The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Post Game Quotes
03.01.2010 | Men's Basketball
March 1, 2010
Texas Quotes
Head Coach Rick Barnes
On the team tonight...
There is no doubt that we have gone through some struggles. I guess we have come a long way, when we are 23-7, but we've had some struggles. We've also grown a lot in some areas. I'm really happy for our seniors. I think tonight, all of them did a really good job. And at no point in time, as we were preparing for this game did we think that J'Covan Brown would be locked into Tommy Mason-Griffin as long as he was. Early in the game, he and Jordan [Hamilton] were making some threes. All year we have done a good job of defending the three-point line during the second half and other than the first four minutes of the second half, we really did a lot of good things. It was a good effort overall by all of our players.
On getting high scoring on a more consistent basis...
[Oklahoma] started the game way back off of Justin Mason and we really wanted to get him down low so they had to guard him. But with five guys out there, it really changes the spacing on the floor. I've said it all year, but the reason we haven't been able to [score] this much is because of what happens on the defensive end. There is no doubt that Jordan Hamilton has gotten better defensively and J'Covan Brown, as well. Gary Johnson really did us some good things defensively on the perimeter, but offensively, it really changes the way the floor is spaced. It's important to guard everybody.
On J'Covan Brown and Jordan Hamilton...
All freshman struggle coming in and we knew that. I've said before that they would be good by the middle of January. At times they have shown some really good things, but it all goes back to that one word - consistency. What hurt both of those guys is that they weren't here this summer and they didn't get a chance to be where they needed to be conditioning wise coming in. We know they are talented players and they can do a lot of different things. Jordan, more than any other player, has realized that he can't just stand and shoot. Tonight he rebounded and kept working defensively. He is starting to see things differently. The one thing that I can tell you is that with as much as we have done, these guys have never quit on each other. They have struggled, but they have never quit.
Senior Forward Damion James
On winning during senior night...
First of all, the losing is in the past. We are moving forward and it always feels good to win, whether it be senior night or any other night. At the end of the day, that's all that matters. It feels good for my last game at Frank Erwin to be a victory and my team played great, so that's all that matters to me.
On him playing with Dexter Pittman and Gary Johnson...
I think we are more physical, and we can really pound the glass. I see that we (out)rebounded (them) 38-21, and that's unbelievable. But I think we are more physical, and we are able to shoot the ball well and go get it.
Freshman Guard J'Covan Brown
On the key to the comeback...
We just took over and had control of the game. I was trying to get my teammates to make good shots. I told Jordan [Hamilton] that when he ran the corner, the back door was going to be there, and I told him just right. I came out and went to the back door and just got him the ball twice.
On his fall in College Station...
It was really scary. Nothing like that has ever happened to me. When I came down, I hit my head and everything on my left side went numb. I had no doubt that I was going to play tonight. I saw what Oklahoma was like at home and I knew I wanted to play against them tonight, so I did what I had to do to play.
Freshman Guard Jordan Hamilton
On the commitment made to rebounding over the last several games...
Coach told me to be more aggressive on both the offensive and the defensive end. That's what I've been bringing to the team because I've been worrying about my defense more often.
On the senior leadership...
I get a lot of help from Damion [James], Dexter [Pittman], and Justin [Mason]. They are great seniors to play with and they teach me a lot at practice and during the game.
Oklahoma Quotes
Head Coach Jeff Capel
Opening statement...
Congrats to Texas. They were the tougher team down the stretch. I thought we played well for 31 minutes. Then their older guys stepped up and made plays. Then they got great contributions from two freshmen. J'Covan Brown stepped up and made some plays behind ball screens. Jordan Hamilton really played like a veteran tonight. I'm proud of our guys. I thought we did some good things. I thought we executed. I thought we got out to a good start. Again, our inability to defend and get some stops, just the little things. We're getting closer. We're a team where we have to do everything right to give ourselves a chance to win. We're getting closer. I thought we did a lot of things right tonight. Little things end up being big things like free throw block outs, blocking out in general, understanding stuff we go over in practice, personnel and how we want to defend certain situations. They had a lineup in we thought we could go zone against. We didn't handle the ball screen in the zone the correct way, and they scored three straight possessions. Those are the things we go over and we talk about and we have to carry those out on the floor. I thought we did some good things. We're getting closer, and we look forward to playing on Wednesday.
On their rebounding struggles...
They're a great rebounding team. That's what they do. It hurt us with Ryan (Wright) only playing only seven minutes. If you remember back at our place, I think he had 14 rebounds. He never was able to get into the flow of the game. Every time he got near someone or touched someone, it was a foul. So that hurt us. (Andrew) Fitzgerald hasn't been a great rebounder on the defensive end all year. That's something he has to improve. They have a great rebounding team. That's one of their strengths, is getting the ball up on the glass and going to get it. They really controlled the glass tonight.
On if that's the best they have played in the first 30 minutes of a game...
On the offensive end, still there's a lot to be desired on the defensive end, but on the offensive end it was. One of the things I kept telling our guys is we had chances in the first half. We were up 10, 12, 13 to extend the lead. We started trying to hit home runs. I kept telling them let's keep hitting singles. We're getting them on base, we're moving them around. Let's just continue to do that. That's what I mean about little things - understanding that we're executing, we're getting about any shot we want. We were making shots in the first half. I thought we were executing. We scored a good amount of the time when we got good shots. At times we got out of character.
Senior Guard Tony Crocker
On not getting stops in the second half...
We've been working on defense and stuff in practice knowing that's what we've got to get better at, because a lot of teams are scoring points on us. We're scoring too, but they're outscoring us. So, really it's just we need to work on getting stops at the end of the game. It was a close game in the first half, and in the second half, they took the lead and kind of stuck with it.
On Texas' ability to get to the basket...
I think they got a lot of easier buckets in the second half. It was a long game, and everybody was playing as hard as we can. They ran guys in and out. It comes down to pride. They wanted it a lot more. Those guys, (it was their) senior night, we just came up short.
Junior Guard Cade Davis
On cooling off in the second half...
I think it just came down to that they wanted it more. They were getting more offensive rebounds off of free throws and things like that. We had to play defense longer. I guess you can say we ran out of gas. We hurt ourselves on the defensive end, and that's why we couldn't get going offensively.
On the first 30 minutes of the game...
I'd compare that to a few games where we'd played really well. We battled. We did some things really well offensively and defensively. Like (Tony) Crock(er) said, we've got to be able to do that in the second half and close out games better.
On Texas' run to take the lead...
It was just the defense not getting back. They had some wide open looks. There were too many offensive rebounds we let them have.