Feb. 5, 2004
Cleveland State vs. UW-Green Bay
Feb. 5, 2004
Post-Game Quotes
Cleveland State Head Coach Mike Garland
On the guys playing so hard: "We've got a bunch of guys right now, it's taken a while, but I think it's obvious to you, that you might be wondering why they're playing so hard night in and night out when they're losing. In times of war, soldiers, when you ask them if they're fighting for their country, they'll tell you, no, they were fighting for the guy next to me. That's what these guys are doing. They're fighting for the guys next to them. After I talked to them today, the kids said let's go get a win for Jermaine (Robinson), if nothing else, let's win one for Jermaine because he deserves it. He deserves a home win, he deserves a win of some kind. He's been a winner, and he's done a lot of good things for us. I know at times, he may make a mistake or a bad shot, but like tonight, I have to commend him on his floor game. He was putting the ball where it needed to be. He found Patrick (Tatham) and Luke (Murphy) down low. We've got a bunch of babies that are growing up here, and I've got a fifth-year senior who I'd love to have back for another year or two. If I had him back, we'd have a consensus All-American. They're all starting to understand what it takes. They didn't look like a losing team when the pressure was on tonight, they looked like a team that was 19-0. They didn't panic in that situation. A completely losing team doesn't do that kind of stuff."
On the return of Pape Badiane: "There were times that I left him in too long, but what was I going to do? I don't have big Walt (Waters) to put in. I wanted to make sure that if Jermaine was out, and Omari was in, it would help balance things out. In hindsight, I should have trusted the freshmen a little bit more, they really came to play."
On the low-post play: "That kind of got away from us. We were hurting them badly with our post touches. When we are playing well, we get a lot of good post touches. Whether we get the ball inside and score, or go in and out, it makes people play you honestly. We went to a spread, away from the inside game, and I kind of slipped a little. Then we went back inside, and all of a sudden, things opened back up."
On the season: This year is a bittersweet thing. I want to win badly, and I think everyone knows that. I'm upset that we lost, but I'm happy the team is taking steps toward becoming a quality team. I hate to resign myself to this. I was a little impatient with this season. It's a process, and I'm a knucklehead, and I learned the hard way. But, when we look back on this season when we do get things together, this may be the year that helps us get the program where we're at. If things hadn't stayed this way, the young guys wouldn't be getting the minutes they're getting now. I've got a couple of guys on the bench who are waiting to tear some heads off as well. But the season's not over yet, we're looking forward to Detroit. I'm not scared of it, we're going to take it head on, play hard and try to beat them. Then we're going to come back next week and try to win those two. We're still going to go at it, and that's that way he's going to be."
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Cleveland State Guard Victor Morris
On the losing streak: "They all feel the same to me, thought I thought we had a real good chance of winning this game tonight."
On feeling like a freshman: "I think that went out the window the second game of the season."
On wanting to get a win for senior Jermaine Robinson: "We have got to win one for him one of these games. He plays so hard for us, he just goes out and does everything."
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Cleveland State Forward Patrick Tatham
On his knee: "I might feel it tomorrow, but it doesn't hurt too bad right now because the adrenaline's still pumping. I might not feel it until tomorrow morning."
On the return of Pape Badiane: "We were ecstatic to have Pape back. He means so much to our program and to our season, having him back today was really good."
On the league opponents: "Coach Garland tells us most teams are scared of playing us. Every game we've played in the conference has been down to the wire, except for a few. I don't think anyone looks at us as a rollover team."
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UW-Green Bay Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk
On sweeping Cleveland State this season: "We feel very fortunate to get two wins against a well coached team that plays very hard. They're going to be a very good team in the future. I've got a lot of respect for Coach Garland, he's a very close friend of mine. Despite the fact they're struggling right now, he's got them playing hard and playing together. I feel for him because were were in a similar situation last year. I know the pains you go through when you go through a situation like that."
On breaking Matt Rohde out of a slump: "Matt is a very quiet, reserved kid, and we have to talk to him about hunting down his shots, looking for more opportunities to score. He really won't notice them if he doesn't hunt them down. Luckily, he made some threes for us tonight, and he made a huge shot that won us the game."
On today's game vs. the first meeting of the season: "I thought we played better this game than we did in the Resch Center. That game, we had a pretty large lead in the second half, and I don't think we really led much tonight. We couldn't put them away, and that's a credit to how hard they play and how well coached they are."
