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Got questions? Travis Ford has answers
Published: 2/2/2011 12:21 PM
Last Modified: 2/2/2011 12:21 PM

Questions and answers with Oklahoma State basketball coach Travis Ford regarding the state of the union, Keiton Page and Ray Penn:

Now that you have had time to watch film, any new observations about a Saturday overtime loss at Texas Tech?

“I like a lot of things we did. The start we got off to was horrendous. We actually have been getting off to decent starts. (It was) just a terrible start. That hurt us. But after the start, from the 11-minute mark or the 12-minute mark, we played winning basketball. We really did. From beginning to end, winning basketball. What I mean by that is playing hard enough. Defense was really good. Offense was really good. We just weren’t making any shots and we were fouling.

“(It was) really similar to the Texas game. After watching that game, I liked a lot of things we did. We have just got to get more players playing better, really. We had James (Anderson) last year who, on a bad game, could get 15 to 20. We don’t have that guy. When we play bad, we play bad. Certain guys, they play bad. And that’s what is happening to us right now.

“I thought (the Texas Tech game) might have been Keiton's best game since he has been here, for what he did and how he did it. He has had other games where he has made six or seven 3s, but he was a competitor deluxe. You could just really could look and (see him) say, ‘hey, I am better than what I have been and I know I can’t do some of the things I have tried to live on in the past. I’m going to have to figure this thing out.’ He was getting beat to death. They hold him. They do everything to him. You can watch it on tape and he just plays right through it as best he can. I thought he scored from 3s, he drove to the basket, he got fouled, he made big shots. I told him I don’t care about your percentages. That’s the way you need to play. I was happy with him, but then we don’t get much out of a couple of other guys, percentage-wise.”

Will Page’s move to the point be permanent?

“We’ll see.”

Ray Penn went from being a starter to playing only one minute off the bench at Tech. What do you want to see out of him?

“Ray needs to lead with a great, positive, confident attitude and lead our team and run our team and make positive plays. Know when to shoot ball and know when not to shoot. Know where the shot clock is at. (Get the ball to) guys coming off screens. Be the best defender out there. Be the guy that we can say ‘put Ray on this guy and then we’ll move forward from there.’ Do all the things that, when you are a 5-9 point guard, you have got to do....

“Ray is not a selfish guy, but he gets too consumed in oh, ‘I am not playing well.’ You’ve got to move forward and worry about how is Keiton doing? How is J.P. (Olukemi) doing? How is Marshall (Moses) doing? Worry about how they are doing. Don’t worry about yourself. Take what the defense gives you when it comes to scoring because yes you can score and yes it would be nice to get 8-10 points from him because he is capable of doing that, but don’t need to look for those 8 or 10. They need to come to you (in the flow of the game).

“He needs to handle adversity better whether it be on the court or whether it be off the court. Handle it the right way and I think he will. Ray has got the potential. I love his ability. I like some of the things ability-wise physically that he can bring to the table. Just learn to handle adversity a little bit better -- handle what does the situation call for right now and how am I going to handle it in a very positive, upbeat manner just like a lot of players have done, whether it be Nick Sidorakis, who went from starting many, many games to not starting. He’s still ready to go when you call on him. Or Jarred Shaw, who hasn’t played in I don’t know how long, but he’s ready when you call on him. Or Reger Dowell. He’s a guy who sulked a lot last year when we were winning big games, but he wasn’t playing. Now he kind of got humbled and is just appreciative.

“Ray has been given a lot since he has been here. We gave him a starting position when he got here. Fred (Gulley) was the starting point guard this year and got hurt and it was given back to Ray. So it’s good to get back that desire. He’s got it. I think he’s going to get back to it. I do. Sometimes when you have just been given so much it’s easy to be complacent. I think he got a little bit complacent thinking, ‘hey, there’s no other point guard on this team.’ That’s not the case. And that’s not the case for this whole team. Whoever the best five guys are, I’ll figure out who can play the point and who can play the two and figure it out from there, but we’ve got to get the best guys out on the court who are going to have the best positive attitude towards winning. It may not be the best five, but at least they are going to get out there and play hard and have good attitudes and do all those things.”


Reader Comments 2 Total
Ferris Bueller (2 years ago)
"Defense was really good. Offense was really good. We just weren’t making any shots and we were fouling."

Really, coach?
G-Block (2 years ago)
Whatever works - congratulations for beating Missouri last night. The team appears to maybe have turned the corner and start playing better basketball.
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Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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