Ohio Head coach Tim O'Shea

Opening statement:

We played a real solid 40 minutes I thought tonight, other than not rebounding the ball at the very end.  They had a lot of second shots, but a lot of that had to do with the fact that I had Jerome Tillman on the bench.  He's our second best rebounder along with Leon Williams, and we would have gotten a lot of those.  We had a lead, and I wanted to keep our most experienced players as well our free throw shooters out there. 

On offensive success:

We moved the ball well. Antonio Chatman played another stellar game at the point guard position, just handling the basketball, distributing the basketball and providing leadership.  Not much to be upset about.

All of the things Chatman did out there were exemplary.  Look at the game he played against Bowling Green - 45 minutes, 19 points, one turnover.  He's really stepped up for us here. 

Positives from the game:

I thought you really saw the team coming together in terms of the way we played and moved the ball.  We still made some mistakes, but overall, I liked the progress we have made. 

I thought Johnnie Jackson played well too. He has consistently become a real good defensive player for us. He's like a Bruce Bowen.  We put him on Todd Peterson after he got the four-point play.  Jackson is so athletic that he can get out there and guard.  He's also a pretty good rebounder for his size.  

Jeff Halbert looked really good tonight. He will have to wear the brace the rest of the season.  He gives you heart, and he's a really smart player.  He played 13 minutes tonight, which is about right for where his knee is at.  He's going to make his free throws at the end of the game.

Ohio senior Jeff Halbert

On tonight's game:

It felt good to get payback, I thought our guys really came out and played hard.

On how they won:

Taking the free throws down the stretch really propelled the win.

On the team's stance:

I think the guys are really happy at where we're at right now.  Everybody's playing together, we're just playing hard.  We just got to clean up our rebounds and we'll be all right.

Ohio sophomore Leon Williams

On winning at home:

I think it was real big, I mean we don't want to lose at all, but losing at home court takes a lot out of us.  We have to protect our home court.

On his performance tonight:

I think I was more patient this time, I wasn't rushing.  I was just waiting to take the ball at the right time to pass and shoot it.

On Chatman's performance:

Tony's a big part of that, don't get me wrong.  But I think we're just playing a lot more team ball.

NIU Head Coach Rob Judson

Opening statement:

Ohio played a very tough focused basketball game tonight.  I think that was evidenced by making 18 out of 19 free throws.  And they were very good on defense, forcing us 16 turnovers.  The story of the game was that the Bobcats were able to score 27 points off our turnovers.

On Ohio's shooting:

They shot very well, particularly in the first and I think Chatman has added a lot to their team.  He gives them a penetrator.

On positives for NIU:

I like the fact we that we outrebounded Ohio.