Ohio State Postgame: Chris Holtmann, Buckeyes Talk 68-52 Purdue Win

COLUMBUS – Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann, junior forward Kyle Young and sophomore guard Luther Muhammad met with the media following Ohio State’s 68-52 win against Purdue.

Purdue head coach Matt Painter also answered questions from reporters and spoke about Kyle Young and Ohio State’s strengths on Saturday.

Here’s a summary of what was said.

Matt Painter

+  He thought his team got some good shots in the first half but had too many turnovers. Ohio State is a good defensive team and is physical under cuts.

+ “It’s tough. Sometimes it comes down to hitting and missing, other times their defense was just better than our offense.”

+ They didn’t get to the free throw line as much as they needed to. “Ohio State did a good job not letting us get to the glass. When you’re not scoring you gotta do something.”

+ He wishes Kyle Young was on his team. Young gets high praise from him. He watched him in high school and is a big fan of Kyle Young. “Guys like that who work hard and put themselves in a good position, he’s active, hard-nosed, tough dude and he’s about wining. You can’t have enough guys like Kyle Young on your team. We were appreciative of him shooting threes though.”

+ They have to get to the 60’s on the road. They have to score the ball better.

+ “Ohio State didn’t play great today. They played good enough to beat us but they didn’t play great today. They can play great at home and today was not one of those games. It’s hard to beat them here.”

+ “We have to be better collectively.”

+ “Kyle Young would be a good football player. He’s just around the ball.” Painter challenges his guys to play harder than Kyle Young.

Chris Holtmann

+ “Really good win for our group.”

+ “We had some really good stretches and some stretches we have to grow and improve on. But when you beat Purdue on your home court it’s a good win.”

+ The fans were great today. It was a great environment. Both home games this week have been great.

+ He thought the defense was as good and as sound as they’ve played all year. The defensive consistency was good. In the first half they just had stretches where they missed shots and turned the ball over.

+ Kyle Young impacts the game in ways that are not always on the stat sheet but today it really was on the stat sheet. He was really good.

+ This stretch has been great but he didn’t feel like they brought enough effort at Wisconsin. They have been practicing better since before the Minnesota game. He saw growth and that is attributed to the captains.

+ Bottom line is that each game is different. They have challenging games coming up. In this league they keep coming and every game in this league is different.

+ He thought they were more balanced offensively. They can get a little 3-happy because they have guys on the roster who, that’s just what they do. The emphasis has to be balance.

+ They are still evolving without D.J. Carton.

+ Non-conference games can be fools gold. This league is big-boy basketball every night.

+ C.J. Walker provided steadiness, made the right plays, and had solid defense. He was really solid today. His ball handling and his ability to initiate offense against pressure was critical.

+ Purdue missed shots that they would probably make at home.

+ Luther Muhammad was great. He played really solid and impacted the game defensively. He was as good as he’s been. He’s getting his legs back from a rough January.

+ Justin Ahrens continues to grow.

Kyle Young

+ High effort, high energy game for him. His teammates were finding him. He felt really active today. “We was competing. All 40 minutes.”

+ “We’re back to .500 in league play. Winning is hard in the Ten this year.”

+ They have limited some of his practice time, similar to last year. It’s not as bad as last year, he has KT tape on his leg. Once he gets adrenaline during the game it’s nothing too crazy. He will be resting, icing, and not moving after this game.

Luther Muhammad

+ Defensively they were able to compete. They knew it was going to be a fight from start to finish. They showed toughness.

+ Coach Holtmann wanted to them to press the ball handlers and find a way to do both, but especially defend the three.

+ His shooting success against Purdue shows that hard work pays off.

+ They just focus on getting better every day, not really ‘getting on a roll.’

You can watch the full videos below.

Matt Painter

Chris Holtmann

Luther Muhammad and Kyle Young