Dec. 30, 2008

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Ohio head coach John Groce
On building and playing with a big lead in the first half:
I thought our defense really ignited everything tonight. I thought the first 28 minutes of the game was the best we've played all year. I challenged them the second half to come out and not play the scoreboard. It was an odd game though. When you lose a 30-point lead, you sometimes feel like there is a let up. I didn't feel that way. I thought we had much the same looks shooting the ball in the second half as we did in the first. Overall, I was pleased. The first 28 minutes were about as good as we've played all year.

On controlling the action for a large portion of the game:
I commend our guys for an unbelievable effort defensively. Quite honestly, they played like they practiced. As a coach that is really all you can ask. We have practiced really well. Our guys will tell you our practices are a lot more difficult than the games. It is tough coming off the break. We demanded a lot of them and we got after it. I'm really happy that our guys were able to see the fruits of their labors tonight.

On the team's shooting (whether it was great shooting or making the extra pass):
I thought we made the extra pass about as good as we've made it all year. Going into each game, we're trying to get 15-plus assists every night. I'm trying to get these guys to think about making one more pass. There are times out there where we are really starting to get in sync. Guys are understanding `I have a good shot, but if I make one more pass to a teammate, we may have a great shot.' I thought that happened more tonight in the game than it has collectively all year. They are really starting to reap the benefits. I'm starting to see carryover.

On controlling the action for a large portion of the game:
We still have one more to go against Bucknell. We want to be better for that game. Once we get through that, our second season begins. At that point you really start to reflect in terms of combinations of players. We've learned a lot about our basketball team here in year one. I like the direction we're going.

Senior forward Jerome Tillman
On his defensive play:
Coach has put a big emphasis the last couple of games, and also all year, on the importance of defense. I feel like I try to help the guys focus on defense and rebound the basketball because offense will take care of itself. We were getting stops tonight and I just let the game come to me and let if flow so that we could get a win.

On the importance of the win:
I think tonight was important for us as a team, because of all the hours we've been putting in, and guys are really buying into and trusting the system now. It's building confidence and with that we can do more things. We just want to keep getting better. We don't want to lose at home, first of all, but we just want to keep getting better every game and work towards our goal of playing our best basketball in February and March.

On the team's defensive effort:
I always expect to hold teams down, but I was a little surprised with our defense tonight. The young guys are making good plays, really good plays, and you can see that they're getting confidence in the system and you can see that in the outcome.