March 17, 2009

Recap | Box Score | Notes

Oakland Head Coach Greg Kampe

Opening Statement
"We just beat the standard of the MAC. Kent State has won 20 games for 10 years in a row and I think only five or six teams have done that. Tonight was their chance to make it 11 in a row. They've been the standard for basketball in the MAC for the last decade. They've been to the Elite Eight and they've been to numerous NCAA tournaments. They've had coaches move on, one to Rutgers, one to Arkansas and one to TCU. So, don't minimize the importance of this game to Oakland University. This was not a bottom-feeder in the MAC. A decade ago when we started Division I play, I remember the first year we played three MAC teams in one week at home and the person in marketing at the time called it `Attack the MAC Week' Man, they attacked the hell out of us and beat us like nobody could believe all three games. That's where we've come in ten years. To me, this was a very significant win. Obviously, the first half wasn't very good and I don't think either team was good early. That was bad basketball. But, they started picking it up and a halftime, we had a real conversation and we started to play."

On playing a smaller lineup in the second half
"The strength of our team is that it's a very well-rounded team that can score from the inside. We really like to go to Benson and run our offense through Benson to Erik Kangas and Jones has the ball all the time. We just didn't play in the first half. We were tentative and they're a very physical team. They came at us and trapped us, just wild traps and we didn't handle them very well in the first half. I think part of it was that we were sluggish and tired. We got that strength down and it really didn't hurt us in the second half. We got the ball to the basket when they trapped us. The size thing is an advantage for us at our level. All through our league, there are not a lot of people that are 6-11."

On playing with a different intensity in the second half
"That was the difference in the game and that's what got us going. That was a part of the halftime discussion and the timeout discussions in the first half. There were two or three times in the first half where we reached and they dove."

On if anybody particularly impressed him
"I thought Drew Maynard was a key for us tonight. He really came out and started the second half. He made a couple of good defensive plays, had a key block and got the crowd involved. I'm telling you, I've never seen so many held balls in a men's game. We had eight or nine held balls and I've never seen that in my life. I think that was two teams really fighting and scratching down in the second half because there was like, four in a row and people were all over the floor. Their team did a good job."

On Dan Waterstradt firing up the team
"He was the key. I did not stay in the locker room very long. I said what I had to say and then I left. They were on their own and I guarantee you, he was the guy. A lot of people think we are going to be so great next year, but we are going to miss Dan Waterstradt and the chemistry of our team is so good and the leadership is so good. Most of it funnels through him. We will really miss him."

Senior Erik Kangas

On shooting turnaround in the second half
"The shots were feeling good and they weren't going down in the first half, but that's not going to stop me. I'm still going to put it up and still have full confidence."

On getting his ankle some rest for the next round
"I'll be getting some ice and getting some rest. It felt pretty good. Sometimes cutting bothers it a little bit, but it was fine."

On the team's first half daze
"Yeah, you could say it was a hangover from the conference tournament. We were struggling in the first half and then we realized we have a whole other half to play and then we played like we usually do."

Senior Dan Waterstradt

On what was talked about at halftime
"It started with bleep, bleep, bleep. (laughs). After Coach Kampe got out there and had our conversation, Kangas and I just looked at each other and said `What the heck? We've got to get after them.' I told Kampe at halftime that Kangas and I would keep doing plays for him. We ended up getting open looks and Kangas, like the shooter he is, knocked down some big shots."

Kent State Head Coach Geno Ford

Opening statement
"Kangas is going to make open shots and that's just what he's going to do. He doesn't need a lot of time to catch and shoot. I knew it was going to be a tough game. We felt like we gave ourselves a chance in the first half by coming out and playing so well. They really threw the ball all around, so maybe having some time off affected them. But I thought they played at a really high level in the second half. They're aren't many teams who come in here and win and certainly when you're not a very tough basketball team, which we didn't prove to be for throughout most of the year."

On the attitude coming into the game
"I thought we were great. That's as hard as we can play. We dove for loose balls, we took charges and we made a great effort. We just aren't as good as they are. I think had we been able to have the game at our place and because we played well in the first half, if we had a big lead like that, you'd probably hold on and win. The reality is, you're on the road and that's part of college basketball. We've been a team all year that's been home and on the road in stretches. When you're on the road, you have to be able to make free throws and be able to score around the rim because you're not going to be able to make jump shots for 40 minutes. We didn't have a team that made a lot of threes throughout the season percentage-wise and really inside, the big kid (Keith Benson), whether he was blocking us or changing them, we could score within five feet consistently. It puts a lot of pressure on guard to dig up a lot of perimeter shots and we had some problems making them today. But I thought they guarded us pretty well and as the game wore on, they guarded a lot harder."

On Oakland's adjustments in the second half
"It always happens. It was called tighter in the second half and so what happens is, you trap and you bump the guy, the ball goes away. You do it a second time, it's a foul and they shoot two free throws and they are a great free throw shooting team. Typically, the referees call a tighter game in the second half and we didn't trap as much in the second half. We struggled to guard them and that's the bottom line. We weren't able to keep Jones out of the lane that much and Kangas was running off screens and I can't believe he only made five three-pointers for the game. It seemed like he hit 15. They were five big ones all in a row and he got the crowd going. I didn't necessarily think it was bad defense at times, but good offense always beats good defense when you can jump up and make a shot. I give that kid a lot of credit, he made some tough shots."

On going younger in the second half
"A lot of that was determined by fouls. We threw some guys in the first half but to be honest, Julian Sullinger was playing well so it was hard to take him out. As the game wore on, we didn't have a lot of guys playing well, so we were grasping for straws. Sometimes, we'd throw a guy in and he would struggle too and next thing you knew, you had four guards and a small forward out there. At some point, how many missed layups can you watch? It was for my own sanity to be honest, taking some guys out."