Season preview: Oklahoma State SR SG Phil Forte III

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There are shooters, and then there are SHOOTERS.  Phil Forte III won a National 3-Point Championship while he was still in high school.  As a freshman at Oklahoma State he led the Big 12 with 91.5 FT% from the line in conference play.  As a sophomore he was #14 in the country with 44.1 3P%.  As a junior his 15 PPG was #4 in the conference, so who know what kind of stats he will put up as a senior.  HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Phil about making FTs for the Cowboys and having a long-time friend in the NBA.

Your father Phil Sr. played DL for the Kansas football team, and took you to the Jayhawks’ 2003 title game loss and 2008 title game win: what are your memories of Hakim Warrick’s block in the final second of 2003 and “Mario’s Miracle” at the end of regulation in 2008? Both of those are vivid memories for me. I remember crying my eyes out in 2003 after the Jayhawks lost! The comeback at the end of regulation in 2008 and Mario’s shot going in were just unbelievable.

In 2012 you won the national high school 3-PT championship, and you only need 63 more threes to break the Oklahoma State career record: what is the key to making shots from behind the arc, and do you think that you will break the school record? It is just about my coaches and teammates who do a great job of putting me in a position to make shots, which makes my job very easy. I try not to think about the record: I just want to enjoy every moment of my senior year and soak it all in.

You play for Coach Travis Ford: what makes him such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have ever learned from him? You will not find a coach who works as hard as he does. He wears his emotions on his sleeve and cares about each and every one of us, both on and off the court. We both could shoot pretty well and have a similar stature so I know that he can teach me what it takes to play at the highest level. He challenges me every year and I try to answer his challenges.

In the 2013 Big 12 tourney you made a pair of FTs with 2.9 seconds left in a 1-PT win over Baylor, and you finished 2nd in the conference in FT% during each of the past 2 years: what is your secret for making FTs? I just take a lot of reps when I am tired and try to make 5-10 in between other sets to catch my breath. When you know that you have made so many of them in practice, it is not as hard to make them during a game.

In February 2014 you scored 9 PTS in a 1-PT 3-OT loss to Iowa State: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of your career? Obviously I wish that we could have won that game but that is just how sports goes. You cannot win every game so you just try to learn from your mistakes.

You finished that season by being named Big 12 6th Man of the Year: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It is just a blessing to be here and play for coaches who truly want the best for me. None of my success would have happened without my teammates.

You were a teammate of Marcus Smart from 3rd grade through college: how weird was it to play without him last year after he decided to enter the NBA draft? It was really weird at first to take the court last fall and not see him standing next to me. All good things come to and end but we are both moving forward and starting new chapters in our lives.

In the 2013 NCAA tourney you scored 5 PTS in a loss to Oregon, and in the 2015 NCAA tourney you scored 12 PTS in a 6-PT loss to Oregon: how sick are you of seeing the Ducks in March?! It is not so much about Oregon but more about us getting knocked out: it motivates me to try to advance in the tourney.

Your non-conference schedule includes games against Minnesota/Florida/Auburn: which of these games do you feel will present your biggest test? All 3 of those teams are very good and have great coaches/rich traditions. None of those are at home for us so they will all be great measuring sticks.

What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? I want us to have as much fun as we can because we have worked so hard during practice. I want to make a run in the tourney and just enjoy being with my teammates. People are not expecting much out of us so we want to exceed their expectations with our close group of guys.