Ford says Nash is learning and will "get it."
Published: 11/25/2011 5:58 PM
Last Modified: 11/25/2011 5:58 PM
Le’Bryan Nash came to Oklahoma State with huge expectations. He’s the highest-ranked basketball recruit every to suit up for the Cowboys and he was chosen the Big 12’s preseason freshman of the year.
Nash played only 11 minutes in a Friday loss to Virginia Tech and was scoreless on 0-of-3 shooting.
If Nash was any other freshman, his performance might be a “so what?” deal. Because Nash has a rep, coach Travis Ford was asked about the prize rookie in a post-game press conference at Madison Square Garden.
“Le’Bryan is a very important part of the team, a very talented individual,” Ford said.
“We’re trying to focus to get the guys to play hard every second, to make winning plays, and he’s trying every day to do that. He’s going to get it. It’s great that he gets to be surrounded by some good guys who played hard tonight and to see that and feed off that. He’ll learn.”
Nash was out-freshman-ed by Virginia Tech’s Dorian Finney-Smith, who produced a double-double (10 points, 14 rebounds).
Ford referenced the Hokie rookie and continued talking about Nash, saying freshman typically go up and down and predicting Nash will be fine.
“We need Le’Bryan,” Ford said. “For us to maximize our team, to get the most out of it, you need your best players playing hard, you need your most talented players.
“And two of our most talented players on our team are Jean-Paul Olukemi and Le’Bryan Nash, two guys that didn’t do much the last game (against Stanford). That’s why we weren’t successful. Just because you’re talented, things aren’t just going too come easy for you. You have to get the most out that of that talent by playing hard and playing with a sense of emotion and playing with a competitive edge and playing as if every possession is your last possession.
“All these things, he’s learning. He’s willing to learn.”
Ford said he didn’t go into the game thinking Nash was going to play so few minutes.
“We had such a great energy level going out there,” the coach said. “We stuck with some guys. He may play 30 minutes next game. Who knows?
“Our team always knows that. You may get 35 (minutes) next game. Somebody else may be playing well, and you only get 10. That’s the nature of our team. We’re equal on this basketball team. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. There’s a lot of guys from 1 to 9 to 10 that are similar.”
--Jimmie Tramel.
Written by
Jimmie Tramel
Sports Writer
