Oregon State Post-Game Quotes
February 06, 2013 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 6, 2013
Recap |
Final Stats |
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Oregon State 82, Utah 64
February 6, 2013
Gill Coliseum
Corvallis, Ore.
Head coach Craig Robinson
Opening comment...
"Well, I don't know who is happier, me or those guys in the locker room. But I can't tell you how happy I am for them. It is really hard when you have a team that doesn't give up and works hard and you don't think they get the rewards they should get for their hard work. Tonight, to see them get it was really good, especially in a game that I thought was physical. We didn't prepare for them to do a triangle-and-two and we sort of worked our way through that. That shows a lot of grit, a lot of basketball IQ and a lot of character, which I've been talking about a lot with this team all season long in spite of the tough times, so I am really proud of them."
On the game's physical tone early on...
"I think we were going anyway because when you are 1-8, you come ready to play. I just couldn't believe that, that (the incident with Roberto Nelson) happened. I just couldn't believe it. Then they didn't have enough on tape to do anything about it. It was the beginning of the game but listen, if it helped fire us up, that's good. I liked our response to it and they guys were not going to back down, which they don't do anyway. I think I was madder than they were; they were calming me down."
On his team out-rebounding its opponents...
"We were doing we prior to the start of conference and so I thought not having Eric (Moreland) was a big part of that, then you get him back and there's sort of this confusion of him being out for three games so we are still getting our sea legs under us basically. This team has rebounded better than any team I've coached, so I think we are just getting back on track. I don't think it's anything with the last three teams that we've played, I just think we're finally getting back to where we were before we had all of the nonsense."
On where his team would be without the play of Roberto Nelson and Joe Burton...
"We would be 1-9 and we wouldn't be playing well. I still maintain that the last few games that we've lost, we have played well except for spurts with six or five or four minutes to go. Those guys just kept fighting (tonight) and they were going to make sure we weren't going to have one of those slip-ups. It was great to see Joe (Burton) sort of take control out there and he got the ball at the top of the key and was just going to make sure something good was going to happen. Then with Roberto, I'm sure you guys didn't know and I'm sure he didn't tell you but I was this close to not starting him and this close to not playing him. He got kneed in the thigh in practice on Monday, he couldn't walk Tuesday and then today at the shoot-around he was still limping. The fact that I was this close to not playing him and he had 26 points with the kind of game that he had, just shows that the players do their thing. The coaches, we don't know anything. That kid had one of the best, all-around games I have seen him have."
On whether he knew that Joe Burton was three rebounds shy of a triple-double...
"No, I can't pay attention to that much stuff, I am just trying to win the game. I had no idea that he was that close and when we're playing, the thing that I pay attention to in the game is, I don't even know the score, I just know the difference in the score and I know the fouls. That's what I pay attention to because I am focused on what's going on out on the court. It doesn't surprise me because it seems like he was doing stuff everywhere. Everyone is going to talk about his offensive game, but I want to point out the fact that he held (Utah's) Jason Washburn to one basket and it might have happened when Joe wasn't even on him. So when you have a 6-6, 6-7 center playing against a 6-10 center who is a prolific scorer, that sort of anchors your defense. I think a lot of people once they take a look at this film will be talking about that."
On his team's free throw shooting...
"I'm sure the guys got tired of losing games because they weren't making foul shots, so they are working on them even more so than they have been before. We do our same routine every day and when we scrimmage, the guys who don't shoot 80 percent have to make their foul shots in order to get the ball back. There is some pressure and we try and create all these different things to make the free throws at practice mean something. Really, what it comes down to is that if you want to be a good foul shooter, you have to take a lot of foul shots when you're not at practice and I just think guys have been doing that. They are just tired of missing them and they are starting to make sure they work on them."
On whether or not his team played its most complete game of the season...
"Absolutely, easily of the conference season and easily of a game where we played predominantly man-to-man. I think we played two or three or four possessions of the one-three-one and we were going to go zone out of the out of bounds plays but they guys on their own went right back to the man-to-man. I thought there were a couple of things that worked there. We communicated more on defense than we have all-season long, let alone the conference season, that's first and foremost. Secondly, this is now the second half of the conference, so we are now one full year and a half into playing man-to-man, so that is just more experience doing it. Then thirdly, when you are 1-8, you want to be 2-8 so you play better defense. That's what these guys were doing. They really tasted the fact that they needed play very good defense in order to win this game."
On Challe Barton's play...
"This is the second time that Challe has been able to get us going from a point guard standpoint. I think what you're seeing is, when Ahmad (Starks) is playing the point, people will load up on him because he is a scoring point guard. Now you've got at least the pressure of having to bring the ball up and starting the offense out of his hands at it frees him up to some more things, cut some more and get some better looks. He didn't score much today but the fact that he was running around and people had to worry about it, helped other guys get open. Challe has done a fantastic job and took a knee to thigh in the Stanford game but he had another day to recover, so it was nice that he was able to have a good game tonight. That first three he hit, nobody thought that was going in, including him, so that was really nice for him."
Senior center Joe Burton
On whether he knew he was close to a triple-double...
"I didn't know that I almost had a triple-double. I was just trying to do what was right for the team. Just trying to contribute any way I can."
On the high number of assists he has had lately...
"I just take what is given and I give them the right pass and they make the shot. I'm thankful for them making the shot, because sometimes I put them in difficult positions, but they overcome it and make the shot."
On his defensive effort on Jason Washburn...
"I didn't really care how many points I had or whatever I did tonight. I just wanted to keep (Jason) Washburn off the boards and not let him score a lot of points. I didn't want him to get hot or anything like that. They had a couple of guys averaging double figures so we just had to shut them down and my assignment was to shut down Washburn."
On whether his dunk was really a dunk...
"I didn't even know if my knees could take it if I went, but I just kept going up. I felt like I was soaring through the air but it was probably just like two seconds in the air. I don't have much hang time."
On winning a game by a large margin...
"It feels great. When we win by a large margin like that, we play well together, we have trust and we just go all out in the 40 minutes. I mean it's good to get the second win in conference, but we still have a lot of games left and I think we found what we need to do to have a successful game and get wins. We kind of lost it at the start of the season but we are getting it back. We haven't given up, we haven't lost speed at practice, we still go at it, we are still physical and doing everything well."
On the upcoming game against Colorado...
"We just go with the game plan and whatever coach tells us to do, we do it to the best of our abilities and pull out a win. Last year when they came down, it was Kevin McShane's senior night so we played hard because we had something to play for. We still have something to play for this year so we will come out with the same intensity. We are just going to play hard."
Junior guard Roberto Nelson
On Utah's chippy play early in game...
"Chippy? I think they were just playing physical. In the first half I got elbowed right in the gut and I wasn't ready for it. I think that got everybody going. Some of the players on our side saw that and it got us fired up. Coach looked at the bench and said that we had to come out and play hard and everyone contributed."
On Joe Burton's performance...
"When you have a guy like Joe play how he did offensively and then come in and shut down their best player defensively, that's big time. All credit goes to this guy (gestures to Joe), flirting with that triple-double."
On playing with a sense of urgency...
"I think that the shot to the stomach really got us going at the beginning of the game. We really wanted to focus on the X's and O's tonight. If we were desperate, we might have lost focus on the little things that helps us go on runs. I think tonight we came out with a lot of fire."
On his on-court chemistry with Joe Burton...
"Joe and I have been playing the pick and roll game since AAU. I'm very familiar with Joe and I know where he's going to be. We have this chemistry from playing on the Compton Magic in AAU. It has been fun playing together for this long."
On the team having fun in the game...
"What made this game fun is that everyone was clicking. We knew that we could throw it down to Devon (Collier) or Eric (Moreland), and Joe (Burton) did a great job of putting people in position. It's a lot of fun when they are doubling at the top and Joe looks one way and throws it the other, giving us an easy layup and causing havoc for the defense."
