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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: COLUMBUSMarch 19, 2015Buddy HieldLon KrugerRyan SpanglerTaShawn ThomasCOLUMBUS, OHIO Q. Buddy, you had initially said when you got the draw that Albany was a good draw for you guys. Why did you say that? BUDDY HIELD: I just said it was a good draw. It's coming our team confidence and knowing what we're capable of doing and just having confidence in my team and I feel like we can go in there get after these guys a lot, just talking a lot of confidence. Q. Ryan and Buddy, last year you guys got beat in the first round. How much do you think about that going into your first round matchup against Albany? RYAN SPANGLER: We've been thinking about it. That's why we've had pretty good practices the last three days. We don't want that to happen to us again. So our goal is to come out on fire and give it all the energy we have. BUDDY HIELD: Like Ryan said, it's been in the back of our heads. We had a couple of great practices to prepare us for this game and we're just ready to get after it now. Q. Buddy, Ryan sort of has a reputation as sort of a villain when you go to opposing arenas. How much do you guys notice that, do you have fun with it or take offense at it or how do you respond to that? BUDDY HIELD: We know that all right. It's fun, though, because Ryan [indiscernible] because his tattoos he has, and everybody else asks him about his tattoos. How he plays, he plays so hard. If I was playing against him I'd be mad at him too. It's always good to help a guy like Ryan on our team. It fuels him. Q. There's going to be a lot made of pace of play after Iowa State was upset today. How do you describe the pace of play from Albany and how does that match up with what you guys like to do? TASHAWN THOMAS: I think they're like more of a half court team. They like to execute in the half court and move the defense around. Just try to catch them sleeping by backdoor or something like that. And I believe if we get the tempo up that we'll be able to execute what we want to do. RYAN SPANGLER: Like he said, I think they like to play, slow it down, play half court game. Obviously we want to get out and run. So we know it's going to be important for us to start out early and try to set the tempo for ourselves. Q. Tough loss to Iowa State. Do you say that -- I know you said you're focused coming into this, are you loose, tense, how are you feeling coming into this? BUDDY HIELD: We can't worry about the game. It was a tough loss for us and we've got to move on to the next and the next game is tomorrow night. We've just got to be locked in and focused. We can't worry about what happened to Iowa State. Watching Iowa State, you see what happened to them, so we can't let teams get their head up and we got to be ready to fight because every team is coming at us. TASHAWN THOMAS: Like Buddy said, I feel like we're not really tensed up right now. We're just ready to play. We haven't really thought about the last loss because we came in looking at it as if everybody is 0-0 everybody's trying to get their first win and try to get some momentum going. That's how I think we're looking at it right now. RYAN SPANGLER: I think we're pretty loose. Like I said earlier, we had three really good practices. I think we're feeling good about ourselves right now. We've been waiting for this game for a while and we put work in for this game. So we're ready. Q. Albany has made a lot about how confident you guys are scoring from all five positions at any time on the court. From your perspective, how confident is this team putting the ball in the basket from any position? RYAN SPANGLER: I think we're pretty confident. Like you said, any of our guys can score at any time. If somebody's having a bad night. That's our goal on offense is to get everybody touches and get the best shots possible. No matter who takes the shots. BUDDY HIELD: Like Ryan said, we're comfortable with everybody scoring from 1 through 5, even guys who come off the bench. Whenever guys get hot we stick with him and we like to move the ball a lot to get the shot in rhythm. Coach always tells you to shoot the ball, spread the floor and get the shot regardless of how Coach you're going to ride that guy. TASHAWN THOMAS: I think anytime you have a team full of people -- the whole five can score we're confident. Of course we're confident with that. It just gives you the chance not to depend on one or two people on the court that when you need a bucket you can always look at somebody else and just see who has the opening right there. Q. TaShawn, the games today have all been close, even the 3-14, 2-15 type matchups. Do you anticipate this game being up for grabs in the last four or five minutes tomorrow night? TASHAWN THOMAS: Kind of. Watching the games, watching the NCAA Tournament, I've always noticed that all the games usually are close. Never really too many blowouts unless it's just like one great team or something like that. But, yeah, I kind of anticipate the game being close and us just having to be strong at the end of the game and be together. Q. You guys have made the tournament the last three years. I'm just wondering why it is that you haven't broken through. You've made the tournament. You must be a pretty good team. But you just haven't gotten through that first game? TASHAWN THOMAS: I can't really speak on that because this is my first year with Oklahoma. So I'll pass it on to them. BUDDY HIELD: Something about that had some -- when I came in first game as a freshman I've been there. But I feel like we had games we were capable of winning, we didn't really execute in the last five minutes. And this team is different this year. I know I said it last year but I feel this team is ready to take the next step and I'm tired of losing in the first round. It's lighting a fire under my butt, and I know Coach Kruger is doing a good job getting us ready. We have good leaders -- me, Ryan, Tay and Isaiah. And we're getting the team ready for that. We're just up for the challenge now. RYAN SPANGLER: I think last year's losses hurt us. And I think we worked pretty hard all summer and getting ready for this year. So I think we're different this year. I think we're more mature and we know how to win a game like this now. Q. Do you guys pay attention to what other Big 12 teams are doing right now? As it looks right now the league's kind of having a rough start to this tournament. Does that concern you as you go into the NCAA Tournament? TASHAWN THOMAS: Of course we watched the other teams, just because we played them in conference. You just want to see how they're doing. I don't really think that the fact that the score is really bothering us any. We're just, like, kind of amazed at the same time that Iowa State kind of lost that early. A lot of people predicted them to go further. A lot of people were shocked by that. But at the same time I don't think it affects in any way how we're going to play tomorrow. BUDDY HIELD: Just watching the games, I feel like my first two years, I came in we opened the first day, the first Thursday and I think it's like watching Iowa State loss gives us a -- opens our heads up, we can't relax on teams that we're supposed to beat. We can beat them, they can't beat us. Let's open our minds, we need to wake up a lot more. Q. The new Albany program has gotten a lot of publicity with their Peter Hooley, the junior guard whose mother died of colon cancer, he hit the big shot to win their tournament. Are you aware of that and the reaction to the story it's become? RYAN SPANGLER: Yeah, I feel bad for him. Anybody that goes through that and we'll be praying for him. But on top of that, we've got to play our game and not think about that and hopefully come out with a win. BUDDY HIELD: No, like Ryan said, I feel bad for him. If I lost my mom I'd feel bad. And happy he made that shot. He made that shot, it was good for him, but we've just got to worry about what we have to handle, and we'll be praying for him and hopefully he gets through it. Q. Somewhat tied into that, you guys were tremendous -- Iowa State was the home team, if you will, in the tournament -- because of Peter's basket and maybe the location up here and his story, there's thought that Albany will be considered the home team. Any thoughts about coming into the tournament again playing against -- in that situation? RYAN SPANGLER: I think we're used to playing at away sites. A lot of Big 12 teams have good home court advantages. We can't think about it. We just have to go out there and execute. If you execute the fans can't get into the game that well. Q. With a win in this NCAA Tournament Lon can become the first coach ever to have five NCAA Tournament wins with five different schools. What's it like to play for a guy like that? TASHAWN THOMAS: This year's been really exciting for me to play for Coach Kruger. It's just something different from what I'm used to and just the trust he has in all of us on the court and off the court. Just shows a lot in him as a person. He's a great coach. And it's an honor to actually be able to play for him. I wish I could actually play for him longer. So it wraps it up. BUDDY HIELD: Yeah, Coach Kruger, he's been so great from my freshman year. I came in and he never promised me nothing and I respect that out of him. He always showed true to the game and he did everything right. He made all us players better. He made us players believing in what he's doing, and you see why he's done so much around the league and everywhere he went he was so successful. And he's been coaching good and I respect what he's doing and he got the best out of me and got the best out of Ryan and all his players and making us play hard. He's bringing teams that people didn't pick to make it further and just making the best out of his players and I really respect him for that. RYAN SPANGLER: I think it shows how good of a coach he is. He's able to make us better players year after year and make us grow up on and off the court and he's been able to do that every place he's been. Q. Since we've been sitting here Baylor got beat as a No. 3 seed. Georgia State beat them. All of a sudden two number 3 seeds from the Big 12 have gone down. Does that help you guys in terms of getting your focus straight or does that worry you, hey, maybe the league is cursed or what's your response to that? RYAN SPANGLER: I think it helps us. It shows us that anybody can beat anybody when it comes to March. And we'll be thinking about them two losses tonight and see where they went wrong and try not to let it happen to us tomorrow and make sure we come out with fire and ready to play. BUDDY HIELD: Yeah, we gotta come out with a lot of fire and a lot of energy. Watching Baylor, Baylor's a pretty good team. I had them going far, too. But it's a tough loss. We had a good league and it was the best RPI league in the nation. Anything happens in March. We can't let whatever happened to Baylor affect us, we have to go out, execute our game plan. Q. Ryan, would you give an example of what it is about Coach Kruger that you particularly are fond of? I know early in your career you really appreciated him. RYAN SPANGLER: As a player? Q. However you wanted to address it. RYAN SPANGLER: I think as far as being his player, college players, high school players want to be good at everything all at once. And I think he's good at talking to you and kind of showing you, hey, if you'll work on this one thing, whether it's rebounding, defense, shooting, whatever it is, you work on that one thing for a while and then you perfect it and then you're able to move on to new things and perfect them slowly at a time. And I think he's good at that. Q. TaShawn, yesterday the NCAA closed the rule that a guy could apply for a waiver to play immediately. Of course, if that would have been the case last year you would have been heavily affected. What's your reaction to that rule being changed and what you were able to do no longer being available to players? TASHAWN THOMAS: That's kind of -- I don't know what word to say for it -- but I'm just thankful that I actually got the chance before that rule came into play. Just me being able to play this year, just showing me a lot of things. I went to a lot of places I haven't been to my life, actually making it to the tournament for the first time and going to the Bahamas, just things like that. So just being able to play this year I'm thankful I had the chance and I feel bad for anybody that had to go through what I had to go through after this year. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach. Q. Coach, we were just finishing up talking about the Big 12. Maybe we can start off there. We had two teams now, two 3s falling by the wayside does that tell you anything? COACH KRUGER: Just heard about the Baylor score. Very surprise, two great teams that had great years and outstanding players. That's the nature of the NCAA Tournament, I guess. It's surprising anytime that happens but it's happened before. Q. That's two No. 3 seeds that lost, the other No. 3 seed Notre Dame almost lost. Only one 3 seed to play in the first round, that happens to be you. What kind of -- does this help you tomorrow getting you guys focused, realizing that nothing's easy or did they already know that or how do you think what's happened today affects tomorrow? COACH KRUGER: I hope they already knew nothing was going to be easy. If they didn't, I guess this would reinforce that they've got to be ready and battling every possession and respect the opponents. I know our guys definitely respect Albany and how good they've been and their culture of winning and three championships in a row and so it shouldn't be a problem. Our guys have practiced well all week in preparation and again know how good Albany is. Q. If you win an NCAA Tournament game here at Oklahoma, you'll be the only coach ever to have five wins at five different schools. I know you're focused on the game, but what kind of achievement would that mean if you were able to earn that? COACH KRUGER: Not thinking about that at all, of course, just more concerned about winning the game for the guys that are in the program and for the program. But we've been at good places. We've been with good players. They've had a lot of good times. So it doesn't mean too much more than that. Q. You've had some time now to look at film of Albany. What do you think you have to do to beat them? COACH KRUGER: We've got to play well. Coach Brown does a terrific job. Watching his teams on tape, very solid, very sound, fundamentally good on both ends of the floor. Play extremely hard. Very well organized and well prepared. We played against those type of teams all year and our guys understand that we have to play well to win. If we don't, we probably won't win. And that's been the way it's been in the Big 12 and that won't change now. So really good team. Really good Albany team that knows how to win. Q. I'm wondering, in the last two years, when you got knocked out in one game, was there a trend or was there an overriding factor; was there anything that happened in those two games that you might have been able to correct or work on going into this game? COACH KRUGER: The two years were different. Last year we just didn't do the job defensively at critical times in that game to get some stops. Had a chance to get a little bit of a margin down the stretch and didn't. Two years ago played a very good San Diego State team that got away from us a little bit midway in the second half. Different type games. And if that one didn't go down to the wire, last year it did. Just didn't get the stops last year that we needed and hopefully this team is in a better position to do that. Q. The pace of play with you two clubs seems to be quite different. How do you address that with your club? What would be important for your guys? COACH KRUGER: We've gotta do a good job defensively in terms of trying to make Albany take tough shots and giving them only one on their end and trying to push the pace offensively, get good looks on our end, need to take good care of the ball, get a good shot out of each possession. Rebounding in a game like that is always important. Trying to get some second-shot opportunities on our end and try to limit Albany on theirs. But sometimes it's easier said than done, but our guys, again, have a great deal of respect for how hard Albany plays and how good of a job they do. Q. Eddie Sutton used to talk about this a lot about how much the NCAA Tournament changed over his career. You've been coaching in it a long time, played in it a real long time ago. How much different is it from, say, the mid-'70s or mid-'80s? COACH KRUGER: It's different than when we played, there was only 16 teams in the event. You won a ballgame, got the Elite Eight game. But the number of good teams, the number of good players has changed a lot over the years. That's why I think there were more perceived upsets today because there's more good players on each team, and players that are used to playing each other in the AAU events in the summertime, it's not such an awe factor perhaps for some of them like it may be used to be 15, 20 years ago. Just more good players. More good players. More good teams. I think all coaches do a great job. So it's hard to win games in the tournament. Q. I don't think you can argue that Oklahoma has a more athletic team than Albany. Does a more athletic team usually have the advantage then? COACH KRUGER: Not necessarily. It depends on the team that makes shots probably has the advantage. Making shots in the tournament I think is the most important thing. A lot of times, certainly you have to get stops, get rebounds, but you've got to make shots. And being athletic or non-athletic doesn't always make a big difference there. We've gotta do a good job. We've got to be sound. We have to use, if there's an advantage athletically, we have to use that to our advantage and be disciplined with it and do a good job especially on the defensive end. Q. The Peter Hooley story is catching on. It's obviously a major story in this region. Your thoughts on if that is an impact in any way in terms of the game out on the court and your thoughts of him as a player? COACH KRUGER: I respect what he's gone through and how difficult that must be during the basketball season or any other time, to see the highlights of his game-winning shot, and felt really good for him at that moment. And the story -- that was the first time I had really heard the details. And, again, it's a tough situation, I guess a feel-good moment, to hit a shot like that. But I think when the game starts, I don't know that that will play a big part in the games. I doubt the players on either team are thinking too much about that. Certainly him making the shot's a nice story leading up to it. Q. By looking at film of Albany, is there one player that you think you have to concentrate on to stop and make sure he doesn't beat you? COACH KRUGER: They've got several actually. I don't know if that's one guy. Again, I don't know them as well as Albany or perhaps you might. Seems like at different times during the year different individuals have stepped up and made big plays. They've got four guys averaging right around double figures or better and seemed like all those guys have been capable of stepping up and making big plays at critical times. We're not looking at just one guy. We're looking more at the five-on-five and being good defensively as a team and being aware and helping each other, and so nothing really different. It's not like there's just one guy. I think you have to do a good job on all of them. Q. Anything you've worked on with Buddy -- his shooting numbers have been down for a while. Anything coming into this tournament that you've stressed with him that you could tell us about? COACH KRUGER: Not anything different. Just balance, working hard to get separation. Trying to be low, be on balance. We want him shooting the ball. We want him being aggressive. He's done a good job for us all year long. Of course, defenses are gearing to stop him more and more and it makes it more difficult to get separation and get open looks. But he's aware of that, and he's worked hard to improve on that. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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