Oregon State Post-Game Quotes
February 23, 2013 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 23, 2013
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California 60, Oregon State 59
February 23, 2013
Gill Coliseum
Corvallis, Ore.
Head coach Craig Robinson
Opening comment...
"This was an all-too familiar position, but I am really proud of our guys. I know I keep saying that, but you look at our efforts in games that don't mean as much for us right now, and to see our guys go out and battle the way they did, especially after a rough start. As a coaching staff, it's hard not to admire guys like that. It was a very emotional start to the game and I thought that is what did it to us. I think we were all trying so hard, and we were getting the shots that we wanted, they just weren't going in. I think if we made a couple of those early then it's a little bit of a closer game where we are not fighting back and then have to kind of come up with some magic at the end."
On what senior Joe Burton has meant to the Oregon State program during the last four years...
"Where do I start? All of you know how dire the situation was when we first started here and Joe signed on almost immediately. We had to win him over but it starts right there. Kids nowadays want to go to programs that are already established because it is just an easier road. Joe could have gone to a lot of places that have had better recent history and he chose to come to Oregon State and he chose to play for me. He has just gotten better every single season and I know he claims that he didn't start listening to me until two-and-a-half years in, but he started listening before then. He just listened more later and that is a tribute to him because not everybody is going to have a chance to play professional basketball and not everybody is going to have a chance to be an investment banker. What you want to do as a person is to grow, especially during your college years and he has grown into a man. It is just heartwarming, on and off the court, and I am just happy to be a part of it."
On the technical foul called on Olaf Schaftenaar for dunking during pregame warm-ups...
"Not Olaf's fault whatsoever, first and foremost. Guys dunk before the game all the time before the refs come out and from what he (the referee) told me, he was in the hallway, but a rule is a rule."
On the technical called on himself early in the first half...
"He (the California player) pulled on Olaf's jersey and pulled it all the way out right in front of the ref and gave me a technical for yelling across the court. Some referees are more offended by how loud I can be. They don't realize I used to be a trader, so I had to yell all day long and people can hear me, even when the band is going. Some people take that personally. I will tell you though I am still 100 percent consistent, whenever I get a tech, it's because I am right. I have never been wrong and gotten a tech. You never get a technical for being wrong because it doesn't upset the person who calls the tech. You get techs for being right loudly."
On his team's comeback from a 14-point deficit...
"The fight to come back in a situation when you are playing what arguably is the hottest team in the league, and fighting against other odds, the emotions of the day and the fact that I get a technical. I know that affects the game, and it affects the officiating sometimes, you are fighting against the other team. The fact that they (California) are an NCAA Tournament bubble type team and then to get it, cut it back and Devon (Collier) making those two foul shots, which isn't a guarantee, (is what) got us to that 4.3 seconds."
On the game's final 4.3 seconds...
"We just called a play that we have at the end of the game. When you only have that much time you have to put the ball into only a couple of people's hands who can shoot off the dribble and that's Ahmad (Starks) and Roberto (Nelson) and they (California) were completely full-fronting Roberto, so we knew they were going to let Ahmad get it, and he was going to have to come up and pull-up to shoot a shot. That last play, I told them that they can't get it wrong. As long as they don't turn it over, they can't get it wrong. We got the game to where we had a chance to win we just had to try and win it. There was nothing special about it except that we knew what we were going to do. Actually the play before, when they were going to take the shot clock down, what I liked is that we got the rebound. It games before we wouldn't have even gotten the rebound to have a chance at a shot at it, so there is some growth there."
On how California guarded Oregon State's final offensive play...
"It was the way they defended it. If you guys pay attention to what I am doing there are always options to what we do and that's the beauty of the way we play, there are always options for everybody. There were options for Roberto (Nelson) and Ahmad (Starks) but the way they (California) played Roberto it ended up in Ahmad's hands."
On his decision to not foul California during their last offensive possession...
"We already know what we do in those kinds of situations. Had we missed our foul shots, we would have done that but you always want to keep it a one possession game with a chance to win unless you don't have a chance to win. So we wouldn't have fouled them to let them go up three and all we could do is tie. Instinctively that is kind of a demoralizing feeling, so we just wanted to defend and have a shot with seven seconds. The ref had his back to me and I was yelling timeout so I know a couple seconds went, that's why I asked them to take a look at it so we could get the seven but it had gotten down to 4.3 or whatever it was. Had Devon (Collier) missed his two (foul shots) we would have fouled right away and hoped that he would miss a foul shot, try to get a quick shot and then foul right away again, but we didn't have to because he made his two."
On his decision to play zone defense vs. California...
"Without giving away my strategies we just felt that going zone against them would give us a better shot at winning the game then if we went man-to-man the whole time. When a team has a prolific scorer like (California guard) Allen Crabbe, you really have to figure out multiple ways of stopping him. I thought Eric (Moreland) did a good job on the man-to-man and then I think the entire team did a good job in the zone where he was."
Senior center Joe Burton
On the emotions after playing his final game at Gill Coliseum...
"I am feeling good. We battled back during the 40 minutes. It is Senior Day and an emotional day with my family. It was great to have the team behind my back. I told the team before that win or lose, just play a hard 40 minutes and that is what we did. It is all I can ask them for and I am grateful."
On the final play of the game...
"That was the play that coach drew up. Sometimes it goes in and sometimes it doesn't."
On the emotions before the game...
"The emotions before the game and my family walking out and my grandpa rolling out onto the court just brought tears to their faces and joy that I have completed my college career of basketball at home. We still have games, obviously. Besides that, I just want to thank the fans that came out to the game. A lot of fans came out for Senior Day and we gave them a good show until the very end."
On what he will miss most of all...
"Just the guys and I am going to miss the team and playing basketball with these guys. I have been playing basketball with this guy (pointing to Roberto Nelson) for six or seven years and it is just done like that. I just gave everything to Oregon State and I am so glad that so many supporters came out to watch. It is just great to have my dad there to see that. I really didn't know him growing up. I only saw him a couple times. He came to my high school graduation and he came to this game, so it is just a big deal."
Junior guard Roberto Nelson
On whether he wanted the ball for the final shot of the game...
"I am just a player on a team. I definitely wanted the ball for the last shot, but coach knows what he is doing. He drew up the play and they knew they would probably be keying on me and looking for me to take the shot, so he went to Ahmad (Starks). Like I said, some go in and some don't."
On Ahmad's options with the final shot...
"The play was swing the ball to Ahmad, dribble up and hope that he gets double-teamed and pass it to the wing or take a shot. He took a shot and that is just the way it goes."
On the emotions of playing in Joe's final home game...
"I mean he is the reason that I came here. Oregon State wasn't even a school that I looked at. Being as close as I was to Joe, he was really the reason that I came here. I don't even consider him a friend anymore, he is definitely a brother to me. It is sad that we didn't get a chance to go out with a win and with a bang at home, but we definitely fought hard as a team and showed a lot of fight as we have in the past games. We still owe a lot to him and to Oregon State, so we are not going to give up in these last couple of games. It might be our last games too, so we are all going to go out with a bang this year."
On if there was a feeling of not having Joe's last game be like this...
"Oh yeah, I am just playing and trying to be aggressive and trying to win a game. I am a winner and I hate losing. The feeling of losing keeps me up late at night. Unfortunately, we haven't had the season that we should have and everyone thought that we would have, but I am not giving up. Nobody is giving up. I am just going to keep fighting and hopefully all of this fight that I am putting in is going to pay off. I know all of these guys are going to be right behind me."
On Cal's last possession and the plan...
"There was a little bit of discussion. Whatever coach was feeling at the time, he was going to let happen. If we had a chance to go up and score, of course he wasn't going to call a timeout. If he thought that we needed to draw up something, he was going to call a timeout and try and get us rallied and try and set up the best play possible."
On the game being more physical than normal...
"Most definitely, there was a lot of contact. It was physical out there. That is how it goes; sometimes you get calls and sometime you don't. I was more frustrated on some of the obvious calls that didn't go our way. It doesn't get me out of my game, it just frustrates me. Some things you just have to see, especially when you are right by the ball."
