LOS ANGELES – A spot in the Elite Eight is on the line for Ohio State tonight, as the No. 2-seeded Buckeyes are set to take on No. 6 seed Arizona at 7:47 p.m. ET at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Wednesday, Wildcats coach Sean Miller, a former assistant under OSU coach Thad Matta, and senior guard Mark Lyons and senior forward Solomon Hill previewed their matchup against the Buckeyes.

Here’s what they had to say about the Sweet 16 game:

Miller on playing in Los Angeles

“We’re very excited to be here in LA. We have quite a few players from Southern California on our current team, certainly on a lot of our past teams. For our great fans, this is an area that’s very easy for them to get to, and we look forward to all of those things coming together for us here (Thursday).”

Miller on playing his former boss in Matta

“I think if we were playing a regular season game, our relationship might affect things a little bit more, but when you’re playing for a berth in the Elite Eight or an opportunity to become a part of the Final Four, it’s so much about the team, the game, the players and both of our teams. So I think both of us are really focused on preparing and being at our best.”

Miler on problems OSU presents

“I watch Ohio State a lot. I think they’re a remarkable defensive team. You can admire the way they play defense. It starts not only with (junior guard) Aaron Craft, who I think is the best at what he does defensively. But Shannon Scott, to me, doesn’t get enough credit. They almost have two guards that just ball-hawk your team and make defense easier sometimes for their other players.”

Lyons on the matchup against Craft

“Everybody is caught up in this one-on-one matchup, and I’m not looking at it like that. If my team wins, all of us look good, and that’s all that really matters.”

Hill on OSU’s defense

“There are certain things they do that other teams have done. They down ball screens. The first two teams we played in the tournament did the same thing. So it was all about just keeping the same reps that we did in practice. They have a couple big guys. We still like to get the ball down low to our bigs, and really get them going.”

Hill on playing against junior forward Deshaun Thomas

“That will be my primary matchup. He’s their go-to guy. It’s a lot of sets that they run for him to get open, get him shots. The mismatch problem shouldn’t be a big issue with us because I’m playing the four and the three. But I’ll be guarding him regardless.”