Nov. 15, 2011

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POSTGAME QUOTES

Thad Matta, Ohio State head coach
On the crowd
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a crowd like that in November. From the students to the fans it was a great environment. It was about as high powered a basketball game that you will see this early in the season.”

On coming back from the early setback
“Florida stung us early. As young as we are we were constantly making adjustments at timeouts. We were changing how we were guarding things. We kept playing offensively and did a better job at executing. We didn’t play perfect tonight. We are going to look at this and learn. For our program we beat a great team tonight.”

On the best points of the game
“I didn’t know how we were going to play tonight. Driving in his morning I kept thinking about the ‘what ifs.’ I thought that we showed pretty good composure. They knocked us early. They were making shots which we had seen them do, but I thought our guys did a nice job of remaining calm and continuing to play and weather the storm. We weren’t as sharp as we needed to be down the stretch, but those are things we can correct.”

On the intensity of the team
“I said the other day we’re not going to let our standard down by the things we’re trying to get accomplished. This is the second game of the year. We need to continue to do what we’re doing and continually get better.”

On changing the defense in the second half
“I think there were a lot of little things where we were trying to force guys. We were attempting not to leave (Erik) Murphy out there as long. Billy (Donovan) was down there playing chess with us spacing us out and moving us around. A lot of the change was to play harder and get out there and move around. There were no non-shooters out there to leave open. They missed some good looks. It was just trying to find them and cover them as much as we could.”

On Sophomore Aaron Craft
“I thought Aaron (Craft) was terrific tonight. We told him going in if they were going to force his hand with the pressure he was going to have to avert the mission and make plays. I thought he did a very good job at that, he kept the ball and made great reads to find his teammates.”

On sitting Sophomore Jared Sullinger with three fouls
“When Jared (Sullinger) picked up the third I debated on whether to take him out or not. I used the TV timeout to figure it out. I wanted to rest him. I thought he was playing really, really hard and it was extremely physical down there. (Evan) Ravenal came in and really gave us great minutes with Jared out.”

On Senior William Buford
“I thought William was good, he took a couple ill advised shots we talked about in timeouts. I thought he showed patience and hit some key shots for us. The three was a big one tonight. He’s the one guy that’s been through these wars numerous times so we need him to do that.”

On free throws
“I think Jared (Sullinger) shot 20 free throws now in two games and I think he should. We always want to get to the line and keep them off the line as much as we possibly can. I’m pleased with how we shot them tonight that’s for sure.”

Aaron Craft, sophomore point guard
On defending the Florida guard
“I tried to stay as physical as possible and not let them get confidence early on. They have some great shooters and use a lot of ball screens, so I knew it would be a huge challenge.”

On countering Florida’s press and up-tempo style
“We knew they were going to come out and press us and try to push the tempo. With the amount of points they are capable of producing, we knew we would have to be able to control the tempo, and I think we were able to do that after the first 10 minutes.”

On what the team can learn from the win
“It’s a stepping stone. If you look at the stats sheet, we were outrebounded and turned the ball over quite a few times, so we have plenty to work on. Still, you can see that we have the pieces to be a great team.”

Jared Sullinger, sophomore forward/center
On what he learned about the team tonight
“This basketball team didn’t fold. We got off to a rough start, but as the game went on we got closer as a team and finally said ‘enough is enough.’  I thought we did a lot of good things tonight, but we still have a lot to work on.”

On what Evan Ravenel brought to the game
“The usual. He did what he does in practice every day, so I wasn’t surprised at all by his performance. He’s a tough, physical guy who puts a lot of effort into everything he does.”

On whether Aaron Craft ever wears down
“Wearing down? Aaron? No way. You get what you get from Aaron – 100 percent effort at all times. He never gets tired.”

Evan Ravenel, junior forward
On his return to basketball after sitting out last season
“I’ve been very anxious, and patiently waiting to get back out there. I feel like I’ve improved a lot over the last year by working with guys like Jared [Sullinger], Dallas [Lauderdale] and Dave [Lighty] in practice.”

William Buford
On the change in his game with Jared Sullinger on the bench
“I just wanted to stay aggressive. My teammates made things easy on me. I was able to get open and knock down shots.

On improving after the game against Wright State
“We just didn’t get complacent like we did on Friday. We just want to keep getting better and keep our focus. We want to keep our toughness about us. We knew Florida was a great team so we wanted to stop their penetration and stop their threes. I think we did that and did a good job overall tonight.”

Billy Donovan, Florida head coach
On the game tonight
“I thought we got off to a good start and then it went back and forth. The difference was that our defense in the first half was really good. We let (Jared) Sullinger get to the line too much but we did a good job on him as a team. Shots weren’t going in for us as a team. We were trying to fight to get back in, but couldn’t hit enough shots and make enough stops to win.”

On the turnovers tonight
“I thought that really got them back into the game. Our backcourt turned it over way too much. Playing on the road versus a good offensive team, you can’t do that. The turnovers on the road certainly hurt you. It’s going to be good for our guys to watch the film. I think it is something we can learn from. ”

On Aaron Craft
“I thought we pressed him differently and we were effective. Craft as a freshman, at our place, last year was spectacular beating the press. But I thought he dominated this game from start to finish. He physically beat up our guards and manhandled our guards. I am not saying that he was fouling; everything was in the confines of the game. I have a lot of respect and admiration for him. I don’t think he gets the respect he deserves around the country.”

Patric Young, Florida sophomore center
On the game
“I am really thankful we had this challenge early in the season. This really helps our team focus on what we need to work on. Our next away game versus Syracuse is going to be huge and we have some things we need to work on.”