|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: BOISEMarch 14, 2018Chris HoltmannKeita Bates-DiopJae'Sean TateBoise, Idaho THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Ohio State. Q. What's the excitement level, getting the program from Ohio State back into the Dance? KEITA BATES-DIOP: We're excited. The Ohio State program is used to being in the NCAA tournament. We're excited to be back. JAE'SEAN TATE: All the players come to Ohio State to play in March. We had a couple of down years, but I couldn't ask for a better senior year. I'm going out with this team in March. Q. What have you seen from Mike Daum so far, and what are your thoughts about matching up against him in the first game? KEITA BATES-DIOP: He's a very good player. Big. Shoots the ball. Makes him hard to guard. He's a very tough matchup. He's a good player. Q. You guys had a great season but didn't end it the way you wanted. Three out of the last five lose, and lost in the Big Ten tournament. What's the mentality going into this tournament after losing your last game? JAE'SEAN TATE: Just another opportunity to get the sour taste out of our mouth. Throughout the season we've shown what it takes to win, and we've shown what happens when we do those things; we lose. So I think just our ability to focus on what got us to be No. 2 in the Big Ten and focus on that and just try to pay attention to the coaching and the scouting and that's going to be the best thing we can do in this matchup against a very good team. We fell off toward the end, but we still had a great Big Ten season. We're capable of winning big games. We're trying to get that taste out of our mouth and move forward. Q. Going off of that, a question for both of you guys again. You are in a class of only four times in the history has a 12 played a 5. What are you going to have to do to avoid being upset by a South Dakota team that's been in the Dance three straight years in a row? JAE'SEAN TATE: Just prepare like we have in the past. And not try to get too nervous. We know this is a very good team. As long as we listen to coach and we play for each other and stay together out there, I think we have a good chance to win the game. KEITA BATES-DIOP: Yeah, definitely. Upsets happen all the time. Q. Wondering what you guys knew about Boise before you found out you were coming here? JAE'SEAN TATE: Not much. I knew you guys were known for potatoes and pretty much just the blue field. And once I got off the plane I was expecting it to be a little colder, but it was way more beautiful than Ohio. What was it like 60 yesterday? It was warm. And just the view of the mountains and that. I didn't expect having that coming off the plane. KEITA BATES-DIOP: I kind of liked the mountains. We don't have that in Ohio. To see mountains coming off the plane, that was pretty nice. THE MODERATOR: Ohio State coach, Chris Holtmann, welcome. Q. You had an unusually long break going into tomorrow. Are there any benefits having this break? CHRIS HOLTMANN: We'll see. I think that's the million dollar question in a lot of ways. I've been asked that a lot. We'll see. I think it's a question that all the Big Ten teams are being asked and will eventually answer. We try to balance rest versus rust. That can be difficult. We also tried to make sure our guys are conditioned and ready to play. We've been banged up and we were a little bit fatigued at the end of the year because we had some guys carrying a pretty heavy load. Hopefully that rest helped. We went off campus a few times. We had an inter-squad scrimmage at another site, we changed up the practice times. Had a meal together. And then as coaches we got a lot of recruiting done. Q. We know this is your first year, what was kind of your thoughts heading into the season? Ohio State hasn't been to the Dance in a few seasons. CHRIS HOLTMANN: As a coach you always feel, I think we all put tremendous pressure on ourselves. I think what we felt as a coaching staff in terms of pressure was we wanted our upperclassmen, our seniors, to experience this tournament. That's a really unique thing, that we're playing a team that is in its third straight NCAA tournament and we only have three returning players that have played in a NCAA tournament game versus a team that has quite a bit of experience. I think more than anything you really wanted it for your older guys that haven't tasted this incredible tournament maybe as much as we would have liked for them to. So if there was any pressure that's what we felt. Obviously we understood there were relatively low expectations for us early. Our guys answered the bell and put us in a position to do this and hopefully we can make the most of it. Q. Obviously Bates-Diop is a player that gets a lot of attention. Who else on the team could be an X factor for you guys in order to make a run? CHRIS HOLTMANN: Well, I think our sole focus is on tomorrow, not anything else. And I think that probably the guys that are always at the top of the scouting report for us are Bates-Diop, as you mentioned, and Jae'Sean Tate. I think where we had played well and had success our guards have played well for us, C.J. Jackson, Kam Williams, Andrew Dakich, those guys have played well for us. They're going to need to -- listen, I think we're playing the best team I've played in the opening round as a coach. So we're going to need a lot of good stuff from a lot of guys. Q. You guys obviously had a great season, but maybe didn't end the way you wanted. You lost 3 out of 5, and the Big Ten tournament. What's the mentality to wash that away and start the new season with this tournament and get back on track a little bit? CHRIS HOLTMANN: Everybody has a loss or two at the end of the year. So you could look at a lot of college basketball teams and say that. I think we had a challenging closing schedule, stretch. I don't think our guys were deterred by that by any stretch. Obviously you want to stay in this tournament as long as you can. And that's what we're trying to do. But I don't sense that they're fragile. I think they've got great respect for who we're playing. And we had a great closing win in regular season. And obviously got bounced earlier in the Big Ten tournament earlier than we wanted to. I think our guys are in a good place and want to play well. Q. Just going off that a little bit, you are in the classic 12-5 matchup, you are a popular pick. Considering the experience, what are you going to have to do to get out of this first round and keep your season alive here? CHRIS HOLTMANN: I get it. I understand why people are picking them a lot. They have a pro. They have great experience. They've got a really talented team. It's not just Daum. They have really talented guys around them, a terrific freshman guard. People look at not only the 12-5 matchup, and historically what that's been, but the fact that those guys have great experience being in this thing. When you have a pro on your roster it makes a big difference. So I think we know we're going to need to be sharp. We're going to need to play well. We're going to need to score the ball against their defense and be able to make them make it difficult for them. They're a very gifted offensive team. And they play through their guys exceptionally well. They've got athleticism. They play really well together. You can tell they're an experienced group, because they play really, really well together. I think when you get into this thing you realize that any team you play in this thing is good. But certainly when you get in kind of those middle-seeded games you're playing a really talented team. And we certainly are. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|