Feb. 4, 2010

Recap | Box Score | Notes

Oakland Head Coach Greg Kampe

Opening Statement
"The difference between this year's team and previous teams is that we can really defend. The way we got back in this game in that we clamped down defensively and held them to 11 points in the last 11 minutes of the half. That's how you win, when you can take a night like this and stop somebody. We had a couple of seniors who knew that they only have a few games left in this arena and they stepped up to play great. Derick Nelson was phenomenal down the stretch, as was Johnathon Jones with his 13 assists. He got the ball to Derick and got him to where he was supposed to be. It looked like it was going to be one of those long nights where you walk out of here shaking your head and wondering how you lost. But these two guys stood up and made sure that didn't happen. That's the difference and that's why we're where we're at."

On the importance of rebounding
"I think this team can win in a multitude of ways. Our staple is supposed to be defense and rebounding, but there have been a couple of games where we haven't rebounded very well. I think it can be a deceptive stat. There were a lot of rebounds tonight, but that's because there were a lot of missed shots. But we can win when we don't rebound."

On the second half defense
"We really sluggish at the start and our ball pressure was pretty bad. Once we got ball pressure, the athleticism started to show. You're going to think this is crap, but the truth is that I'm at fault here. We were up 18 points and I substituted three people. I've been coaching for over 30 years and you don't do that, especially when the game went the way it did in the first half. I was thinking ahead to Saturday and I'm stupid for doing that. I got what I deserved, but fortunately the players didn't get what I deserved because they made the big plays."

On the bench play of Blake Cushingberry
"He played pretty well, with four rebounds and only one turnover. He's really good defensively and a really important player to us. With the matchups tonight, he really stepped up. Ledrick Eackles has been sick and that showed tonight. He's really moved into a position where we count on him. We have a deep bench and there's a lot of buttons to push and that's why we are 11-1; somebody always seems to come through."

On Drew Maynard starting
"I wasn't really pleased with Will Hudson's performance in the last few games and with the matchups being small and Maynard playing well his last couple of outings, it was time to make a change. I thought Will responded really well off the bench tonight. He played the same amount of minutes and played as well as he has all season. Will's always going to play becasue of his defense, but I just thought it was the thing to do."

Senior forward Derick Nelson

On stepping up and making shots when his teammates were not
"We started off not shooting very well, but then I saw a couple go in. Once you see a couple go in, you get a little confidence and they happened to be falling for me tonight."

Senior Johnathon Jones

On the team's ablility to make comebacks
"We know our focus is on defense and when we are down, we know we have to buckle on defense. We have bigs who can run the floor, so we push the ball up and they draw the foul. They open the floor up for us and our tempo speeds up."

On Centenary being a challenge after beating them by 38 earlier in the year
"When you are at the top of the conference, you know you are going to be the best shot for every team. It's all about coming out and taking it one game at a time. We can't overlook anybody. We told ourselves all week to not look ahead to Oral Roberts Saturday. We didn't close out tonight like we wanted to, but we found a way to win."

Centenary Head Coach Greg Gary

Opening Statement
"Please tell me, is Derick Nelson gone after this year? They just have so many weapons. I'm proud of our guys tonight. They fought hard, that is what they are going to do, that is what we are going to do no matter what the circumstances are. I'm proud of them. When you compete like that, you give yourself a chance to win. We're down three with two minutes to go. They are a veteran team and that is why they closed it out.

On the effort tonight compared to the game at home
It was 100 percent better tonight. It's a learning experience. We have a lot of new guys that hadn't seen Oakland before. This time around we made a game plan that was a little bit better. Our guys executed and played harder. You never know why kids play hard one night and not the next. If we could figure it out, we would play hard every night. I'm just happy we responded better tonight after getting our butts kicked the first time."

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