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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: PHILADELPHIAMarch 22, 2013Lon KrugerAmath M'BayeRomero OsbyPHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA San Diego State – 70 Oklahoma – 55 COACH KRUGER: It was a tough loss. San Diego State is a very good basketball team. I thought for 25, 30 minutes back and forth, not much margin either way, and I thought they were able to get in the paint and penetrate and make some plays off the dribble and get some second shots and create a little bit of a separation that they played with for the rest of the ballgame. But I thought at a critical time in the ballgame they were a little quicker to loose balls, a little tougher driving and kicking and making plays that they finished at the rim. Proud of our guys. They've done an unbelievable job on the season. As disappointing as it is right now to finish with a loss, these guys have been terrific and couldn't appreciate what they've done any more. They've represented well and they've changed the program around, and we appreciate that a great deal. Q. Romero, could you just talk about your night tonight? Seemed like you were trying to do a little bit of everything and you did, inside, outside, defense, just your approach tonight to this game? ROMERO OSBY: I knew it could potentially be my last game and I wanted to go out there and fight as hard as I can. But I've got to credit my teammates. They found ways to get me the ball in certain situations and they really kept coming to me when I got a little hot hand for a minute. I give them all the credit and the credit to my coaches. I wanted to come out and play hard and let everything happen like it was supposed to. Q. This is clearly a night where the three‑point shooting affected you guys again. How tough has it been to deal with those the three last games the way it's settled in throughout the whole team? AMATH M'BAYE: I mean, San Diego State got terrific guards and you know they're going to come out here and shoot. We've just got to do a better job at it, I guess. They were shooting, it was falling. It was our fault. There's nothing you can say about it. Q. I mean the way you guys struggled to make threes again for the third straight game, to get anything to fall. AMATH M'BAYE: Oh, I mean, I don't know. I don't know. Q. Romero, what is it like being up there and watching everybody else kind of struggle around you? The threes were hard, but what went wrong, I guess? What did you feel like went wrong around you? ROMERO OSBY: You know, it's just one of those things that it didn't go our way. I mean, my teammates we're always in the gym getting up extra shots, so it wasn't a case of work ethic. But that's basketball. It's a fair game and you get what you put into it, and they put a lot of shots up, it's just one of those things that didn't work. There's some other things we could have did better to make up for our three point shooting. All credit to San Diego State. They really defended the three‑point ball well, so we've got to give them credit, too. Q. Romero, you talked about the fact that you knew this could be your last game, and now that it is as a collegiate, talk about what impact you hope to have left at Oklahoma in your years there? ROMERO OSBY: I just hope I was able to leave a legacy as far as people just looking at me and thought I was a good basketball player but more of a better person. I want to leave a stamp of, hey, this program is back and we're on to bigger and better things, and we just don't want to look back from here. I hope that was the legacy that I was able to leave. AMATH M'BAYE: I just want to put it out there, Rho is a terrific guy, and I just want to say it. I mean, he's one of the funnest players to play around and he's done a great job. He gave his heart and soul to this program, and he's an amazing player, probably one of the best college players I've seen and I've played with, and all credit to him and his work ethic. He's been amazing. He's been holding it up for us all season, and I just want to give him a lot of credit for that. Q. Romero, ever since that Texas game you guys have kind of struggled in big chunks. Do you feel like that happened again tonight and do you feel like it's just a recurring problem? ROMERO OSBY: You know, that's the game. That's the game. That's the game that we love. We hate it sometimes, but we always love it, and sometimes things just don't go your way. I think that's pretty much what it was. But like I said, as far as struggling, offensively that's always something that's going to happen in basketball seasons, but we could have done some other things better. We still could have gone to the offensive glass more, still could have defended them more and made it a tight grind it out game. But all credit to San Diego State, they guarded us well and we didn't guard them as well. Q. Romero, you guys only got to the free‑throw line eight times tonight. How much of an impact did that have on the game? ROMERO OSBY: It always has an impact on the game because we've been a good free throw shooting team this season, so that's easy points. It's an opportunity to stop the clock, no time running, and we're able to get easy points on the free‑throw line. But that affected us a little bit, but all credit to San Diego State, like I said. They did a good job of guarding us without fouling. Q. Amath, to keep the momentum of the program going forward, can you do for the team next year what Romero did this year, or does it fall to others, as well? AMATH M'BAYE: I think I can, then again, Romero did an amazing job and it's my job to get in the gym and get myself prepared to assume a role like that, and that's what I'm going to do. I have no doubt I'm going to be in the gym all summer working on my game and hopefully do the same thing. Q. Amath, what did this season teach you about next year and what do you hope to achieve next season with this team? AMATH M'BAYE: Just taught me a lot, probably like I've got to get a little more patient, and I thought everything was going to fall into place for me, and it didn't. But it taught me that basketball is a team game, and if you play your cards right, you're going to win games, and I think that's what we did. We got the best out of each other and the coaches. The coaches did an amazing job of working with what they had, and I think as sad as it is, I think we had a good season. I think it's a big step for this program, and I'm looking forward to like helping take another step. Q. Have you ever had a team that just slumped to bad to make a jump shot over the last‑‑ just toward the end of the season? COACH KRUGER: Oh, sure. At different times, the timing for that was not good in this particular case for sure, when you're finishing the season and going into tournament play. But again, like Ro said, San Diego State does a good job defensively, and they forced some shots, and they deserve some credit even though we had some looks that didn't go down. It was a combination of the two, us not making shots. Credit the defense for doing a good job. But yeah, the timing of not making shots was not good. Q. There was a moment where Steve finally connected on one in the first half, then I think the very next trip down he gets beaten defensively and fouls and has to come out. I guess that's a moment you would have liked to see him stay on the floor and maybe finally get into a rhythm again? COACH KRUGER: For sure. We're much better when Steve is making shots. Take a look at our stretches where we've played well and shot it well as a group, certainly Steve is a very good shooter, so we need him making shots. But foul trouble kind of got him on the bench early tonight, then he played a little bit with two in the first half, then came back and got a couple in the second half. But yeah, we need him making shots for sure. Q. What has Romero meant to this program this season and what did he do for the program going forward? COACH KRUGER: Ro is fantastic. I think Amath summed it up in terms of the perception of the other players. What Ro has done in points, rebounds is pretty obvious, but in terms of setting that bar for leadership off the court, on the court, classroom, community, Amath will benefit greatly from that going forward. Young players that are fresh into the program benefit greatly from watching how Ro carried himself and how he represented‑‑ certainly as a player they appreciate what he did. But as much as he did there, they are also very appreciative of how he led them otherwise, too. Q. Do you feel like the other guys around Romero did enough tonight? COACH KRUGER: Well, when you get beat, you're not doing enough. I thought obviously Ro did‑‑ battled it. Statistically other guys didn't shoot the ball as well as we need to to beat good basketball teams. But I thought San Diego State did a better job than we did, especially in the second half there when the game was kind of in the balance. I thought they converted some things offensively, were a little tougher to the boards offensively. We didn't get things done on our end. Q. Considering the struggles of those guys around him, the way that Ro was able to play, is that pretty remarkable? COACH KRUGER: Yeah, Ro has been like that. He's been as consistent as anyone can be. When others around him have played well and shot it well, that's made his job a lot easier. But when they haven't, he's continued to battle and perform and produce. Ro has developed into a really good basketball player and not just a guy that makes shots. Q. You've got the program to the tournament in the second year here now. Despite losing a few seniors, where do you see the program going forward? COACH KRUGER: This group did a remarkable job. They stated as a goal back in November and October that they wanted to play in the tournament. I don't know that a lot of people really gave them a lot of attention to that, and yet they just kept grinding and kept improving. I think just the progress they've made is great for the program, just absolutely terrific. The freshmen are going to get better, the guys coming back, a couple guys sitting out, they'll all benefit. They'll all benefit from what these guys have done, and many of these guys are back even though we lose five seniors. Many of the guys that are back got key minutes in ballgames and they'll benefit greatly. Q. It seemed like a lot of the game the Aztecs were leaning on Jamaal and it seemed like you guys tried as you might you had trouble stopping him. Can you just talk about his performance and how tough it was to slow him down? COACH KRUGER: Yeah, again, when the separation was created, I thought Franklin did a good job of getting into the paint and creating opportunities for others as well as scoring himself. He's just a terrific all‑around player and a tough match‑up. I thought his ability to get in and create good things for his teammates was a big key in the game. Q. Did anything happen to Fitzgerald? Was he injured or anything? COACH KRUGER: No, no, just from a match‑up standpoint and obviously to get Drew in there means getting Ro out of there, and Ro really was one of the bright spots. We had something going there, so it just didn't happen for Drew that way. Q. Was it the same with Sam tonight, that you kind of went without him most of the second half? COACH KRUGER: Yeah, I thought Isaiah did a good job of getting the ball out of the backcourt and creating some things. But yeah, it wasn't anything. No injuries at all. Q. In the second half they ran a lot of highball screens. Can you talk about your inability to defend that maybe as well as you wanted to? COACH KRUGER: That created the opportunity, I think, for them to create some penetration down in the paint. It was more of almost a fake ball screen as much as anything else, and still became that isolation of guarding the dribble that we didn't do a good job of, especially against Franklin. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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