Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State Postgame Quotes
December 08, 2001 | Cowboy Basketball
Dec. 8, 2001
OSU Men's Basketball
vs. Jackson State
Dec. 8, 2001
Postgame Quotes
Oklahoma State Head Coach Eddie Sutton
On the game
"I thought this was probably the best game we've played. Overall, we did a lot of good things. When we started out, I think it was 10-4, and then from then on they got 31 points in the last 36 minutes. Our defense was terrific. Our rebounding was good. The only thing you could be critical of from a defensive standpoint is that we continued to foul too much, especially in the second half.
"Offensively we were terrific in transition. We are really good when we get everybody running. We can control the defensive boards, and our defense forces errors and allows us to get into a broken floor situation. Offensively, we probably turned the ball over five or six times just on careless turnovers again. That's something we've got to eliminate.
"I thought we would shoot better from the free-throw line. I knew Andre (Williams) would shoot better. I thought overall we would shoot better because we've really worked hard on free-throw shooting this week. Maybe if we continue, we'll get better at it.
"Fred (Jonzen) played much better than he's been playing. Andre had a terrific game. Ivan (McFarlin) played well. I thought Victor (Williams) had a good game.
"They really emphasized their defense in curtailing Maurice (Baker). I thought they did a good job, but anytime you put that much emphasis on one person, it's going to allow other people to be open."
On the Cowboys' offensive weapons
"I really believe we have a lot more offensive weapons this year than we did a year ago. I thought tonight, when we had Cheyne (Gadson), and Maurice and Victor in there, it really allowed us to be much better offensively.
On Cheyne Gadson
I thought Cheyne played pretty well, with the exception of turning it over two or three times on careless mistakes. Overall, he played a very good ball game."
Oklahoma State Forward Fredrik J?nz?n
On the Team's Depth
"Aaron (Hill) finally hit some shots tonight and that's great for us, and Cheyne (Gadson) is playing better every game. There is so many players that can score, we have many weapons. When everybody gets together and plays as a team we are going to be very dangerous."
On the Height Advantage
"That's something we talked about before the game, how we need to go inside with the ball. They're pretty thin, but I think that they did a good job defensively. We took advantage of our height and went inside with it."
Oklahoma State Forward Andre Williams
On the Height Advantage
"They were a smaller team the coaches have been stressing that all along. We just need to take advantage of what we got and get the job done all around any way possible."
On the Team's Slow Start
"It was a pretty good game, but the first four or five minutes of the game we came out really flat and they jumped up on us ten to four, but then our defense kicked in. It might be impossible to put together a good 40 minute game, but we need to quit having lapses where we go four or five minutes of breaking down and letting teams get ahead of us."
Oklahoma State Guard Victor Williams
On the game
"We started off a little slow and coach had to call a timeout to make us aware that Jackson State is a very dangerous team. Our goal was to come out and jump on them early but we didn't do that tonight. Luckily, we got it together and went on a run."
On opponents
"Coach (Sutton) always reminds us that we can't look at who we are playing and just go out there and execute and worry about yourself. I think sometimes we start thinking about who we are playing instead of executing our game."
Oklahoma State Forward Ivan McFarlin
On the game
"Coach (Keller) told me before the game to relax and just play the game the way I know how to play it. Coach told me before the game that I am a warrior and I need to go out there and dominate. Tonight I felt like it was one of those days. We were off a week and were anxious to go out and play."
On finals week
"It is going to be pretty tough but school comes before basketball. In order to play you have to go to school first. So we will hit the books hard this week and then when practice comes we will work hard at basketball. It will be pretty hard but we will fight through it."
Jackson State Coach Andy Stoglin
On Oklahoma State
"Our biggest mistake was the we scheduled them the wrong week, we should have scheduled them a week before Wichita State came in here and gave them a scare. You don't play an Eddie Sutton team after they've had a scare and a week to prepare. I knew they (OSU) were going to come out here and make a statement after Eddie (Sutton) gave them some motivation. I didn't tell my guys that, or they probably wouldn't have got on the bus."
On Performance
"We have a better team than we appeared to be, and we're going to be alright in our conference. This arena has the biggest home court advantage that I have ever seen because of the noise level. Now it has even more people and tougher than it used to be. I still have to tip my hat to Eddie and his ball club, and I will be watching to see how far this team will go."
On Problems
"I've lost my four best players. I've lost my tallest player, my best player, and my two guards, and when you consider that, we are a lot better than people think. We will do very well in our conference and this will give our young players more of an opportunity to get better. Players like Kelly Ross, who didn't play ball in high school but is a very talented player, he just doesn't know how to play yet. Leonard Taylor was someone that played for me and joined the team when the rest of those guys got kicked off. He is a good player, he's just not in shape yet."
