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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 9, 2016Travis FordJeffrey CarrollTyree GriffinKansas City, Missouri Kansas State-75, Oklahoma State-71 THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by Coach Travis Ford of Oklahoma State. The student-athletes are on the way as well. Let's start with coach. We call on you for your thoughts for tonight's game. COACH FORD: I thought tonight's game was the definition of our season: a lot of injuries and a lot of fight. And that's who we've been this year. And going into this game, we didn't know if Mitchell Solomon -- literally, we had to have a long, in-depth conversation with our trainer five minutes before the game. Are you sure? Are you sure? And he wanted to give it a go. And then Leyton Hammonds goes down and Mitch goes down, and we get in a little foul trouble, but our guys never quit. Had so much fight to them. We fought so much adversity this year. I told them I couldn't be more proud. They learned so many life lessons. There's going to be a lot of adversity in people's lives, whether it be jobs, marriage, whatever it maybe, you will find it. But if they handle adversity the way they did this season, good things will happen for them. Because never did they make excuses and they went out and played hard and got prepared for the next game, when all the odds were against us, and they got prepared for the next game. And I thought tonight's game was kind of a true definition of how our season is going. Through all of the injuries and trying to figure out what we're going to do next, just stay in the game and keep fighting. As a guy who has been around this game my whole life, since I can't remember, since I was 2 years old, going to games with my dad, who was a high school coach. This has been my whole life. Coached so many different teams, played on so many different teams and experienced so much through this game. I told our guys, in some crazy way, the last four to five to six weeks, the challenge of it has been kind of fun. The losing hasn't been, that part, but the challenge of it, when you're dealing with the young men that I was dealing with, when you're dealing with them -- now, if they'd been quitters or had sour attitudes or after two or three losses, didn't get ready the next day, then, no, I wouldn't be say that. I said through all -- these guys showed so much more maturity than other people, it's unbelievable. I told them they should be proud of that, should so much maturity through that. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. Q. Travis, the last game of the season, it's always an emotional locker room, I assume. Was this one any different than other seasons, though? The locker room after the game? COACH FORD: No, it was emotional. When you make a run, especially the way we made it, and had the chance to win the game, we had a chance, it's always even a little bit more. And you know it's your last game too, it was very emotional. I just talked so much to our team about how proud I was of them and how much we've been through this year, and kind of went through it. Talked to our seniors a little bit. It was very emotional. Guys are disappointed that they lost. That was the number one thing on their minds right now. As bad as we played the first half -- as I told them at halftime, I'm not even going to talk about the first half, not even going to address it, not talk about what went wrong. I'm going to talk to you about what we're going to do the second half. This is what we are going to do. Period. That's it. This is how we're going to do. This is what we're going to do. Let's go do it. They had the right attitude. I was a little worried. It'd been easy for this team to quit after that half, but that's just not in their nature. They're more mature than that and I told them ow much I appreciated it. But I would say, you know, what kind of goes on in there amongst teams, when you are part of a team, some things are very -- stay within the team, when you have been part of teams, and I understand that. But, yeah, it was emotional in a lot of ways, because I am so proud of these guys and I want great things for these guys. And again, I wanted them to know how proud I am. How much -- how much they made me feel being able to fight. You know, yeah, we all want to win. And if you don't, the sky's falling. And boy, I understand it all. But for these guys to fight the adversity, I challenge you to find any teams that have been through the adversity that we have been through. I challenge it. For these guys to keep fighting, these two right here, both have been injured significantly, sick or injured. Never had any excuses, tried to figure out how to get themselves back. And that's not easy to find in today's society. So many people would give in or give up or go do something, but these guys never did that. They just kept fighting. I love that. For a guy that's been around this game, I love that. As I told them, in a crazy way, you know, I've enjoyed the challenge of this last couple of weeks. I really have. You know, had long, long nights trying to figure it out. Because every day we've been trying to figure out what team we're going to coach, who's going to be ready (laughter). And these guys have made it fun. Made it fun. THE MODERATOR: Coach, let's move to your -- COACH FORD: Am I done? THE MODERATOR: Not yet, almost. We move to the student-athletes, Jeffery Carroll and Tyree Griffin. Questions for them, and we'll come back for Coach for last comment. Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Tyree and Jeff both, Travis just told us what his message was to you in the locker room. Tell us what you heard from him when he was talking to you after the game. TYREE GRIFFIN: Well, like he has been saying the whole season, like we've been through a lot of adversity and he's just trying to lift us up, like every single time. He's never been negative to us. We've never been negative towards our teammates. We just try to go out there and finish each game and play strong every night. JEFFERY CARROLL: Kind of building what Coach and Tyree were saying, he's always been positive the whole year. Great coach, I love him to death. He has made me a totally better player this year. And like just as a team, we've grown together as one. So I think this season has made us a lot closer. Q. Travis said the losing wasn't fun, but the process, just trying to fight through the adversity was something he ended up enjoying. You guys, would you agree with that? Do you think this somehow made you better people? Better players? COACH FORD: Enjoyed the challenge. If you like challenges in life, then there is not a bigger one than we have been facing. Q. How do you look at the challenge that you went through, including up through tonight's game? TYREE GRIFFIN: Well, nobody want to lose. Like we went into every game thinking we was going to win, even with a short bench. Like the games that we lost, we never made excuses or nothing. We just built off them and tried to learn from them. JEFFERY CARROLL: The challenge, you know, just I think we've grown a lot. Like this has helped us for next season. I think we'll come back even stronger from that. THE MODERATOR: Guys, we'll let you go back to the locker room. Closing questions for Coach Ford. Q. Obviously a difficult year for you, Coach. That hasn't stopped the speculation about your job status, how confident are you that you'll be back next year? COACH FORD: Well, I'm just proud of these guys right now, and I worry about my players, as I always do. We're about trying to keep their spirits up and haven't gave much thought to it at this point. But very proud of these guys. And that's been my total focus. And people have asked me about it, and they don't understand the life I live. They don't understand -- they are not around me enough to know my mindset of how I work. I immerse myself into trying to figure out how to help this team every way possible, and, you know, I haven't really -- you know, I put everything I could in trying to figure out how to beat K-State. And now I am thinking about what I could have done differently. Q. Would you care to sort of make a case for returning next year? COACH FORD: No. Again, I'm more worried about my basketball team right now, more worried about that right now. There will be a time and place for all that. THE MODERATOR: All right, Coach. Thank you so much. COACH FORD: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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