Oregon State Post-Game Quotes
December 18, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 18, 2011
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Oregon State 101, Portland State 68
December 18, 2011
Gill Coliseum
Corvallis, Ore.
Head Coach Craig Robinson
Opening Statement...
"This was a nice way to end this homestand. It was a tough start with Montana, and then obviously the Idaho game. To be able to say that you are 4-1 in a five-game homestand is really a nice feeling. To win the last one, in front of a terrific crowd is great. That student section has been with us through the exam period, the vacation period and our fans are starting to come out and it is really nice to see. I think that it helps our guys. Beaver Nation is starting to catch hold and it is really nice for our guys."
On starting the second half strong...
"As you know, the first four minutes of the second half has been a little bit of a weak spot for us. At the four minute timeout, we were winning, but it didn't feel like it because it was kind of like punch-for-punch with them, but we got a couple more in. What happens when our guys decide they want to start playing defense, they start to wear out the guards on the other team and I thought that is what happened. I thought that Portland State did a great job hanging with us the whole time and we knew they would do that. These in-state rivalry games when you have guys that are from the state and playing against a high-major school, they are going to play well. But I thought we wore those guys out and it was good to see that our guys were able to hang in there and we had a chance to make a good separation."
On the three-point shooting tonight...
"We have been shooting the ball well. Some of those three-point shots kept us in there and they were trading twos for threes, which is always helpful. Usually we are on the other end of that trade."
On the team having 27 assists...
"That stat doesn't really jump out to me with this team. We have been assisting each other all year long, and in this game it was just more because we shot more today and scored more points. It almost cost us because we were assisting so much we couldn't take advantage of the fouls they were calling because they were all regular fouls. I have been talking about the teamwork and the camaraderie of this team and that is a good stat to take a look at when you have guys spreading it around like that. When you have Joe Burton with nine assists and Jared Cunningham with eight, that is really nice to see."
On the team camaraderie...
"It is a function of how close they are, and it is a function of the leadership of the team. When you have leaders like Jared Cunningham, Kevin McShane and Angus Brandt, who are selfless, you develop that kind of environment. No one cares who scores. I mean in the last game we had three guys score twenty points or more and not one of them is named Jared Cunningham. And Jared was just as happy as anybody we won the game. Tonight, I don't think anybody cared about anything other than C.J. Mitchell getting to participate in the game. I thought the bench was going to run on the court when C.J. hit both his foul shots and then hit that three-point shot to put us over 100 points. I told the other coaches that we aren't trying to rub their nose in it, but those guys are so excited to play and we happened to make that shot on the last play. That is a really good attitude to have. This team cares about each other and winning."
On getting prepared for the Pac-12 season to start...
"Because of the way the schedule is we won't be conference ready until the first conference game. We have work to do and we have another game before that. Our motto this year has been "One Day At A Time" and so we haven't talked about conference play yet. We have to deal with how we are going to practice tomorrow, and the next day and then we will worry about Chicago State. Then we will have a few days off for the holidays. We won't know if we are ready (before that)."
On if his team is catching opponents off guard with its offensive play...
"I would think that since we have had so many games on television, that people are aware. I don't think that we can sneak up on anybody. I think that people know that this is a different team and they are preparing for it, which makes each of our games harder than the last. That is what we are trying to understand as a team; that is one of the learning points for this team because we are in unchartered waters during this stretch of games. We have never been in the position where every game is harder than the last because we are playing so well and every team prepares for us. That is what concerns me, every single game we play from here out, (our opponents) are preparing for us. We saw the Pac-12 (scores) today before our game and there are a lot of teams being knocked off. We used to be one of those teams who would be trying to knock people off, and now the shoe is on the other foot and people are trying to knock us off. I don't think we are surprising anybody from here on forward."
Sophomore guard Roberto Nelson
On the team's 27 assists...
"I think we did a great job passing the ball and finding open people. Angus had a good game in the post and Ahmad could not miss and it is really easy to pass to those guys when they are hot."
On getting contributions from the entire lineup...
"Pretty much the whole team was playing well today. It was definitely hard to stop one person because normally there are a couple of people that will go off, but we had a great team effort tonight and everybody contributed to the win. It was just hard to stop everybody at once when we were going full speed."
On the second half run...
"It was definitely important. We needed that since the game was close at first. We just had to make plays, execute and run the offense the way that coach wants us to. We found open shots within the offense so once we started going, it was hard to stop us."
Sophomore guard Ahmad Starks
General comments on the game...
"Coach said we had a stretch where stopped them a lot of times and we were able to score. At first, our shots were just bailing us out, but then there was a stretch where we got a couple of stops and capitalized on it."
On holding off Portland State...
"That's what we work on every day on practice. We just wait for that point where we step it up defensively just like you saw tonight."
Junior center Angus Brandt
On scoring 100 points...
"We were ecstatic. I think as much as it is for us making a hundred, for C.J. (Mitchell) to come in and score five points at the end of the game; we were just as happy about that if not more happy than scoring 100 points."
On the difference in free throw attempts between teams...
"You notice it in the game but you don't let it get to you. Everyone on the team did a great job of not letting it affect them."
On having one more non-conference game left at Chicago State...
"It's really important to get this road win. We have had only one real road game. For us to get one more road game under our belt before conference starts will be big for us."
