OKLAHOMA STATE HEAD COACH EDDIE SUTTON
On the game...
“I thought in the first half, our defense was really soft. We let them do just about anything they wanted to do. We got down 16 (points) and finally got it back. I kept telling our team that if we get it back to around 10 (points), we would win the game. We were down 11(points) at halftime. In the second half, our defense was playing like it was the other night against the University of Oklahoma. It certainly wasn’t a very pretty game, but the difference in winning the game was that we forced so many turnovers in the second half. I thought, as a told the team, we didn’t play a very pretty basketball game, but we won. Sometimes in conference play, when you go on the road, you need a little bit of a break to win a ballgame. I thought the thing that impressed me the most about our team tonight was that we really competed in the second half. We are not what you would call a veteran ball club. They showed a lot of courage.”
On Kansas State’s play tonight...
“You certainly have to give Kansas State a lot of credit. Kansas State is a good basketball team. Our defense in the last 10 minutes started to frustrate them a little bit. They are going to win a lot of ballgames. I was impressed looking at the film going into this game. I guess the odd makers must have thought so too because I looked in the paper this morning and I think we were favored by 2 (points). That’s a tough loss for Jim (Wooldridge) and his team because they certainly played well enough to win.”
On rebounding...
“Kansas State is a very good rebounding ball club. We knew that. We thought the biggest key of the game would be defensive board play. They got 10 offensive rebounds. I think they were averaging about 15 (offensive rebounds), so we did a good job there. Ivan (McFarlin) made a great offensive rebound on a missed shot when he dunked it. Offensively, I thought (John) Lucas and Tony (Allen) really played well. They made some big shots for us. We got some help off the bench, not so much in scoring, but I thought Terrence Crawford and Jason Miller both came in and gave us a lift defensively.”
On playing zone defense...
“We have to play it some. We played it to change the tempo of the game. They were just killing us inside. We had a hard time defending, and we felt like if we went to the zone it would force them to handle the ball a little bit longer and have to shoot outside shots. I don’t think it was outstanding, but it did serve a purpose. Early in the second half we were double-teaming the basketball. We were trying to force turnovers.”
