Oregon State Post-Game Quotes
December 22, 2012 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 22, 2012
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Oregon State 86, San Diego 79
December 22, 2012
MGM Grand Garden Arena
Las Vegas, Nev.
Head coach Craig Robinson
Opening Comment...
"I want to start off by thanking the Pac-12 for giving us this opportunity to play the first-ever game at the MGM Grand Arena. It's quite a spot and we are really looking forward to playing the Pac-12 Tournament here. It's also nice getting a first look at it, too. I think that's going to be helpful at the end of the year when we're back here in March.
"We have not put together a full game yet and we are 9-2. That's a good feeling, but it's also a disturbing feeling. We still have a lot to do on defense at times during games. I think when you score as much as we do, and with the ease that you do, you have a tendency to take your defense for granted. But I'm absolutely ecstatic with the way our team kind of gutted it out. We haven't had a game like this where we had two of our starters in foul trouble. So this gave us a little dry run for that."
On the difference in the second half compared to the strong first half...
"I think we got tentative and we were trying to work on keeping the lead rather than extending the lead and playing the way we did. It could have been a combination of me not being motivational enough or me being too cautious at halftime and talking about taking care of the ball and how you extend the lead. I'll probably take 75 percent of the blame for that. But this team loves each other. They share the ball and don't care who scores. They just want to make the right plays. I thought when we were trying to do some things, we had some turnovers that made them a little bit skittish to do things later on."
On San Diego making a run in the second half...
"We knew if those guys got going and those shooters got going we would be in trouble. What we didn't count on was (Chris) Manresa having such a great game. He had a great game and I thought he gave us some problems being slippery. We allowed too many rebounds. We're a better rebounding team that what you saw today. But a lot of that had to do with how hard San Diego kept playing. They didn't give up and I think that will bode well for them as they move into their conference play."
On whether playing a close game can help the team...
"We lost six games by five points or less last season. This is one of those games where we had to win this game. We had to grind it out. You want to win every game by 30, because as a coach it feels good and you have some leisure time on the bench. But you also have to be able to win games like this that you're supposed to win that you don't play well and you end up winning because you grind it out."
On what the ceiling is for Oregon State this season...
"I think that if we play the way we are capable of we should be fighting for the top of the league. I might be, along with these guys in the locker room, the only one who thinks that. But I see these guys every day in practice and I'm fully confident that if we put together a full game, we can beat anybody in our league. The key is winning those road games that you don't necessarily think you're going to win. If you win those, that's how you win the league. I think we are going to be pretty strong at home and we've got to be able to win games like this when you're on the road."
On the 7-0 run when San Diego cut the lead to 74-72...
"I was really proud of these guys because they made a great run and we made some mistakes - we turned the ball over, we missed a couple of foul shots and a couple of assignments on defense - and the next thing you know we're only up by two. These guys didn't panic. They executed their offense. They buckled down and we were able to pull the lead back out. I didn't panic. But the most important thing is that our players didn't panic."
Junior guard Roberto Nelson
On how important it was to play here before the Pac-12 Tournament...
"It's definitely great to play here and get a game under your belt because it's going to be more of a home game for us than an away game. I think we'll be a lot more familiar with the gym and how the rims are. This is a great gym and has really soft rims. We'll be used to it so hopefully we can make a few more shots come March. I'm just thankful to be part of the first game here."
On whether the players were focused on playing basketball when the Pac-12 Tournament was in Los Angeles...
"This is a business trip. When you go to play, you go to play. You don't go to do anything else. Speaking on behalf of our team, we are definitely focused going in and you can see it in our play when we played last year in the Pac-12 Tournament."
