Oregon State Post-Game Quotes
February 26, 2012 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2012
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Oregon 74, Oregon State 73
February 26, 2012
Gill Coliseum
Corvallis, Ore.
Head Coach Craig Robinson
Opening Comment...
"That was a classic rivalry battle and we came out on the losing end. I don't think it was because of effort. I was really pleased with our intensity, our effort and our hard work. We finally came out matching the other team's effort. The crowd was terrific. I think what it came down to was intangibles. It was the loose balls and the rebounds that you have to get. Not making a foul on that last one when you get a guy to miss a shot and you get the rebound, but we fouled the guy. I would like to blame it on youth, but I can't. We have to start executing. We are not young anymore. We have been through a lot of wars. If you want to be good, you have to win games like this, especially when you have a sold out crowd and are playing against a team that is fighting to get to the NCAA tournament."
On Oregon State's final possession and plays of the game...
"It worked out exactly how we wanted it to. I figured let's use the last timeout to try and make them miss the foul shot. By the way, that kid is like a 50 percent foul shooter, and it seemed like he made every single one of them except that last one. We got them to miss and had a shot at it. We called the play in the huddle. The way we saw it was that if he made it we were going to go for a quick two and have to foul again because we would be down by four. If he missed it then we were going for a three. It worked out exactly how we wanted and had a wide-open look. Challe Barton ended up being the guy open. Out of all the guys who were out there, any of the four who we had, other than Joe Burton, could have taken that three. It worked out almost exactly how we wanted because we knew they would overplay our best shooters, and Challe had a nice little look at it and it just didn't go down. There was enough time to do what we did. We ended up getting a shot to tie the game at the end there. I think that the spread was like eight seconds, I can't remember what it was, but nobody takes a shot with one second left and lets the time run out. It looks like there was going to be six seconds left. That is enough for us to get a shot. What we didn't bank on was the foul called on the rebound and giving them a three-point lead rather than a two-point lead. If it is a two-point lead then we do almost the same thing we did and tie the game and we are still playing maybe."
On Devon Collier coming back in the second half after being injured in the first...
"That was big for us. It's starting to show a little bit of leadership on this team. He could have easily decided that `ah, my knee's sore, let me not go back in.' But he wanted to be in that fight. It was a lift for us. He's important for us. He gets big time rebounds. He can score in the paint and he defends his man well and gets blocked shots. It was really a lift for us to have him back in the second half."
On comparing this loss to other tough losses the team has had this season...
"The way I look at them is they get worse. You would have thought the four-overtime loss would have been the worse, but each time you get close it gets harder. My job is to keep these guys' confidence up and have them understand that we are not that far away from competing with absolutely everybody in this league. I really like the fight in these guys. I like their preparation and I just have to work on their execution."
On Oregon guard Garrett Sim...
"It was very frustrating. We know how good he is when he is left open. Give him credit, he played a great game. We did a really good job on him the last time we played. We were really focused on letting (Devoe) Joseph not go crazy on us. I thought we did a great job there, but it is like the proverbial balloon, you squeeze one end and the other one comes out. Sim killed us."
On their fourth loss in a row possibly impacting their psyche...
"I actually think, funny enough, they are learning what they need to do. I think they learn what they need to do. I can take a lot of the blame because we didn't have very many tough non-conference games. We sort of got a baptism by fire in the conference. This isn't a time for them to be down or for me to be down on them. I've said this a million times, this is a work in progress and we have taken a nice step forward and don't want to lose the confidence we have. What we want to do is keep shoring up our shortcomings. That is my job to do."
On whether or not he saw what happened with the double technical play and Jared...
"I didn't, but it doesn't matter. He wasn't even in the game, so he shouldn't have gotten involved there. There is a lot of frustration when you can only play nine minutes in the first half and you are considered one of the elite players in the conference. As far as I'm concerned our season is not over. That is the way
On how his team handled the physical nature of the game...
"It was 74-73. I thought we handled it well. I don't think the physical nature of the game cost us the game. I think the little things cost us the game. The little things that you have to do; you have to make foul shots, you have to get loose balls, you have to get rebounds and convert when you get steals. We are a steals team and if we don't convert on those that takes away some of our offense. Those are the things that we call intangibles that you can't really run a practice drill for. You just sort of gain the experience through the school of hard knocks and we have to get better at it."
On being used to coming back from being down...
"One of the things about changing a culture is that you have to change the ability. You can't get used to coming back all the time because that is all you have done. Our first three years, the games we won we came back from. We are really good at coming back, but you can't put yourself in that position all the time when you are playing against the top echelon in the league. You have to be able to get out in front of them and make them come back. That is all learned behavior. I think we are getting better at it, but we are not good enough at it yet."
Sophomore guard Ahmad Starks
On the last possession after Olu Ashaolu's free throw that put Oregon ahead by three points...
"Our play depended on whether he was to make it or miss it. He missed the shot so we wanted to run the ball up and try to find myself, or someone else, for a three-point shot. Challe (Barton) had the ball and he had the best look at that moment. Jared (Cunningham) was being denied and I was being denied. Challe was wide open and it was a good look. He didn't make the shot but it was a good possession I thought."
On the play of Oregon guard Garret Sim...
"He was hitting everything tonight, partially due to me. I could have gotten up on him more but he had a great game. Kudos to him."
On going into the half down by one...
"We felt pretty good about it. We should have been up if it wasn't for a few second chance points and stuff like that. We were pretty confident about the situation but coach just hit on the intangibles; the loose balls and the second chance opportunities that hurt us big time."
On the physicality of the game...
"It was very physical, very intense out there. Up until that possession when E.J. (Singler) missed his shot Eric (Moreland) was tussling with Olu (Ashaolu) for the rebound. It is a tough call right there, but they were both playing physical and we got the lesser half of the bargain. Both teams want to win and, of course, it's the Civil War so it's going to be crazy."
On his intentional foul call on Oregon's Garret Sim...
"I don't believe it was an intentional foul. I definitely hit him. He kind of stopped in front of me, which I guess you can say is a smart move. But it definitely was not an intentional foul."
Junior center Angus Brandt
On the tough loss...
"I think that we accomplished everything that we set out to do at the beginning of this week. We just lost the game and it's tough. We did what we set out to do and achieved about 95% of the goals we had for the game. We just came up one point short."
On Devon Collier returning to the game after the injury...
"It was massive. No one likes to see a teammate go down, especially when it's the knee. For him to come back and play like nothing had happened shows not only his toughness, but also what he is willing to put himself through for this team and how much he wants to win. I think the whole team got a boost from him coming back in the second half."
On the intensity of the game...
"It was a funny game. These in-state rivalries are always tough games for bragging rights, obviously. It was a physical game and there were a lot of fouls called. The officials tonight did a good job so we're not going to worry about that."
On foul trouble recovery...
"It was definitely an obstacle, but I thought coach did a really good job of playing offense and defense with Eric (Moreland) and I. He was trying to get me into the game without putting me in position to foul out. I think the guys on the second team stepped up when Jared (Cunningham) was out of the game. They helped us come back from a deficit and they handled it well."
On the team's mentality after the loss...
"It affects us right now, but we can't dwell on it too long. I think everyone has got to try and get past it by the end of tonight, before we go to sleep. We've still got Utah and Colorado coming, which are two teams that are playing well. We've just got to move on to the next one and we can't really sulk about this too much."
On the foul call on Moreland at the end of the game...
"It's basketball and that stuff happens. Eric is a warrior, and he does whatever he can to get the rebound, and unfortunately he got called for the foul."
