March 21, 2005

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Ohio State Pregame Quotes
Head Coach Jim Foster
On the Maryland-Wisconsin Green Bay game: "A lot of fouls, which was very interesting. Wisconsin-Green Bay and ourselves have fought all year long for a terrific honor, which we won last year. We committed the fewest fouls in Division I basketball last year. This year, ourselves and Wisconsin-Green Bay fought for that title - fewest fouls committed out of 324 schools. They committed 24 fouls yesterday, so out of character. It was a choppy game as a result."

On playing in a hostile environment: "I would hope that we're past the point of referees being intimidated by where they are, or knowing where they are in terms on home and away. I would really like to think that our game has grown past that. This time of year, I spend absolutely no time thinking about where we are. It's just wasted energy."

On Ohio State center Jessica Davenport: "Maturity. They say the average post player in the NBA matures at the age of 29. If you look back, that's about when [Hakeem] Olajuwon won his two championships, that's when Patrick Ewing took his team to the NBA finals, that's when Shaquille O'Neal started to win. It's sort of uncanny, the correlation there. In Jess' case, I think she's so mature that she's accelerated that process. Bigs have a tough time maturing. It's very difficult to be super-sized in your society, and learning how to deal with that. For her to have that in such perspective, I'm not dealing with a normal 19-year-old. The fact that she is mature allows her to process things a lot quicker. I don't have to spend any time, as you do with a lot of young bigs, with the emotional part of it. She's just got it together in those areas. It's just about basketball."

Center Jessica Davenport
On the match-up with Maryland center Crystal Langhorne "It's going to be a tough match-up tomorrow. I have a very physical game, and she's a physical player. I'll just try to take away what she's good at tomorrow."

On getting Langhorne into foul trouble: "We're not going to try to just try to take one person out. We're going to play team defense and keep doing what we've been doing and just play hard."

On upsets: "That happens with any sport. Upsets can happen. We were there for the [Penn State-Liberty] game last night, and it was a great game and there was a great atmosphere. We know that we just have to go out and play and take care of our business. It was just nice to go out and watch another college basketball game."

Guard Caity Matter
On playing on a hostile court as the higher seed: "I think it's going to be a great atmosphere. It's going to be a great game. We've played on the road all season. It's just going to be another road game for us. But I think it's going to be a great atmosphere for the ball game."

Guard Brandie Hoskins
On playing on a hostile court: "We've been playing in atmospheres like this all year. All we have to do is keep doing what we've been doing - communicating, just talking out there a lot. The crowd's going to do what they're going to do. We just have to communicate on the floor and get the job done and not worry about the crowd."

On the Maryland team: "They've got a lot of great players that like to push the ball up and down the court. They've got a great team. Tomorrow night we have to come out ready to play. There's been a lot of upsets, but we're here to win. The crowd's going to do what they're liable to do, but we're here to win. We want to come out here and play Ohio State basketball."