Dec. 27, 2008

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes

Cleveland State Head Coach Gary Waters:
"I thought our kids came our ready to play. Their minds are focused and they are ready for the league and we are starting to put things together. They went out and worked on execution, which is what we had to do today. I thought a lot of guys did a good job and I can't single out any player today."

"You have to take it that each game is a learning experience and I think this team has learned from the day we started to now. They understand where we are trying to go and what we are trying to accomplish. We have added some people to the mix and that has allowed some guys to get some rest."

"We're not going to play 13 guys again. If we can get to nine, that is a good figure for me. If we can get two guards and two posts off the bench, I am comfortable with that. We have to get Renard (Fields) back in there because has has the experience."

"People need to play and get some experience on the floor and we were able to do that today. We got to give an area school a chance to come in and play. We've already played some tough teams and this gave us a chance to get some rest. When you make the schedules, you have to look at a lot of things. We're a top-20 schedule in America and that's pretty good."

"Holding serve at home is key. If you blow one at home like we did, then you have to go win one on the road."

"In my estimation, this is the number one mid-major conference in the country. No other mid-majors have beaten the high majors like the schools in the Horizon League this season."

Cleveland State's D'Aundray Brown:
"I feel that it's going to be good to start conference play. We are playing well as a team, working on our defensive situations and if we do that in conference, we should be good. I am trying to be a defensive presence out there and get offensive opportunities."

Cleveland State's Norris Cole:
"We have been working on getting better as a team everyday, especially the little things so we will be focused and ready for conference play."

"We knew we wanted to dominate every aspect of the game. Getting a fast start allowed us to get some of the other guys in today."

"It's always fun to go back home (Dayton area - Wright State) and play in front of the people I know. But it's just the next game and I will be focused, just like I was today and I will be for the following game."

Notre Dame Head Coach Kevin Bille:
"Cleveland State is very good. Their defensive pressure is something that was difficult for us to handle. Their guards are quick and we knew that coming in. We tried to simulate that in practice, but it's hard to translate that into the game."

"It's a good experience for the kids. We're trying to represent Notre Dame College in the best way possible. It's a good way to let others know of that and our school because we are doing some great things here. This was an exhibition game for us. We are 9-4 and got to play in a nice, Division I arena. We have a home tournament and hopefully we can get to 11-4 as we go into league play. It gave us a chance to play against good competition and that's good for us."

"I didn't think we'd lose this bad. We had a gameplan coming into the game. You go in to win and hope you can do some things to take advantage of their weaknesses, but we were not able to do that."