QUOTES – Oklahoma 79, East Carolina 74

Oklahoma coach Porter Moser – “We were fortunate to find a way to win. We haven’t been in a close game yet. This was good for us to grow. I’ve got to give East Carolina credit. Their length bothered us in a lot of areas, they were resilient making shots down at the end. We had to find a way to make some plays and we did just enough to win.” (On shooting 65 percent in the first half but holding only a one-point lead) “It is an easy explanation – 10 turnovers. We gave away possessions. It was a combination of turnovers being forced by their length and athleticism and then us sometimes not being as tough as we need to be. We just wanted to be physical with them trying to wall up and everything. Sometimes when you have a lead, and we did mention it to them, we’ve got to stay the aggressor. We’ve got to be aggressive on offense, aggressive on defense. Sometimes you play not to lose, especially early in the year when you haven’t had a close game yet. I thought (guard) Elijah Harkless made some toughness plays. (Forward) Jalen Hill made some toughness plays. Not only is their coach new, but they’re all new to each other. That’s the biggest thing about trying to come together.”

East Carolina coach Joe Dooley – “At the start of the game we gave up way too many easy baskets. On ball screen situations and rolls, we got caught on the wrong side, something we’ve worked a lot on. That being said, they put us in some bad spots … We’ve got to recognize and guard those. We did a good job of fighting back. There are some positives we can build on. I thought if we didn’t give up easy baskets and then there are things, we know we can do better. There were some things we hadn’t done yet. That being said, the speed of Oklahoma is a little quicker than what we’ve seen. Now we have to get adjusted to those types of things and I think there are some correctable things. We’ve got to make sure we can clean up some of these situations.”