Nov. 14, 2010

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes

Cleveland State Head Coach Gary Waters:
(Opening statement) "I give credit to my kids. We're gonna fight back in every game. The thing that disappoints me is that one thing we do well, shooting free throws, we didn't do well - 15-29. The things we did do well was rebound and take care of the basketball, and we held them to 40%. I can't complain."

(On how the Vikings fell behind) "We just had a couple breakdowns. It's not like they were doing anything spectacular. It was about two or three things that happened at once. They capitalized on their opportunities on their end and we didn't capitalize on the things on our end."

(On switching to a zone defense in the second half) "Zones are good early in the season. Nobody is working on their zone, they're all working on their man-to-man. So if you have a good zone defense, you're going to have some success. This was an on-the-cuff decision, and it ended up working well."

(On what the Vikings need to work on) "The biggest thing I'm disappointed in is that we didn't shoot free throws well. If we had shot free throws well, this wouldn't have looked as bad as it did. Free throws are one thing you can control, and we have to do a better job making them."

(On how he would have felt if CSU didn't complete the come back) "I wouldn't have felt bad, because they didn't quit. You're not going to win every game, that's reality. If you come out and play hard and take care of what you can take care of, you're going to win most every game."

(On the Kent State rivalry) "We're playing them next year, we'll be going to their place. This is from now on, it's a commitment from the three teams (and Akron). It's a lifetime commitment. It's a gentlemen's agreement, though you might get a coach in there who's not a gentleman!"

Cleveland State's Norris Cole:
(On what the coaches said at halftime) "Step up the intensity, get more physical and get on the glass. One thing we can't do in our house is get out-toughed on the court. "

(On falling behind) "Every team goes on a run. We understand that. It's about who goes on the second run, and this time we got on a run. They gave the first blow to us and we took it and then we threw one back and they couldn't overcome it."

(On coming back in the second half) "One thing you gotta do is make on the spot adjustments. That's one thing good teams can do. That's what we did."

(On if Kent State is a rival) "It kind of is a rivalry game I've known some of those guys since high school and played against them. So it is a little bit of a rivalry game, there's some bad blood there."

Cleveland State's Jeremy Montgomery:
(On his strong second half) "My teammates were telling, 'Let's go Jeremy,' and they just gave me the confidence to come out and have a good second half."

Cleveland State's Tim Kamcyzc:
(On his rebounding) "A lot of times I was just in the right position. It's something I work on. It's a conscious effort to be in the right position. My coaches get on me for that, so I always try to be in the right spot."

(On how he was able to get open) "Having such offensively talented players around me helps, they get me open and they give me the confidence to put down shots."

Kent State Head Coach Geno Ford:
(On the second half) "Obviously we didn't keep it together. It was a gradual slide in the second half. They couldn't guard us in man so they switched to zone, and we took turns missing shots. Hopefully we'll come out of this a better team than we came in."

(On the technical fouls) "There's no excuse to have a rivalry game where we're not able to compete in a mature manner. I didn't see what happened, but you can't be losing games on a technical foul. We just have to be more poised, more mature, and to play smarter."

(On playing three games in three days) "It's a 35 game season, and we tried to treat it like the MAC tournament because it was three games in three days in Cleveland. Hopefully if we get back to that situation in March we'll be more prepared to deal with it. If you told me we'd come out of this thing 2-1 and having learned some lessons, I'd say that was great. We'll just see how well we learned those lessons."

(On his young team)"We only had three guys come back and we're still trying to work things out. I'm not mad at them, but I am a little disappointed in the way we played in the second half. They're trying so hard to win and they want to win, they just have to learn how to do that."

(On the rivalry with CSU) "It is a rivalry game. The kids all know each other and have played against each other. It's not an institutional rivalry, but for our kids it is a rivalry."

Kent State's Justin Manns:
(on losing the 2nd half lead)"We lost our poise. We didn't play Kent State basketball, and instead of stretching the lead we let them come back. It happens."

(On the technical foul in the 2nd half) "It's very tough. We have a real young team, and for me to get the tech sets a bad example, so I take the blame for that one."