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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 17, 2013Mike BruesewitzTraevon JacksonBo RyanCHICAGO, ILLINOIS Ohio State – 50 BO RYAN: Well, I thought we had a chance to run the gauntlet, but just didn't have quite enough in us. I know our guys got them to take some pretty tough shots for the most part. You look at a stat, and you say a team goes 1 for 16, and you go, wow, you've really got a great chance. So you know, we tried to get them to take contested shots. Didn't get the rebounds off of some of them. We got beat physically inside a little bit, so I think that told a lot on the offensive glass. But I really liked the way we got after it. We paid for the miscues, and we still have to make shots, man. Q. I know today's game didn't know how you wanted it to, but overall impressions of the weekend. Do you feel pretty good about where you guys stand as you get ready for the NCAA Tournament? MIKE BRUESEWITZ: Yeah, I mean, we played well. You know, things didn't go our way today. We've got some good momentum going into the tournament, and just got to put this one behind us, kind of have amnesia and get back to work on Monday. Go back home and get right back to it because now we've got the big dance and we've got to take care of business there, too. TRAEVON JACKSON: Yeah, I mean, Mike just said it best. We didn't make enough plays personally. I didn't make enough plays down the stretch. I didn't put our team in the right position to score, and we only scored six points combined for the end of both halves, and that falls on the point guard. Just got to learn from it and move on. Q. I know you're going to have a quick turnaround to get ready, but I know this championship, a chance to win it, meant something for you guys. How disappointing is it to not be able to get this one in the books? RYAN EVANS: It's a disappointment. We definitely wanted to leave here with some hardware, but moving forward, we've got the NCAA Tournament. It's a bigger thing. And I'm looking forward to that. MIKE BRUESEWITZ: Yeah, you play every game to win. Just disappointing. Q. Ryan, like coach said, you guys played some great defense, forced some tough looks. How much of an emphasis did that put on rebounding and the few offensive rebounds that they got that really extended some key possessions? RYAN EVANS: I mean, every possession counts, we know that, whether it's a turnover or offensive rebound. So there's always emphasis on those areas in the game. Like I said, every one counts. They were able to get their hands on a couple loose balls, and that could have been the difference in the game. Q. Ryan and Traevon, the last seven minutes you guys went without a field goal. Just wondering, did you notice something change or some of them rattled in and out, but what was the biggest difference in those last seven minutes where they kind of took control? TRAEVON JACKSON: Well, I think we got some of the looks we wanted. Personally for me I got some of the looks I wanted, I just kind of rushed them a little bit. The shots that I did have, they were at the top of the key, towards the top of the key, they were going in, they were going comfortable. But some of the shots that I had at the end of the game weren't good shots. So like I said, that falls on me. But other than that, I mean, a couple balls just rattled in and out, and sometimes the ball goes in, sometimes it doesn't. RYAN EVANS: Looking back, when shots don't fall, you just try to go inside or get to the free‑throw line, drive a little bit and maybe get something going. Looking back, we probably didn't do that enough. But shots fell in the other games, so just one of those things. Q. This question goes to the seniors. I know every year is different, but can you remember this year's tournament being the most physically demanding on your guys from the standpoint of fatigue? MIKE BRUESEWITZ: I mean, for us personally, yeah. This is as far as we've been in the tournament in our careers. More minutes you play, obviously the more physically demanding it is. RYAN EVANS: Yeah, like Mike said, this is the farthest we've been since we've been here, and it was definitely physical. We took down the Michigan team and the Indiana team, so we know we can beat anyone in the country moving forward. So like we said, we're looking forward to the selection show, see what our seed is. Q. Ryan, following up on that, people might look at your record and say there's 11 losses there. What do you see in this team that makes you think that it can make a long run in the NCAA Tournament? RYAN EVANS: Well, just looking at what we've done. We normally get up for the bigger games. We've got guys that are ready to play in the bigger games. We took down top seeds all year, so it's a lot to look forward to. Q. Ryan and tray, Ohio State didn't end the game shooting particularly well when you look at the final numbers, but how would you rate your overall defensive performance as a team today? TRAEVON JACKSON: I thought we played well defensively. We switched and a lot of things. I think the turning point in the game was when LaQuinton Ross, he got that offensive rebound, and that was on me, and I think he really stepped up for them. That was just‑‑ they just got the extra second hustle points and second chance points. We played good defense, they just got the hustle points on us. RYAN EVANS: Yeah, I think we played good defense, as well. They might have played a little bit better defense. In a game like this, only 50 points being scored by the winner, it's a defensive game. Shots aren't falling. So they had the edge on a couple easy possessions there on a couple loose balls, and that's what got them the win. Q. There's been a lot of talk about how physical this tournament was. Is it a benefit getting this far in the Big Ten Tournament? Does it help going in or not? BO RYAN: Well, unless I missed something growing up, I always wanted to play. So play. Our guys like to play. You should see some of our practices. Yeah, I'm talking about practice. (Laughter). Yeah, we've come in and lost the first game and kind of humbly went home and got ready for the next, and fortunately we get the third season. We got pretty far here in the second season and not far enough, but I'd rather be playing. Playing is good. Depends on how fast our turnaround is, where you go, that type of thing. Q. What did you think of Frank's performance throughout the weekend? He was pretty efficient all around? BO RYAN: Yeah, his numbers, some things defensively he'd like to have back, so you guys see those numbers, I see the other. So he's getting closer. He's still going to need better defense from him, but his numbers shooting wise and rebounding‑‑ coaches are never totally happy. I'm not trading him, though. Q. Thad has been using his small lineup more and more the last part of the season. I wonder if you could talk generally about how that affects the game and also the effect that LaQuinton Ross had in the last few minutes of the game today? BO RYAN: Well, he hit the three earlier. That wasn't in the last through minutes. But tray was honest. He missed the block‑out assignment there. He had him. So they made us pay, so that's an opportunity basket there that he took advantage of, but it wasn't because‑‑ because of the way we were exchanging, size for them didn't matter to us because there are times where George was blocking out Ravenel if you remember, especially in the first half. So that didn't affect us. We went small, too, for a while. You know, Ben's three off the curl and catch, and Mike's three, they were two pretty good shots when it was a four‑point game. I thought Mike's was in. That ball was halfway down and out. You get one of those to go, who knows. But I thought we matched that pretty well. I mean, you can't force a team that shoots threes the way they do into one for whatever without working. I mean, you have to work to make teams take tough threes, to shoot that number. But look how much better we were than them; I mean, we were 3 for 18. Q. Going into the NCAA Tournament, what do you feel most confident about your team and what perhaps concerns you the most about your team going into that tournament? BO RYAN: Well, you know, at times inconsistency, but as I look at tapes on everybody else, every team goes through the offensive droughts, the X number of minutes without a field goal, the X number‑‑ and every time you have an extended one, it usually‑‑ you usually have to pay for that. So we've caused those on other teams, other teams have done that to us. But I feel good that our guys defensively will at least work. Going into the tournament they picked up for one another a lot better. They've done some really good things. I think in order to have teammates believing in them on defense, you've got to believe in one another to be a good defensive team. So then on offense we've got to execute a little bit better, get some shots to go down. We proved in this tournament that we can make some shots against some pretty good teams. Last time I looked, Michigan and Indiana were pretty good: So we're going into the tournament, different opponents, different area probably, whatever. This is when you start practice, you kind of think conference and you think conference tournament, then you hope you're in the NCAA based on what you do during the year. Our guys earned a trip. Let's see what we can do with it. Q. How many Big Ten teams do you think have a chance of winning the national championship? BO RYAN: Any of them that go in it. I don't know how you can say they wouldn't‑‑ how can you say a team doesn't have a chance? Every team that goes into it has a chance to advance to the second, to the third, to the fourth, to the fifth, to the sixth game. So we just root for each other until we play each other. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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