Postgame Quotes - January 13, 2012

(On tonight’s game) “I thought it was a total team win. You look at Jonas (Jerebko) especially. He just had great purpose throughout the game, great energy. He was all over the ball and making multiple effort plays “

(On Brandon Knight) “Brandon is a very bright guy. Once he sees an area of concern he is quick to make adjustments. That speaks of intelligence and of his will. Brandon wants to do right.”

(On the play of the team’s starters) “We had four out of five guys that had three or more assets. I thought Ben Gordon was tremendous in the third quarter being a facilitator. It was good so we want to build off of that. We want to be a high-assist, low-turnover team, not the opposite.“

(On his back-to-back three-point field goals in the fourth quarter) “My teammates attacking the gaps in the zone created opportunities for me and I was able to knock them down. But if it wasn’t for players like Damien Wilkens and Rodney Stuckey that created certain opportunities for me, those shots probably wouldn’t have gone in or I wouldn’t have been able to take them.”

(On the team snapping its six-game losing streak) “It’s a little bit of a relief, but for us we don’t really look at it like that. We look at it as an opportunity to build, an opportunity to get better, an opportunity to continue to do what we did well here and advance on that.”

(On the team’s play tonight) “If you look at the score sheet you will see that a lot of people produced tonight. We really did a good job tonight and we just have to keep it up, this is how we have to play every day.”

(On Brandon Knight’s first career double-double) “He’s playing hard, he’s doing a really good job. He’s just out there, always giving us a lot of energy. He’s everywhere and that’s one thing that’s good. I know it feels good to get your first double-double, I remember that last year, so I know he feels good right now.”

(On Byron Mullens’ progression) “Offensively he’s scoring, running the court, lob dunking and those kinds of things. He just has to learn how to defend, rebound and block shots. I think he’s very good and he’s coming along. He’s one that really looks to do it offensively. He’s very diligent about making offensive plays.”

(On the team’s defensive rotations) “In their defense we really haven’t had a lot of time to practice it. You need to practice that diligently then it becomes a habit. It’s not a habit with us right now. It’s just one of those things where we have to talk more, and on offense we have to share the ball more. We have to be confident.”

(On looking ahead to the next games) “I just told them we have another game tomorrow night. We can’t keep making these mistakes and expect to win. We just didn’t come with energy tonight but I don’t want them to get down. It’s a short season and we have a long way to go.”

(On the losing streak) “Right now, nothing is going well for us offensively, defensively or rebounding. It’s just one of those stretches. I’ve been through this before, my first year in Oklahoma City. (We had) young guys and we went through the same thing when I was there. It takes time, but we bounced back there and I feel like we’re capable of bouncing back here. It’s still early in the season, so I think we’ve got time.”

(On his mindset going forward) “I’m disappointed that we’re not winning and we’re not playing well, but I’m not going to get down. It’s just one of those things where you have to get over the hump, and I feel we will as a collective group. This isn’t a time to get down on myself or my teammates. This is when you come together and you come stronger and stronger as one.”

(On the team) “It’s always hard losing, but hopefully we can try our best to stay together. There’s still a chance for us to get a great win streak, I just think we have to stay positive and stay together and hopefully good things will happen.”

(On the team’s mindset) “Everybody is still positive. It’s really early. We don’t have such a great record, but hopefully we can turn it around and rack up some wins.”