Scott Rueck Quotes
Oregon State vs. North Carolina
December 16, 2014
Oregon State 70, North Carolina 55
Oregon State Head Coach Scott Rueck
On his team’s performance
“Well I felt like if we did what we talked about doing we could give them trouble today. I have a lot of respect for the program, Coach Hatchel is obviously a hall of fame coach and a legend and so we’re privileged to play here. First time for us and that’s heck of a basketball team. We talked about their strengths, their strengths are rebounding the basketball, their strengths are transition and they’re so athletic and that’s a big part of what they do. I thought we could stop their initial shot; their initial looks in their sets. I thought our team really locked them up defensively. We kept them out of transition most of the game. There was a little stretch in the second half where they got out and ran and they got stops themselves. But I thought our shot selection was good, I thought we executed our game plan at a high level. I’m really proud of our team today.”
On the factor of his team’s height advantage
“Well it certainly was on the inside. You have the nation’s shot blocker right here (Ruth Hamblin) , from a year ago anyway, and she’s on pace to do it again. So I thought that impacted them. They are an inside out team, they go inside and they score and a lot of times they score on their second opportunity. That’s what we talked about and worked on all week. We’re going to make them possibly miss that first one it’s the second one we have to get. When they made their run in the second half they were getting their second one. Most of the game they did not. We won the boards like we needed to.”
On keeping the lead and stopping North Carolina’s runs
“I thought part of is where we were. I thought we did a good job with angles, I thought we challenged shots. The scoreboard played a factor too. We talked about to beat a great team like this on their home floor is obviously best to play from ahead. I thought we did that in the second half, as we didn’t let them make a run. This team has been down several times this year at the half, being North Carolina. We did a great job in the second half taking that run and extending that lead, which I thought made the shots a little tougher for them. “
