Tulsa vs Rice Postgame Quotes and Notes
1/8/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 8, 2011
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Tulsa Head Coach Doug Wojcik Opening Statement... "I thought this was a very good win for us. I thought our defense was very alert. I thought the crowd was terrific. I thought people filled in, and I really appreciate that. It's our first league game at home, and I thought it was a really good crowd considering we were coming off of a loss and everything. I am proud of our team with our alertness defensively. That's two opponents in a row that we've held in the 30's shooting-wise. We shot free throws extremely well. I thought we showed a lot of alertness to what we were trying to do defensively to them."
On aggressive performance at the start of the game...
"I think we've always been somewhat aggressive defensively. There are times as the head coach that I realize more and more the amount of experience that Ben (Uzoh) and Jerome (Jordan) and Bishop (Wheatley) brought. So our defense has kind of grown with alertness. Tonight's minutes for Kodi Maduka were big minutes against a really good player in Arsalan Kazemi. We always want to be aggressive, but as you can read in the paper today, I don't want to be so aggressive that we're always in foul trouble. I'm still struggling with D.J. Magley on that. I think he needs to be a little smarter. But we're getting better. Jordan Clarkson is playing against older, bigger, stronger kids and containing the ball is not an easy thing to do. But I thought tonight that we did a better job of it."
Tulsa Senior Guard Justin Hurtt
On start of game and Tulsa's opening 15-0 run...
"The start was really important to us. We came out after a loss, played with energy and did well on the defensive end, and of course made shots. That led to our significant lead."
On number of steals and working on aggressiveness in practice...
"We didn't really work on it in practice. We just came out with a good intensity and that carried on throughout the whole game and that is a good thing for us."
Tulsa Freshman Guard Jordan Clarkson
On injury to ankle and recovery...
"It will probably be about another week just getting in and doing the treatments. I have a little pain, but it is nothing that I can't play through. It is feeling good."
On minutes played:
"First half I was missing a lot of easy shots, then I kind of got in a flow the second half. Getting open shots and getting to the free-throw line really helped a lot."
Tulsa Sophomore Guard Bryson Pope
On four steals in first 100 seconds and his good start...
" I was just trying to focus on being aggressive defensively and trying to make my defense create my offense."
On working on getting in the passing lane during practice and national standing in number of steals...
"We don't really focus on getting in the passing lane, that is probably why we are so low (in the national ranking in steals), but I was just trying to be an aggressive person and that is why it worked out."
Rice Head Coach Ben Braun
Opening Statement...
"That was obviously not the start we wanted for that game. That was probably the poorest start we've had all year. It was very disappointing. Our team started out with excessive turnovers and some poor shots. Then we compounded it with poor defense. They did really well early, but our guys did battle back some. You can't spot a good team like Tulsa on their own court. That's just not going to get it done. It was disappointing from our standpoint. That was clearly our worst start in a game this year."
Tulsa Postgame Notes vs. Rice • Tulsa scored the first 15 points of the game. • Tulsa's Bryce Pope had five first-half steals . . . as a team, Tulsa tied a season-high with 12 steals . . . it was the most since tallying 12 steals in the season opener against Appalachian State. • Tulsa improved its series record against Rice to 21-6 . . . Tulsa has now won the last eight games in the series. • Tulsa had five double-figure scorers -- Steven Idlet, Justin Hurtt, Bryson Pope, Scottie Haralson and Jordan Clarkson -- for the first time this season . . . the last time Tulsa had five double-digit scorers came in the 2010 Conference USA tournament against Marshall. • Tulsa held Rice to 40-percent shooting from the field, marking the fourth straight game that Tulsa has held the opposition to less than 40-percent field goal percentage. • Tulsa shot 80+ percent from the free throw line for the fourth time in the last five games. • Just Hurtt's streak of scoring 20+ points was stopped tonight after scoring over 20 point in the previous six games . . . he scored a team-high 16 points.
