November 30, 1998
How tough of a loss was the Oral Roberts game?
"That was a game we expected to win and should have won. Our execution was not there and that is the reason we lost the game. We want to learn from that. It wasn't a situation where I went in a got all over the players afterward. That is not what this team needs. We still need to talk about confidence with this team. We still need to let the players know that we believe in them. It was more of `hey, this is why we lost and these are correctable things so lets go our there and correct them.' Going in to that game we knew it was going to be a tough one and it proved to be just that. We still had way too many turnovers. We've got to learn to win on the road and hopefully we got something out of the loss. But we saw a lot of positive things in the game as well."
What are your thoughts on the Alabama game on Tuesday?
"This by far will be the toughest team we have played. They are so athletic. They have SEC players. They have a new coach but in terms of personnel they definitely have the bodies and players to be competitive in SEC this year. We know being competitive in that league means you have to be a pretty good basketball team. They have size along with quickness. The bright point is that it is a home game, but we know that they will be our toughest competition to date. They are so athletic and they have height. They have a lot of size and they have quickness. You name it, they have it. We have to find some way to negate some of that. Brian Williams is a great shooter. He plays point guard some and brings the ball up and other times he will slide over to the two guard. They can do a lot of different things to you."
How do you feel about your team right now?
"We are still coming along. The kids are working hard. We feel we should be 4-0, but we are 3-1 so we will take that. But in getting ready for Alabama, we know we have to lay it all on the line."
Has your point guard, Clifton Cook, exceeded your expectations to this point?
"Right now, he is turning the ball over too much. Some of that is just being anxious to make something happen. He is capable of having a good number of assists and scoring points without turning the ball over, but sometimes he is too anxious to make something happen when it is not there. We would like him to clean it up some and continue to grow as a leader on this team. Without a doubt I think point guard is the most critical position on the team. Different coaches coach it different ways but I put a lot of emphasis on that position because I played it and to because I think it is critical that it is a position where you can make a lot of things happen for your team and you can also hurt your team a lot."
Describe your recruitment of Clifton...
"I only got to watch Clifton in a pickup game because it was so late his season was over. But it didn't take long. Being a point guard myself, maybe it helped me in that area. I can somewhat identify with what I might want in a point guard and I saw Clifton play and I saw him directing and communicating and I knew we needed that pretty badly."