Jan. 12, 2008

Recap |  Box Score |  Notes

Ohio Head Coach and Player Quotes

Ohio 72, Miami 63

Ohio Head Coach Tim O'Shea

Opening Statement:

I thought it was a good game between two good teams. Obviously, I thought there was more pressure on us to win today because it was our home game. It's not really unrealistic to say that, to stay in contention for the MAC East title, we almost had to win today. If you lose today, we already have a loss at Bowling Green, then we would have to go back down to Miami and play, and that really puts a lot of pressure on everybody. Also, if you look at our next two games, at Akron and then Kent State, you really have to build some momentum up, and the obvious place to do that is at home.

I thought it was a very good game. I thought we played well. Our energy and our quickness was where it needed to be today, and I thought the biggest thing that jumped out to me at halftime was that we had 11 assists and only two turnovers. We were really sharing the ball; we were scoring off the pass as opposed to a guy putting the ball down and driving into a seam that wasn't there. Also Allen Hester gave us a lot of energy in his first start. His stat line doesn't show how good he is but I thought his defense, and his quickness on the floor, was really outstanding."

On the team having only seven turnovers for the game:

In the last game we didn't take care of the basketball and we paid for it. I think we're just excited to be home. The last game was the end of, basically, a seven week road trip and at the end of it we were getting kind of lethargic, there was no crispness in our game.

On how they were able to defend Tim Pollitz:

We had a good game plan for him. [Assistant] coach Kevin Kuwik did the game plan for them and he did a good job coming up with three or four things we had to do. We always feel that the key to Miami is to contain Pollitz, not only his scoring but also his passing. Everything kind of gets run through him. He is the definition of a point-forward.

On if there was anything surprising about the game:

Maybe that we won by nine. Normally you expect the Miami game to go down to that last one or two points. We did a good job making our free throws at the end of the game. We did some good things today. We got back to where we were playing prior to our break for Christmas after we got back from Hawaii. That's the type of basketball we played out in Hawaii, the type of basketball we played at Maryland. We had to be back to the top of our game to beat a team like Miami.

On Kenneth van Kempen's three point shot:

I said in the locker room that it was our day when he threw a three in, but he can shoot. He's your typical European kid. He can shoot and he knocked one down.

On using more players today:

I wanted to get some energy and I saw some gaps where I could get DeVaughn Washington on the floor. You can tell he is going to be a really good player, he's so athletic. I would have liked to get Tommy Freeman out there more. I just tried to pick some spots to gets some guys on the floor and they all did a really good job.

Ohio's Leon Williams

On jumping into the crowd after the game:

We wanted to show our love and support for the fans.  Anytime you get a showing like that at the Convo you want to let them know how much they are appreciated.

On stopping Tim Pollitz:

We know he is a good player, so during practice we focused on what he likes to do and how his team plays off of him.  Though, we also made sure not to lose sight of the other players because they are a very team-oriented group.

Ohio's Jerome Tillman

On sharing the ball:

The last couple of practices we have been focused on our spacing and making sure that everybody gets a chance to touch the ball.  After the Bowling Green game, we were looking to be more fluid as a team and we did that today.

On the upcoming game against Akron:

Akron is always a tough place to play.  Our goal is to go in and be focused on our game plan; go out and play hard like we did tonight.