Feb. 14, 2012
Oregon State men's basketball head coach Craig Robinson met with the media at his weekly press conference on Tuesday to talk about the Beavers' upcoming road trip to the Bay Area to play Stanford on Thursday and California on Saturday.
On looking back at the quadruple-overtime game with Stanford...
"I watched the tape a long time ago and I watched it again. The take away is that as painful as it was to view after it happened. Not quite as painful to view while it happened. It's just one of those games where we had so many opportunities, which has sort of been almost a microcosm of our season. We've had a lot of opportunities that we've let go by the wayside, which with an inexperienced team some of those things are going to happen. But some of those usually fall your way. In that game, we had a lot of chances for stuff to fall our way. Or I should say to execute things to make them go your way that we didn't do."
On how that game impacted the team mentally...
"I thought the combination of the two overtime games together impacted us more than the either one game would have. I can't remember if I said this when it happened, but watching our away game at Arizona after we lost that Stanford game was tremendous effort by the guys to try and get one on the road and then you lose that one in overtime. That I think had an effect on us when we went to Arizona State. I think that had an effect on those three games. Then after that, like this team does, they bounced back and we've had some successes. So I don't think we've been hungover, to use a word you guys like to use, since then."
On sensing a revenge factor against Stanford...
"Our guys don't operate like that. They don't operate on revenge. They operate on wanting to win, first and foremost. Secondly, they are starting to work at wanting to be real good at their craft. The problem with playing for revenge is that you just get up for revenge sake and you end up not executing correctly. I like the way our guys are going about their business and I really liked how we executed in the Washington game. The Washington State game you take that one out. You take Colorado out. For the most part, I like the way these guys go about their business. It's very workman like and I think when you're workman like you don't have to worry about things like revenge or emotions or senior days or anything like that."
On thoughts of the three-guard starting lineup...
"I liked it. I liked it for what we needed. I think with this team, and I've said all year long, that we have seven or eight guys who can probably start, and depending on what the matchups are, we can go with a number of lineups. I thought that the three-guard lineup might give us a little bit less of a disadvantage against their three-guard lineup. I thought Challe (Barton) did a good job, even though he got in foul trouble. I thought he was out there playing tough and sort of helped us set a tone on defense. Will we see that again? It really just depends on what we need game-to-game."
On the progression of Challe Barton this year...
"I've seen a lot of growth from him. Typically, the international guys are more mature off the court. On the court they are just like guys who are inexperienced. They come in like freshmen. So he's been able to really ramp up his learning curve just from knowing how to be a professional. He comes to work every day. What I see from him is a growth in confidence, a growth in actual basketball skills and, most importantly, a growth in leadership. I think he might be one of those guys who will eventually evolve as one of our more vocal leaders."
On the importance of getting production from Joe Burton on this road trip...
"It's important. Joe had a rough week last week. It's hard for us to do well if our frontcourt doesn't do well and Joe is a big part of that. He really helps us facilitate our offense. When he can help facilitate, as well as score a few buckets, typically we win. It's going to be important for us going forward, and in the (Pac-12) tournament, to get him back to the production level he was at in the beginning and middle part of the season."
On whether teams are playing Jared Cunningham more physically now...
"I do. I think they have to. I think that's a way to slow Jared down. I've said this before: just because he shoots a lot of foul shots doesn't mean he doesn't get fouled. So you can't not call it because you think you've called too many. If you look at any of our tapes, in the conference games teams have tried to bump him when he cuts and tried to knock him off his line when he's going to the basket. I do think that. But Jared has to play through it. I thought he did a good job on Sunday of not being frustrated. Sometimes he gets frustrated when he doesn't get a call but he just keeps coming back. He just kept coming back in that game on Sunday."
On whether the recent road success will help the team...
"I'd like to think that it's going to help us. I think irrespective of our record, I think we are playing better. And I think we are playing better on the road. I think our confidence is back to the level where it was when we were in the non-conference. But it has to play out that way. If I didn't think these guys were working hard enough, I would tell you that. These guys are just inexperience and each game we get a little bit more experience. I just absolutely love the way we are getting to the point where we know how to follow a game plan and execute it like a veteran team. I'm seeing signs of maturity that I think are going to bear fruit here at some point; hopefully sooner rather than later."
On where the Bay Area road trip ranks in term of difficulty...
"It just depends on who is playing well at the time. I think they are all hard. There are no easy road trips. This one is going to be one of the harder ones because you have two teams who are both in front of us in the standings. Stanford's record of late doesn't show it, but they are still a tough team and they beat us so they are going to have that confidence of having beaten us. Cal is just so well-coached, so well at executing their game plan, that they rarely beat themselves. You have to beat them in order to win and that's doubly hard when you're on the road."
On how much the games change when you play a team the second time in a season...
"It depends on the teams. I think Cal and Stanford have a way they want to play and it's going to be very consistent both ways. There might be some other teams that try to do some things to change it up after the first time. I think the talent is such and the coaching is such that there are not many guys who will change up their game plan. They believe in what they do and their players believe in what they do, and if they went away from that, they'd be risking diluting their efforts and giving the opponent a chance to sneak in there. So I don't think there will be too much of a change in game plan. There might be a change in lineup but not the game plan."
On whether playing Stanford after such an epic game will have an impact...
"We'll see. What I'm looking for from our team is the same effort and game plan that I saw on Sunday (against Washington). Then we'll worry about what they are doing and if they are doing anything different or if it will be a knock-down, drag-out like last time. I would hope that it would be a knock-down, drag-out because that means that we are in the game for the entire game. Unless we can win going away like everyone wants to do. But that's hard to do on the road."
On Angus Brandt having more confidence after playing well against Washington...
"I hope he does because he was, for lack of a better term, in a slump solely induced by his own confidence. He sort of regressed back to the old Angus. I said to him `just relax and have fun like you were doing at the beginning of the season. You make the right decisions. You know how to play this game. Just relax.' He did and went out and had a great game. Can he continue that? He should be able to. I'm hoping so."
On playing well against California and winning the first game...
"Historically since I've been here, we've had good matchups with them. I don't know what it is other than we always seem to be a little bit longer than they are. But even before we were playing this way, when we were playing more of a plotting way, we had some success. It's interesting about confidence and attitude. When you think you can beat somebody, it gives you a little bit of a boost. So I think, first and foremost, we have the confidence because we have a history of beating those guys. Secondly, I think we match up well with them, even though they have good players. What we do on defense matches up with what they do on offense. It's still on the road and we have to play a perfect game to win on the road; especially there."
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