MAUI JIM MAUI INVITATIONAL

November 21, 2022

Chris Holtmann

Sean McNeil

Lahaina Civic Center

Ohio State Buckeyes

Postgame Press Conference

San Diego State - 88, Ohio State - 77

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement from coach and then take questions for the student-athletes.

CHRIS HOLTMANN: Give San Diego State credit. I thought they made a lot of shots and played really well. We obviously did not guard well enough in the second half. But I thought our guys battled back, put ourselves in position. We just couldn't get enough stops. But give them credit. They're a good team, really good team.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. In that second half where defensively, like Chris just said, you guys didn't get enough stops, but you kind of got the offense going. What did you see change for your team both, I guess both for you individually and you guys as a team that you were able to make some headway in the second half?

SEAN MCNEIL: As a team, like coach said, we obviously didn't get enough stops. We weren't playing well enough on the defensive end, defense itself. And then rebounding, we gave up too many second-chance opportunities. That's something we'll work on, continue to get better at.

As far as me, I was just playing within the offense. I wasn't trying to force anything, just letting it come to me.

Q. What has it been like figuring out how to push the issue a little bit offensively and not take away shots from other guys this season, maybe hunting your shot a little more than you had the first couple games?

SEAN MCNEIL: I've had multiple conversations with the staff. They want me to be more aggressive, and I was more aggressive in the first half, but in the second half, I saw one or two fall and then confidence builds and that's kind of what happens.

Q. They had Darrion Trammell matched up with you, a shorter player. Did you feel like you could shoot over him? And did it change when they put a little bit more length on you?

SEAN MCNEIL: Yeah. I obviously saw the height advantage, so that was in my favor. But then once I made a few, they changed up the matchup a little bit. That's when I didn't want to start forcing anything. I knew they were going to send one, maybe two guys at me, and that's when we try to get Zed going, we try to get Brice going.

That's a good thing about our team. We got a lot of great guys that know how to score the ball. Very versatile. We're just going to continue to grow.

Q. That continuing to grow process. We were just talking to San Diego's coach and players they talked about being maybe a little bit more battle tested, a little bit more veteran than some of the options that you guys had. And they felt that paid off in a big way as the game got close in the second half. What do you think you guys are still learning about yourselves in some of those moments where the game gets tough and you got a lot of new faces trying to figure things out?

SEAN MCNEIL: Yeah, it's super early. We're four games in. Playing a lot of freshmen. Super talented. The one thing that I noticed this game is that we never quit. I think we went down 13, 15 points maybe. But then we battled back and cut it to seven or I think it was maybe five, four or five. Just the fight that this group has, I think it's going to carry a long way.

THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll let Sean go and take questions for coach.

Q. Similar to what I just asked Sean about like them being maybe a little bit more veteran, a little bit more battle tested. How did you see that play out as this game went on where your guys kept fighting, but like they were old enough to understand how to make a stop and how to draw a line every time you guys got close.

CHRIS HOLTMANN: You know, all the ways you look at it. Look, ability to play harder, longer. You can do that when you're a little bit older. I think obviously they're just, they got strong, physical bodies. You can tell they were able to play through contact better than what we were at times. I think they have a better just collective probably feel for each other than what we do right now. Which is a little bit to be expected, given where we're at. That's going to be a common theme. But I don't want to make excuses for our guys. We have to, as coaches and players, have to just defend better.

Q. What did you see differently defensively? You started off and seemed to be pretty dialed in and forced them into some tough shots and it then it kind of loosened up as it went on. What did you see change?

CHRIS HOLTMANN: Just that. The second half was really the issue. I think the first half, I was pretty pleased with our defense for the bulk of the first half. But the second half it was, it got up-and-down. Which is fine, we just, we weren't able to -- they had a stretch where I thought we cut it and they hit a couple threes off of just a couple I think odd plays. That ultimately might have been the difference, because it kept some distance between us and them.

Q. You said yesterday that this might be the best team you play all year. Do you still think that?

CHRIS HOLTMANN: One of 'em.

Q. Do you still think that's the case?

CHRIS HOLTMANN: I think I probably said one of 'em. And absolutely. I think they're really good. They're better offensively than what they have been. And they're still going to be a very good defensive team, I would expect. A very good defensive team. But I think they're, I just think collectively they can really make shots at a lot of different positions. They're really physical. I think they're a really good team.

Q. If someone told you that their two leading scorers would be 3-14 would you have liked your chances or did you realize they had many --

CHRIS HOLTMANN: They got a lot of guys. I did not look at them as -- Bradley's an all-league player and, what, averaged 7 coming into this game? So, no, I would have said that we got to stop a lot of guys. They got a lot of guys.

Q. What did you make of what Bruce gave you? Seemed like against maybe the most -- well certainly the most physical competition he's faced this year. He seemed to really hang in and give you a few things.

CHRIS HOLTMANN: Really good. Yeah. Really good. It was great to see Sean kind of break out and play like we have seen glimpses. Loved how aggressive he was. I thought we had some really, really good stretches of play overall tonight. Really good stretches of play. It was obviously a really solid game for Bruce. Great to see. Against terrific competition. We had a number of guys I thought that gave us some good moments that will continue to get better.