Oklahoma State University Athletics
OSU vs. Kansas State Postgame Quotes
January 14, 2015 | Cowgirl Basketball
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OSU Head Coach Jim Littell
Opening statement
"I felt very good abut the way our team came out and played. We talk about being ready to start games and winning the first four minutes of the game, and I thought we were very focused and very intense. I think that led to a good start. We played a really, really good first half with the way we shared the ball and the way we guarded. It was one of our better halves. Their zone has caused a lot of people some problems and our ball movement and finding open spots in the zone was very good. I wasn't very impressed with the way we guarded in the last 10 minutes of the game. That's something that we've got to continue to grow on, get better and try to continue that elusive search to play 40 minutes. Big win. We shared the basketball and had five people in double figures. We shot well from the field, from three and from the line, and had 19 assists against 12 turnovers. It was a great win for our program."
On Liz Donohoe's career as a Cowgirl
"Liz has been very instrumental to the success of this program. I believe when she was a freshman, we won the NIT and she started every game. Then, we raised the bar and went to the NCAA Tournament, losing to Duke to go to the Sweet 16. Last year, we went to the Sweet 16, and Liz has been very influential to the rise of this program. When you've got somebody with the capability to stretch a defense and score the basketball the way she does, it really helps the program. The last couple of years, she got a lot better defensively. She does a good job blocking out and rebounding the basketball. Liz has been very, very important to Cowgirl Basketball for four years and she's having a good senior year. We want to see her finish on a positive note."
On the importance of coming out with energy tonight following last weekend's loss at TCU
"If you watched Kentucky and Mississippi, the men, play a few games back, that game was close and went into overtime. After the game, John Calipari said 'I don't care what league it is in, the team that comes out with energy, enthusiasm and some fight to them has chances to win games.' There is so much parity in basketball on the women's and men's sides today that if you play with energy and a lot of enthusiasm, you've got a chance to be successful. That's probably more important than X's and O's."
On the progress of Katelyn Loecker
"I think that (Katelyn) is doing fine. I think that the adjustment for her right now is that we're asking her to move out on the perimeter, and she's played pretty much exclusively inside for her entire career. She did last year and she did in high school, but with those two big freshmen, we want to get them minutes at the post. It isn't so much the injury right now as making a move to going and playing on the perimeter."
Brittney Martin
On keeping the Wildcats' field goal percentage low
"We had to not let them come off screens and pull quick shots. They all have good three-point percentages. I think stopping Woods was one of our main points today. She's shooting over 50 percent from the field. We put a big emphasis on running off screens and hustling."
On if a road loss to TCU gave them motivation
"Yeah it had to because that one hurt a little bit. We don't want to lose two in a row. We don't want to lose on our home court is really what it is. I think that game pushed us a little bit. It pushed me, I can't speak for the rest of the team."
On Liz Donohoe eclipsing the 1,500-point mark
"No one had said anything about it so I forgot about that. I'm going to go harass her when I see her. That's really cool."
On what it means to have a Liz Donohoe on the team
"She's just consistent. She's in the gym all day everyday. We can count on her for everything. She's consistent. She goes hard. It's good to have someone like her to count on when all of the rest of the team is down or can't make shots."
Brittany Atkins
On breaking down the zone
"I just think lately we would keep it on one side of the floor or not look at the open cutter. Sometimes I would swing it before the high post would come open. So we just worked inside out, and that helped us a lot."
Kansas State head coach Jeff Mittie
On the rhythm of the game
"I thought their (OSU) defense was pretty good. I thought we were awful, but I thought their defense was pretty good. They certainly got us extended and we had trouble with that. I thought they got better as we struggled early. We had post touches and we certainly had looks down there and we didn't convert or play aggressive enough, but I thought Oklahoma State did what a good team should do. They got stronger when they sensed we weren't quite ready or weren't quite in sync, they got stronger.
On playing zone defense against the Cowgirls
"Well, that's what we do. So we got to do what we do better, it's no different than a man team coming in here and playing man and that's what you do and you got to figure it out. This was the lowest number of deflections or steals I believe we've had all year. We lead the league in steals and we only got six tonight and we did not play very hard and that's incredibly disappointing for me because the one thing we have done is play with great effort. Tonight, we did not do that and give Oklahoma State credit they took advantage of that early."
