Porter Moser interview Fe . 27, 2024

  • 8 months ago
Porter Moser talks to media before Oklahoma's game against No. 8 Iowa State
Transcript
00:00 Coach say don't go too high or too low.
00:03 Was there a challenge in trying to move forward?
00:05 Yeah, the guys were pretty excited.
00:08 But we had a day off and we really talked about that yesterday,
00:13 about putting the foot on the gas pedal and being hungrier.
00:19 And not letting complacency and satisfaction slip in.
00:26 And I thought we had a great practice yesterday,
00:28 but we were intentional in talking about it.
00:31 And that, man, that was a much needed great win
00:37 in a great environment against a team that was playing really well in a rivalry game.
00:41 So there were so many things that the guys were feeling great about.
00:45 And they should. They should.
00:47 I mean, I don't want to ever take joy out of winning.
00:49 But Sunday and then Monday, we took Sunday off,
00:53 and Monday was back to chasing.
00:56 We've got to prepare for our mistake.
00:58 Did you dive into the psyche as a coach that you have to dive into
01:03 keeping guys confident?
01:05 Because you said you kept drawing up plays for Javion during the game,
01:08 even though early he didn't shoot well.
01:11 But of course he makes the big shot for you.
01:13 I know how important he is to you.
01:15 But how much do you have to work on the psyche of guys through the weeks?
01:18 It's a big part of coaching is they've got to know you have confidence in them.
01:22 And it's that confidence.
01:25 And it's the same thing with Otega.
01:27 I put my arm around Otega at halftime, and I said, "Hey, I'm just going to start
01:29 Waldo this half, but you're going to make some big plays."
01:31 I put my arm around him, and I said, "You're going to be key for us."
01:34 And I thought he had his best half in a long time, and it was great to see.
01:40 But like Javion, just to continue to shoot.
01:43 I mean, you can't get your best shooters hesitant.
01:46 So it's got to come from me.
01:48 I want to let them know that, man, keep stepping in.
01:52 Good shots, got to take them.
01:54 Porter, you just mentioned Otega, but you mentioned how good he played in that
01:58 second half.
01:59 What maybe was different for him, and what can he take away from after halftime
02:03 moving forward?
02:04 He wasn't sped up.
02:06 You probably heard me say that a lot in the first half of the season.
02:10 He's letting it come to him.
02:11 He's not forcing things.
02:13 And he looked more like he was just not too sped up.
02:17 Even that spin move that he made, he was deliberate with it.
02:19 He wasn't out of control.
02:20 He caught it, got him on his hip, turned, spin, and then he changed.
02:23 I thought he was more deliberate, not forcing things.
02:28 And that's what was really good to see.
02:32 Well, and for someone like Javion, especially with John out, you guys need
02:38 his rebounding and the things he does in the rim.
02:40 How big was he on Saturday, and how meaningful is that going to be moving
02:44 forward?
02:45 So it was huge.
02:46 He had four offensive rebounds, and two or three of them might have been for
02:49 baskets.
02:50 So Sam had five, he had four.
02:51 So he had nine offensive rebounds just between those two.
02:54 But Jalen is Jalen.
02:56 He gives us these energy plays.
02:58 He's always high energy, works hard, gets his athletics through the game.
03:04 It's the same thing.
03:06 I mean, it's huge for us.
03:07 It's a big part of our team, a big part of our success.
03:10 Eli, Porter, talk about the night tonight in this league, and now you're
03:13 seeing teams for a second time.
03:15 Are you noticing either about the teams you're playing the second time or
03:18 things they're throwing at you the second time around as the schedule comes
03:22 around that way?
03:23 Yeah, that was -- you know, you make adjustments the second time.
03:28 You see what you ran, see what they did against it, and vice versa.
03:32 So definitely the coaches in this league are elite.
03:37 They're making adjustments.
03:38 They're seeing things from the first game.
03:41 So, you know, it's a little different with this year because you only have five
03:46 teams opposed to nine that you're playing twice.
03:51 But now, you know, Kansas twice, we played Oklahoma State twice, now this is
03:54 Iowa State twice again now.
03:56 So you definitely make adjustments.
04:00 We'll go to Josh then, Mason.
04:02 Yeah, for payback, right off the bat, honestly, unlike the Bedlam rematch,
04:05 the first Iowa State game was two months ago.
04:08 What's kind of that dynamic of choosing what's happened the first game but
04:13 also acknowledging the teams are very different than they were back in December?
04:16 Yeah, Iowa State, it was interesting.
04:20 You know, we have just a ton of respect for them, and they were, I think, 11 and
04:24 two, but they weren't ranked, and now they're eighth in the country.
04:26 You see what they're doing in the Big 12.
04:29 And the thing that I really have a tremendous amount of respect for TJ and
04:35 their program is they do what they do.
04:38 They're going to try to get up in you.
04:40 They're not changing a ton.
04:43 I mean, they're making adjustments, but they are going to guard you and try to
04:48 turn you over.
04:49 They are going to run their offense hard, cut hard, screen hard, go downhill,
04:56 and they just have a tremendous culture with what they do.
04:59 And so whether we played them two months ago or two weeks ago, you better be
05:04 strong with the ball against Iowa State.
05:06 You better be ready to get open.
05:08 You better be not expecting fouls.
05:10 You've got to play through it.
05:13 You talked about, back in January, after Kavon Clark got injured in that court
05:17 story, how Cincinnati had handled your situation.
05:20 The idea that, okay, this is a tradition maybe we can keep if we take this
05:24 seriously and have the right precautions.
05:26 See what happened with Philip Howsky over the weekend.
05:28 Are you concerned that places aren't taking this maybe as seriously as they
05:31 need to be?
05:32 I am.
05:33 I am.
05:34 I'm seeing it too often.
05:35 So, yeah, it's got to stop.
05:39 I mean, you just see some of the -- you see the entitlement of what the people
05:46 that storm the court can do, you know, poking at them.
05:49 And it's just -- there's no room for it.
05:51 I mean, it's a sport that -- part of what makes a sport great is that it's right
05:56 on top of you.
05:57 But there's got to be a boundary now.
05:59 There's got to be a boundary.
06:01 And I think you'll see steps being taken now.
06:04 Will Colton and then James Porter, after reviewing the film,
06:08 did you take a ball there and say, "Once again, I got my back."
06:11 A full week now, and it ended a tough week.
06:13 You know, he's just -- he's not 100%, but he won't let you know that.
06:18 You know, he's just -- I thought he was terrific.
06:21 I thought he didn't -- sometimes when you miss a game, you come back
06:24 and you try to do things you can't do.
06:27 I thought he was super solid, didn't force things.
06:30 But he just gives you such a presence of confidence.
06:34 Like his presence exudes confidence to all the guys.
06:39 They just -- you know, they looked at him, knowing that he's back,
06:42 and they were excited.
06:43 And I thought he was great.
06:46 And then when he kind of tumbled there in the first half,
06:48 was there a conversation about maybe shutting down or what was that like?
06:53 Came out.
06:54 He just kind of tweaked it.
06:56 And then they all said he was good to go.
06:58 And he did, the trainer did, and we were good to go.
07:01 He just kind of tweaked it.
07:03 And here's the thing about, you know, athletes when they get something like that.
07:07 You've got to learn to trust it.
07:09 You know, when you have pain, whether it's an ankle or a shoulder,
07:13 whatever it is, and you're coming back from an injury,
07:15 there's that phase you've got to go through where you've just got to learn to trust it
07:19 because there's some apprehension until, you know what, okay.
07:22 And I think that's a big part of it is just trusting, like, "All right, it's okay.
07:26 It's strong enough to push through."
07:28 Holden, after the game Saturday, he said they have the confidence
07:33 that they're the best team in the country.
07:35 You know, Rivaldo said--
07:36 Wait, who said that?
07:37 Rivaldo said that you guys have the confidence, the best team in the country.
07:39 How big is that to have the players that confident?
07:42 What do you have to these really tough games this week?
07:45 Well, we're competing against the best in the country.
07:47 You know, in our own conference, out of conference, we played Carolina.
07:51 In conference, we're playing all the time, you know.
07:53 I don't know if anybody in the country has a five-game stretch like we do.
07:58 I mean, I'm looking at all these bubble watches,
08:00 but tell me if somebody has a stretch of at Baylor, Kansas,
08:06 at your rival who's playing really well at Bedlam,
08:10 and then at number eight, Iowa State, and then home against number one, Houston.
08:15 It's a complete grind.
08:18 So we're playing against the best.
08:19 I think the guys are competing in it, and the guys have a confidence
08:22 that if we're guarding and doing the things we can do,
08:25 we can compete against the best in the country.
08:28 James?
08:29 Porter, you don't have Hewley in this game.
08:31 He was big in that first game that you played against Iowa State.
08:34 How does that change the matchup with Luke, a different style of player,
08:39 I think, just getting more minutes inside?
08:41 Like you said, it's two different looks.
08:44 You know, John gives you this physical presence in there.
08:47 But I tell you the other thing that John can do, John was our best passing big.
08:51 He can pass.
08:53 So we miss that with him.
08:56 But Luke stretches you out.
08:58 Like you've got to make a decision on how you're going to stretch with him.
09:02 So it's two different looks.
09:04 You know, we're following John's progress.
09:06 He's doing great.
09:07 He's probably a little ahead of schedule if I had to say so.
09:11 But we'll monitor his conditioning and everything to bring him back when he's healthy.
09:17 But, yeah, we miss him, and we look forward to getting him back.
09:20 But I thought Luke was really good.
09:23 Totally--his confidence was totally different than the previous two games.
09:27 I thought Luke--and we've just got to keep building on that confidence.
09:30 Back to you, Les.
09:31 To the numbers support that this is the toughest conference in the nation.
09:35 We hear it from you and every other coach in this league.
09:37 But there's some sentiment out there--you know, it came out of Clemson yesterday--
09:41 that Big 12's not as tough as everyone makes it out to be
09:44 and that there's soft parts of schedules.
09:46 What would you tell somebody, whether it's another coach
09:48 or someone on Twitter saying that this league isn't--
09:51 It's just posturing.
09:52 People trying to posture their league.
09:54 It's just posturing, trying to get--and why wouldn't you?
09:57 I don't blame anybody for not posturing, but just watch it on TV.
10:01 Live through it.
10:02 I mean, you just see it.
10:03 I mean, the numbers don't lie.
10:05 Look at all the non-conference numbers.
10:08 Look at it.
10:09 So I don't blame any league for posturing, trying to do it.
10:13 Hey, we're all trying to posture to get into this tournament.
10:15 But, I mean, your eyes don't lie.
10:19 The numbers don't lie.
10:20 It's not even close.
10:22 This league is unbelievable, night in and night out, venues, everything.
10:26 So that hasn't changed.
10:28 What just happens is we go through it and you start beating each other up.
10:32 You start beating each other up, and that's when the posturing comes in.
10:38 Eddie?
10:40 This might be kind of whiny, but this type of thing, you usually see teams go on runs.
10:43 And it's usually, at least we in the media, think it's kick-started by a big win.
10:47 But the way that that game ended on Saturday,
10:50 is that something that we in the media just talk about?
10:52 Or is that a real thing that there usually is a kick-starter to going on a run this time of year?
10:57 I mean, sometimes it's always hindsight to say that kick-started it.
11:00 But I can tell you this, big wins in February launch confidence.
11:05 They launch confidence.
11:06 I mean, because we all know you need to log some wins.
11:11 And logging that win was really big for our conference race, for everything, for a lot of reasons.
11:19 So yeah, there's no doubt that winning, finding ways to win,
11:25 I think the thing that we really talked about that launches confidence is how resilient we were.
11:32 I mean, down 11, down 4, down 6, big shot they made after big shot.
11:37 And we kept on answering it in an awesome atmosphere.
11:41 So I think that's what to build on.
11:43 Look how resilient you were.
11:44 I thought our guys in every huddle stayed calm, stayed on track of what we were doing.
11:51 And that's what we were building on.
11:53 Like, look at this time of year, emotions are high.
11:55 And we just were resilient through an overtime game on the road.
11:58 Maybe a stronger belief than even if you need a team to miss a free throw.
12:01 You just get to the final possession and you never know.
12:04 Oh, because I missed a free throw?
12:06 Yeah, I mean, you need some of that too.
12:09 You know, there's no doubt you need some things to go your way.
12:13 I mean, miss the free throw, that, yeah.
12:15 But those are all things that happen in February and March.
12:18 That's why it's madness.
12:19 And you just got to keep your guys absolutely confident and ready.
12:24 That goes to the shooting.
12:25 You know, it goes to the shooting.
12:26 You're not going to win these games against elite defenses without making shots.
12:30 We have to make some shots.
12:31 We made 10 threes beating Iowa State last time.
12:33 Teams that have beaten them, you got to step in and make some shots
12:35 because they're number one in our league at protecting the rim.
12:40 They're number one in the league at protecting the rim.
12:42 It's very hard to get to the rim.
12:43 You better hit some shots.
12:44 Therefore, you better be confident.
12:46 Gracie.
12:47 You talked about how good Iowa State's defense has been.
12:50 Against Oklahoma State, you had like looked at Santa
12:52 and played a smaller look with Rivaldo and Lutre.
12:55 Do you think to get some more looks on the outside, you might play a smaller set?
13:00 You know, it's been good for us.
13:02 We have Jaylen at the five, you know, for a lot of reasons.
13:06 So we like that option.
13:08 We have that option.
13:09 We had Sam in there and then Luke in there and then Jaylen at the five.
13:14 So since John's been out, we've experimented with it, and we like the look.
13:19 We got it if we need it, and it's something that--Jaylen's just the best.
13:25 He's not like, "Well, I got to be on the perimeter."
13:27 Jaylen's like, "Wherever you need me."
13:30 So that was a good lineup for us at Oklahoma State.
13:34 Mason.
13:35 Porter, going back to just what I asked you earlier,
13:37 were you concerned pending a different outcome about the possibilities
13:40 of what might have happened Saturday?
13:43 What do you think the solution is?
13:44 Is it an outright ban?
13:45 Is it a mandating safety plan?
13:48 Oh, back to Corstorp you're talking about?
13:50 Okay, I think--and what was the question?
13:52 Well, just were you concerned about the potential of it on Saturday
13:56 or not getting a different outcome, and then just what kind of solution?
14:00 I'll be honest with you.
14:02 I wasn't thinking about a Corstorp ring there.
14:05 I mean, it could have happened, but it wasn't what I was thinking.
14:08 I was just thinking about how are we going to win.
14:11 But now that you just see some of these things that are happening with Kaitlin
14:14 and Filipowski, and you just--you're seeing it on some of the things
14:20 that are said to these athletes too because you're in such close proximity
14:25 I mean, we've talked about it as coaches.
14:28 Some of the things that are said are crossing the line as well.
14:31 And I think there's just--there's an entitlement there that, you know,
14:35 that unfortunately I think has got to be--there's boundaries.
14:39 I mean, a player can't feel unsafe getting to the locker room after the game.
14:42 You just can't. You can't do it.
14:44 You cannot feel unsafe trying to get to the locker room.
14:46 So do you want to ban it, or do you have some sort of actionable safety plan?
14:51 As you know, a couple months ago I was trying to like how can we find--make this work.
14:57 And I think I've changed my tune.
14:59 I think we're going to have to just eliminate them.
15:02 Any additional questions for Coach Beck?
15:05 Yeah, we're just--when teams maybe see number one on the schedule later in the week
15:11 there's maybe like a tendency to overlook the team that you're playing.
15:15 But when you're playing the number eight team, does that maybe help you as a coach
15:18 to keep the team walking?
15:19 I mean, there will be a time and place to talk about that next one.
15:23 Like we haven't even--our guys are--we haven't even talked about it.
15:27 We got together yesterday and Monday.
15:29 Today there's nothing but number eight Iowa State going there
15:35 against one of the best teams in the country and one of the best venues in the country.