Men’s Basketball Notes and Quotes vs. Presbyterian – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Ohio State (6-3, 0-0 Big Ten) 87, PresbyterianCollege (1-11; 0-0) 43
Value City Arena – Columbus, Ohio
Dec. 15, 2007 – Attendance: 16,569
Postgame Notes
The Ohio State Men’s Soccer team will play in the NCAA Championships game tomorrow at 3 p.m. against WakeForest. The Buckeyes earned their trip to the title game with a 1-0 shutout of Massachusetts on Friday. There will is welcome back ceremony scheduled for all fans at the Woody Hayes at 10 p.m. on Sunday to welcome the Scarlet and Gray back to Columbus. The game between the Buckeyes and Demon Deacons will be nationally televised on ESPN2. For more information got to www.OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
The Buckeyes set a Value City Arena record for FG percentage Saturday going 35-49 (.714) which also ranked second all-time in OhioState history. The FG mark is tied with a 1984 contest vs. Iowa, when the Buckeyes made 25-35 FG. The all-time FG percentage record is .723 (34-47) at Minnesota Jan. 22, 1981.
The VCA record for FG percentage was .638, set twice when the Buckeyes connected on 37-58 vs. both NUC-Greensboro (Dec. 29, 2001) and Tenn.-Martin (Dec. 14, 1998).
OhioState also shot well from behind the arc going 10-15 (.667) from 3-point range. This 3-point percentage is the best in Value City Arena history. The Buckeyes made 8-of-14 3 FG (.571) vs. Winthrop Dec. 16, 2000.
OhioState controlled the painted area, outscoring the Blue Hose 34-8 for the game. Senior Othello Hunter and freshman Kosta Koufos dominated inside going 14-17 from the field and scoring 34 points.
After a 3-point by Pat Kiscaden at 11:36 in the first half the Buckeyes trailed 14-11 capping a 9-0 Blue Hose run. OhioState then ran off 16 unanswered points and turned it into a 27-14 advantage. The run was spearheaded by Koufos, who recorded 9 the team’s 16 point during the run.
OhioState opened the second half with on a 12-0 run, which part of a 56-14 scoring advantage after trailing the Blue Hose, 14-11, at the 11:36 mark of the first half.
In the last two games, OhioState has held its opponent to 20 points or less in consecutive halves. The Buckeyes held CoppinState to 17 in the second half Dec. 10 and the Blue Hose tallied 20 in the first half Saturday.
By holding Presbyterian to under 40 percent shooting in the first half the Buckeyes have held their last five opponents under 40 percent shooting in the first half. In four consecutive halves OhioState opponents have been held to 40 percent shooting or less.
At the helm of the Buckeyes, Matta is 38-6 in regular-season non-conference games.
OhioState has held its opponents to 70 or fewer points in 38 of its last 46 games.
With his 21 points Koufos led the Buckeyes in scoring for the fifth time in nine games.
Jamar Butler continues to establish himself as one of the most prolific three-point shooters in OhioState history. Butler had another solid game on Saturday going 3-5 from behind the arc. Butler is already the all-time leader in made 3-point field goals and is eighth in career 3-point field goal percentage. Butler is only .002 percent behind Brian Brown (.378, 107-283, 1999-02) for seventh-place all-time.
OhioState led 30-20 at halftime Saturday. The Buckeyes have won 38 of their last 41 games when leading at halftime and are 75-9 when leading at the halfway mark under Matta.
Butler dished out eight assists in the contest for a career total of 405, good for No. 6 on the all-time career list. The senior is only 14 helpers behind No. 5 Ron Stokes (1982-85/419) on the career assist chart. During his tenure at OhioState, the Buckeyes are 43-8 when Butler has four or more assists. Butler recorded his career 400th assist on Saturday when Koufos hit 3-point bucket to end the first half.
Butler has scored 10 or more points in eight of nine of OhioState’s games this season.
All 13 Buckeyes who were dressed for the game saw action and 11 recorded points.
Postgame Quotes
Thad Matta, Ohio State head coach
On the game overall
“I think we were much more aggressive on both sides of the ball today. We generated some easy points and did a good job of moving the basketball. It was good to see us finally making some shots.”
On the players
“Everyone came in and gave us a pretty big boost. I told the guys to get in there and do their job and they did. All of them got into the flow quickly.”
On pressuring the ball
“The pressure was good. We were able to get into them and bring the shot clock into play. We put them under as much stress as we could.”
Jamar Butler, senior guard
On the game
“We had a great week in practice and it showed. We mixed inside and outside a lot and it worked. It was really just good to have fun and let loose.”
On the defense
“In the past, we sat back in the zone and today we turned up the pressure. It was good to build the confidence of the young guys and just have fun.”
Kosta Koufos, freshman center
On his game
“Coach (Matta) just told me to relax and play within myself and today I did that. It helped to work the ball inside and outside as well as we did. We were more aggressive today on both sides of the ball.”
