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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 7, 2012Travis FordCezar GuerreroKeiton PageBrian WilliamsKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI Oklahoma State – 76 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by coach Travis Ford from Oklahoma State. Student‑athletes will be Cezar Guerrero, Brian Williams, and Keiton Page. Coach, first we'll go to you for your thoughts on tonight's victory. COACH FORD: Well, words really can't describe how proud I am of our basketball team. They continue to amaze me. Our basketball team has been through a lot of serious injuries, and especially to go through one in the last week or the last game of the regular season, and the last two or three days we've had to start playing guys‑‑ Brian has not been playing the 4 for a month and a half, two months. C.J.'s been playing 15, 16minutes. He plays 30minutes. Then you've got Christien Sager who we've asked to come in and play some serious time and Soucek. And for these guys to continue to play as hard as they are, and it's just fun to watch. They're fun to coach. We've just concentrated the last couple of days on trying to play hard. And these guys have done a good job of trying to adjust to some of the things we've had to change up a little bit in the last couple of days. I'm just proud of them. Very, very proud of their effort. And this was a really good win. This was one of the better wins for us as far as what we've been through. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes. Q. C.J., it looked like there was a point there where maybe guys were dragging a little bit. Did you feel like maybe you needed to provide a spark there second half and you kind of got a couple of 3s and a basket? CEZAR GUERRERO: Well, I felt like I just needed to bring energy in, just get these guys going again. And I'm very thankful that my guys set me up and got me open looks. They were playing a triangle and 2, so they were guarding the point guard and they had a man on K.P. So it left me wide open. So luckily my teammates just got me open and I hit the shots. I was really feeling it today. And it felt great coming out. Q. You're one guy among the guys who are available to play, really not tired this time of year, right? There was that point in the season where you didn't have to play a lot. You had some fresh legs out there tonight. CEZAR GUERRERO: Yeah, I have a lot of fresh legs. And I just came in bringing the spark. And just bringing the energy like I always do before and just get these guys going with the intensity and the energy that I bring to the team. And it just so happens, I just got going, and I mean, I just went off, got 16points. Q. Cezar, you had zero shots in the first half, and then you shot it 11 times in the second half. Was it a game‑plan thing or your confidence was there? What was it? CEZAR GUERRERO: I felt like we just knew the game plan that Texas Tech had, and it just left me wide open, so they just gave me the ball and just open looks, and I felt confident today in my shot like I was before in the beginning of the season. So I started hitting my shot and just felt comfortable, and they just kept on going to me and just went off from there. Q. Keiton, you've been through a lot in the four years and Coach Ford was talking about how much adversity you've been through this season. Could you maybe talk about that element and kind of finishing up your career with these guys and not wanting it to end a little bit? KEITON PAGE: We've definitely been through our adversity this year and had ups and downs, tough close games. These guys made it easier this year. They've had their heads up the entire way, always keeping their heads up, always wanting to work harder the next day and always wanting to get back on the practice floor and become better players and become a better team. So, yeah, through all the adversity we've had, we're still fighting and everybody still has great attitudes. And just taking it one game at a time and just battling and just fighting to keep this thing alive. Q. Keiton, Coach said this is a great win. You don't have a couple of days to think about this and make tune‑ups from it. How do you keep the momentum going forward to tomorrow's night game? KEITON PAGE: Gotta stay focussed. A win's good for right now, but we have to get our mind on Missouri now. We know how tough a team they are. We've played them twice now. We're 1‑1 against them. We've got a decent feel for them. Just got to get back, get focused and start watching film on them and preparing for them tomorrow. Q. Since Keiton touched on that already, I'll ask Brian and Cezar your thoughts on Missouri going into this game, a team you've obviously beaten at home, but a game you probably didn't want to remember in Columbia. Your thoughts for going for round three against Mizzou? BRIAN WILLIAMS: We didn't exactly play the way we wanted to there at Columbia. I'm excited to get another chance. It doesn't always happen. We'll get to the film room and start studying Missouri. CEZAR GUERRERO: Exactly the same thing. I'm ready to get this game against Missouri underway and just going into the film room and just study and get a great game plan from Coach Ford and just get the game going tomorrow. Q. Brian, when Tech came back from 12 down to take the lead briefly, did you consider that to be a scary moment in the game? BRIAN WILLIAMS: It was scary considering the fact that this loss could have ended our season. So everybody just kind of thought about it like that, like it's do or die this time of year. So C.J. just came in and hit some big baskets, and we fed off of that. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach. Q. You were saying the other day that Cezar, his shot wasn't where you thought it was going to be, because you thought maybe you were talking to him about being more of like a pass first point guard. Second half he shot well and shot you back into the game. Just talk about that second half from him. COACH FORD: I don't know if‑‑ his shot has been fine. We've just been working on him to pass a little bit more first. I don't think anything's been wrong with his shot at all. He's capable of making shots at any point in time. Tonight they were playing a triangle and 2. And we found him open one time and noticed that they weren't guarding him, so we told our guys just send Keiton one way and throw it back to C.J. And once he made one‑‑ I've seen that before‑‑ he's definitely capable of making two, three from that point. But he has the capability to score. When he's playing‑‑ when he's able‑‑ we've put him in situations this year where he hasn't been able to just get into a flow. Put him in there two, three minutes to give somebody a rest, and then we bring him back out. It's kind of tough for a guy like him who is a natural scorer, that's really what he is, and he's really developing. We want him to continue to be able to do that. But you're also playing a point. You've got to get your team into an offense and you've got‑‑ you can't look to score all the time. That's what he's gotten better at. He's gotten better at that, and that's what we've seen. But he's always been able to make some shots. We just‑‑ he hasn't been getting long enough minutes, significant minutes to get hot like he did tonight. Q. Advantage to have beaten Missouri once this year? COACH FORD: I don't know. They took it to us pretty good in Columbia the last time out. But it can't hurt. Gives our team a little bit of confidence. We were a different team. Our team is made up a little different than it has all year long. But I've said I've got a tremendous amount of respect for Missouri and their players, and I think Frank Haith has done one of the more amazing jobs in college basketball this year. They're a really good basketball team. Their kids, a lot of respect for their kids. And it's going to be a very tough game. We just gotta get off our feet. I don't know, Jimmy or somebody mentioned we were a tired basketball team out there a couple times tonight. End of the first half, we got up 11 or 12, whatever it was, 13 in the first half, last two minutes we let them get out in transition because we were a little fatigued, we didn't get back. So we've got to make sure that we get our guys some rest, and we'll study the tape and see. But it's going to be a great challenge. Q. When you were in the position that you're in, shorthanded, you have to get contributions from everybody. Your walk‑on, Christien Sager, scores five points tonight? COACH FORD: Unbelievable tonight. Not only did he score some points, but he made some unbelievable defensive plays, some steals, rebounds. He brings a toughness to our basketball team, a real toughness. I hope he sticks with it. Because I think he's a guy eventually that could be a regular rotation guy eventually for us. But he really helped us win this game. He was a big, big factor. So was Soucek. They all were. They all got in there and battled and overachieved and played better than they have been. That's what it's going to take. And I can't stress enough what we've been through. We have not really even‑‑ we had myself, Coach Middleton and Coach Pierre practicing yesterday. We probably practiced harder than the rest of the guys did, because we don't need to get anybody hurt. We don't have a lot of guys. Guys are playing positions they have not been playing for a while. And I'm just so proud of them, because I thought we played against a Texas Tech team that's been playing well, they really have, and I thought they played well tonight. Our guys are just trying as hard as they can. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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