Nov. 28, 2008

Recap | Box Score

Oakland coach Greg Kampe

Opening statement
I think when we found out Kangas wasn't going to play the air went out of our balloon. He got hurt yesterday in practice. We are fighting a major battle here with the travel and the injuries. And I think the air just went out of our balloon, and we played terrible (in the first half). We didn't guard. Maynard was hot at the start, but that was just fool's gold. He made a couple nice shots on offense. We weren't doing anything on offense and we were just standing on defense. We went man-to-man and we hadn't even practiced it. We went man-to-man because it was the only way I felt we could get our guys going and moving. And I think Waterstradt was the MVP, if I had a game ball to give. He came out strong to start the second half and he had really been struggling with his jump shot. He came out to start the second half banging down a couple shots and was very emotional, and we started playing. We played an outstanding second half, we really did. We went from a very veteran team to one of the youngest teams I've ever coached now. We are playing eight guys and six of them are sophomores and freshman. It's the youngest team I've ever coached just because of the injuries. All the expectations that we had and things we thought we could accomplish, we have to put those on hold and we have to get better right now with these young guys. I thought Cushingberry stepped forward tonight with everything on the line. Maynard played a great first half. Cushingberry played an outstanding second half and made some big shots for us.

On wining despite having two key seniors out
It's going to be a struggle. It's really going to be a struggle. We had five guys in double figures and that's good. We did what we had to do. Maynard had 21, Cushingberry had 11. Waterstradt came together with 10 points and (nine) rebounds. Dan Waterstradt really played an outstanding game.

On Kangas' injury
We don't know. We are just hopeful he can play Tuesday at Southern Utah. He rolled his ankle in practice yesterday.

On the difference in the second half
I think Waterstradt was the difference. His intensity level woke us up. We didn't feel sorry for ourselves in the second half. We had a lot of reasons and excuses to lose the game. Waterstradt being the only senior left went around and grabbed some shirts, but he also walked the walk too. He didn't just talk the talk. He walked the walk.

Freshman Drew Maynard

On what he was thinking coming into his first start
Nothing real different, just come in play hard and do our job. I got a couple open looks early and I hit. It felt good. We got a big win after being down nine points at half. We came out did the right thing, battled through adversity and pulled it off so it felt good.

On the difference in the second half
Definitely our defensive intensity. That really helped us step up, gave us more chances on offense to get back into the flow of the game and take that lead. It was basically just our all-out intensity.

On winning without Nelson and Kangas
Those guys are a big part of our team and without them, we kind of want to do it for them because we know with them we could do it easily. This win shows we can do it. We all have confidence in each other.

Oakland senior Dan Waterstradt

On his play in the second half
We came in at halftime and Kampe gave us some words. He didn't climb all over us, he just told us the first four minutes were going to win the game and decide how the game came out. He told me he wanted me to come off the bench with energy so that's what I did. I just came in there and played my butt off, did what he put me in there to do, rebound, bring some energy and put some points in there as well.

On not giving up despite all the things going against the team
It says a lot about the leadership we have on the team. JJ and Kangas helping out on the bench with the coaches. And a lot about our young guys. I told them after the game that I was really proud of them. Drew Maynard stepped up huge. Blake Cushingberry hit a few shots when we were missing a couple, and he knocked them down. He just helped us out because they keyed in on JJ and didn't let him touch the ball really. It says a lot about this team to face adversity in the first half. We played good defensively, we got out of our main defense and got out after a team that we felt we were better than. It was a good thing

On what the win does to boos the young guys' confidence
Honestly, I think it's everybody. We kind of had our heads down. We lost to Iowa, lost to Kansas State and that hurts our confidence because we are a good team and just weren't playing well. We kind of did that, came out lackadaisical. We turned it up and played the way we are capable of. We scored 42 points to their 28 in the second half. That's what won the game for us.