Jan. 17, 2008

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Cleveland State Head Coach Gary Waters:
"I thought our kids went out and competed as hard as they compete. I told them that they had to out-compete this team. Butler is physically and mentally tough. It wasn't even close to a perfect game for us. We missed too many assignments, especially on Campbell and we turned the ball over to much. We gutted it out at home and we held serve. We still have to go back to their place."

"The support was fabulous by the fans. Not only did they come out in numbers, but they didn't sit on their hands. They brought energy into the arena and it probably would have been a different outcome if they were not here tonight. We want to bring more people back every game. We have to move this thing forward."

"I knew we were going to win the game when we were up five. They had a hard time scoring and we were going to get enough opportunities. The thing that concerned me was missing a lot of free throws. And we are a good free throw shooting team. We have got to learn how to finish a game out."

"The biggest thing I wanted them to do is compete in the first five minutes. If we were in a slow movement, they would have had some confidence in our place. I wanted our guys to make a prescence, especially on the defensive end."

"The thing I like about what's happening with this league is that we play Thursday and Saturday and that helps with tournament play. We have three H's, we have to be honorable, humble and hungry. After this game, we have to remain humble and be hungry for the next game."

"I thought he (Cedric Jackson) was trying to do a little to much and you can see that with the nine turnovers. But if you look at his statline, 14 points, five rebounds, five steals and four assists, he played a pretty good game for us."

"It's a big game and maybe I'm not showing it with my emotions. But this was a league game and we were playing at home and need to take care of our home court. If we lost this game, Butler would have been in control of this league."

"This is a young team and you can't judge a team in December. Each game, they are going to get better and better. Even when we lost to Ohio State, we gained a victory and learned from it. Another game we learned from was the Kent State game. We didn't go after them, but from then on, our guys have been going after people."

Cleveland State's Cedric Jackson:
"I don't think anybody was nervous. I think we were anxious to play hard and get easy buckets. We just needed to slow the pace down at times."

"We are not to distracted by this win. We know when tomorrow comes, we have to get ready for another game. When practice comes tomorrow, we know its over. We need a total team effort on defense tonight because without help, none of this would have been possible."

Cleveland State's George Tandy:
"As long as we do what we need to do, we can win any game we play. It's a great feeling when you have people who support you and want to see you have success."

Cleveland State's J'Nathan Bullock:
"Coach called me out and I had to respond. This is my third year here and I've got the most experience on the floor. The team looks at me as a leader and I have to be that."

"This is the biggest victory so far in my collegiate career and we hope for many more. It was a beautiful feeling to have the students rush the floor and have a supporting cast get behind us and push us to victory."

"Coach has been drilling us all week that we have to get off to a good start. The last couple games, we have been getting in a hole and coach told us we needed to raise our intensity level and I think we responded well."

Butler Head Coach Brad Stevens:
"My hats off to Cleveland State. They played well and certainly derserved to win. They are a good team and are going to win some games. I think you have to go back and look and you'll see that second chance points hurt us, especially late. But again, credit them, they continue to lead the league in rebounding and that's what they hang their hat on."

"They did a great job defending the three-point line against us. Pete (Campbell) wasn't open on a lot of those three-pointers. He is one of the better three-point shooters that I have seen around."

"You watch Cleveland State on tape and its easy to see how good they are. They play hard and with passion and Coach Waters has done a great job with the program. And now they are out to a nice lead in this league."

"In retrospet, you lose and think you should have called timeout. But, if you call timeout, you give the defense a chance to get set."