Indiana University
8-2
Grand Canyon
4-6
Postgame Quotes
12/13/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Opening Statement...
He's going to do a great job with that program. To add Russell the way they did today and to have him play the way he did, especially in the first half, really made us pick our defense up in the second half, especially on him because he can cause so many issues.
But Dan's got a team that can drive it, they can shoot it, and I'm proud of the way our guys got ready for this, because Tuesday night was a tough loss.
We tracked Wednesday. We practiced Thursday and Friday. We're trying to get ourselves better and at the same time we're spending a lot of time on the game plan. I thought they did a really good job inside of this game of staying locked in and focused.
And at the same time building on the things that we had to build on. The rebounding, the blockouts, the offensive rebound pursuits, which was in our case not quite as bad as the lack of blockouts Tuesday night but it was right there.
We didn't offensive rebound with the same level we needed to. And to get better in the second half the way that we did. And we were 37 of 43 in the second half when we went through the paint. And not necessarily a paint score, but when we went through the paint. Too many times in the first half we didn't do that. We took jumpers without getting into the paint.
But they brought their competitive level today and our guys did too. And really, really excited about the contributions, Troy Williams to play a game like that and when he's being aggressive not had a turnover. Strong and really responded from the other day.
James certainly did. Rob Johnson is a guy getting a lot done for us. It's not just showing up in the numbers but we're asking a lot of him. We're asking a lot of James and Rob. And for them to play 10 games and play at the level that they're playing at says a lot. It really does.
I thought Hanner and Emmitt did a really good job for us. And Collin and Nick together, when they're in the game together, our plus/minus is high especially with the right lineups, but it's high.
But the guy that keeps getting better and better and the guy that's an outstanding two-way player, showing leadership, just continues to compete and fight and is so smart and that's Yogi. He just continues to get better.
And we're asking a lot of him. Sometimes he's on the ball. Sometimes he's off the ball. Sometimes he gets the ball on reversal. Whatever it is, because we have so many different guys that can handle and make plays and he just continues to respond constantly and if there's a better defensive player in the back court in the country, I'll be happy to get some synergy tape or sit up some night and watch him.
Because he's really, really good defensively, because we're asking a lot of him, probably getting more from him on the defensive end. And that's a compliment, because he brings it every game at a very high level on the defensive end.
So we're in exam week now. We will have time to get our breath, which we need. These guys have worked extremely hard week after week and it's not just the physical wear and tear. Because it's easy to look at them as 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds they're in great shape, they're in great shape but it's the mental endurance they've got to go through because we're asking a lot of a lot of young guys and some that were getting on yellow school buses a year ago, playing on Friday and Saturday nights.
Now they've got to prepare for some of the best teams in the country. But no matter what, they've got to turn around and prepare and at the same time improve their games. So a very good win for us.
Grand Canyon is going to be a good team. Outstanding coach. Proud of what he's doing as a coach. It's just a matter of time, whatever he chose to do after he played he's going to be successful at it. And great to watch him with that program and very good win for us.
Question about Hanner and Troy and rebounds and lack of turnovers.
I think it's a case of them really wanting to get better. I think it's being honest. I think it's when you're honest with what you see on film and you don't rationalize and you want to improve. And they got challenged pretty hard Tuesday night when the game ended.
From that point forward, in the practices, because we need that from them. But they both want to be really good players. And I'd throw Emmitt in that same group. They all do, all want to be great players.
What they're learning is we can control so much of our effort. We can control our awareness when we remind each other, when we're talking, when we're just moving the ball, the way we did.
We opened up the game and a play where Troy gets a layup to start the game. Totally under control. That's what we need from him.
Will it be consistent? It's got to grow to be consistent. But we see that what you see today you know that it's there and there's a chance for him to continue to improve that way and with Hanner.
Question about only four turnovers, explain how you've improved.
Crazy. Beyond belief. We'll have to go back through the tape, see if that's actually accurate, because, man, I never coached a team that had that few.
I know it happened here, according to J.D. I doubt it was at Marquette. Because it's a fast paced game and we wanted to play fast. So I think that's a big step. What that does is put the pressure on players to know they can do it.
Troy can play a game like that, because he had some of those passes. I thought it was Peyton Manning zinging it. But they were all catchable and they were knock-downs.
And a little bit sometimes with Troy you've got to take the real fast Troy with the I can still get it done at a fast paced without being blazing fast Troy. When he understands that, he's going to be really good.
But we move the ball when we got very good reversal and it wasn't complicated for us, it wasn't about running a lot of different sets. It was about really getting the ball reversed and play out of that and when we do that we've got a chance because of our spacing. And I thought one thing that was really good we had a lot of hard rolls. They weren't light rolls or soft rolls. They were really hard. So you're making people play. Our spacing, we wanted to get better at waiting until our movement until we hit the point of the screen, little details like that, increase our spacing. I thought our guys did a good job of that too. That all plays into having few turnovers.
Question how important was it to attack the basket during the second half.
Very much. Very much. Because sometimes, when you've got really good shooters, they forget, they forget how easy it will be if they just move the ball and they move it through the paint where you're creating help. And when you're not making help, eventually they get confidence because it wasn't like we were making all those shots. I don't have a problem with the attempts.
I don't have any problem at all. There's going to be some nights we shoot 40, 45 3s, I'm not concerned about that, as long as it goes through the paint and as long as they're rhythm shots and as long as we're making people move, then those are good plays.
We've got some guys that are really capable in transition but we've got a whole team that's capable when we get the ball from side to side two to three times. To get through the paint and get established inside the paint in the second half was really good. That was a fantastic number for us, probably the best we've had 43, 37 to 43 going through the paint.
Is it coming together the way you need it to as you get into this season, you're up for a couple of breaks.
We're ready for a break. I could see that in them yesterday.
Is it coming together the way you need it to with Nebraska on the line; is the season coming the way you want it to especially working up to the conference games?
I think the bottom line, young teams you've got to get it to them that every game is big. There's household team names, and it's not about TV because every game is on television obviously.
But there's the household name games and there's all the games. You have to get them to understand how important those are, because you're always -- you're always getting in a rut or always getting in a groove. You're always building towards that.
There's momentum inside the game. Well, there's momentum inside the season. If you win but you didn't play real well, it wasn't as focused as you need to be. That's what cost us the Eastern Washington game, because we didn't do that in the Lamar game.
And what turned around and helped us, what I thought last Saturday was so good, and again I keep talking about last Saturday because, again, it was a game that we needed to come out and show some maturity in that game and we did.
And today was like that. So every game, obviously the game with Butler, I haven't watched or studied them yet. I've watched them but haven't studied them. They're very, very good. They make a high percentage of 3s. They have a low number of turnovers. They get to the foul line.
They're defending at an incredibly high level. They have an older team. They have matchup issues all over the court. It's going to be a very hard game. But if our guys look at that any differently than they look at the New Orleans game and beyond somewhere along the line we won't be as focused or ready for a Georgetown or Nebraska or somebody like that.
So bottom line this week is improvement. Everybody's got a laundry list of things that they need to get better at. But at the same time we've got to focus on school. And last week was a very busy week for them academically.
It always is at Indiana before exams. And it is a busy week this week. But at the same time we want to focus, get a game plan together but let them catch their breath so to speak and get re-energized a little bit. Because this team -- in answer to your question, they're giving -- they're giving a lot right now.
And some of them are realizing that they had more in them than they thought. But they really want to be good. And so as long as we continue on that path, we will improve.
What are the things you really want to improve before the conference games?
Well, yeah, I think the biggest thing, the other night it was a great example of Eastern Washington was an example. We picked the ball up too high against Eastern Washington. We opened up. We didn't turn the dribbler. The other night we chased the ball too much.
I think the biggest thing is, in answer to your question, is stay in front of the ball better. Don't overreact to the ball when we're in help. Stay with the shooters. Stay with the people that can cut and don't get into rotation, which is going to cause a lot of bad rebounding scenarios.
So there's no question we've got to do a better job of keeping our chest in front. No one personnel. And in the first half we didn't do a good job at all on the way we wanted to guard 0.
And we didn't realize this morning until J.D. saw an article from Arizona that he was eligible for the game. We knew potentially he was going to be playing soon. So we went to work quick this morning, gathered enough film for the guys to see. And the second half we really did what we wanted to do. We zoned more and we took away some of the things that he wanted.
So being able to do that with personnel-driven characteristics and at the same time chest in front and not chasing the ball is real good.
No question we've got to improve the rebounding, defensively. Our transition defense -- like I told our team, if we got back the same level Stan got back after the little skirmish, we got back like that every game or got back like that, our every transition defense would be the best in the country.
They've got to figure out how to do that. It can't take getting challenged inside of the game to go that hard in transition defense. So we gotta get better of all those things.
We can tighten those up, but those are the biggest things on offense we've got to continue to screen better and continue to move better. Our spacing is not even -- it's better but it's not even close to where it's got to be.
Our recognition to have ball screens and our being truly where we need to be in the spacing is not even close to where it will be. And at the same time we've got to improve our offensive rebound. So there's a long list.
And I give long answers and I could give a lot longer answer but that's a start.
Talk about academic advisor Marni Mooney and her contributions to the program.
I think we could give -- depends how much space the paper is going to give you on how many people she's helped. She's helped them all. And it's funny, we're talking about it with Steve and John Chrisman today, doing a TV game. They were asking about the academics because they're looking at the APR numbers. And I said she's the main reason.
She's the tough aunt. She's the big sister. She's the caring mother. She can be any of those. She can wear any of those roles and she can change -- she can wear any role. Within a matter of seconds she can change it.
She's got the backing of me and the staff and the staff does a really good job of interacting on academics: Did you get this in? How is this class? Because we get reports from her every morning.
I mean, every morning we've got this report on where everything is that day, everything that happened yesterday, what's coming up the rest of the week and where they stand every day in class. That takes a lot of work.
At the same time she's spending countless hours with those guys. I don't think I could do justice to it by just saying one guy, because it's constant. We have a team GPA of a 3.1 since we've been at Indiana. We've got more people graduating in three, three and a half years at one of the finest academic institutions around.
And that lady, that lady runs it. I mean, nobody's even remotely thinking of crossing her without consequences. Because not only because she's as strong a member as anybody in the program but because they care about her and respect her so much.
Greatest example I can give is that when these guys leave here, she was hard on Victor, she was hard on different guys like that. If you asked Victor right now, one of his best friends in the world would be Marni. But at the same time she never babied him or kowtowed to him. That's the level you want. She's made everybody better.
And the person that doesn't want to get better and doesn't respond to her wouldn't belong here any ways because then they wouldn't want to get better on the court.
But she does a tremendous job of being on top of every possible detail and caring it out and got just a giant heart. But she can be tough in a split second. I like that she's got a hair trigger right now, you cross her the wrong way.
I love that because that's what they need. They need that guidance. But I don't have a specific example of one. You might get some from the players.
 | Indiana Player Quotes |
James, you guys have seemed to be improving?
BLACKMON: Like after every game we look at that first like turnovers and rebounding first. So I feel like looking at it more and more have got us a lot better. And guys like Troy today, he had zero turnovers. We credit him for that. We keep crediting the players for not turning it over.
What do you attribute your improved rebounding tonight?
MOSQUERA-PEREA: We are both athletic. We can play out there, be around, get motivated for the game.
WILLIAMS: Just like Hanner said, we have the most athleticism on the team. The two rebounders. We may not be the strongest but we are quicker than most big men are. So we use athleticism and quickness to get more rebounds.
Question about tonight's play.
BLACKMON: I feel like I got an easy one to go. So after I get the ball to go, the rim gets bigger and bigger for me. And my teammates set me up on a couple of easy back doors. So they got me going.
Do you feel as a team you're starting to get to a place where you're comfortable, where you feel like you've gotten enough out of the non-conference. Do you feel the team has come together in a way?
WILLIAMS: We can really tell. Each game we get better and better. Each game we learn something new. Every game is like a learning experience these past few games. Right now we're not really focused on the future part of the season, we're focused on right now and right now the next thing is finals.
What are the biggest issues that need to be fixed?
BLACKMON: Yeah, definitely stopping dribble penetration. I think that's on everybody's list though. Rebounding altogether. Just like tonight we had a good game. We want to keep expanding every game and get better.
Troy, what's the key to success for you?
WILLIAMS: Just capitalize on it. It feels good not to be a turnover machine. Just capitalize on it.
How have you matured, Troy?
WILLIAMS: Definitely gotten better since last year, definitely matured more since last year, since I've been working out over the summer and to now, like you said I can see more. I don't have just the tunnel vision to the room, I see corner to corner, all 96 feet. Just grateful for it.
Question on coach training you to get to the ball.
MOSQUERA-PEREA: This is something that I've wanted to do all the time. And since last season, as soon as we got done, we started working the same day I needed to bring to every game this season. So those are just in there, started working on for a while now.
How much of your improvement and confidence in the game just because you've been able to stay on the court and consistently be a presence on the court also?
MOSQUERA-PEREA: It did a lot. I realize that the more things I can do right now is just slow down and let it come to me.
Question on coach training you to get to the ball.
MOSQUERA-PEREA: This is a big play. Just me being one of the oldest on the team, one of the biggest guys on the team, I know there's a lot I need to do for us to win and do my thing.
Hanner, how much improvement have you had?
MOSQUERA-PEREA: We're working a lot, Coach, everything telling us to slow down in practice, if I'm going too fast. If I need to slow down, keep the ball out of there, post the game, things like that.
 | Head Coach Dan Majerle |
How do you think your team played out there?
First half I thought we played pretty well. We did a good job in the second half, we came out, we just didn't guard in the beginning. They're a good team, so we can't allow that. When that team gets rolling, it's hard to stop them. We have to do a better job coming out there in the second half. Overall, I thought we did better. DeWayne Russell had his first game back, so I am very happy with how he played. We just have to put two halves together. We're not ready for that team.
What can you take away from a game like this?
Like I said, we've been waiting for DeWayne to come back and this is his first game back so it allows us to move Royce up to the two guard. Royce played really well at the two. We're just going to have to get used to him. It was good to see him back. He can really pressure the ball, he can penetrate, he can do a lot of things. That's going to make everyone on our team a little bit better. We've got a long way to go, but he's a big piece for us being successful.
Who impressed you on Indiana?
All their guys. I know Yogi didn't have a great game but he can really play. They can spread the floor, they can penetrate, they get to the basket, they finish, their bigs can get in there and rebound, so, Tom is doing a great job. I'm excited to watch them play and see how they do. It was a pleasure to be here, I've been a fan of Indiana basketball for so long and never been in this building. For me to come here, growing up in Northern Michigan, to come here and coach here was a great thrill for me.
What changed in the second half?
Their aggressiveness and taking the ball to the basket and our lack of ability to guard. They took a lot of 3's early and our guys got lulled to sleep. They came out in the second half and just attacked us. We didn't guard at all. Like I said, once they got it rolling, it was hard to stop them.
