Ohio State ends its losing streak with strong play in crucial minutes, small lineups have big results and more from a win against Illinois.
Ohio State men's basketball coach Chris Holtmann's full press conference after a 72-60 win against Illinois on Feb. 26, 2023.The situation wasn’t all that different from so many others during the previous 14 games.
“I thought we got high-quality shots,” coach Chris Holtmann said. “Obviously an emotional play with Brice’s phenomenal dunk, but I thought Justice’s put-back was key. We knew they were going to make a run. I thought those guys stepped up and made plays.” Quality possessions, each one of them. Nothing out of the flow of the offense, nothing too quick in the shot clock and nothing forced.
“We really did feel like we were playing better basketball, not always necessarily being rewarded necessarily for it,” he said. “That’s what we’ve stressed: play the right way. Play it for longer stretches. We have been doing that. Starting in the Purdue game I thought we had some really good stretches of play there. Can we extend those minutes of quality play for longer stretches? I thought we did that. I thought we did it the other night and felt the rewards of it today.
“Keep the same mentality for tomorrow,” Thornton said. “We’re all going to celebrate, because we got the dub today, and tomorrow we’re back at it. We have to keep that same mentality, same hunger as before to get the win against a good Maryland team.”Ohio State played this game with a true center for only 8:17. Freshman Felix Okpara again got the start, and the 6-11, 220-pound center had four points, a steal, a block, a rebound and two turnovers while playing for 8:17.
Brown was perfect on four field-goal attempts and also grabbed four rebounds along with two steals and a turnover. Likekele had four rebounds, two assists and three turnovers but Shannon was held to 10 points on 3 of 12 shooting. He also had a game-high four turnovers and fouled out with 2:16 to play.
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