Jan. 8, 2009

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes

Cleveland State Head Coach Gary Waters:

"I thought our guys came on a mission today and it was a defensive mission. Defensively, these guys did a great job keeping them out of the paint. That team is a rebounding team and we put a better emphasis on that in the second half and it showed."

"We started George in Detroit and had a great start in the first 10 minutes. But Loyola was playing three guards and I didn't want to have J'Nathan chasing a guard around because he would have to guard the point guard and he shouldn't do that. That's why we went with Tre and he did an outstanding job on him."

"We can't have J'Nathan fall in love with the three because he is also our inside prescence. Today, Chris (Moore) gave us a good inside game and can draw another person in there."

"I thought we hit some shots tonight. When you hit shots, good things happen. I told the team, if we shoot 40-percent, we'll win the game. And they finally went out and hit some shots."

"I know Tre can score and do some things. I haven't had him that long to make an assessment of what he can do. He is offensive minded and is going to look to score and shoot. And he is very quick. Once he gets a total understanding of everything, you'll be able to see his total arsenal. He's going to have to play some minutes to get caught up now with D'Aundray out. Lately, he is starting to learn and I have to get him some more playing time on the floor."

"As a team, we sat down the first day we lost D'Aunday and I listed four things on the board ... rebounding, loose balls, shut down guy and intensity. And no one player on our team has all four of those things. But we can get something from each player in each category. When they go out and play now, they understand each person has to make up for him. And D'AUndray is a hard guy to make up for."

Cleveland State's J'Nathan Bullock:

"My teammates are getting me the ball in good positions for easy shots. And I just have to step up and knock it down."

"If Tre keeps shooting the ball like that, we won't have any problems (against a zone)."

"We came focused and ready to play."

Cleveland State's Tre Harmon:

"I was playing within our system. Coach gave me an opportunity and I took it. I just stepped up and played how I had to."

"If you're a shooter, you are going to keep shooting. I had to stay confident and take the shot when it comes. I just have to be patient and take advantage of my opportunities."

"Our number one priority is defense. I can't bring everything that D'Aundray brought, but I am going to play my hardest and scrap and get loose balls."

Loyola Head Coach Jim Whitesell:

"Cleveland State really jumped us in the first half and we needed to have some shots to fall to get us in the game. But they just dismantled us. I thought we could come out in the second half and catch them with their guard down. But this team handeled us pretty easily today. You name it, we got beat in every spot. Defensively, we had to grind it out, but it looked like they had a free shot everytime down the floor. We got pushed around and didn't respond with a lot of competitiveness tonight."

"We weren't guarding anything early so we switched to zone, but they shot the ball well. They have a lot of senior leadership and they showed it tonight."

"They are one of the best defensive teams that we have played and we have played some great ones this year. They do a great job of pressuring you and making you really labor. You have to have good guard play to get something set up. I was very impressed with their defense."