Basketball Quotes – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/14/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2002
Opening Statement:
“We have to be very happy with how we started in the conference. Since the New Year, we have had four games, three being on the road. We have been fortunate to win all four. To play 2-of-3 games on the road and not lose, we have to be happy. Hopefully, we can take advantage of a couple home games this week (vs. Penn State Wednesday and Indiana Saturday).
On Jan Jagla of Penn State:
“One of the areas of concern with bigger guys who step away from the basket is our big guys stepping away to defend that. Tavaras Hardy of Northwestern really gave us trouble the other day. If (Jagla) has the ability to take our guys away from the basket, we may have to go to a smaller lineup to guard him away from the basket.”
On leading the Big Ten:
“It is only three games. I don’t think it is that much of a fluke for any team to get off to a 3-0 start. I am a little surprised we are 12-2 overall. Going into the season if someone hypothetically said ‘would you take 12-2’ we would have said right this second we would have taken that. We have been living a little bit of a charmed existence. If we hope to continue to win games we have to play better. This is a big week for us. Four of the next five games are at home. If we hope to keep our heads above water, we have to play well these next two weeks.”
On concern Big Ten may be limited to fewer teams in NCAA Tournament this year:
“The conference has to be concerned with that this year. We have a better chance of getting more teams (than the ACC) in the tournament because we have more teams in our league. The ACC only has nine teams. When five or six teams are just average in the ACC and five or six teams are average in the Big Ten, we have a better chance of getting more teams in the NCAA Tournament. I would be surprised if we didn’t get at least five teams in this year. Iowa, Illinois, and don’t count out Michigan State, along with Minnesota and ourselves have a real chance this year (as of right now).”
On preseason concern about defense without Ken Johnson:
“We have played well defensively because of a team concept more than anything. Guys are more accountable for themselves as opposed to knowing that if they got beat Ken was there to take care of things. We have had to change our approach. Guys are thinking more about taking charges and playing together as a team on the defensive end. When we struggle it is when we have trouble on the offensive end. Our defense has been consistent.”
