Ohio State-Oakland Men’s Basketball Notes and Quotes – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/13/1998 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
November 13, 1998
COLUMBUS, Ohio –
Ohio State vs. Oakland Game Notes-Nov. 13, 1998 Value City Arena (11,533)
* Ohio State Players to start First Game at Value City Arena: Scoonie Penn, Michael Redd, Ken Johnson, Jason Singleton, and Jon Sanderson .
* The men’s basketball game against Oakland was the first official athletics event played at Value City Arena.
* The game tonight is the first of seven the Buckeyes will play in November, the most ever played in the first month of the season by an OSU team.
* Ohio State is now 85-15 in home openers, which includes victories in the last four and 39 of the last 40. Ohio State is 79-12 in season openers as well.
* Senior Neshaun Coleman has connected on 118 of 354 three-pointers at Ohio State after drilling three of six tonight. He ranks second in both threes made and attempted.
* Junior Ken Johnson moved into seventh place in career blocked shots (61) after swatting three tonight.
* Ohio State broke a close game wide open in the first half with a 22-0 run, spanning 5:14. The Bucks hit five three-point field goals during the run. OSU hit 8-of-12 three-point goals in the first half.
* Ohio State nailed 13 three-pointers, breaking a school record, set on Dec. 14, 1996 against George Mason. The Buckeyes also attempted 28 three-pointers, which also broke a record. The previous record was 26 set on Dec. 29, 1997 against New Mexico State.
* Ohio State scored 58 points in the first half, their most since a 61-point outburst against George Mason on Jan. 8, 1995. The Buckeyes’ 89 points were the most since scoring 102 against George Mason on Dec. 14, 1996.
* Michael Redd’s 29 points was his third-highest point output. Redd scored 32 against Penn State on Feb. 28 and 30 against USC on Dec. 15, 1997. Redd played only 23 minutes in the contest.
* The Buckeyes’ 28-point margin of victory was their most since a 41-point win (81-40) over Alabama State on Dec. 18, 1996.
* Scoonie Penn dished out eight assists while not committing a turnover in his first official game as a Buckeye. OSU had a 25 to 11 assist-to-turnover ratio overall. A NIGHT OF FIRSTS
Ohio State Oakland Tip Ken Johnson (won) Dan Champagne First Field Goal Michael Redd (3) Myke Thom (3) First Two-point Field Goal Ken Johnson Dan Champagne First Three Pointer Michael Redd Myke Thom First Free Throw Michael Redd Mychal Covington First Rebound Ken Johnson Myke Thom First Assist Scoonie Penn Brad Buddenborg First Blocked Shot Ken Johnson Brad Buddenborg First Dunk Ken Johnson —
Ohio State vs. Oakland Quotes-Nov. 13, 1998 Value City Arena (19,500)
Oakland head coach Greg Kampe
“Michael Redd is a good player. Scoonie Penn is outstanding. Our game plan was to walk up the floor and let Redd do his thing. Great players get their points. We have to learn how to stop the others. We didn’t want Redd to do Superman shots.”
“We came in with six kids that never played collegiate ball before. OSU saw that [nervousness] and they took the game away from us.”
“I’m proud of our team. I knew it would be tough for us and that it would be tough for us to win.”
“Our second half goal was to come back and not let them embarrass us. We outscored them in the second half.”
Ohio State head coach Jim O’Brien
“I’m very happy with our effort tonight. The difference was our defensive pressure and intensity. It will be a good thing if we can get our players to play that hard all year long. They played well against the zone for 40 minutes and that was something that we didn’t spend two seconds talking about all season. We got a lot of open shots and we are going to take the open shots if they are there.”
“Oakland played hard. It’s a difficult jump to Division I. They just ran out of gas.”
“Michael Redd was terrific. When he starts hitting perimeter shots, he just becomes that much more difficult to defend. Scoonie Penn is the leader of our team and we think he’s one of the best point guards in the country.”
“We started out a bit tentative against the zone, but our kids made adjustments and broke the game open. We got better at attacking the zone near the end of the first half.”
