Ohio State-Penn State Notes and Quotes – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/20/1998 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
November 20, 1998
COLUMBUS, Ohio –
Penn State-Ohio State Notes and Quotes Attendance: (19,500)
* Ohio State has now evened the all-time series with Penn State at nine. Penn State had beaten the Buckeyes in seven of the previous eight contests, including three in a row.
* Ohio State had lost four straight Big Ten home openers. Their last Big Ten home-opening win came Jan. 4, 1994, a 72-68 win over Iowa.
* Ohio State also broke an 11-game Big Ten home losing streak. Their last home Big Ten win came Feb. 13, 1997, a 55-40 triumph over Northwestern.
* Ohio State has now hit three-pointers in 188 consecutive games after Brian Brown extended the streak with a trey in the first half. Ohio State last failed to nail a three-pointer on Feb. 2, 1992 in a win against Michigan.
* Tonight’s game marked the first sellout at Value City Arena. It was also marked the first Big Ten Conference game at Value City Arena. The crowd of 19,500 was the second largest crowd ever to watch a Big Ten Conference game. The previous high was 20,176, set on Feb. 28, 1955 as Minnesota hosted Iowa. It is also the largest crowd ever for an OSU home game.
* Ohio State is now 48-39 all-time in Big Ten Conference openers after tonight’s game. The Bucks are 33-19 in Big Ten home openers.
* Michael Redd finished with a game-high 21 points. He has scored in double figures in 33 of his 34 career games.
* Freshman Brian Brown had his best outing as a collegian, scoring 10 points, which was second-best on the team behind Redd’s 21 points. Brown canned two-of-three from behind the three-point arc, while contributing five rebounds in 22 minutes of action.
* Ohio State is 4-0 for the first time since the 1995-96 season, when they won their first five contests. The Buckeyes’ four-game home winning streak is the most since a five-game streak in the 1996-97 campaign.
* The Buckeyes controlled the boards, 43-36. They were last in the Big Ten last year in rebounding margin (-3), but this year are outrebounding opponents 148-131.
Penn State head coach Jerry Dunn:
“OSU has a better team. They have depth and they have guys who can sustain play.”
“We didn’t shoot well. Our percentage was ridiculous and I’m not sure why. OSU played great defense.”
“Scoonie Penn is a great player. With George Reese, Brian Brown and Michael Redd, they are able to sustain and do things they weren’t able to do last year.”
“Calvin Booth played with poise and confidence. Joe [Crispin] has adapted to his role and he handles the ball well.”
Ohio State head coach Jim O’Brien
“We’re obviously exceptionally happy that we won. Early in the year I am impressed with how our kids have worked. I think tonight we beat a very difficult team. We were concerned with their perimeter game and Calvin Booth in the middle. We knew we couldn’t shut all of them down, but our defense came through.”
“Our offense struggled, but our defense came through and won this game. Scoonie hurt his ankle at the end of the first half, but did not want to come out and was still a major factor in the game.”
“Michael had a bad shooting night. I told him to keep shooting. We just want him to learn the difference between good and bad shots. We have all the confidence in the world in him.”
“We have some numbers. Brian Brown, George Reese and [Ken] Johnson all made major contributions to tonight’s effort.”
