Post Game Quotes From Ohio State vs. Georgia Tech – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/3/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 3, 2003
Recap| Box Score| Notes
Ohio State 53, No. 13 Georgia Tech 73 Wednesday, December 03, 2003 Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio Attendance: 13,859 Postgame quotes
Jim O’Brien, Ohio State men’s basketball head coach
On Georgia Tech’s performance
“I take part of the blame for tonight’s loss. I sensed that we weren’t ready coming into tonight in our home opener. I still think we where we want to be, but we just were unable to get over the hump. We have a lot of things to work on, but Georgia Tech deserves a lot of credit. They are a great team and they played very well tonight.”
On the performance of Ricardo Billings
“I was very impressed with Ricardo’s toughness. Ricardo is still making some mistakes but it’s not because of a lack of effort. I think he deserved to start the second half. I like his toughness as a player.”
Georgia Tech Head Coach Paul Hewitt
On tonight’s game
“I was very pleased with our effort considering the number of games we played last week in New York. I was proud of how we came out today.”
On Ohio State
“I think that we are fortunate to play Ohio State early in the season. Once Sullinger and Stockman get settled into the system together they will be very tough. Coach O’Brien always has teams that are great in the half court offense. I think at the end of the season this will be a good win for us.”
On his team’s defense
“We swarm defensively. We have a bunch of guys who can get out and guard and we turn people over.”
On his team’s response to adversity
“I think it is a sign of this team’s maturity. Last year they would make a turnover and hang their heads, but this year they are better at playing on.” On his team’s balanced scoring
“That’s the way the game should be played. I love seeing us share the ball. It’s interesting that when we win balance is a good thing, but it isn’t when you lose.”
On the Big Ten/ACC Challenge
“I think this is the fifth straight year that the ACC has won it and I hope in March they remember when they are handing out bids.”
Ohio State Senior Center Velimir Radinovic
On tonight’s game
“Tonight was a tough loss. We did not play well defensively and did not shoot as well as we should have. But we can’t dwell on this loss. We need to get over this loss and move ahead to Saturday’s game.”
On what went wrong
“We need to step up and improve our intensity. We cannot go through the motions and expect to win. Our defense struggled the entire game and we could not find a shot. We have to keep our pressure up.”
On what needs to be improved
“Undoubtedly we have to improve on defense. We gave up too many open shots and did not put any pressure on their shooters.”
Sophomore Guard Ricardo Billings
On tonight’s problems
“Our defense was the biggest problem tonight. We did not play hard. We gave them too many open shots and could not keep any pressure on them. We have to play harder than we did tonight.”
On looking ahead to Saturday
“We need to get past this loss tonight. Our focus now has to be playing Virginia Tech Saturday. We need to get back onto the court and improve our defense and shooting.”
Sophomore Forward J.J. Sullinger
On the game
“We did not guard or play good defense tonight. We have a number of things to work on as a team. I recall that there was six minutes remaining in the game and we were down by 13 points. Georgia Tech had two-consecutive turnovers. However, we could not do anything with the ball. We need to cut down on the turnovers. Games should not be decided like that, though Georgia Tech was a good team.”
“We are embarrassed. We can compete with them (Georgia Tech) and we can compete with anybody. We just are not doing good things as a team to get the win.”
On what the coaches had to say about the game
“Coach (Jim O’Brien) told us he is not pleased with the way we are playing. As a team we need to pick up the pieces. Coach is telling us what to do but we are not executing.”
