OU 67, West Virginia 57 | January 5, 2013 | Morgantown, W.V.
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Head Coach Lon Kruger |
Opening comment:
"I am really proud of our guys. Anytime you play a good West Virginia club
at their place and you are down 12 early in the second half, it is a tough challenge.
I thought our guys really responded very well and did just a terrific job of rebounding
the basketball on both ends of the floor. Our guys did a pretty good job of getting
some stops there at pretty critical stages. We have respect for West Virginia
and how good they are especially in this building. I am happy for our guys and
very proud of them."
On the biggest difference in the game:
"A big key in the ball game was that in the first 10 minutes we got second
chance opportunities and loose balls and in the middle portion of the game, they
did that. They got second shots and all the loose balls and then the last few
minutes, it kind of swung back our way. I think a lot of times in conference games,
it comes down to the 50/50 balls, the second shot opportunities and just getting
that rebound when it is in your hands and valuing each possession."
On Terry Henderson:
"Terry Henderson is a terrific shooter and we knew that of course. We were
a little concerned about the penetration because this team is very good at penetration.
We just went too far in terms of our help. They did a good job of driving and
kicking and Henderson did a good job of making shots."
On the importance of a road win:
"Any win in the league is tough to get especially those on the road. It is
early and we would rather be 1-0 than 0-1 and that is about all that it means
at this point. We will have a good week of practice now. We are off midweek and
we have a home game next Saturday so it helps from that standpoint as well to
have an off day coming off a good performance."
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Senior Forward Romero
Osby |
On difference between halves for him:
"I think I just tried to make a point to rebound better; I think I only had only
one rebound at halftime. That's not me, that's not my game. So I just tried to
go out there and rebound and help my team any way I could. Just tried to get some
defensive stops."
On why the team rebounding changed in OU's favor in the second half:
"It was definitely effort. Toward the middle of the game they started to get all
the loose balls, all the offensive rebounds; (they were) outworking us. With us
being a smaller team, that's something we can't do. We tried to pick up our effort
and it ended up working out well for us."
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West Virginia Head Coach
Bob Huggins |
On the difference between the first and second half:
"We had some pretty good shots and we didn't make them. They came down and
isolated their bigs and time after time, they isolated their bigs and when they
didn't score, they passed it to someone else who scored it seemingly. We went
2-3 zone to try and change the tempo a little bit. I know they had five consecutive
misses on first shots and they had five consecutive offensive rebounds. They just
outmanned us. They were just tougher on the glass then we were."
On coming out of timeouts:
"I guess we don't have the greatest listeners in the world. We got a five
second count on an inbounds and I tell the guy that they are going to try and
string it out so all you have to do is step to the ball and he ran to half court.
It is hard to confuse step to the ball with run to half court I think. The truth
of the matter is that they just wanted to win more than we did. They out rebounded
us. We throw it close and come up empty and they throw it close and they score
and get fouled and go to the line and make free throws. (Romero) Osby goes 6-for-6
from the foul line and we didn't get to the foul line as much as we wanted to."
On Oklahoma's rebounding:
"I think so. I just said downstairs that when we went to Ole Miss, Andy (Kennedy)
went 2-3 zone and (Alex) Ruoff missed what seemed like 100 shots in a row in the
corner and Da'Sean (Butler) missed shots, but we rebounded. We rebounded and went
down and did a pretty good job guarding at the other end. I remember Notre Dame
here and Mike (Brey) went 2-3 zone and we can't make a shot. We can't buy one.
Those were pretty good shooters I think. That's the all-time leading three point
shooter in the history of West Virginia basketball. He couldn't make one and Da'Sean
couldn't make one, but we rebounded it. We kept balls alive and we guarded at
the other end. If you remember, that was Cam Throughman who is a 6-foot-5 guy
guarding (Luke) Harangody who was the returning Big East Player of the Year if
you remember that whole scenario. The truth is we pretty much out-toughed them.
Today we got out-toughed. The amazing thing to me is that they act sometimes like
that is not the case. I don't know how a guy can continue to rebound the ball
and not think that he is tougher than you are because that is what rebounding
comes down to. We want to reach for it and they want to go fetch it."