Dec. 31, 2009
Recap | Box Score
Oakland Head Coach Greg Kampe
Opening Statement
"I think it's a great win for us. This game alludes to a couple of years ago when this team came in here and we were both fighting for first place. It was an identical game: we were up one at halftime and got a ten point lead with six or seven minutes to go. They made a run at us, won at a least second shot and cost us the league championship. Tonight, defensively, I thought we did a great job when that run started to come in the second half when they cut it to five or six points. We really executed: JJ made a jump shot from just inside the free throw line with a guy hanging on him as the shot clock was winding down and I thought that was big. Of course, Nelson's 3-pointer was pretty big and Benson also hit a three. They did some big things for us and that's a sign of a veteran team, a sign of maturity and sign of a team that has learned things from the past. Any time you win a Division I game, it's good. Any time you win a home league game, it's good. I'm very pleased with it. We couldn't shoot the ball at all and we have had a lot of days like that this year. Good teams learn how to win when they don't make shots. Tonight, we missed free throws and other than the first game of the year, that has been uncharacteristic of us. We've been an outstanding free throw shooting team; I think Larry Wright had made 26 in a row and he missed tonight. When he missed, I think everybody felt that the ball wasn't going to go in. We battled from the 10 minute mark of the first half on and we were outstanding defensively. They scored 19 points in the first 10 minutes and they finished with 63, so over the last minutes of the game they scored 44 points. I'm very pleased with that and how it went."
On stopping their run in the second half
"It's about getting stops and we knew we were going to make some shots, eventually. We are not a 31 percent shooting team, which we were in the first half and we shot 50 in the second half. Also, the way we play has a wear-down effect on people. We get people in foul trouble and we've been making more free throws over the season than our opponents have shot. We wear people down with our style of play with taking the ball to the basket and our inside play. It's harder for them to guard Kito in there because they have energy early then they keep getting beaten and bumped. It's a wear down effect and the shots we shoot are not bad shots."
On telling Larry Wright to play with confidence
"Larry is an interesting guy. There aren't many great shooters that have a conscious and Larry has one. That's a bad thing. He's looking over at me wondering if he should keep shooting or not. Erik Kangas would never look at me. He would miss 12 shots in a row and make the next one. We've got teach Larry to be more like that and to not care. You've got the green light and you're supposed to be our scorer, so score. When he shoots well, we are really a good team. When he doesn't, we have to scrap and battle like we did tonight. But we won, so those are good signs."
On committing only three turnovers
"We committed three turnovers because they played a man-to-man zone. Now, what the hell is that? They played man-to-man, but they played 10 feet off of us. We're taking quick shots and that's bad and that's why the first half went the way that it did. What we did in the second half was run our offense and even though we were wide open, we wanted to turn those shots down and make them shoot the ball. We had 69 shots and they had 45, there's the wear down effect. We got that because of our offensive rebounding and because we only turned the ball over three times. We also took good shots."
Senior Derick Nelson
On the team's ability to close out games
"We're a veteran team and we are supposed to be able to close out games like this. Me and JJ have been through these types of games before and we have lost them before. Being veterans, this is what we are supposed to do. It's all about mental toughness."
On a sense of confidence
"We feel confident at all points in the season. We feel like we are supposed to win this league and it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Everybody in the locker room remembers that when we go out on the court and I think we feel that way all the time."
On hitting a groove by going to the basket
"That's what I do really well and Kito got in foul trouble a bit in the first half and I was able to be a little more aggressive."
Senior Johnathon Jones
On playing as the league favorites
"We are going to give it our best shot every night and we have to get down and really focus on defense. That's when we are going to win the games."
On making some big jump shots
"This is just getting a feel for the game and reading the defense. I have to look for my shot so I can set up the other players."
Western Illinois Coach Jim Molinari
Opening Statement
"Well, I think you got to give Oakland a lot of credit they did a good job of getting the ball to Benson in the second half and we couldn't stop him. They have a very good team, very well coached and they seized the game."
Being able to stay with Oakland
"I think Oakland plays well, they are well coached and confident and I think in their mind they knew that the whole game. So, I think it's one of those things when you play a very good team. I just think our identity is that we have to defend, which I thought we did ok with today, we have to rebound, we did ok with that but then we have to take care of the ball. And give them credit they pressured us and we had 19 turnovers and they scored out of our offense. We aren't a good enough team to let teams score out of our offense. I think that was the difference of the game. I think they play together and I have great admiration for them."
Oakland's second half success
"I think teams every game seize the game at a certain point. Might be the middle of the first half, might be in the middle of the second half. I think that at one point there they seized victory when they got the ball to Benson, hit a few threes, and then we turned it over. I'm not sure if we understand yet, we are only in our second year, if we know what it takes to win on the road so we have to keep banging on the door and hope we bust through the door. I think that was that, they always execute their offense well and I though they played very good pressure defense. But that's the stuff we will work on at practice. I say what you tolerate in practice you live with in the game and I guess we have been too tolerant of carelessness with the ball and carelessness with the game on the line and trying things that are consistent with what we do."
