Post Game Quotes From Ohio State vs. Wisconsin – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 18, 2003
Recap| Box Score| Notes
Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan
On the win:
“It’s nice to get a “W” on the road and to be able to finish a play at the end. (A Big Ten record of) 2-2 is a nice position to be in. The guys rallied around each other and we got a win.”
On the last sequence:
“Devin (Harris) stayed out there to look like the last shot might go to him. It’s not that we don’t trust him, but Kirk (Penney) was playing with more confidence and made the play. We talked about shooting with six or seven seconds left and we wanted to leave time to get the tip in. We didn’t want to allow them to throw the long pass. If we got beat on the dribble, we had to rotate and help out. We prepare for those situations in practice.”
On Alando Tucker:
“We have talked about his (quick) feet. He anticipates on position. Where would we be without his presence at 6-foot-5? Not 2-and-2 (in the Big Ten).”
Ohio State head coach Jim O’Brien
On the last play:
“We talked about in the huddle that if they scored under 10 seconds, we were just going to throw it in, and try and create something on our own. We felt we had a better chance with Brent trying to create on his own. It came down to having to make one stop and we didn’t make it.”
“We missed a bunch of shots early. I think our first seven shots were in the paint. We had the lead at the half, and came out sluggish in the second half. We can’t do that. We continue to struggle with our offense.”
“Our game-by-game preparation changes. We play different when Brandon (Fuss-Cheatham) is in the lineup. Just his presence allows us to so that. Brent took full advantage of Brandon being in the game. We have guys who are playing for too many minutes. There’s no question when we get behind that our guys put it into another gear.”
Senior guard Sean Connolly
On the game tonight:
“We allowed too many easy baskets. It’s certainly though losing two in a row, but it’s a long season so we can’t get down. We missed a lot of easy shots and we went through too many droughts. We can’t go five minutes without scoring. Toward the end, we tried to go down low more to open up our interior game.”
On the team’s focus:
“We pride ourselves in winning at home so hopefully this will be the last time. We have to prepare for the next three road games as if we are going to win.”
Junior forward Shun Jenkins
On the loss:
“It hurt a lot. We almost had the game and losing by one point is a lot harder than losing by 10. These last two games have proved how much we need to step it up in the second half.”
On the last five minutes:
“We started scoring some points and it came down to the last play. When the ball went towards the net, it was blocked and that just took a lot out of me. The game was over. We tried to get everybody back into the flow of the game, but we couldn’t pull it off.”
On losing the last two games and having a three-game road trip coming up:
“We have to change our mind set because we have a road trip. Tonight was a tough loss, and I’m tired of saying this, but we have to step it up next game. We have to get it going on the offensive end and play the entire game like we played the last five minutes of this game.”
