Oklahoma State University Athletics
OSU vs. DePaul Postgame Quotes
March 24, 2013 | Cowgirl Basketball
March 24, 2013
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2013 NCAA Division I women's basketball championship
head coach quotes
First Round · No. 10 DePaul vs. No. 7 Oklahoma State
Cameron Indoor Stadium · Durham, N.C.
Sunday, March 24
POSTGAME QUOTES – Oklahoma State
Jim Littell, Oklahoma State Head Coach
Opening Statement:
“I'm very proud of our basketball team. We got off to a tremendous start in the game and had a lot of energy. We ran out of gas for a little bit, but I'm really proud of the way we defended. A glaring stat of the game is that we gave up 27 offensive rebounds, and not very often do you win games doing that but our team found a way and continued to grind it out making plays. We beat a very nice DePaul team and we're glad to advance.”
On Toni Young's first half
“She was very explosive. She's the one that's primarily responsible for getting us off to such a great start. She just had great energy and she always jumps high but she seemed to have a little more bounce in her step today. Tremendous first half. Only scored five in the second half but as she said, 'My other teammates stepped up and were making plays in the second half.' And she's fine with that. The four in double figures and one with nine is pretty indicative of how our season's gone with the balance of this group.”
On DePaul's run in the second half
“They did a good job. They went and doubled some passes and we got a little careless with the basketball. A characteristic of a Doug Bruno team is that they're never going to quit. They're always going to compete. They're always going to play hard. We knew that they were going to play for 40 minutes. They got a nice surge on us, and you've got to compliment them for playing well and playing hard. We also got a little careless with the basketball and a little tentative on some things. That's what allowed the lead to disappear, but we've done that a lot this year. We've gotten off to a big start and it seems like the lead disappears. That happens sometimes when you don't have a lot of bench to go to, and we've basically played five players for the past two months. At times during a game our depth hurts us.”
On how Littell got his team rolling again
“We told them that they've got to go rebound. During that stretch we did rebound for about a five- or six-minute mark, and I'm not sure if we rebounded much past that. We rebounded the ball, limited them to one shot and then we had some people step up and make plays and create some easy layups. Brittany Martin made one of those plays. Tiffany Bias got two or three steals that resulted in easy layups. Kendra Suttles got a real nice putback on a free throw when they were making a comeback. So we had some players step up and make plays at critical times.”
POSTGAME QUOTES – Oklahoma State
Toni Young, Oklahoma State Forward
On leading by example:
“Well, I had already made a plan to come out and work as hard as I can for my team in this tournament. This is my last chance to get as far as I can and I am not going to waste it.”
On how she felt after pregame shootaround:
“Well, I have been feeling great since yesterday. In practice and coming out today my legs being under me, I feel good.”
On finishing second in Oklahoma State history in rebounds:
“It is just another stat really. I guess it is something I leave after I am gone, but it doesn't make a big difference after we are winning together.”
On playing Duke next round:
“They are a great team, a great athletic team. We just have to come out and play the whole 40 minutes.”
Tiffany Bias, Oklahoma State Guard
On what happened when DePaul cut lead to one in second half:
“Well, DePaul is a great shooting team and I think every team gets momentum every now and then. We kind of got lackadaisical and wasn't hustling to ball and wasn't rebounding. I think that we just kind of picked it up and got together as a team and fight back as a team. You can't get it all back at once. Bucket by bucket we just started pushing the lead, we got a couple of big steals and just finishing at the bucket.”
On playing Duke next round:
“They are a top-10 team. I think we will be ready to play and give it our all.”
