What Ohio State coach Jake Diebler said after the Buckeyes win over Grambling State
COLUMBUS – The Buckeyes beat Grambling State 89-63 on Tuesday. Ohio State is now 9-3 heading into the holiday break. Following the win, head coach Jake Diebler met with the Lettermen Row and the assembled media.
Below what he had to say about Ohio State’s win over Grambling State.
Diebler’s opening statement:
“First off, I have a ton of respect for what Grambling has done and how they’ve been playing lately. Coach, he’s got those guys, I think they’re going to compete for the absolute top of their league and a bid to the NCAA tournament. So, we treated this game like we’ve treated every game this season in our preparation, and it was really important for our guys to understand what this team was capable of, especially how they have been playing lately.
“That being said, I thought our guys got off to a great start. We came out aggressive, certainly took some time to get some shots to fall, but our defense was really good. The execution of our game plan was really good. Then really proud of the way we responded in the second half when they went on a run. There was a moment there where that game could have gone a different way, and our guys came out of a timeout after being challenged and went on a big time run. So, a lot of good things to take from this game.”
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Diebler on the Buckeyes bench scoring:
“Well, we had nowhere to go but up, you know, from last game. And I think those guys just got to stay ready. Had multiple conversations with each guy about being aggressive. I thought in the North Carolina game, we were really hesitant. And we were a little passive. We want to be aggressive. We want to certainly be smart, we don’t want to be reckless in that aggressiveness. But those guys got to come in and play to their strengths.
“They got to trust their game. We believe in every single man on this roster. and they got to come in, how you help the team as you play to your strengths and you play aggressive. I think they did a much better job of that. We had more field goal attempts by a little bit. But I think there’s even more. Like, we haven’t arrived yet. Right? We got to keep pushing that and those guys got to be aggressive. We believe in them.”