Miami vs. Ohio Postgame Quotes
1/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 16, 2010
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Miami Head Coach Charlie Coles
On difference between the first and second half: "I've got to find a way to get my guys started better in the first half. Offensively we're not getting it done and energy-wise we're not getting it done. To their credit, they came with a fire in the second half and played great for about a nine or ten-minute stretch."
On first back-to-back wins of the year: "We've had a rough time early in the year. I'm not sure if we'll get back to .500 but it's a situation now where we're not playing for our record; we're playing each game at a time and trying to improve toward the end of the year."
On contributions from the bench: "Allen Roberts came in and played really well for us. He made a couple baskets, had the nice pass to Ballard on the alley-oop and he had the pass that led to (Adam) Fletcher's lay-up. Allen is a talented kid, now we just need to slow him down a little. It's usually the good players that you need to find a way to slow down."
Miami Sophomore Forward Julian Mavunga
On difficult early-season schedule: "I know we have had one of the tougher schedules in the country so far this year, and I think that those early games have prepared us for MAC play. We don't have players in this league like John Wall or DeMarcus Cousins, but we still have very solid players to compete against. Those early games definitely prepared us coming into the MAC, and now we just have to keep our momentum going.
On Antonio Ballard's effort: "Antonio is known for being our most energetic hustle player. I've never seen another guy who can just keep going and going like him. He's like the Energizer Bunny."
Miami Junior Forward Antonio Ballard
On free throw shooting: "Personally, I've been trying to really improve my free throws because last year I was a horrible free throw shooter. I think free throws are always going to be a big part of any game and the way we attacked today let us get away with missing a few that needed to be made."
On second career double-double: "I wasn't really worried about my offense as much. I focused on my defense and offensive rebounding today, and I figured if I did that, my opportunities would come."
Ohio Head Coach John Groce
"It was a tale of two halves. I thought our offense in the first half was maybe the best it's been all year. We had good ball movement and took care of the basketball and locked down on defense toward the end of the half. Then, they hit us 8-0 before the first media timeout of the second half and just took it to us physically in the second half."
"Miami was much more aggressive in the second half as far as attacking the basket and posting up. We knew that they like to start both halves by going inside and it was something we talked about in the locker room, but Julian Mavunga just came out with a look in his eye, demanded the ball, got deep post position and really went at our 4's and 5's, and he was a big reason why they went on that run early in the second half to get the lead."
Ohio Junior Guard Armon Bassett
"We're really up and down right now. We started off well but they dictated tempo and took us out of our game in the second half. We need to find a way to put two good halves together."
