The University of Akron Athletics
Akron-Ohio Postgame Quotes
February 14 | Men's Basketball
Quoting Akron Head Coach Keith Dambrot:
Opening Statement:
"We had opportunities to win the game really, poetically, and we
really should have won in the first overtime, but we made a mistake
defensively. We told our guys to make sure they got way out and
make Ohio slip to make them shoot a 2-pointer but we did not. With
17 seconds, we weren't going to foul because it was too much time.
You have to get the ball in bounds again, get it across the time
line and then you have to make two free throws and there's just too
much that can go wrong. Under five seconds is my general rule and
that play at the end was a little hazy. It's hazy in my mind
because you have to go the length of the court and how good of a
shot can you really get with 3.1 seconds left? Most people would
not foul under those circumstances, the only reason I did is
because they made the shot before and I figured the odds of them
being able to take a shot, miss, rebound and shoot it again was
minimal in that situation."
On Akron defensively and the play of Zeke Marshall:
"We went to the 2-3 zone to slow them down, then we made a mistake
and they hit a three. I didn't want to stay in it too long because
it's not really our look, but we were in it long enough to disrupt
them. I thought one of the keys was not having Zeke in the game
because then the game was a little harder to score, I thought he
got tired a little bit more in the second half when we really need
him on those dribble-drives to gobble them up on the defensive end.
He just fouled so it was hard to do and he's got to rebound the
ball better which I thought was a weak spot for him today. He's
going to get better and like I told many people, when we play in
the NCAA Tournament, he's going to be a big factor because he
allows you to guard against the big boys."
On UA's Performance:
"We played well. We thought we could hurt Ohio inside today, we
expected a few more double downs, but they didn't give us as many.
Chris played with good energy, but I thought his brother (Brett McKnight) really rallied himself
in the overtime and scored when it mattered too, which I thought
was key. Mike Bardo played well
for us, we needed to score a little bit which is why we didn't play
him as long as we'd have liked, but he did a good job. I thought
Ronnie Steward really played well
through the foul trouble in the first half too, his numbers don't
indicate it but I thought he did a pretty good job."
