Feb. 20, 2010

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Oakland Head Coach Greg Kampe

Opening Statement
I think we were all concerned about what this game meant. I'm not sure what the reason was but for some reason we weren't ready to play and I think there were 3,101 people who came here tonight thinking we were going to win a championship and cut down the nets tonight so it would behooved to us that we do that. It took a half for us to understand that you don't get anything, you have to earn it and boy did we earn it tonight. And these two guys right here (Jones and Nelson), in all my years I don't think I have had two seniors who have wanted to do something so badly and take it upon themselves to get it done. I'm so proud of them.

On Johnathon Jones being the possible MVP
If you were that at the preseason conference, I said that day that the reason our team is going to be really is good is because we have veteran leadership who have been all-league and all-everything and they don't care. They care about winning and they have proved that.

If slow starts will be a problem in conference tournament
If it's a self-motivator we won't be there very long. They understand, and everyone understands, all eight teams that go in think that they can win. What we have going for us is that in a tournament situation, players that are good have to make plays and you just saw an example of guys that are doing that. The strength of our team through the year was our depth. Ledrick Eackles had five good games, then he went away. Then Blake Cushingberry stepped up and he was great, then Drew Maynard was great, Will Hudson has been great. Every player has taken their turn to help the three major guys out and that's what's made us good because those three guys couldn't have done it without them. But when it's time to win a championship those big boys have to step up and do things and we saw that Thursday and some today. Do we want to start slow there? No, you don't want to but you got to win. When it's all said and done you can play great early and poor late and lose or whatever way it happens. This team knows how to win. I can throw all these stats at you: 19 in a row at home in the league, 25 out of the last 26 at home, 23 out of the last 24 league games, who does that? Do I feel good about our team going into the tournament? Yes. Am I scared? I'm always scared. I was scared tonight. The games are games they are played by kids and if we start slow, we better find a way to win and if we start fast we better hang on.

On whether this is his best team
Usually I don't answer questions like that. Ask me that on March 14. We will either be sitting in the O'Rena waiting for who we play in the NCAA Tournament or we will be waiting to see who we play in the NIT, so we will answer that question then.

Senior Johnathon Jones

On being the possible conference MVP
No, I'm not even looking at that. My goal is to win this championship and then win the next championship at the tournament.

On being the regular season Summit League champions
It feels good, it's a great accomplishment but we know we aren't done. This is one of our goals that we made in the summer but we have many more goals and we have to finish out the season and head to the conference tournament. We are feeling good about our team and finish that there.

On playing in tight games
Well the last couple of games we haven't really started out well. I don't know what it is but we have to fix it and correct it because in the tournament we can't wait until the second half to start our game. So, we will correct that into the last game of the season. I think what it is, is our defense. We have to start putting pressure on the ball early to help start our offense. That's what I think we have to do.

What was said at halftime to spark comeback
I think it's what Kampe said in the locker room, but I can't really repeat what he said. What he said in the locker room and what we said to the players was the little things, we know we have to pick it up on the defensive end because as I said it sparks our offense. We know that we are a defensive minded team and we know that's where we have to start from ground one.

Senior Derick Nelson

On being the regular season Summit League champions
What he (Jones) said, it feels good but we know it will feel a lot better in March when we win and cut down those other nets, so that's our main goals.

North Dakota State Head Coach Saul Phillips

Opening Statement
We lost to an excellent team tonight, a championship team. I was proud of the effort our guys had. It's been the story of our season we have been able to hang in games but not able to make enough plays down the stretch. Really, a credit goes to Johnathon Jones in particular. I'm a fan of his I haven't made a secret about it. He is an excellent player. Nelson as well, after the adversity that he has fought through with his injury there was a hunger in those guys. I told my guys, they have probably clinched the one seed according to my slow math, but they haven't cut down the nets yet so that meant they were laying on us a little bit. They came out with a lot of emotion and particularly their seniors had championship efforts tonight.

Change in Second half
Defensive pressure for one, I just thought Jones refusing to quit. He was the best player in the second half bar none. I really like Keith Benson and Derick Nelson as players but I think Johnathon Jones makes this team go. I think you saw it here on Thursday too he has the ability to put his team on his shoulders. When you have a point guard like him, you got a chance. We have had an opportunity to have a point guard like that the last couple four years. Leadership wise, competitively there are a lot of common threads between the kid we just graduated and the id out there right now enjoying the chance to cut down the nets on his home court.

The play of Michael Tveidt
Tveidt is an outstanding player. He has been in a bit of a shooting slump. He is a difficult matchup at 6'7". He can score inside and outside, when he moves well without the basketball we are difficult to guard. That was his strongest performance of the year and he kept telling me he was going to bust out of his shooting slump close to tournament time. He just kept telling me so I guess he was good on his word. We just have to keep that going.

Junior Michael Tveidt

Play in the Second half
They came out and shot a really good percentage and their defense kind of revved in up a little bit. At first we didn't handle that very well, we had a couple turnovers, I know I had one early that cost us and you can't give away points to a team like this. They are a good team.

Getting confidence despite the loss
There have been a lot of close games for everyone this year. It's like that every year. I know it was like that for us last year, I mean it gives a team confidence when they can finish those games off. It's one of the things you learn how to do and last year we closed it off in the end and this year we haven't been able to do that. Oakland has earned it this year, they have won their close games and that's what championship teams do.