OU Basketball: Porter Moser Cincinnati Postgame (3/5/24)
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00:00 >> Bob and Jesse, you wanna start us off?
00:01 >> Yeah, we'll just start with the obvious one, just the guts, finding a way.
00:06 >> Yeah, just one of the guttiest performances I've seen under the circumstances.
00:15 You just look at the circumstances with senior night,
00:19 with obviously every game's huge.
00:22 In nine days, we played three of the most physical teams in the country.
00:28 At our state, Houston and Cincinnati, in nine days with these guys.
00:32 Then they find out they lose JV on, then Lowe's falls out.
00:37 We're playing with no point guard.
00:38 Mox came in and did a good job, man, he helped.
00:42 But the guts of Rivaldo, those guys are on the floor at the end,
00:46 to find a way to win.
00:49 We came out and got kinda punched in the face.
00:51 And I think we gave up 14 points in the first four and a half, five minutes.
00:56 And then we gave up 14 points the last 15.
00:58 We settled back down.
01:00 The belief in these guys, the belief in what they're doing and winning.
01:04 But it was just guts.
01:05 Very, very good physical Cincinnati team.
01:08 Those guys should be in the NCAA tournament.
01:10 I mean, they're really, really good.
01:12 And but just to find a way, I know I'll get asked about how the locker room was.
01:16 I just got asked on radio.
01:18 You asked me how was the locker room after the Houston game.
01:20 And I said, gutted.
01:21 These guys are investing.
01:23 They are so passionate about winning.
01:25 And it was emotional in there just now, with joy, with exhaustion.
01:29 They laid it, we just, I said before the game, I said sometimes after a game,
01:35 you say, God, if we could have got one more basket, one more stop,
01:39 one more rebound.
01:40 And I said before this game, I go, but tonight, we're gonna get one more stop.
01:44 We're gonna get one more rebound.
01:46 We're gonna get one more basket.
01:47 And those guys just fought so hard with crazy circumstances.
01:53 Nine days in a row, we just went.
01:55 Nine days in a row against three of the most physical defenses in the country.
02:00 And I couldn't be more happy for those guys.
02:03 I'm just happy for them, because they left it all on the floor tonight.
02:07 >> You're going through the handshake line post game, and embrace you had Waldo.
02:12 What that moment mean to you, and how is it?
02:16 >> Man, I tell you, our relationship has come so far with Waldo.
02:20 I mean, just to see him fight through some things.
02:23 I told him one time earlier when he was struggling, I said,
02:25 you know what's crazy is you and I are a lot alike.
02:27 We talk about it sometimes, that's why we were clashing a little bit earlier.
02:30 And he's just so passionate.
02:33 And he wears his heart on his sleeve, and he does everything with his passion.
02:37 And to see him come from where he was, 16 and 9 tonight.
02:42 He was emotional.
02:43 I was emotional after the game.
02:45 I think he wants to get in the NCAA tournament so bad.
02:49 It was something he knows is his last shot, and he knows what this game meant.
02:54 He knows what this game meant, and
02:56 that's why I just wanted to embrace him hard like a son.
03:00 >> Jesse?
03:02 >> Porter on top of all that, you mentioned Waldo, the ankle, all that.
03:05 It's senior night at LaTrey, playing point guard.
03:08 He hits the big corner three.
03:10 >> Huge.
03:11 >> Just what does that mean to see those two guys on senior night,
03:16 it's their last run.
03:17 It's what scripts are made of.
03:22 You have seniors playing a huge game with ramifications, and to make huge plays.
03:30 I mean, to hit that big three off there, I mean, what a shot.
03:33 And he came flying off loaded too.
03:38 We've been really just talking about being shot ready.
03:40 But to see those two make huge plays, and then Mox.
03:44 Mox making some huge plays.
03:47 >> We'll go Ryan, then James.
03:48 >> When did that flip switch to start getting downhill and
03:50 get to the free throw line?
03:51 And then just, you mentioned the nine days of his scouting.
03:54 How hard is it for those guys to still be males at the line,
03:57 considering their legs, I imagine, are gone.
04:00 >> I mean, literally, mentally, physically fatigued.
04:03 And then we couldn't sub, we didn't sub a lot.
04:05 I mean, Lowe's falling out.
04:06 But to have, I mean, Lowe's and Javion have been so clutch for us all year.
04:10 And Lowe's struggled, and with the foul trouble, and just couldn't get it going.
04:14 And to basically without your two point guards.
04:18 And I felt that, we got fouled on some three points.
04:26 We were running some three point actions for LeTray.
04:28 And he came off flying so hard, and they were worried about it.
04:31 And we got to the foul line.
04:33 Trey got to the foul line and knocked him down.
04:34 >> Go ahead, James.
04:36 >> For your offense, it's so discombobulated early.
04:40 And then Milo's can't get it going.
04:42 You got back into this game on defense.
04:44 How good was your defense, especially in the middle of the game?
04:47 >> Yeah, so two things with the offense.
04:51 Obviously, Milo's couldn't get it going.
04:53 But he was getting good shots.
04:55 I mean, he was getting to the rim.
04:57 He missed a bunch of those little floaters that he makes a ton.
04:59 But you gotta credit Cincinnati, too.
05:04 Like, those guards are as physical, we felt it before.
05:08 They take you out of a lot of stuff.
05:11 But we talked at halftime.
05:13 Like, if we held them under 40%, we felt we were gonna win, and they shot 32.
05:16 But we had to get some stops.
05:18 We had to win on defense.
05:20 We felt the way things were going offensively.
05:23 But even at the end of the game stuff, all our end of the game situations,
05:27 we never do it without Javion and Lowe's in there.
05:29 So we're having to try to manipulate, even the last play,
05:32 we usually run that thing for Javion when Tega got it.
05:35 We just felt with three seconds, Tega's one of our best athletes.
05:37 So we're trying to orchestrate it.
05:39 And Tega got a good shot off.
05:41 He got all the way down there for a five, six shot.
05:42 So you couldn't ask those guys anymore.
05:45 But just very gutsy effort defensively.
05:49 And a team that they were coming out to.
05:52 I mean, they were playing their tails off for the same thing, the tournament.
05:56 >> Can I ask one more?
05:57 >> Yeah, sure.
05:58 >> The back shot, the shot with Trey, I didn't have a great angle.
06:01 But it looked like you got a double pick for him or something.
06:05 >> So it was a little action we do.
06:06 So we have a stack up top.
06:09 So we set the up screen, and then we kind of fake like we're setting another one,
06:12 and then he goes to the corner.
06:14 And then Sam cleans it up.
06:16 And we were kind of faking a double, and then he peels out to the corner.
06:20 So.
06:21 >> What about Tom McClinton?
06:23 >> You mentioned a couple of those three pointers where all the Trey got fouled at.
06:26 Can you recall seeing four three point shooters get fouled in a five minute span,
06:30 or whatever it was?
06:31 >> I don't know, I don't.
06:33 He was coming off, and their defense was so
06:36 aggressive trying to get through those screens.
06:38 So when you're that aggressive to screens, and
06:40 Trey was stopping right after the screen.
06:42 Sometimes your body weight comes flying in, and Trey did a great job of it.
06:46 You know who used to do that?
06:47 I don't know what I'm referencing.
06:48 Taylor Robertson did a great job of that.
06:50 She'd come flying off the screen, and right after the screen stopped to shoot,
06:53 and get fouled a lot.
06:54 And Trey was doing that.
06:56 I just had a Taylor Robertson reference in the press conference.
06:59 Why not, right?
07:00 Why not?
07:01 >> Given some of the games where you guys have struggled with the free throw line,
07:04 how good was it to see you guys shoot so effectively?
07:07 >> Yeah, it was big.
07:08 And I think we missed two in a row one time.
07:10 But Trey hit some big ones.
07:12 I mean, the two big ones to get it to three, that's a difference maker,
07:15 cuz now you know they're probably with the three.
07:18 So those were huge down the stretch, and Trey hit two in Cincinnati there.
07:22 >> Cool.
07:25 >> When did you know about JBR, and you expect him to be back on Saturday?
07:28 >> So it happened yesterday.
07:30 I mean, crazy.
07:31 You're just, you go very light.
07:33 We were gonna go about 15, 20 minutes live on some offensive things in
07:37 the game plan, 15, 20 minutes live on defense to go to the game plans.
07:40 Then there's a lot of walkthrough, a lot of shooting.
07:42 But you got, cuz you took the day before physically off,
07:45 Sunday after the Houston game, how physical that was.
07:47 So Monday you had to get a little work in, and
07:49 it was just kind of a freak thing on his shoulder.
07:52 And we were waiting and seeing the day, cuz the x-rays turned out negative.
07:56 And it just was sore in the morning, and he couldn't have a range of motion.
08:03 So we weren't gonna push it if he'd have no range of motion.
08:05 So we'll know more.
08:08 I think it's day to day, so we'll see.
08:11 I mean, everything structurally fine.
08:12 There's nothing in the x-rays.
08:14 It's just getting that range of motion and strength back.
08:17 Josh.
08:19 >> Yeah, Porter, you talked about the 20 win benchmark yesterday.
08:22 You can only control what you do.
08:23 >> You guys talked about the 20 win.
08:24 >> [LAUGH]
08:25 >> Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:25 But I had a- >> Do you feel like at this point,
08:28 no matter what happens the rest of the way, you guys have done enough,
08:30 the points you're taking, you should be- >> Absolutely, no doubt, no doubt.
08:34 >> Okay, Mason.
08:36 >> Porter, you brought up Mox.
08:38 How big was that stretch of setting straight to keep you afloat?
08:40 >> Yeah, he got fouled on a three.
08:42 And then he went downhill, and he shot faked.
08:46 It was a veteran move.
08:47 I thought he was about to do it, and everybody went flying, and
08:48 he reversed pivot, and he had a nice shot.
08:51 Just to be able to have the Moxie to do that,
08:54 >> [LAUGH]
08:55 >> In that moment,
08:56 after not playing all year, but he's been through a lot.
09:01 He's older, and that's kind of the reason why we wanted him.
09:04 We were just talking about one of the things we took Mox,
09:06 to have a third point guard.
09:08 And JVN Lowe hasn't been hurt all year.
09:12 And then literally, right when we were talking about that, JVN goes down.
09:15 And I thought he did some good things.
09:18 He's got seven key points for us.
09:20 >> Keep it in that, we'll go to the back left.
09:24 >> You talked about the NCAA tournament.
09:25 How much have you talked with the guys in there about it?
09:30 >> They were just talking about it.
09:31 Yeah, they were excited about it.
09:32 They know how important each game was.
09:34 They know where we were at.
09:36 We had to get another big win against a really good team.
09:39 That's probably a quad two win.
09:41 So, no, we know, we feel, we go to Texas now, these guys are fired up.
09:47 They were talking about that more than they were talking about the other.
09:50 I mean, I think they know.
09:51 They know, we're just trying to stack some wins now, but
09:54 I think we're in good shape.