Men's Basketball
The-Ozone Note and Quotebook
By John Porentas

Zone Busters: Central Connecticut State had no chance to match up with OSU's size, particular Greg Oden. The Blue Devils elected to do what most teams would do in that situation, play a packed in zone and hope the Buckeyes didn't hit outside shots.

"We didn't have a lot of tape on Central Connecticut State and we felt like they might zone us," said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta.

OSU opened the game with Jamar Butler hitting two threes to get his team jump started from three point range.

"We knew they probably would play zone because they were a smaller team than us," agreed Ron Lewis.

"It was important for us to come in and get a lot of shots up and be able to make them in the game.

"When one person is hot everybody else thinks they're hot on the team so it was great for us.

"When Jamar hit two threes then I hit two threes it kind of had everybody thinking that we were going to have some fun out there. It took a little pressure off them and we could just play basketball. That's how we want to play, up and down. It was terrific today."

Matta said there was not plan to shoot threes. It was just the way things worked out.

"We didn't go into the game saying 'Lets knock down a lot of threes.' I think it was more of they were just kind of there. We made a couple, I think we had three or four at the first media timeout. It was there, they were open, and the guys did a good job of knocking them down," said Matta.

OSU was seven-of-12 from three in the first half and four-of-eight in the second. Butler was deadly from long range, hitting five-of-six. OSU center Greg Oden was not surprised at Butler's success.

"I see him stroke it in practice every day. One time he went 92 out of 100 threes," said Oden.

The strong outside shooting in the first half forced CCSU to change their defense in the second half, and that loosened things up for Oden who scored 15 of his 19 points after the intermission.

"We were hitting outside shots while they were trying to pack it in. In the second half they tried to come out and stuff our outside shots and I got to get more touches and get more shots off in the second half," said Oden.

NCAA Jitters: OSU blitzed the Blue Devils and put them away early, but OSU freshmen like Greg Oden and Mike Conley admitted to having some early-game jitters while playing in their career-first NCAA tournament game.

"I had some butterflies coming into the game but I relaxed once Jamar hit a couple of threes," said Oden.

"I know that helped me out a lot just because I was all antsy.

"I really couldn't sleep all last night or during the day today. Jamar coming out and doing what he does hitting those threes relaxed me and got me just playing," Oden said.

In Praise of Jamar: Butler's shooting was highlight for the Buckeyes in the tournament opener, but he didn't just shoot the ball. Butler's line also included five assists, one steal and just one turnover. Matta said his shooting was really just icing on the cake.

"He's always going to play extremely hard. To see the shots going down is good," said Matta, who then added "I like Jamar even when they're not going down.

"He brings so many intangibles to our team. Obviously we want them to go in but there's nobody better than him in practice shooting them.

"As long as he's set we want him to drive his legs and knock it down," said Matta.

Butler said his success in the game was the result of effort.

"The Big Ten tournament my shot was a little off. I went back in practice and worked on my shot. Practice makes perfect," said Butler.

Butler also praised his teammates for his success.

"It was just the way we played.We penetrated the zone, got into the paint, found the open man and stepped up and knocked down the shots," he said.

"It was one of those days where my shot was going down for me. My teammates found me when I was open and I was able to knock down some threes."

Same Old Questions: It's been interesting to watch Greg Oden in post-game press conferences this year. Wherever he goes he is asked the same questions (have you thought about the NBA? Are you coming out? When will you make your decision?). It's almost like every new group of media members he encounters thinks they are the first ones to think of those questions, and gets a little tiresome for those who have covered Oden all year. It is even more tiresome for Oden, but he handles it extremely well despite the repetition.

"Basically the same questions come from different guys. They think it's a new question and I'm thinking 'I just answered that five times,' said Oden.

Oden, however, says he will continue to answer politely, though probably while grinding his teeth just a little.

"I'm ready. I'm not going to get mad and cuss or anything. I'm just going to sit here and answer for 30 minutes (the time he is required to be available after games)," said Oden.

Second-Half Softness: The Buckeyes held Central Connecticut State to just 17 points in the first half, but gave up 40 in the second. OSU Head Coach Thad Matta said his team may have lost some focus defensively in the second half.

"I think we did," said Matta.

"We told our team at the half that going through all their stats they've been a second-half team.

"I think in the second half they were playing with a little more desperation and they were pulling a lot quicker. I don't know if the shot-clock came into play as it did in the first half in the second half. Those guys have some great range and they have a green light. They got into a little bit of a rhythm on us."

In the final analysis, however, it didn't matter, because OSU simply suffocated CCSU in the first half much the same way they suffocated Wisconsin in the Big Ten tournament championship.

"I think we were," said Ron Lewis when asked if OSU was dominating on defense in the first half.

"That's one thing we've been struggling on the whole year was our defensive effort. Coming over from Wisconsin and bringing it here was terrific. Hopefully when we play our next games we can sustain that," said Lewis.

Like his head Coach, Lewis saw a bit of a drop off in the second half.

"With a young time you kind of get a little comfort zone but the main thing for us is that they didn't come back and take the lead or anything like that," said Lewis.

"A win is a win for us and we advance."

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