OKLAHOMA QUOTES
HEAD COACH JEFF CAPEL
Opening statement:
"First of all, I want to congratulate Texas. They made some big plays down the stretch. [A.J.] Abrams made some huge shots, and they made some tough plays. I’m proud of my team and I’m proud of how we fought and played through some adversity. We gave ourselves a chance to win, but we’re really disappointed, because we felt like we let one go. But, they made plays to win the basketball game and we didn’t. For the first time in a really long time, our team didn’t make those plays down the stretch."
On Blake Griffin’s injury:
"No, I do not know of his condition. We’ll re-evaluate tomorrow and move on. This was a decision by the doctors to keep him out of the second half."
On if there was anything to prove tonight:
"We didn’t have anything to prove to ourselves. We’ve played hard all year. Again, I’ve been saying all year, and our guys know it, that it’s not Blake and the Sooners, it’s Oklahoma. We didn’t prove anything to ourselves. We lost and we’re disappointed."
FRESHMAN GUARD WILLIE WARREN
On putting his team on his back:
"I just knew everybody had to step up a little bit more since Blake [Griffin] was unable to play in the second half. I did whatever I could do to try to help my team win the game."
On A.J. Abrams:
"I asked him if he could stop hitting shots, but he didn’t listen at all. It was a totally different ball game without Blake being out there. If he was playing, I think we would’ve won, more than likely."
On his performance tonight:
"Every time they scored, we had to come back and score. I just tried to make plays to help keep our team in the game, so down the stretch we would have a chance for a tie or a win."
SENIOR FORWARD TAYLOR GRIFFIN
On the mindset of the team after Blake Griffin sustained an injury:
"It was time for everybody else to step up and play a little bit harder, especially on defense. I think that’s where we lost the game. We let them do what they wanted to do, instead of what we talked about all week."
On Dogus Balbay getting to the rim:
"No. We saw that he’s been playing well lately and that’s what he has been doing. We could’ve done a better job on ball screens with him. He’s been playing with a lot of confidence lately, and we’ve seen what he can do. We just weren’t very successful in stopping him."
On the positives of the game:
"We’re a good team, and Blake [Griffin] is a very good player, but he’s not the only player on this team. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out tonight. We were down most of the game, but it came down to the end and we gave up an offensive rebound and had a couple of defensive letdowns."
On Blake Griffin’s injury:
"I don’t know much about it because I was out on the court playing."
