our game and ran through our sets to stop their run."
Junior forward Devon Collier
On being a different team in the first half...
"It started in practice. We picked up the pace in practice, and when they caught up, we didn't break down."
On importance of this win...
"Of course we needed this win. We have to stick to our plays if we want to be successful. We also need to play as a team and be aggressive to help us get wins."
Sophomore forward Eric Moreland
On satisfaction with playing a solid game...
"It feels good to get the win. I wanted to come back and help the team as much as I could. They did a good job on defense, and it was a team effort today that got us this win."
