COLUMBUS, Ohio — No. 24 Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann and a handful of Buckeye players met with the media immediately following the Buckeyes’ 71-69 loss to No. 1 Purdue.
Here are the highlights of what was said from the heartbreaking loss.
Chris Holtmann
+ There is no update on Zed Key other than its a shoulder injury. They will have an update tomorrow.
+ They have not trapped a whole lot but they had stretches where they were good at it in this game.
+ On the late court presses, Holtmann said he has to get his players more comfortable in those situations. The steal late in the game was not on Sueing.
+ Felix Okpara really competed. He got moved off his spot a few times but he competed really hard, as expected.
+ They had to make additional rotational plays in the post because of not having Zed’s body in there.
+ On Purdue’s 3 point shooting, Holtmann said they were a little slow on rotations and they have to clean that up. But he gives Purdue credit too because they made shots.
+ Purdue bullied the screen on the last possession. He thinks it could have been a foul, they ran right through Okpara and dislodged him but they could have cleaned some things up and Holtmann takes the blame for that play.
+ On the freshman adjusting, Holtmann said it’s not just the freshman. Justice Sueing and Zed Key are in new roles and they all have growing pains. They have done some really good things but there are some plays and some decisions where they just have to all get better together.
+ On learning from this game, Holtmann said “we’ll see.” But more than anything as a coach he would like to have a few plays back.
Justice Sueing
+ Purdue made a lot of 3s and they will have to look at it on film to address that.
+ On the last play, Sueing said it wasn’t a good pass from him and he should have taken his time longer with that.
+ It comes down to finishing the games, the last couple of possessions. “We didn’t make enough plays at the end especially and we paid for it.”
+ Felix Okpara played hard and gave them good minutes without Key. Gene Brown did a good job too. They all had to step up but they didn’t get enough plays done.
+ They were lacking in discipline and in detail in some of their rotations.
+ Coach Holtmann trusts him to play the 1 and he felt fine out there. He will continue to do whatever the team needs.
+ The strategy was to shrink the floor when Edey had the ball. They shouldn’t give up open 3s and rotating to shooters and shrinking the court were their plans of attack for that.
Brice Sensabaugh
+ The last play was a set action to get a 3 and he came off the screen and he saw the aggressive double switch so he couldn’t get it off. It was good defense by Purdue.
+ It has been a tough transition to Big Ten play because everyone is good and it’s hard to win. “You have to do a lot of things right.” But it’s been fun so far. He feels more pressure but is continuing to look for his teammates and let them play.
+ On the huddles in the last few seconds, Sensabaugh said they usually have leaders or point guards talking and giving pointers on what they are looking for.
Photo via Ohio State Buckeyes.
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