Feb. 2, 2008

Recap |  Final Stats

Northern Illinois Men's Basketball 2007-08

Northern Illinois vs. Ohio

February 2, 2008 - DeKalb, Ill.

POST-GAME QUOTES

Ohio Head Coach Tim O'Shea

"I thought the first half was key for us.  To build the 20-point lead on the road in the first half was huge.  The biggest part of that was making three point shots.  That makes all the difference in the world when you're playing on the road and you knock down threes.   To come in here and come away with a 15-18 point win the way NIU has played here is good.  The whole key to the game was the first half and getting that lead.

"It was nice to see our guys step up on the road.  When Whittington went down, we called on some guys off the bench and you couldn't even tell that we had two guards out at that point.

"When you're down like that, you see teams go to man defense, pressure, try to generate offense from your defense, that's what I would do.  Teams with a big lead sometimes get tentative.  We started trading baskets [in the second half] which I hate.  Big leads can evaporate so quickly if you turn the ball over and the other team starts making shots.

"Anytime you can get a win in the MAC on the road, you've got to be pleased.

"Guys have stepped up all year off the bench, it is one of our strengths.  We can go 9-10 deep and you saw that today." 

Northern Illinois Head Coach Ricardo Patton

"The last couple of games we have gotten a great feel for what the best teams in our league are like.  In the second half, we came out and played man to man defense and we played them even at that point, but that's not good enough.  Sometimes when you start the game in zone [defense], young players don't realize that a zone still needs to be aggressive.  Our zone was good early, but then they came out and hit some threes.

[On the turnovers] "That's been one of our nemesis all season long is those empty possessions.  Especially when the turnovers are in the front court, they lead to easy baskets. 

"Ohio has a great combination of low post players and perimeter players.  The perimeter guys keep the low post honest by stretching you to guard the three-ball. We got no post production.  You've got to have both, especially when you're opponent has both.

"We've show the ability at times to be a good rebounding basketball team.  We've got to get back to doing it.  You've got to fight hard to continue to be a good rebounding team. 

[On how to come out when you are down] "We teach our guys one possession at a time.  You have to get stops on defense and make shots on the offensive end.  You can't exchange baskets. 

NIU Forward Sean Smith

"We dug a hole in the first half and we came out in the second half and tried to pick it up.  We lost their shooters in the first half and that put us down."