Tulsa Postgame Quotes vs. North Texas
2/1/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 1, 2014
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TULSA HEAD COACH Danny Manning
Opening Statement
"Tonight was a game where we came out and had very good ball movement. We made some shots early and got on a nice roll offensively. I think it makes up for the defensive mistakes that we made, because we made quite a few defensive mistakes. You knew that North Texas was going to get the ball up the sideline quick, but I had no idea that it would be that quick. We made our shots, and that covered up a lot of things. Overall, we played well. We rebounded well. I'm a little disappointed in our turnovers and assists, but when you shoot the ball the way we shot it, it covers up a lot of those mistakes. "
On Rashad Smith's return against North Texas
"He shot 7-of-10 with six rebounds for 17 points in his first game back. It is nice to have him back out on the court. Substitution-wise, we didn't want to leave him out there too long. He played 22 minutes tonight. It was a very effective 22 minutes. As his conditioning gets better, his minutes will increase. A lot of that, also, is based on how the other guys around him are playing. Tonight, we had a lot of guys who played well, especially the big guys. D'Andre Wright and Rashad Smith were especially good. Brandon was efficient in the second half in terms of rebounding and protecting the basket. Our big guys played well with the supporting cast of guards."
On Stevie Repichowski's game tonight
"Stevie Repichowski works hard in practice. We're just in a tough situation, in terms of minutes. If Pat (Swilling) was healthy, I don't know if Stevie would have played 15 minutes, but Stevie was ready. He gave us 15 really good minutes. To be out there in the meat of the game, I thought he performed very well. He has to continue to work and get better, but the one thing I can't complain about is his intensity each and every day. I think that all the guys on the team were happy for him as well."
On the attention North Texas was given all week in practice
"Every team we play has our attention. I think that this week, with only having one team to play, we were able to work on some really good things, but we knew going in to this situation what it meant. We have the standings up in our locker room. It is no secret. We just have to continue to win games and keep ourselves in the hunt. That is our objective and goal."
On where the game against North Texas stacks up against others this season
"It is the most complete game we have had in a while. There were a lot of contributions from a lot of guys when it came to scoring the basketball and rebounding the basketball. I want to go back and watch tape before I really commit to saying it was the most complete game of the year. When you have 15 assists and 16 turnovers, you have to figure out why that happened. I was disappointed in that, but otherwise I thought it was a good effort."
On Tulsa's next opponent, Louisiana Tech
"Coach White has done a good job since getting to Louisiana Tech. They were one of the dominant teams in their league last year, and they're one of the front-runners in the league this year. That is no secret. Ruston is a tough place to play, but it will be a fun trip."
TULSA FORWARD Rashad Smith
On returning After a Six Game Absence
"First off, I was very nervous. The team has been playing very well throughout conference. I didn't want to come in doing too much and trying to force things. It felt really good actually. It's just great to be back out there.
Talk about being incorporated back into the lineup
"Like I said, I told my teammate I didn't want to come in and do too much, but they kept telling me play your game. We need you back. Whether I'm coming in giving Dre a breather or whatever it is, it all helps and it all works out like you can see today."
On teammate Stevie Rephichowski's growing minutes
"Stevie has proven that he can come in and do what he needs to do as far as shooting and things like that. Every game he proves it; he gets more playing time. He works hard in practice. He makes us work. And, he rarely misses so there's no reason not to play him."
TULSA FORWARD D'Andre Wright
On the wide margin of victory after a stretch of close games
"It felt great. We had a hard week of practice. We were going hard. We were competing. Coach was telling us all week that we have to get back on track and play team ball. Once we play team ball and team defense we're a tough team to beat. I think that's what we did in the first half. We played great defense and we were all scoring. Everything was coming easy, so we just knew we had to finish the game off."
Was it nice to know you had a size advantage and you can take advantage of it
"The big man that was in was in some foul trouble and he was getting frustrated on the court. When he left the game it was like playing small ball. I was just trying to make sure I'd make my free throws.
On North Texas and the conference as a whole
"We knew they are a capable team. Pretty much everyone in the conference is tough top to bottom. Look at Rice, they beat somebody last week that's pretty good. You just have to come out every game focused and ready to compete and get wins. "
On teammate Stevie Rephichowski's growing minutes
"Dude can shoot!"
NORTH TEXAS COACH TONY BENFORD
Opening Statement
"I give Danny Manning and his group credit. They did a good job, played harder and were more physical than we were today. We did not do a good job defending the paint today. We played our 2-3 zone. We got the first stop but not the second because we didn't get the rebound. I thought we executed to a certain extent but turned over the ball too often. We got down and they outplayed us. I give them credit."
Why the zone wasn't effective tonight?
"We didn't rebound. We got stops on the first shot, but when the rebound came off they got it and put it back in. Then we would get in a hole and play uphill."
What about Tulsa getting out in transition?
"This team is good they do a great job getting out on transition. Our three goals were that we wanted to keep them out of transition, keep them out of the paint and rebound the basketball, and we didn't do any of those things."
