Post by Dan Fenner on Jan 28, 2011 14:08:52 GMT -5
For those of you that are interested, he's my game story from last night's win:
oaklandpostonline.com/2011/01/27/sports/ou-oru-2011/
Added bonus, here's a collection of quotes from the press conference. It was a very quote-worthy evening:
Oral Roberts coach Scott Sutton
"I think they're a very, very good basketball team and I will be shocked if they lose a conference game the remainder of the year."
"They have a great luxury to have two post players like (Keith) Benson and (Will) Hudson. You know, Benson is Benson going to get his points because he's a great player and you've got to double-team him. But I told our guys when we played (Oakland) the first time that I don't think there's a guy in college basketball that plays any harder than Will does. If we had some of our guys play as hard as he does we'd be a much better basketball team."
Coach Kampe
"I think these games are good for us. I think our culture won that game for us tonight. The idea that we don't lose games (at the O'rena) and that we believe in ourselves."
"We've built a little bit of a monster and I think tonight that monster helped us because I really believed they deserved to beat us and we just found a way to win."
"We like playing them and they like playing us because we don't like each other. This is the type of rivalry you love to have in college basketball. This is what makes it fun."
"We have two Achilles heels. One of them is our inability to consistently be a good free throw shooting team. And the second one is that we turn the ball over too much by making stupid plays and stupid turnovers."
"I thought we were really good on defense and we gave up 85 points. What we weren't good at was how many run-off baskets they made because of our turnovers."
"I thought that last six minutes of the game put us on his back and carried us. He made two big 3-pointers and he was unbelievable at the free throw line. The recipe to lose was there — missed free throws, big lead given away. Reggie went in there and made four (free throws). I really credit him, and we talked in the locker room after that this is great and he took a huge step toward getting that ring that he wants to bad. In his maturation as a basketball player, tonight was a big night for him. And he'll take what he learned tonight and help us win the rest of the year. I could have sat him on the bench, but our whole (focus) is on March, so this was a learning moment for him tonight and he handled it very well."
"The strength of our team is numbers, so every time someone goes down, another (player) steps up. And I expect that to continue."
"I like teams that press us because we have Keith Benson at the back. You can just throw it up real high to him and he'll catch it and put it in. I have a lot of good ball-handlers."
Reggie Hamilton:
"Oral Roberts has a great team and tonight was like a championship game. To get this win and beat them twice this season is great. The way we pulled it out was even greater. That's probably the worst conference (game) we've played all season by far, and I pray it can't get any worse than that."
Keith Benson:
"We thought about what we have at stake this season and we pulled it together. We got some highlight plays and the crowd got into it. There was a momentum swing and everything went from there."
oaklandpostonline.com/2011/01/27/sports/ou-oru-2011/
Added bonus, here's a collection of quotes from the press conference. It was a very quote-worthy evening:
Oral Roberts coach Scott Sutton
"I think they're a very, very good basketball team and I will be shocked if they lose a conference game the remainder of the year."
"They have a great luxury to have two post players like (Keith) Benson and (Will) Hudson. You know, Benson is Benson going to get his points because he's a great player and you've got to double-team him. But I told our guys when we played (Oakland) the first time that I don't think there's a guy in college basketball that plays any harder than Will does. If we had some of our guys play as hard as he does we'd be a much better basketball team."
Coach Kampe
"I think these games are good for us. I think our culture won that game for us tonight. The idea that we don't lose games (at the O'rena) and that we believe in ourselves."
"We've built a little bit of a monster and I think tonight that monster helped us because I really believed they deserved to beat us and we just found a way to win."
"We like playing them and they like playing us because we don't like each other. This is the type of rivalry you love to have in college basketball. This is what makes it fun."
"We have two Achilles heels. One of them is our inability to consistently be a good free throw shooting team. And the second one is that we turn the ball over too much by making stupid plays and stupid turnovers."
"I thought we were really good on defense and we gave up 85 points. What we weren't good at was how many run-off baskets they made because of our turnovers."
"I thought that last six minutes of the game put us on his back and carried us. He made two big 3-pointers and he was unbelievable at the free throw line. The recipe to lose was there — missed free throws, big lead given away. Reggie went in there and made four (free throws). I really credit him, and we talked in the locker room after that this is great and he took a huge step toward getting that ring that he wants to bad. In his maturation as a basketball player, tonight was a big night for him. And he'll take what he learned tonight and help us win the rest of the year. I could have sat him on the bench, but our whole (focus) is on March, so this was a learning moment for him tonight and he handled it very well."
"The strength of our team is numbers, so every time someone goes down, another (player) steps up. And I expect that to continue."
"I like teams that press us because we have Keith Benson at the back. You can just throw it up real high to him and he'll catch it and put it in. I have a lot of good ball-handlers."
Reggie Hamilton:
"Oral Roberts has a great team and tonight was like a championship game. To get this win and beat them twice this season is great. The way we pulled it out was even greater. That's probably the worst conference (game) we've played all season by far, and I pray it can't get any worse than that."
Keith Benson:
"We thought about what we have at stake this season and we pulled it together. We got some highlight plays and the crowd got into it. There was a momentum swing and everything went from there."
