Feb. 12, 2011

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes

Cleveland State Head Coach Gary Waters:
(Opening statement) "This was a hard fought game. I mean, this team plays you hard. I've studied their last five games, and every game they play hard, so you have to really play this team. With these early Saturday/Sunday games, you never know what to expect. What I did like is they fought back in the second half. I thought they did a very good job at that."

(On Norris Cole's NBA prospects) "For a guy to come out and do what he did today... In that first half we were a little lethargic. The only one who was scoring was Norris. He's got the potential because he's got that killer instinct out there. He knows how to control the tempo, he can run past you, he can shoot the threes. He's a special kid, and it doesn't faze him. I never worry about him getting a big head, he just comes out and plays."

(On the game being so close) "We let them get back a couple of times in the second half. We didn't start the first three possessions as well as we wanted, but I thought we dominated the next five possessions. And then they hit a three. It was disappointing because we were just damaging ourselves."

(On Youngstown State) "They are a good offensive team. They can play offense. The key is, you gotta get them off of it. We try to stay in your face and not let you have open shots, but today we gave up too many of them."

(On the team's strong second half) "I really went after them pretty hard at halftime. And they took up that challenge. And I gotta give them credit for it."

(On Cole's stat line) "He was more worried about getting the win than scoring."

Cleveland State's Norris Cole:
(On the team coming out strong in the second half) "Coach challenged us, and as a senior I knew my job was to live up to that challenge and lead that team."

(On his stat line) "I don't really play the stats when I'm out there playing. After the game I heard I needed one more, but I'm more happy we got the win."

(On if he was worried about losing the game) "At times the coach wasn't happy with the way we were defending so I knew I had to step it up, but I wasn't ever worried about losing."

(On Youngstown State) "We knew they would come in and give us a good shot. And once they gave us that shot I knew we were still in it and could come back and win."

(On what Coach Waters said at halftime) "To fight. To be more active. We were a little dead out there. They were a little hyper, out there flying around, and that's the way we play. We couldn't let them keep beating us like that."

(On what it feels like to be in the zone during a game) "The basket just feels big. You don't get tired. The game just slows down to you. It makes the team more comfortable, because they are looking to you for that energy."