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DICK'S SPORTING GOODS NIT SEASON TIP-OFFNovember 23, 2011Johnny HawkinsJosh OwensNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK OKLAHOMA STATE – 67 THE MODERATOR: We're going to start with an opening statement from Coach. We'll go to questions for the players and questions for coach. JOHNNY HAWKINS: First, I think we beat a good team. I thought for the full 40 minutes they made us compete. They didn't take plays off. For us, I thought it was a team effort. I thought our guys really played well together. We shared the basketball, which is something we've been working on. I thought for the most part our defense was sound. We had stretches where we played really, really good defense. That's something we've been working on. It's been an emphasis what we want to be as a program. Our kids did a really good job I thought 30 out of 40 minutes of the game. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the players? Q. Josh, you came out, scored 11 of the first 13. Can you talk about your start to the game and how you are feeling this season? JOSH OWENS: This season I'm feeling great. It's my senior year. Leaving nothing out there. I'm trying to do all I can to help lead the team. We have four seniors. I'm doing my best to help out this team in the direction we want to go. Q. How aware are you of when you're on the streak like that, because you made nine shots in a row before you missed in the second half? JOSH OWENS: I mean, you notice they're going in and you know you're on a streak a little bit. But you know you just keep playing to win.  If the ball comes to you, it comes to you. Seek out your shots and your spots and try to do what you can to help the team win. Q. Is that the hottest you've ever felt, Josh? JOSH OWENS: Maybe. I guess, yeah, probably. Q. Is this your first time in the Garden? JOSH OWENS: Yes. Q. Hawkins knows this building very well. Is there a mystique? Is it just the Garden or just another court win? JOSH OWENS: The thing I told the guys in the huddle before we came out, I said it doesn't matter if we're the Garden or whether we're back at Stanford or whether we're on the playground. We're coming out here to try to win. That's it. It's nice to be the Garden, nice to have that experience. We're coming out here to play to win. Q. Are you guys watching your league at all and it's taken a hit again a little bit earlier with some of the teams. I know you are obviously focused on you guys, but how much are you guys aware of the league and what's kind of happened early and the fact that you don't get a lot of credit? JOSH OWENS: I mean, I can only speak for me. I mean, you see it on TV, watching some of the games. Like you said, we're focused on us. It's all about us. And we're trying to accomplish what we want to accomplish. You know, people can say whatever they want to say about the league, but we're focused on us. THE MODERATOR: Anything else for the players? Q. As far as coming over to the East Coast, how is the experience as far as playing the Garden as opposed to playing in your league in the Pac‑12? Is it everything you thought it would be coming to the East Coast, playing the Garden? JOSH OWENS: For me, yeah. Like I said, it was a great experience. I've never been here before. I never played here before. Usually when I come to 34th and 7th, it's to get to Penn Station to catch the train over to New Jersey. It was a great experience. Q. I just have one thing for Josh. It looks like especially in the first half you guys were overplaying the passing lane. You got a couple of quick steals out of that denying the ball. Has Coach been pressing that all year long? JOSH OWENS: That's just us following our many principles and credit to the coaching staff getting us prepared and having us know which plays we can jump in passing lanes and stuff like that. The coaching staff did a great job getting us prepared for this game. THE MODERATOR: Anything else for the players? Thanks, gentlemen. Questions for Coach? Q. The points off turnovers was critical tonight. Was that more of you guys hustling the ball and denying the passing lane or a combination of them making some unfortunate turnovers at an inopportune time? JOHNNY HAWKINS: Like anything, I think it's a combination. I thought especially early on as the gentleman mentioned, I thought our guys did a really good job in getting in the passing lanes and creating turnovers. After they got down they got sped up a little bit and had a few unforced turnovers at that point. It was a combination. Q. Johnny, the rebound margin especially on the offensive glass, your second chance points. JOHNNY HAWKINS: That's very important. Something we've emphasized as a team. We're a bigger team. Rebounding the ball is very important to what we want to do. Our guys did a good job getting second and third opportunities. For a team of our size it's important. Q. A lot of coaches look at where they are with their team in the first month. You guys had a fantastic start, of course. Is there a particular area where your team is a little more accelerated than you would have expected by Thanksgiving? JOHNNY HAWKINS: I think we're scoring the ball better than I thought we would score early on. We lost our leading scorer last season. He averaged 17 points a game. A first team all Pac‑12 player. Where are our points going to come from? Who is going to take up that slack? We've scored the ball relatively well. These kids have gotten comfortable in our offense. We've tweaked what we do offensively. I think it's helped those kids find their rhythm and find their shots. Q. How do you in the next game it could be Syracuse; how do you view your finals on Friday? JOHNNY HAWKINS: We're excited. Playing a championship game in Madison Square Garden in the pre‑season NIT, we're excited to have that opportunity to play either team. I hadn't seen Syracuse nor Virginia Tech play this year. I'll study that game tonight. But for us we're just happy to be in the Big Apple having a chance to compete and doing something we love. Q. By far your best outing from three‑point range. Is that something you came out looking for? JOHNNY HAWKINS: We think we can shoot the basketball. That's not really an emphasis. Our guys want to space the floor. We want to share the basketball and we want to take the looks we have. Big thing we tell our guys is always stay in character. You know the shots you're capable of making. Be ready for those shots when they present themselves. And that's all we ask our guys to do. I thought tonight it was a prime example of it. I thought the shots we took for the most part were good shots. I thought our guys did a good job of shot selection tonight. Q. Just turning the topic. Someone who spent a lot of time in the professional ranks, are you following this NBA situation? JOHNNY HAWKINS: Absolutely. I wish they would go back and start playing. Having been‑‑ that was my dream come true, to play in the NBA. So I wish both sides would work it out. I think it would be good for the game. It's good for the fans if they get back out there and play. They have to figure it out. It's something that‑‑ it's unfortunate, but me, I'd like to see them back on the court. I love the game. I love college, I love the pros and I want to see the guys out there doing what they love to do, and that's going out there and competing. Q. Coach, how important is it, being a West Coast team, how important is it for exposure being here in the East Coast to have Stanford play in the championship game? JOHNNY HAWKINS: I think it's great to compete against either team in the championship and to come east and play. We want to put our guys in basically the toughest environment that we could. This tournament will help present that, as you know, to make it this far, it's a one‑and‑done tournament. You have to win to move on. And our guys really bought into the understanding and the importance of every night out to go out there and compete to win. And we're able to make it to the championship game. I'm very proud of what they've accomplished. Like I said, we're in the championship game and we're excited. Q. Do you think going this far in a tournament like this in the beginning of your season has good momentum to the‑‑ JOHNNY HAWKINS: I think it helps‑‑ I'm learning my team. Right now we're five games in. I think I still have a lot to learn about this group. I learned about them tonight, how we compete against a good Oklahoma State team. So as we're going forward, through five games, I probably won't know my guys or my team well until probably sometime around the New Year. So this is a great opportunity to still develop some young players, to get to know what we have, our rotations, who can do what in situations. That's what we're learning right now. I've been proud of the effort. That's for sure. THE MODERATOR: Last question? JOHNNY HAWKINS: All right, guys. Take care. Have a happy Thanksgiving. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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