Postgame Quotes: No. 21 Ohio State 100, Wright State 55 – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/27/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 27, 2014
POSTGAME QUOTES
No. 21 Ohio State 100 (11-2), Wright State 55 (8-6)
December 27, 2014
?Value City Arena – Columbus, Ohio
Attendance: 15,874
Thad Matta, Ohio State head coach
On Amir Williams
“Amir has practiced the last couple days just like how he played today. It was good to see him get the success: finishing around the basket, blocking shots, and being active, he did a tremendous job for us. He has showed throughout his career here that when he has some bounce in his step is when he plays his best basketball. Hopefully we can continue to ride the wave with him.”
On readiness to play against Big Ten competition
“I think [we’re in a good place]. We’ll sit down tomorrow and debrief and talk about what’s ahead. It’s a whole new season. I like the way we’re playing right now, very unselfish, and we’re taking care of the basketball. Communication is at a very high level, which it needs to be, but I honestly like where we are. And I’ve said this, I’ve never gone into a Big 10 game thinking we’re going to win the game. You have to go out there and earn them.”
On playing Wright State and finishing preseason play
“I thought we were as consistent as we could possibly be. There were some stretches at the very end where we weren’t rebounding, but as I told these guys after the game, ‘you finished preseason 11-2, we were able to get guys good minutes, we saw a lot of good things out of guys’. Now, that has to be the norm. There may be nights where guys might not shoot as well, but they have to pick themselves up and get ready to go again. Mental toughness becomes such a part of this.”
Amir Williams, senior forward
On his offensive presence
“I think we just came out of the gate and realized the man guarding me wasn’t as tall as I was. D’Angelo saw the mismatch right away, and gave me a couple early post feeds, and we started to play off of that. Coach was also talking about how after this game, the Big Ten begins, so being able to establish ourselves both offensively and defensively is very important since we know how it’s going to be coming up.”
On playing in mismatched games
“I just like playing, honestly, Whether I have a mismatch in the post or if we’re in a tough battle, I just like doing my thing in the post and being on the court in a game environment.”
D’Angelo Russell, freshman guard
On preparing for Big Ten play
“I’m definitely looking forward to it. I can’t say I know what to expect, so I’m just going to try to prepare the best way I can.”
Bill Donlon, Wright State head coach
On overall reflection vs. the Buckeyes
“To be honest, I knew coming into this game that our team is not in a good place. What you hope for – when your team is in a place like this – is that you don’t have to come to Ohio State in your next game, but it was. We’ll go back and review film of competitive spirit and effort plays, such as some by Justin Mitchell tonight.”
On what to take after this loss
“We will go back to practice and review key aspects of what lead to our downfall tonight. We had too many good looks that we didn’t take advantage of and you could see it in our body language that we just collapsed.”
On an early ten point deficit in the first half
“I just told them that I thought our half court defense was okay, but their body language showed defeat already and that’s 80% of on-court communication. I still felt like there were times when we had a stop here and there when it should not have reached a 40 point deficit as fast as it had.”
On Ohio State freshman D’Angelo Russell
“Russell (D’Angelo) plays with an incredible amount of poise, especially for a freshman. He was rattled for maybe a time during Louisville but there was no point, in that particular game, where you saw him lose that poise. He has a scoring mentality but understands how to distribute across the team and plays ahead.”
