Dec. 22, 2008

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes

Ohio head coach John Groce
On the flow of the game:
What I liked was, like the Indiana State game, we grinded it out. We weren't playing as well as we have at different times offensively. In the first half, I would have liked to have gotten the ball inside more. It hurt us that Jerome (Tillman) was in foul trouble in the first half. We lost a little bit of an inside presence there. Having said that, we had some open shots in the first half that we were thrilled to get those types of looks, but they just did not go down. The thing I liked about our ball club is we kept defending. I'm happy with the fact that we forced them into 27 turnovers. I thought we were active defensively. Sometimes on nights when you don't make shots you have to win ugly, and I thought we were able to do that tonight.

On (Jerome) Tillman's ability to get to the basket:
I challenged him in the second half, and I thought he really stepped up to the challenge. At that that point I thought he was really trying to dominate on the backboard. He was going to the glass hard, he was posting harder, he was getting better position down low and he was drawing fouls and getting to the foul line. I thought that was a big determining factor in the outcome of the game.

On whether limiting the amount of Holy Cross steals and its rebounding margin played a factor:
It was. Obviously we recognize their ability to rebound the basketball both offensively and defensively. They are among the nation's best when you put those two categories together. I thought we did a really good job, until the end of the game, of handling the ball under duress. I think we can take that as a positive and build from it.

Senior Forward Jerome Tillman
On his defensive play:
Coach focuses a lot on defense and I knew that we needed stops, so I just tried to be the one to make them. Guys need to make plays at the end of the game and I tried to be that guy. I think my defense has gotten a lot better since I first got here as a freshman. Coach Groce and his staff put a big emphasis on it and we work at it all the time in practice. It's a mind set that we might not always be making shots, but we will be playing defense.

On early foul trouble:
It was kind of ugly in the beginning. I was squirming on the bench a little bit, looking at the coaches trying to get in the game. In the second half, I knew I needed to turn it up and try to make a difference. I played smarter defense and didn't make some bonehead plays like I did in the beginning of the game.

On the importance of getting the win:
It's a good feeling to go into the holidays on a high note. I think the last loss crushed some guys, I could see it in their faces, but tonight we stuck together, grinded it out and finished the game, which is what we need to do in close games like that.