Men’s Basketball Quotes From March 15th Teleconference – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/15/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 15, 2006
Head Coach Thad Matta
On the week of preparation
“We had to take Monday off, NCAA-wise, which we needed. We played three games in three days and they were three battles. Yesterday we got back at it. We’ll make some changes to get ready for Davidson, as well as continue to sharpen what we do. We’ll go again today with a hard practice and we depart this afternoon. We’ll practice tomorrow and get on UD’s floor tomorrow afternoon then get ourselves ready to go. We’ll do a lot of film work and keep our guys as fresh as we can.”
On Davidson
“They’re a very good basketball team. They are senior loaded, very experienced, shoot the ball very well from the perimeter and have a big guy inside in Johnson. They’re a very good team and well coached. They have good spacing. They do a good job of spacing the floor and making you pay for making mistakes defensively. They’re very sound defensively and they don’t make a lot of mistakes defensively. They’re a position-type oriented team, always seem to be in the right place at the right time and they do a good job getting back in transition. It’ll be a challenge.”
On Ohio State’s inside game
“We’re hoping to have Matt Terwilliger back to help our depth inside. And one of the biggest gains Terence has made is that he is a smarter player defensively staying out of foul trouble. Our guys did a good job in Indianapolis make-shifting when he was out. With James (Sullinger), Ivan (Harris) and Matt (Sylvester) – that’s what we got. We’re still feeling the repercussions of everything with having only 10 scholarship players.”
On Ohio State’s 3-point shooting
“We practice it a lot. We have a lot of guards who can shoot and as long as they are open shots and good shots, I’m OK with taking them.”
On a solution to OSU’s low 3-point percentage lately
“If I knew, I’d do it. It’s something, like with Je’Kel (Foster) I don’t care if they go in our not, like in the Purdue game he was 2-15, but came up with assists, rebounds and steals. He is just such a tough competitor that it doesn’t bother him. Obviously when he’s making shots we’re a better basketball team and he’s been putting in extra shooting and extra preparation so hopefully we’ll see him knock some shots down over there. “Make no mistake about it, we’ve won a lot of big games when we haven’t shot the ball real well, even on the road. It comes down to defending on the half court. Like I’ve said before, you have to execute your offense. It comes down to defending, rebounding and taking care of the basketball.”
On how good teams capitalize on your mistakes
“The thing is when you play against great teams, like we have the last few months, when you make mistakes defensively, they make you pay. I go back to the Michigan State game at home. We lost in double overtime and made about five mistakes and they got 10 points off them. Davidson likes to get out and go like we do. In the Big Ten, scores start to dwindle because everyone knows everyone so well.”
On how the Big Ten prepares you for the NCAA tournament
“It gives you a good reference point because you’re going up against one of the most physical conferences in the nation. It definitely gets you ready.”
