KANSAS CITY, Mo.— Postgame reaction from West Virginia upsetting Oklahoma 72-71 on the opening night of the Big 12 tournament:
Lamont West on WVU’s do-or-die mindset:
“I just think that our goal was to come out here and play hard, and we wanted to give it all we got because we didn’t want to go home early. I feel like it’s the start of a new season even though it’s the tournament or whatever we came out here and we knew it was 0-0.”
West on defending the final possession:
“I didn’t want to foul him. I had my hand in there and I was thinking of practice. I can’t let him shoot it, but we’ve been jumping at those puff fakes all day. I knew he was going to do something so I just had to stay on the ground and he hit it. I was nervous. I thought we was going to overtime, honestly.
West on WVU attempting 30 3-pointers vs. Oklahoma:
“Honestly, we only supposed to shoot about 20 a game. So we might get in trouble for that.”
West on facing Texas Tech in Thursday’s quarterfinals:
“We owe Texas Tech.”
Jordan McCabe on West Virginia’s stakes in Kansas City:
“We have been talking about it since midseason, where we were in the standings and everything like that. We knew our only chance to make the postseason or the NCAA \tournament was going to be this tournament right here. We came in knowing that we had nothing to lose, so that meant we should play as hard or harder than everybody else in this tournament, so it was good to see us doing that out there today.
Jermaine Haley on the replay drama:
“I’m going to be honest. I thought we were only up two points, so I don’t know if you guys seen me in the end. I was on the ground thinking that we lost. Luck was on our side.”
Bob Huggins on surviving Derek Culver’s foul trouble:
“Those other two guys, Andrew (Gordon) just started playing basketball. So he’s going to make some mistakes and we realize that. Logan (Routt) has been in the program. This is his fourth year. I thought he did a really good job on trying to stay in front of him. That was really good to see. I mean, obviously we gotta have some confidence in them, because we’re going to play ’em. They gotta play.”
Huggins on surviving the first-round game:
“Well, it feels good anytime you win, I think. I think when you’ve done this as long as I have and as long as Lon has, winning is a kind of a relief and losing is like a near-death experience, you know? I’m relieved.”
Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger:
“Obviously, a disappointing loss. I thought West Virginia really dictated on the boards. We had trouble keeping them from second shots, especially late in the ball game. That’s always a big factor when you play West Virginia and I thought they, again, won that battle with us. Again, had some opportunities early in the second half there to widen it out and couldn’t quite do that. Again, both teams battled, and we didn’t make the play at the end. As many plays at the end as they did.”
“We got whipped on the boards. Yeah, we didn’t do what we had to do on the boards, and they beat us up pretty good. Seemed like every missed shot especially in the last four minutes they got those shots back.”
Kruger on there Sooners’ NCAA hopes after going 7-12 in the league:
“You know, based on what people say, again, the parameters are all 30 games count the same. It doesn’t matter if it’s conference or nonconference. So given that, you know, based on projections it appears so. But we won’t know that for sure until Sunday. But, yeah, those are the rules going in and our guys won a lot of ball games. But like to have won a couple more.”
Sooners guard Christian James on the last-second shot:
“It felt good. I tried to create space and get a good look. I didn’t know my foot was on the line. It was a tough moment, just like my freshman year.
James on Oklahoma’s NCAA chances:
“March is all about making plays down the stretch and that’s something we have to do. My teammates have been working so hard to get to this point, and it’s in God’s hands whether we get a bid or not.
“I hope we’re in. Like I said, we’ve worked so hard to get to this game and this game could have sealed the deal and my teammates have worked on hard and I just want to see them get a chance to see what it’s like to go to the NCAA Tournament. It’s going to be a stressful couple of days, a lot of praying and hope we get a bid and go far in the tournament. Make a run.”
OU’s Kristian Doolittle on the replay drama:
“Knowing that he got the shot off in time they were going to check to see if it was actually a 3. That’s why they have instant replays, to make sure they get the right call. It just didn’t go our way this time.”
