Ohio State vs. Notre Dame Postgame Notes and Quotes – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/16/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 16, 1999
Ohio State falls to 0-1 on the season with the 59-57 loss toNotre Dame. Notre Dame moves on in Preseason NIT action, battlingSiena Thursday. The Saints posted an 89-79 win over Davidson infirst-round action tonight. OSU is now 0-3 all-time in thePreseason NIT after the loss. Notre Dame improves to 3-3 inPreseason NIT action. OSU leads the series with the Fighting Irish,6-5. OSU falls to 85-16 in home openers. The Buckeyes are 1-1 inhome openers at Value City Arena and 15-2 overall in thesecond-year facility. Ohio State, currently ranked No. 4 in thelatest Associated Press poll, fell to 186-48 when ranked in the APtop 10. Ohio State holds a 49-30 edge over Big East foes aftertonight’s loss. With Michael Redd’s three-pointer early in thefirst half, Ohio State now has connected on at least onethree-point goal in 221 consecutive games. The last time an OSUteam missed all attempts from three-point range was Feb. 2, 1992,when the Buckeyes went 0 for 5 in a 68-58 OSU win. Ken Johnsonblocked five shots in the contest, giving him 163 for his career.Currently in fourth place on the all-time OSU blocked shot chart,Johnson is just six blocks away from third place, held by Jim Smithat 169. Cobe Ocokoljic notched his first career points with arunner in the lane in the second half. Ocokoljic finished with fivepoints and four rebounds in 18 minutes of play off the bench. Afterhis 11-point performance, Michael Redd has reached double figuresin 65 of his 67 career games. Redd has 19 straight double figurescoring games. The last time he failed to reach the double figureplateau was Jan. 16, 1999, at Michigan when he tallied eightpoints. Boban Savovic drilled three three-point goals, tying acareer best which he set twice last year, last against Wisconsin(1/2/99). Savovic also set a career high for three-point goalsattempted with eight, breaking his previous record of six, set inlast year’s NCAA Tournament contest vs. Detroit (3/13/99). Afterfailing to hit a three-pointer, Scoonie Penn’s streak of 14consecutive games with a made three-pointer ended.
Ohio State head coach Jim O’Brien
“Obviously this is a very disappointing loss for us. But without question you have to give an awful lot of credit to Notre Dame. They had a great gameplan coming in here. They did a great job of controlling the tempo and they were obviously trying to make other people than Scoonie and Michael hurt them.”
“We had trouble putting the ball in the basket. I can’t remember a game – if ever – that we missed more shots than they took. That’s a bizarre statistic to say the least.”
“At halftime I thought we were OK. We were just going to have to make more shots, but we didn’t.”
Michael Redd
“We didn’t play hard at all tonight. Give them credit. They knew what to expect.”
“Tonight we weren’t hungry, we didn’t shoot well and we couldn’t shoot threes. We have a lot to learn.”
“We panicked. The last two minutes were the worst we’ve played in the last two years.”
Scoonie Penn
“It may look liked we would have won on paper, but that’s why you play the game. Tonight we did not play well.”
“There is a lot of disappointment in this lockerroom. It’s always hard to lose a game whether it is game one or 20, especially on a last shot like that.”
“Last year is over. It should not be talked about. Tonight started a new season.”
“They did what they need to do. They focused on Mike and me. We need other guys to step up.”
Notre Dame head coach Matt Doherty
“We’re very lucky to be advancing in the NIT. We’re very lucky Michael Redd missed a wide open layup and very blessed that Graves made a jumper.”
“I just asked my team to play hard. We’re very fortunate. I don’t think Ohio State played its best. Coach O’Brien is a class act. Again, we’re very fortunate they didn’t play their best game.”
“Our focus was Scoonie and Redd. We wanted to make the other guys beat us and we’re lucky those other guys didn’t make their shots.”
Notre Dame’s David Graves
“I saw that there was five seconds on the clock, jumped up, shot it, heard the buzzer and never really saw it go in. My teammates just jumped on me and I was on the ground. I didn’t see it.”
“We knew this was our opportunity to come out and shock the world, to show everyone Notre Dame basketball is back.”
Notre Dame’s Troy Murphy
“David is the best shooter I’ve ever played with.”
“We always believed we could come in here and win. Last week’s loss (to Marathon) was a wake-up call.”
