n It was good to see Derick Nelson on the floor Monday, but let’s be honest he didn’t look good. The thing I was most impressed with was his quickness was still there. Nelson’s quick first step and spin moves are a big part of his game and he showed them twice. Once he drew a foul and the second time he had a nice assist on a Dan Waterstradt layup. Nelson hasn’t run or jumped in six weeks so taking that into consideration he didn’t look horrible, but has some work to do to be effective against Michigan State Saturday. He is staying on-campus to workout over Christmas and get ready for Saturday’s game.

n I was impressed by Eastern Michigan’s big-men, who were able to get some strong baskets inside and had Keith Benson and Will Hudson in foul trouble (both fouled out). Oakland’s defense was very active though and didn’t allow many open looks from the perimeter.

n The Grizzlies picked up the win despite not playing their ‘A’ game, which is a good sign. Winning ugly is what good teams do and Oakland won by 13 on the road at a MAC school.
“Anytime you win a Division I basketball game on the road, you hug each other and you move on,” Kampe said. “You don’t worry about any of that stuff. Maybe North Carolina and people like that can get mad at their players, I can’t get mad at my players. We played two times in the O’Rena. We beat a MAC school on the road, a team we recruit against. … There was kids here both Eastern and Oakland are recruiting, and we won the game. I don’t care what it looked like, that’s good for Oakland.”

n Ilija Milutinovic will miss an undetermined amount of time with a foot injury. An X-ray revealed Milutinovic did not break his foot, but he will miss time.
"Our 7-footer (Ilija) got hurt in practice and he’s going to be out for a while," Kampe said. "He hurt his foot."

n Click here to see my game story.