Alabama Game Quotes and Notes – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/15/1998 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
November 15, 1998
COLUMBUS, Ohio –
Ohio State vs. Alabama Quotes
Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried
“It was a heck of a game today for so early in the season. I thought Rollins guarded Michael Redd pretty well but he got tired. Redd is going to be a handful. He handles the ball well and he takes the ball off the dribble as well.”
“Our main concern in the second half was trying to keep guys out of foul trouble. I like that we shot 52 percent from the field. We hit our free throws pretty well and we guarded them pretty well. Late in the game we got ourselves too spread out and gave them a lot of shots.”
“We needed to secure more rebounds. We went with a really small lineup late in the game because we weren’t getting the rebounds. Since we started practice Brian [Williams] and MC [Mazique] have played as hard as anybody. It’s good to know that we can be right there on the road without those guys playing well and still be in the game as much as we were today.”
Ohio State head coach Jim O’Brien
“Obviously we have to be happy with the win. I think in view we were sloppy offensively. I think we played very tough especially at the end. Our kids played very, very hard.”
“I was disappointed with the turnovers. We had 21, that was not great. Alabama deserves a lot of credit.”
“Jason Singleton, what he did tonight, he played hard, guarded well, and was seven of eight from the free throw line. He deserves a lot of credit with this win.”
“Help has arrived and that is Scoonie Penn. He carried the day. However, a lot contributed to this win.”
“Michael Redd gets a little frustrated and was slow in the first half. However he is going to have bad days.”
Ohio State vs. Alabama Game Notes
* Ohio State is now 3-1 against Alabama all time and 25-21 against the Southeastern Conference after today’s 78-70 win.
* Alabama’s 3-2 lead in the first half marked the first time Ohio State had trailed at the Schottenstein Center. * There were 18 lead changes and seven ties in the game. Ohio State took the lead for good on a dunk by Jason Singleton at the 4:49 mark of the second half. This basket ignited a 7-0 run which the Crimson Tide could not recover from. The largest lead in the game was Ohio State’s final lead of eight points.
* The Buckeyes had more turnovers in the first half (12) of the Alabama game than they did in the entire contest Friday against Oakland (11).
* Michael Redd hit just 5 of 10 free throws in the contest, but hit two key ones in the game’s final minute. Ohio State shot just 58.5 percent from the foul line on 24 of 41 shooting.
* Neshaun Coleman continues to climb up the career three-point shooting charts at Ohio State. He hit one of his three attempts and now is second in both three-point goals made (119) and attempts (357).
* Jason Singleton’s 19 points were just four off his career-high of 23 set in games against Kent and Kansas last year. His eight rebounds were just two off his career-high set last year against Rider and Iowa.
* The stingy Buckeye defense forced 26 turnovers in today’s game and has now forced 46 in its first two outings. The turnovers were key today, as Alabama shot better than the Bucks from the field and the foul line.
