Dec. 28, 2009
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Oakland Head Coach Greg Kampe
Opening Statement
"It was pretty much what we expected. It's the type of game we needed at this particular juncture in our schedule and I thought it went pretty much the way we thought it would go. It was great to see us shoot the ball the way we shot it. We stepped up and made shots and that's what they needed to do."
On getting what he wanted out of the non-league schedule
"In my mind, our record is 1-0. I don't worry about that stuff too much. I grew up in the Bo Schembechler era and that's all he talked about in the Big Ten championship and that's all we ever talk about. Everything we do is to try to put ourselves into a position where we can win our league. I never worry about what our record is at this point or anything like that. Everything we do is planned out to try and make us better. Our preseason went pretty much the way it should have, though we should have beat Eastern Michigan here; that was a disappointment. I haven't been able to get rid of that disappointment but other than that, we played exactly the way I thought we would play. We went on the road against some good mid-major teams. We won at Tennessee Tech and if they were in our league, they would have finished fourth or fifth. We went to Seattle and they might be able to win our league. It was a great win for us. We won at IPFW and we've beaten everybody at home that's not a BCS school or EMU. The Eastern Michigan thing is the one notch I am disappointed in, but if you look back you could have seen it coming. Larry Wright hadn't played yet and missed every shot he took. Derick Nelson also hadn't played and missed eight free throws down the stretch. Since then, at Seattle, we were 23-25 from the free throw line. The things we lost the game to against Eastern, we won with those in Seattle. That's what you want to see, the progression of getting better. I'm very pleased with where are at right now. I don't care how many points we lost by. You play the game and you win or lose."
On whether this was a throwaway game or if they learned from it
"We needed tonight's game. We got a chance to be home, we actually practiced today and we normally don't practice on game days. We went about it as a chance for guys to get a lot of minutes. We haven't shot the ball well and we needed to shoot the ball well. It was important for us. They were small and we did what we had to do. We played on the 22nd and we play on the 31st, so that's nine days and a long time before a game, so we needed one. We needed a game we could have some fun and play a lot of players and that's why I scheduled it. It had a purpose and served its purpose."
On tonight's shooting
"Those Kansas, Syracuse and Michigan State players weren't out there guarding us, so it is a whole different world. We had time to contest for the win if we wanted to. We needed to make those shots. Shooting is a confidence thing and is contagious. The only shooter we lost off this team was Erik Kangas. He was maybe the greatest shooter I ever coached. He was contagious; people knew he was going to make shots and they would do the same. This year, we're trying to figure out who is going to make shots for us. If you look at our stats and break into the BCS games, we scored about 56 points a game. Against non-BCS teams, we're scoring nearly 80. We're scoring at our level. One of the reasons for that is because this team is built like a BCS team. We have a post player, we have slashers, guys who can handle the ball. Our strengths matched the strengths of those BCS schools and we had a hard time dribble-driving against Wisconsin and teams like that. I am not surprised by the results of those games. Its pretty much going the way I thought it would."
Guard Larry Wright
On his confidence growth since the beginning of the season
"I've gotten a lot more comfortable now. Coach has been telling me to shoot the ball the entire year and I'm just getting more comfortable each game and each practice."
On his confidence going forward into league play
"I felt our schedule has really helped us, playing those big teams. We're probably not going to face competition like in the league. That schedule has given us the confidence to play."
Guard Ledrick Eackles
On playing the point lately
"With my role on the team, I just want to contribute. If I have to play the point and give JJ a break, I'm willing to do anything."
