COLUMBUS — The Buckeyes were handed their fifth loss at home this season. This time falling to Illinois with a score of 63-56.
Illini head coach Brad Underwood, Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann, and junior forward Andre Wesson met with the media immediately following the game.
Here’s a summary of what was said.
Brad Underwood
+ “This started yesterday.” He said it was a business-like approach. The guys all wore suits and ties today. This building has been very challenging for them. “They won this with good old-fashioned grit and good defense.”
+ They missed 18 layups in the first game against Ohio State. Underwood said they ran a poor offense the last time they faced Ohio State. They have also grown as a team because they play a lot of freshman and they have grown throughout the games.
+ Underwood said they fouled too much in the first half. But they forced C.J. Jackson into seven turnovers and that helped. They also limited Ohio State’s assists.
+ Luther Muhammad is going to be a very good player.
+ “Nothing magic in it. Tonight was just our night.”
+ This league is the best league in the country. It is challenging to win on the road and places are very very tough.
+ When asked who had the best suit, Underwood said “me.”
Chris Holtmann
+ On what his team lacked in this game, Holtmann said Illinois just made a few more plays and his team has to play better. He thought some shots were clean and some were rough, Illinois did a good job of attacking their offense.
+ “A loss is a loss. I’m disappointed after every loss.”
+ C.J. Jackson played better off the ball. He got himself into difficult decisions with the ball. Seven turnovers is a lot but he competed.
+ He knew how good Illinois was in December when they played them. He thought they were good then.
+ “For us, we have to do a better job as coaches trying to put our guys in better positions and our upperclassmen have to lead in a more effective way.”
+ They won’t talk about the tournament. They will talk about getting better. A lot of teams would like to be in the bubble picture, so right now, the focus is on getting better and improving and growing. That is their responsibility as coaches.
+ The ball screen coverage has been a bit of issue for them. They have to continue to get better at it.
+ On Keyshawn Woods, Holtmann said he had a little bit of a tough night but he will bounce back.
Andre Wesson
+ Illinois hit more shots than the last time they played them.
+ It was hard to get the offense going against a defense like Illinois.
+ It’s a tough conference. Anyone can get beat if a team shows up not prepared. Wesson said they were not prepared and that is on him and the older guys. They weren’t prepared for how hard Illinois played. They weren’t looking ahead, they just didn’t prepare right.
+ “It doesn’t get any easier. We play at Michigan State. We have to go back to work”
+ All losses hurt but this is one they needed to have. It can’t happen.
+ Offensively, they tried to keep things more simple to eliminate turnovers. Wesson said they got good looks, they just didn’t convert them.
+ They want to make the NCAA tournament. They know they have to be .500 and they have to win every game. They pay attention to it, everyone pays attention to it because that’s the same goal.
You can watch the full videos below.
Brad Underwood
Posted by The Ozone on Thursday, February 14, 2019
Chris Holtmann
Posted by The Ozone on Thursday, February 14, 2019
Andre Wesson
Posted by The Ozone on Thursday, February 14, 2019
Another bust of a year. I’ll give Holtmann two more years, and then let’s move on.
Mr Underwood is a great coach. He is getting the most out of his them. They will be very dangerous in the B1G tourney if they continue on their current trend. The Buckeye are not getting the most our of their players. That being said, there is not true scorer or go-to player on this team and with the amount of turnovers they commit, not having a star is a problem.
Dean great post.
We love our Buckeyes, but 1 Corinthians 13 says “love is patient, love is kind,” and it’s hard to be patient and kind watching this year’s edition of the basketball Buckeyes play.
Is it “wait ’til next year” time yet?
This team won’t get better until they get players who can handle the ball and not commit unforced turnovers left and right. Hopefully the recruits coming in are better players…especially handling the ball and making good decisions with it. This is a hard team to watch play because of the number of turnovers and bad decisions that happen every game. I forgot the game was on and turned it on with about 8 minutes to play when it was 40-40…that was a big mistake on my part I should have kept watching Dr. Pimple Popper.