Dec. 2, 2006

Recap |  Box Score

Ohio Head Coach Tim O'Shea
Opening statement:
I feel very fortunate today. I thought we made a lot of poor decisions in the second half and we still came away with the win. I though the key to the game was, obviously, we shot tremendous from the free-throw line, which is something we haven't done to this point. I've never seen a team make that high of a percentage shooting a lot of free throws, especially with a lot of the makes coming from our bigs.

On pulling out an overtime win:
I was really happy with my team. For a fairly young group, these are the types of games that can make or break your season. Win you win one like this it really goes a long ways toward a successful season. If you lose too many of them like this it brings a lot of heartache and it's hard to get momentum, confidence, and chemistry going. I feel fortunate to get a win today.

On Marshall's comeback:
Their three-point shooting kept them in the game. They made 14 and we only made one. Their three-point shooting alone gave them a 13-point differential. We had some very poor turnovers today. We made poor decisions. Fortunately, our decision making didn't cost us a ballgame. The home court was probably the difference today.

On where the team needs to improve:
If we're going to be a contender in our conference, which I think we can be. we just have to become smarter with our decision making. We have to become tougher defensively. But, I will say that if we can consistently make our free-throws like we did today, that'll win us a lot of ballgames.

On importance on winning this game:
It's important because it was a home game. In college basketball you have to win you home games. You don't get too many shots at a power conference school. Marshall used to be in the MAC, but now they're in a power conference. So they're a Conference USA opponent, which is a big deal, and we got them on our home court. It was an opportunity that we hoped to take advantage of. Since I've been here at Ohio this will be the third power conference that has come here in six years.

Ohio sophomore Jerome Tillman
On getting a home win before a long road trip:
It's a great win. It gives us momentum going on the road. We left one short on the road in Samford, but we don't plan on doing that this road trip. Road games are huge.

On the team:
As a team we all work well together. We know each others strengths and weaknesses, which helps us have a good flow to our game.

Ohio junior Bubba Walther
On Marshall's comeback in the second half:
They just started hitting shots left and right. Coming into the game tonight they hadn't been shooting the ball very well. When they started hitting their shots we got a little rattled. When a team like that gets hot, they're going to get back in the game.

On his home debut:
I'm not too happy with the way I played because looking at the stats I see that played 39 minutes and didn't have any assists. I can't do that as a point guard. I have to get better.

Marshall sophomore Markel Humphrey:
On getting back into the game:
We just played more aggressive with better defense. We did more rebounding, more boxing out, and we stepped it up on the press.

On three-point shooting in overtime:
I say it was both bad and good because Travis Aikens hit a couple clutch threes and Daryl Merthie hit a couple of threes. But at the same time, on the threes we missed we could have shot twos. That could have kept the game a little bit closer and we would have had easier shots.

On defense:
The inside opens up the outside shots, and number four knocked down a couple. That was tough for us to guard. He is a good shooter we have to close out on him, but at the same time they have a good inside player.

Marshall sophomore Darryl Merthie
On his scoring streak in the second half:
They were leaving me open so I was going to take the shot. I was getting inside their zone so that made it easier for everyone else to score. That was when I started making my shots. I got my teammates involved, so that made it better for me.

On coming from behind:
We should be up all the time, through the whole game. So we just have to keep working hard, practicing, and play like a team like we have been doing. Everything is starting to come along. We have some key people that are stepping up: Tyler (Wilkerson), Robbie (Jackson), Mark Dorris.