Oregon State - Vermont Post Game Quotes
March 23, 2009 | Men's Basketball
March 23, 2009
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
OREGON STATE HEAD COACH Craig Robinson
On the crowd…
“Before getting into anything, I just want to say the crowd was phenomenal. I wish I could have stayed out here longer to thank them even more. We wouldn't have been able to win without them. We needed those cheers and their energy.”
On the game…
“They banked in shots, we scored, and then they would go bank some more shots in, but I felt we never let them take a shot that wasn't contested. They rose to the occasion. Rickey (Claitt) hit some important shots, we had a couple steals and we didn't give up. When we fell behind, our guys said, “let's do what we need to do,” and they did. We did what we needed to do, and that was to win a close game.”
On both teams…
“It was a very well played game. Our defense was not the usual defense, but we also forced Vermont to take some tough shots. We had toughness, but we still turned the ball over more than we should have. It was a really hard fought game.”
OREGON STATE GUARD Calvin Haynes
On final possession of the game…
“That last possession we drew up is the same one that we always draw up, a pick and roll to me an Roeland [Schaftenaar] up high and Rickey [Claitt] told me, he said 'don't settle for the jumper, go straight to the basket and either get fouled or make it.' I pretty much did that. I just threw it up and prayed to God that it would go in and it went in.
On getting back on defense for Vermont's last possession...
“They were making shots all game and I felt like they hadn't missed anything. I was just trying to run them back, make them put up a bad shot and hope they miss it.”
OREGON STATE GUARD Rickey Claitt
On errors by both teams in the overtime period…
“It was a war out there. Like coach said, the little things didn't matter. We had 16 turnovers, but they didn't matter, it was all about who wanted it more. It was about all out guts and who wanted to win that game.”
On shooting more in the game…
“That's what we [Claitt and OSU head coach Craig Robinson] had been talking about. He was like, 'you're our best shooter, so shoot the ball when you're open.'
On playing Stanford again…
“We're so excited. We did beat them twice but they beat us the last time and they pretty much had the last laugh. We were planning on playing them in the championship but it doesn't matter, we'll play them Wednesday.”
VERMONT HEAD COACH MIKE LONERGAN
Opening Statement…
“Tough loss for us, I think that's five overtime losses for us this year. I think it was a pretty good game. We relied a lot on making threes. They did a good job of taking [Marqus] Blakely out of the game. Our three-point shooting wasn't there when we needed it late in the game. Basically, if we get a stop we win the game. We didn't get a stop and [Calvin] Haynes, a left handed guy, we let him drive left and he got a nice kiss off the glass. Blakely couldn't get over there quite in time to block it. We did a good job of driving the ball up court and [Colin] McIntosh got a good look and it didn't go in.”
We're disappointed in the loss and we feel bad for our seniors, they had a heck of a career and a heck of a season. I want to give Oregon State a lot of credit.”
