Jan. 26, 2008

Recap |  Box Score |  Notes

Press Conference Quotes after Ohio's win against Ball State

Ohio Head Coach Tim O'Shea

On how the Bobcats came back to beat Ball State:

"The team showed some grit and clamped down defensively during the second half." 

On Leon Williams' performance:

"If that wasn't a player of the year type of performance, I don't know what was.  He put us on his back and carried us to victory on a day when we had a lot of guys struggling from the field."

Strategy for end of the game:

"Our strategy on the last shot was just to make it to overtime.  With five minutes to play, a two-shot bonus and their foul trouble, I thought that we were in great shape if we had to go to overtime." 

On what he said to his team at halftime:

"I said during halftime that we are going to learn a lot about our team during the second half.  You are down twelve points at home, aren't playing well, the energy had deflated; but we found out that we had the toughness we needed."

On Bubba Walther's performance:

"Bubba made excellent passing decisions; the assists he made to Williams and Tillman made him a big factor in the game.  His maturity and experience really showed during the second half."

Ohio Senior Forward Leon Williams:

On his play in the second half:

"I just tried to make things happen for my team and hope good things will come out of it. I was just trying to pick the team up and carry them on my back."

On how close the game was:

"We put ourselves in the position, and we shouldn't put ourselves in that position. If we came out in the first half like we did in the second half it would have been a different game. We could have, not coasted, but we could have had a comfortable lead. We just didn't do that. We didn't come out with the energy. If we came out with the energy we wouldn't have had to play so close."

Ohio Junior Forward Jerome Tillman:

On his game-winning shot:

"Coach had confidence in me to make plays, it's good to know that you have a coach behind you and give you that extra confidence because everybody wants to make the big play. The opportunity presented itself, and I took advantage of it."

On Ball State:

"I think they're a good team, I think they're a dangerous team. Their head coach did a good job of bringing them all together, and I think they're going to be a really good team."

On Leon's dominance in the second half:

"I just kept telling guys in the huddle, "keep feeding Leon, keep feeding Leon," because he was hot. I passed up an open three to get him the ball down low. When guys are hot like that you have to recognize that and throw it to the hot hand."

Ball State Head Coach Billy Taylor   

Opening Statement:

"Fantastic game today, I was really proud of our guys' effort out there on the floor. I thought we battled a very, very good Ohio team for all 40 minutes. Jerome Tillman makes a great shot down the stretch to make the deciding bucket. I was really proud of our effort but there are still some things we need to clean up and get sharper with, whether it's execution or rebounding. I was really, overall, pleased with our effort."

On whether he thought they broke down in the final minutes of the game:

"No, not necessarily. I think we did so many good things out there. Ohio is a very good basketball team. They won at Maryland, they beat St. Johns, they have some quality wins on their resume. It was a very good basketball team, we battled them, they just made plays down the stretch."

On Leon Williams in the second half:

"Leon is a tremendous player and he is very physical and aggressive in the painted area. We were trying to at least slow down their three-point shooting and I thought we did a very good job of that, they only had four threes on the day. Again you have to pick your poison. There were some long runs and our perimeter guys couldn't get there in time. Malik Perry was battling inside. Dexter Hinkley was battling inside against Leon Williams and we were just trying to get as much support as possible."

On if they were surprised that Tillman took the last shot instead of Williams:

"I think they got the ball into the hands of their best two players. They had a high ball screen with Williams and he rolled down to the painted area, he was posted but they got the ball to Tillman. They have really good players and I think the decision was that one of those two guys were going to shoot the ball. Tillman made a great shot, I thought we played great defense but he just made a great fade-away shot."

On their missed free throws:

"Anytime you leave points on the foul line in a tight ball game, that's one of the first things you go to. Our guys didn't knock them down with the regularity we would have liked, but you have to do different things. Whether it's making a defensive stop, grabbing a rebound, a hustle play, loose ball or whatever, there are many different plays in a game and that's one of the segments we weren't very good."