Postgame Quotes
3/23/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 23, 2002
HEAD COACH QUIN SNYDER QUOTES
REGIONAL FINAL GAME - MISSOURI
Opening Statement: I'm unbelievably proud of what this team became. We talked about that before the game. We became something special, we got beat by a very special basketball team. There are certain things that out our control when your opponent is able to make plays. We missed a few foul shots, we missed a few jump shots. I thought our effort was superb. It's a credit to these kids that they had that level of effort on a day like today. Oklahoma is a great team. There is no shame in what we did today. I'm proud of our guys.
On late-season run helping the program: That's everything, that is what's important - more so than a missed free throw or a tough break here and there. What's significant about what these guys have done is how they've done it. What they've discovered about one another and about being part of the team and how you do that and how satisfying it is. It's culture that you try and build. It's passed on. Younger kids have the capability of passing that on.
On expectations of Oklahoma: We didn't underestimate any of their guys. We have tremendous respect for their team. [Quannas White] is a winner. He made big plays. [Ricky] Price made them, [Aaron] McGhee made them, that just says a lot about who they are.
On free throw shooting: I expect to make them. We had a bad night at the line. I wish I could give you a good answer as to why, but that hurts because it's one of those things that we've done a pretty good job this year for the most part. I don't know if it was a little uncertainty or discomfort, I felt like we were pretty loose as a team. I wanted to give them that - I thought it was important that they see me confident and poised.
On Clarence Gilbert's poor shooting: It was painful to watch that happen to Clarence. You just felt for him because you know what he is capable of doing. I thought he might have rushed a couple, but for the most part he was getting some pretty good looks. He wanted it so bad. He's such a tough kid - he still won't show it. I feel for him. I kept thinking the next one was going to go in. Somehow, it's supposed to work like that - he's supposed to hit a big shot and bring us back, but it didn't happen that way today.
PLAYER QUOTES
REGIONAL FINAL GAME - MISSOURI
Kareem Rush -
On fouls: We got in a lot of foul trouble early in the game which kept a lot of key players out of the game - myself included and AJ [Arthur Johnson]. [The team] did a good job of playing while we were out, but in the end, we need to be on the floor and we fouled out.
On the sense of game: I felt that we had this game won. Every bone in my body knew we were going to pull this game out. We were going to make the necessary plays down the stretch to ice the game. Oklahoma is a great team. They capitalized on our mistakes. We're not ashamed that we lost, we lost to a great team here. Our team had a great effort.
Clarence Gilbert -
On free throws: You have days like those, some days you make them, some days you miss them. We happened to miss them today, but we're not going to blame the game on missed free throws.
On his shooting: It was just a bad shooting night. In the second half, I felt that I was going to go ahead and get going and get it rolling and go ahead and win the game. It never happened, but we still had opportunities to win, but we just didn't get it done tonight.
On this being the last game: It's over. I'm happy with our team's effort and happy to be a part of this team. I'm always going to be part of what Coach Snyder is about.
Ricky Paulding-
On expectations before the game: We expected a physical match-up. We definitely matched their intensity and physicalness. We just got a couple of bad breaks, but that's just part of the game.
On the NCAA run providing momentum for next season: It's definitely going to provide momentum for next season. We know what to expect and how to together we need to be during the season. We can't have some of the tough losses we had at the beginning of the season, we have to start seeing things through the coach's eyes earlier and not wait until the end of the season. More than anything, we need to take with us our togetherness.
HEAD COACH KELVIN SAMPSON QUOTES
REGIONAL FINAL GAME - OKLAHOMA
Opening Statement: I've always wondered what it was like to go to the Final Four. I can't tell you, when I was a young, young coach at Washington State, I remember getting to go to the Final Four. I watched the teams practice and I would always go on Friday to watch all four teams practice. That is what motivates you, I always wanted our team to go. I know I can go to the Final Four, but it loses its thrill for you after a while and you want to bring your team. For some reason as soon as we got to the locker room, I started thinking that there's some young coach that has the same dreams as I had that is going to see Oklahoma out there practicing. My message to him is that he can get there too. It takes a lot of hard work and perseverance and believing in your system.
I think back to the Tuesday before Labor Day, when six new kids walked into our program and didn't know what Sooner Basketball was all about. I thank the good lord for guys like Hollis Price, Daryan Selvy, Aaron McGhee, Michael Cano and Richard Ainooson. Those kids are great leaders. They embody what your program wants to be. I am happy for them. They get a chance to go do something that very few people get to do.
On getting to the Final Four: Maybe it was meant to be for our team to win that way. Winning ugly is beautiful to us. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It's just the way we win games. We go on the road, and we're battle-tested. We have been consistent this way, we never panic. There's never a loss or a sense of misdirection or unorganization. Our kids are very disciplined. A by-product of discipline is who takes the shots. We knew we were disciplined enough not to beat ourselves.
On what he said to Clarence Gilbert before the game: I respect all of the kids in our league. I've coached against him for four years and I've watched him grow as a person and as a player, and I've grown to really respect him. He is a warrior. He can play for me any day. I love kids that can compete. I told him I appreciated him.
On Hollis Price's leadership: Every team needs a pulse, every team needs a heartbeat. Hollis is our heartbeat. It's a strong heartbeat because this is a strong team.
On being the No. 2 seed: I was proud to be a No. 2 seed. I was disappointed in not being a one only because I thought we earned it. I don't think you should ask for anything unless you've earned it. I thought we had earned a one seed, but I also understood the committee's problem. I thought five teams earned it. My choice [on how we were going to handle being a No. 2 seed] was that we were going to work our butts off. We were going to go down to Dallas and win those two games and that was going to be our response. After we won those two games, we were going to go to San Jose. Actions speak louder than words.
PLAYER QUOTES
REGIONAL FINAL GAME - OKLAHOMA
Aaron McGhee -
On how they won: It was tough, especially for me having to sit and watch the game. When I got back in the game, I just wanted to help my team win the best way possible. I've never heard of an "ugly win," a win's a win, and now we're going to Atlanta.
On molding the program: Losing to Indiana State the year before - we worked extremely hard to keep it from happening to us again. I told coach Sampson that I wasn't going to let that happen in my senior year. It's all paid off.
Hollis Price -
On how they won: I don't think it was an "ugly win." We scored 81 points. That shouldn't be ugly. The ugly thing about it was that we had so many fouls.
On guarding Kareem Rush: You're not really going to stop a player of his caliber. You can try to contain him. He got off to an early start and coach got on me a little bit saying 'don't switch off on him, just stay on him.' We did a great job containing him throughout the game.
On the end of game: Coach was talking and I stopped him. I told him that we were tired of him going to the Final Four, so we wanted to be with him and so we are.
Quannas White -
On the foul trouble: When Aaron went out with foul trouble, we huddled up and said we had to play harder and stay aggressive and try not to foul so much.
