BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2021

De'Vion Harmon

Oklahoma Sooners

Postgame Press Conference

Oklahoma - 79, Iowa State - 73

Q. Hey, De'Vion, I just wanted to ask, how important is it winning this game and getting back in the win column before heading into Kansas tomorrow?

DE'VION HARMON: It's a big win. Every team is good. We know the Big 12. It's postseason time. It's win or go home. So we're going to -- big win. Got to get ready for KU. Got to get ready for Kansas tomorrow at 5:30, and it's going to be another dogfight, and we're going to be ready for it for 40 minutes.

Q. De'Vion, I just wanted to ask you a little bit about Austin. We've seen it all season. He's been able to take control of games late. Just talk about his performance and the shots he made tonight.

DE'VION HARMON: Big time shots. Big time shots. I talked about earlier, when me and him are in it like that -- and really when I say hitting shots, hitting shots is what we want, but me and him definitely staying together, everybody else just kind of feeds off that. And yet again, he hit -- Number 12 hit big time shots down the stretch in a tight ball game and got the win.

Q. De'Vion, you just said there that, when you and Austin are going offensively, that the team feeds off of it. Is it the same way with Elijah and defense? And that 11-0 run that included the steal by Elijah to finish at the other end, you doing the same thing on the next possession, just how big of a lift was that to get that defense going again in that kind of way?

DE'VION HARMON: It was big. Our offense fed off of our defense, and that's exactly what we wanted, exactly what we need to win games. And E.J., man, he had like 10 points, 8 assists, something like that.

Q. 12 points, 9 boards, 6 assists, 5 steals.

DE'VION HARMON: That's crazy, man. All I can say about that is that's big time. That's big. And we feed off of him on the defensive end. He's doing that, man, we're a very hard team to beat.

Q. What did you think of that spin move that he did to finish that one when you all had back to backs?

DE'VION HARMON: He tried to be like me. I told him he tried to be like me. No, that's great. That was good. He always stumbling. I don't know why he always stumbling. He make moves, he stumble, spin moving. He stumbled on that one and finished the layup, though, but, man, he was huge. That was big time.

Q. De'Vion, as you pointed out, you guys won this game really on the defensive end. You guys came up with so many steals. It would be so important to you if you can do that against Kansas, just ratcheting up the defense, I'm talking about, making it difficult for them, which you guys are capable of doing. Do you think you've got your defensive mojo back tonight?

DE'VION HARMON: Yep, we did. I keep saying, man, we're big time on the defensive end. We got a little lackadaisical, but that was from our offense. When our defense is on, our offense is -- man, we get -- we probably got the most -- in every game we played this year, tonight we got like the most easiest buckets, the most easy buckets we've had in any other games before tonight. Man, we got out in transition. We were attacking. Then we started knocking down threes. Man, it was really good. It was really good.

It's going to be important tomorrow. We all know KU. We all know how great of a team they are, how great coached they are. So it's going to be a dogfight for 40 minutes.

Q. De'Vion, just, obviously, conference tournament time is pretty much the only time you ever play back-to-back days. I guess just the challenges of that, turning around and playing the very next day, and just what the team needs to do both mentally and just to prepare in general to turn around and play again in 20 hours or whatever.

DE'VION HARMON: Man, but why not, though? We ain't got to wait a day or two or three days before we play the next one, man. It's like AAU all over again. You win one -- usually, you got two games in one day, but we got one game, give it everything you got, get some rest, and move on to the next, and that's what we're going to do.

Q. Hey, De'Vion, there in the first half, you and the second unit kind of jumped out to a 10-2 run there. You were distributing the ball really well. When you can get the second unit guys going and get that bench depth going early, what does that mean for you guys in the second half with your ability to be as fresh and extend the lead there?

DE'VION HARMON: Man, that's huge. We need everybody to win, especially down the stretch. I don't think people realize -- some people who just watch basketball, mostly like the fans and supporters, they look at just the starting five, you know what I mean? It takes every guy, from the guy from the first guy to the guy that's 11th, 12th, 13th on the bench, you know what I mean? It's big. Everybody came in and contributed in a big way -- getting stops, knocking down -- getting buckets, getting key buckets in the tight stretch during the game in the late second half. So it's big. It's big.

We're going to need each and every one. We're going to need everybody tomorrow at 5:30 because it's going to be a big one.

Q. With regard to that matchup tomorrow, De'Vion, how much are you helped by David McCormack's absence?

DE'VION HARMON: Shoot, he's out?

Q. He is out.

DE'VION HARMON: Oh, man. I didn't even know he was out.

Q. Now that you know, what do you think?

DE'VION HARMON: It don't matter. They're still KU. In basketball or whatever sport you play, or in life, whatever you do that involves a team, when someone's out, next man up, and KU has that. So it's no let up. There's no let up at all. They're going to come out the same way, and we've got to match that or go above that to get a big win.

Q. De'Vion, you guys played really well for 32, 33 minutes, had that 19, 18-point lead. Then it sort of got hectic in the last seven minutes, six minutes. Does that concern you at all? Why did that happen? What do you think? Did you just let up down the stretch?

DE'VION HARMON: No, just sloppy play. We've got to take care of the ball and take better shots down the stretch, but we're good, though. Man, we're good. All it is, we've got to find -- just win better, finish out the game the right way, and we'll get back to that tomorrow.