Feb. 21, 2004
Cleveland State vs. Eastern Michigan
February 21, 2004
Post-Game Quotes
Cleveland State Head Coach Mike Garland
On the lack of focus and effort by his team: "I'm not pleased with the lack of focus or effort tonight. It was an embarrassment to the program, to the community and to the university, and it is unacceptable. We got off to a quick start, but it was nothing but fool's gold. When it came down to it, we who was more physical, we weren't physical. They outhustled us on loose balls and for position on the offensive glass. On the other side, we made no effort to get on the offensive glass ourselves."
On why he had Omari Westley run out the clock at the end of the game: "The game was over at that point. What was the point if we took another shot, what difference would that have made on the outcome of the game? How, with 29 seconds left, are we going to make up a 20-some point deficit? We didn't have the opportunity to make up that deficit at that point in the game. Of course I'm angry about it, because I care about the program. Should I be in here laughing? When you care about something, if something happens to your child, would you be happy about it?"
On the play of Pape Badiane: "I think it's been a process with Pape. He'd been hurt, and when you come back off an injury, people say you are back on Monday, but if you've been out for as long as he was out, you're not actually back on Monday. As a player, it takes timeand with Pape, it has taken him this amount of time to get his legs and his timing back. I understand what's been doing on with him."
On when he knew his team didn't have the effort: "It wasn't after we hit those first early threes, it was on the first loose ball, when they outscrambled us. I knew then that we weren't ready to play. Jim Boone had his guys hitting the floor and scrambling for the loose balls, and we weren't."
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Cleveland State Guard Jermaine Robinson
On his feelings about playing his final home game: "I'm not glad, I wish it was still the middle of the season. The knowledge that we've gained from this season, with all the tough losses, I wish we could go back in time, and I guarantee we wouldn't have lost another one."
On his averaging 20+ points per game: "The scoring that I added was helpful, and it kept us in some games, but we just had a lot of miscommunication. We needed a little more to get the job done. We just needed to come out harder."
On Victor Morris: "He really played his butt off this season, my hat's off to him. He came in and showed much more than I was expecting him to. By the time he's a senior, hopefully he can say the same about someone else coming in. I've got much love for him."
On today's opponent: "We've played some really good teams and we've played well. We just lost focus today, and let them jump out early on us. We weren't rebounding or getting the stops like we needed to do."
On his play: "Every minute of every game, I'm going to play to the buzzer, and play like it's the last game I'm ever going to play. I've got to give it my all, even if I've got nothing in the tank, I'm going to keep going until I find something else."
On the upcoming league tournament: "I still believe we have a chance like every other team. Don't count us out, because we know we have the capability to beat anyone in this league. It's a new season, and everyone's 0-0. We're going to be coming out to fight."
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Cleveland State Guard Victor Morris
On the losing season: "I'm not used to losing like that. I try to take this as a learning experience so that in the years I've got left, that's not going to happen anymore. Everything that has happened to this team this year, we've got to learn from it, and correct the mistakes so that it won't happen next season."
On how Eastern Michigan compared to other teams CSU has played this year: "We didn't give the effort tonight that we gave in some of the other games. We've played way better teams this year."
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Eastern Michigan Head Coach Jim Boone
On tonight's game: "I thought it was really important to come in and get off to a good start. I knew they had a week to prepare, and we were coming off a disappointing loss to Buffalo at home on Wednesday, so we thought it was important to get off to a good start early. Cleveland State did a good job of knocking down some early shots and getting a little bit of a lead there. I thought our kids did a good job to keep their composure, and then take the lead and slowly build on it. We knew they have a short bench, so we did what we could to get the ball inside and attack that and force them to foul as much as they did. We were able to get the ball inside and score inside, and we did a really good job on the glass. Cleveland State has two really good players in Jermaine Robinson and Omari Westley. Pape Badiane was a man tonight. Coach Garland is a great coach, and we knew they'd come back at us, and they did. I was pleased with my team's ability to maintain his composure and hold off that run and build the lead again."
On CSU running down the clock at the end of the game: "I wasn't surprised. I think Mike Garland is a class guy, and that was a class thing he did. I've seen a couple of games where they've been in a similar situation, and they've done the same thing. The game was over, we had emptied our bench, we obviously weren't trying to run up the score or create an embarrassing situation. Mike's the same way, there's no need to rub salt in the wounds or prove anything. The game was over."
On comparing the MAC to the Horizon League: "The Horizon is a good league. Our team has been playing really well, we've been on a roll here in terms of playing good basketball until the other night against Buffalo. At this point in the season, it's such a grind, with two games every week, every game is huge. It makes a difference in terms of seeding for your team in the tournament. Our league is very much like the Horizon, there's a lot of competitive balance, and you've got to bring your A game. If you don't, you're going to get beat."
