Post Game Quotes From Ohio State vs. Morehead State – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/16/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 16, 2000
Recap| Box Score| Notes
Ohio State head coach Jim O’Brien
“The general feeling is your supposed to knock these guys out in the first five minutes of the game, but I think you have to give them some credit because as much as they might be maligned, they’re not a bad team. Those guys came in here and played every bit as hard as we did and we had a hard time guarding them early in the game. They scored 20 points in the first 10 minutes. We have to be guarding better than that.
“The thing that turned the game around was in the first 13 minutes of the second half, they only scored 11 points. So I think we really picked up our defensive intensity in the second half. I think you have to give credit to Morehead State. They came in and played really hard.
(On bench players) “I liked everything they did. Connolly comes off the bench and makes five threes and I think he was a factor. I thought Dudley was a factor and Tim Martin played a great game. I was real happy with how all of our guys off the bench played.”
Brian Brown
“We weren’t stressing at all. We were up double figures most of the time. We were the better team tonight and my hat goes off to them because they played hard all game. We made some shots in the second half and that was the difference in the game.
“I think we played good defense in the second half and had better execution on our plays. We were getting a lot of easy baskets and our trap forced turnovers and that got us easy points. Coach was happy with that.
(On O’Brien’s 300th victory) “I think this is a tremendous accomplishment for Coach O’Brien. We said congratulations to him in the lockerroom. (Was O’Brien happy?) “He was smiling. He was happy.” Zach Williams
“We made a conscious effort to crash the boards. We tried to get the ball up the floor because they really tried to press us and we definitely out-rebounded them tonight.”
Sean Connolly
“We did a good job rebounding. We played defense a lot better in the second half. I thought we were playing good defense to begin with, but we picked it up in the second half. (On the halftime pep talk) “He was just on us for not giving enough effort. He just wanted us to pick up our defense.
(On O’Brien’s 300th victory) “I think it was great for us to get that victory for him. He’s a great coach. He deserved it and we’re really happy for him. We were all clapping when he walked in the lockerroom. He seemed very pleased.”
Morehead State head coach Kyle Macy
“We didn’t do a very good job on the boards. They did a great job of crashing the boards. They realized they had some bigger bodies and utilized that advantage. Defensively, allowing second, third and fourth shots really hurt us. They overpowered us in the second half.
“They have some shooters outside and some big guys underneath. That’s a key combination. It looks like everyone on the team understands their role. Martin and Dudley came in off the bench and hurt us. We gave Connolly some open shots and he hit them. That opened up the inside for them.”
