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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2016

Kansas City, Missouri

Oklahoma-79, Iowa State-76

THE MODERATOR: We're ready to begin with the Oklahoma Sooners, Coach Lon Kruger, his two athletes are Isaiah Cousins and Buddy Hield. Coach, congratulations on your victory tonight. Calling on you for an opening statement.

COACH KRUGER: Thank you. Like every game in the Big 12, it is a game that could have gone either way. Certainly, the game against Iowa State, the boys seem to be that way and the job that Steve Prohm has done this year is unbelievable. They played great and hard, and a bit of a margin in the second half.

Proud of our guys for hanging in there and doing the things they need to do to finish it out. Any time you can win at this point of the season, you feel awfully good for the guys, and certainly do tonight.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much. Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Buddy, can you talk about the dual you had with Niang, not just both of you scoring, but you guarded him a bunch of the night. And then sort of, which I have never seen before, after the game the dual interview with ESPN, both of you at the same time.
BUDDY HIELD: Yes, sir, it was fun competing against him. And he is a good competitor, a tough match-up to guard. He uses his body so well, so skilled. And going against guys like Niang is fun, thank God we got the win. It's sad to see him lose, but I am sure he will challenge me for the next game.

Q. All of you, if you could address, it seemed like that you -- in games recently the pressure, you hadn't responded as well you'd like. But it seemed tonight you guys were the aggressor when the pressure defense came. Maybe a good example was the free-throw line. You're 19-25 compared to 6-10 of theirs. Is that accurate, Lon?
COACH KRUGER: I thought the guys handled it well. A game like that is going down to the wire and you've going to handle late game situations well. I thought our guys did. I thought they were aggressive and attacked, and did a good job finishing at the free-throw line, for sure.

BUDDY HIELD: On the attack, we got a lot of loose balls, a lot of open opportunities in transition and finished at the line. We just was tough and you know want to be aggressive, because the past two years, three years against Iowa State always knocked us out, so we wanted to come in here and prove something tonight.

ISAIAH COUSINS: Yeah, we just kept the pressure on them. The guards just kept attacking, trying to find the seams and trying to make plays for our teammates. And really just keeping it on tomorrow night.

Q. This is for Buddy. Tonight was kind of different for you. I think you only attempted one three in the second half. Almost all of your points came inside the paint. Is that an area you have become more comfortable with in maybe the last couple of months compared to where you were at the start of the year?
BUDDY HIELD: Nah, just giving what the defense takes me and being aggressive, like we said earlier. The three-point shot wasn't there. And they was on me, so I was able to get a step ahead of my man and I was able to make a few jump shots and attack the rim and reading the defense and giving what they take me.

Q. Buddy, fantastic game tonight, but sort of late in the game you had the one shot, the air ball that goes. How are you feeling physically right now? Where are you fatigue-wise with the minutes you played this year?
BUDDY HIELD: I got hit on my head that's why I realized it, real talk. I love playing. This is what we do all day. Coach prepared us preseason, thinking about it. And it is fun competing out there. I would never disregard taking minutes off that I wouldn't be out there competing for my team.

Q. Isaiah, late second half Buddy drew a charge from Niang as the second foul and Iowa State took him out for the rest of the half and you guys sort of scurried away. How much easier did things get for you guys with Niang out of the game?
ISAIAH COUSINS: Niang is a great player and he was pretty -- he was on all game. And that kind of gave us some momentum because he was the leading scorer at the time. So we just kept playing through it, and we made plays for each other.

Q. Buddy and Isaiah, I will ask both of you guys this. Looking ahead, the quick turnaround to West Virginia. Why have you guys been so successful against them this year? The first game went down to the wire, the second game in Morgantown, you handled them done the stretch.
ISAIAH COUSINS: West Virginia is a physical team and we have to be physical just as much as them. Coach Kruger gets us prepared every time we played them. He really focused on being physical, and as a team we just find the open spot to handle their pressure. And every possession we take care of the ball.

Q. Buddy, good chunk of the game you matched up with Niang at least at the onset of a possession. Held him down pretty good early. He got going late. Can you talk about your defense and why you were successful early and what happened where he got going downhill late in the game?
BUDDY HIELD: Just find a way to frustrate him. I was watching film of him. I just fronted him and try to be more aggressive. But the last ten minutes, he stopped being more aggressive. That's what good players do is try to find a way to score, and he is a great scorer. They were putting the ball in his hands at the top of the key, and he was abl to operate. He's a tough player, a tough match-up. It's tough guarding a competitor like that who wants to score and makes plays so easy.

Q. Buddy, last game against West Virginia, you single-handedly outscored all five of their starters. What do you do that beats their pressure so well?
BUDDY HIELD: Just got to find open gaps and know when to attack, and just be smart because they're coming at you, reaching and grabbing. And you have to be strong and tough and make plays and make shots. I feel like we go as a group and just be strong on the ball, and don't commit turnovers and make plays and make the actual pass and I feel we'll be successful against them.

THE MODERATOR: All right, guys, congratulations on tonight's victory and we will see you tomorrow. Questions now for Coach Kruger.

Q. Coach, Ryan Spangler last year had an opportunity to bring you guys back into the game, but he came up huge tonight at the end of the game. Can you talk about his impact and kind of his mentality that he had coming into tonight?
COACH KRUGER: Ryan has got the same mentality every ball game, every day in practice. He's just a blue collar guy that lays it out there for his teammates and swings away. He's a grinder and a battler. And, what, 12 rebounds tonight, another double-double and just pretty much pencil in for that every night. He's a guy his teammates appreciate so much and certainly coaches do, too. You know exactly the effort you're going to get every night from Ryan, every day in practice as well.

Q. Lon, you stuck to your plan to play your bench tonight. How critical do you think that was, especially in the second half?
COACH KRUGER: We needed to get them in there earlier and we did that in the game. I thought I got them back a little bit earlier in the second half than we typically do. I thought it helped. The other guys were a little fresher dourn the stretch, but again I thought Dinjlyl came in and played the first-half minutes really well. Dante give us a good lift. A.K. got a bucket down and good to see the bench guys step in there and have some production.

Q. Coach, the fact you only have 24 hours off versus a couple of days off, how will that affect how much you are using your bench tomorrow?
COACH KRUGER: Trying to do the same thing, get them in there early. You know, if you can get them comfortable and get them productive, we'll try to -- similar terms of playing people earlier and maybe a few more minutes than we have.

Q. Lon, how would you describe this setting and this atmosphere, and will that help going into NCAA play next week?
COACH KRUGER: It's a great atmosphere. It's a great host of a tournament. I know Iowa State has a lot of fans here and we realize that going into the ball club, but still wouldn't trade Kansas City for anything really. You know the sponsors are great, the fans are great, the players deserve to play in an atmosphere like this and we know we're going to have that in Kansas City. And it's fantastic. A great arena, great atmosphere. I love it for a tournament.

Q. Coach, we heard the players' perspective, what was your perspective on the dual between Georges Niang and Buddy?
COACH KRUGER: Two outstanding players. Niang is such a good player. Told him afterwards it's really an honor to have coached and participated against him for four years and see his career. He is so respectful and he and Buddy respect each other so much because they always lay it out there. And it was fun. It was two really, really good players going nose-to-nose oftentimes, and George got his share of wins out of it, for sure.

Q. Lon, can you talk about the whole phenomenon of what's been going on this year? You go to Kansas and lose and Buddy gets interviewed by ESPN. And tonight you win and Niang and Buddy get interviewed together. It just seems like the spotlight is really glaring on the Big 12 and some of the individual stars in this league.
COACH KRUGER: Buddy, and George as well, he just handled things in such a way that people appreciate the fact that his opponents like playing against him and they're respectful, as Buddy is back to them. Buddy's just not an in-your-face guy. He is very competitive and intense, but as he said tonight, he respects Niang like crazy and knows how good he is. And I think it takes a pretty secure guy to be that complimentary of your opponent. And secure and mature are two things that Buddy's long on. So he just handled all that stuffy think very well.

Q. Lon, this has been such a special season for Big 12, and I think everybody's enjoyed it immensely. But do you feel like teams need to advance to the Final Four and maybe win a championship to validate the season?
COACH KRUGER: In the end it seems nationally you are measured by that, who advances, who gets teams into the Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final Four, and that's how it's always going to be. Again, we wouldn't trade as a conference what we've had for anything, except we're now validated nationally to get a few teams advancing on into the tournament. But you're playing against good teams, too, and everyone wants to do that. It's easier said than done.

Q. Coach, a lot of teams have had trouble with West Virginia's press this year, but you guys kind of have been the outliers. Why is that?
COACH KRUGER: We've had trouble, we've had trouble, it's tough. Our guys, you know, they've got pride and want to handle the ball well and they want to move the ball down the floor and limit the turnovers. But, again, easier said than done. They just keep coming at you. They do a terrific job with it.

We have good spacing, we've got to get the ball out of our hands. Our receivers have to do a really good job, moving to be available at the right time. You can't just put it on the ball handler. You have to make it a five-man effort to get the ball out of the backcourt.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach.

COACH KRUGER: Thank you.

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