Preview: IU Hosts Ottawa in Exhibition Game

GAME INFO
Ottawa (31-3 in 2014-15) at #15 Indiana (20-14 in 2014-15)
Exhibition Game
7:00 p.m. Tipoff • Assembly Hall
TV/Video: BTN Plus (subscription required)
Radio: IU Radio Network - Listen Online | Find Radio Affiliate

OPENING TIP
• Indiana University will begin its 116th season of men's basketball when it opens up its season with an exhibition game against the University of Ottawa (Canada). The Hoosiers return four starters from last year's team which made the program's 38th NCAA Tournament appearance. Under Tom Crean, IU is 12-0 in exhibition games.

UP NEXT
• IU will host Bellarmine on Monday, Nov. 9 in its second exhibition game, with tipoff at 7 p.m. The game will only be available live on BTN Plus (subscription required). Click here for more info.

HEAD COACH TOM CREAN
• Tom Crean begins his eighth year of leading the Hoosiers. Over the last four years, IU is 93-45 and leads the Big Ten with 19 regular season wins over ranked opponents during that time. During that same span, the Hoosiers have appeared nationally ranked in at least one major poll during the season.

• He has also seen a Big Ten best three players selected in the NBA lottery over the last three years and has recruited a McDonald's All-American in each of the last five years. In addition, he has seen seven of his players score 1,000 points or more in an IU uniform. Since 2011, the Hoosiers have averaged 23 wins per season compared to 20 averaged at IU from 1995-2008.

• Seven players have scored 1,000 points in their career under Tom Crean at Indiana. Christian Watford (1,730), Yogi Ferrell (1,379), Verdell Jones III (1,347), Jordan Hulls (1,318), Cody Zeller (1,157), Will Sheehey (1,120) and Victor Oladipo (1,117).

ALL HOME GAMES BROADCAST IN MANDARIN
• Tonight's game marks a first in college basketball, as Indiana University will be the first team to have its games broadcast in Mandarin. All 19 home games will be broadcast in Mandarin and available for free at the following link: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/indiana/

FAMILIAR FOE
• uOttawa was 31-3 last season and the national runner up in Canada. They have gone 8-1 in exhibition games during the past month. During last year's summer visit to Canada for the Hoosiers, the Gee-Gees handed IU its only setback in six games with a 109-101 win in Montreal. From that game, senior guard Mike L'Africain (27 pts) and forward Vikas Gill (21 pts) remain from that squad. The Hoosiers were led by Troy Williams who had 27 points and James Blackmon, Jr. who finished with 20. IU led 79-78 heading into the final quarter. For the game, uOttawa made 18-of-30 from 3-point range. uOttawa has led Canadian collegiate teams in scoring, averaging 94.5 and 96.4 points per game during the last two seasons. Head Coach James Derouin is in his 6th season and is 132-44. He was named national coach of the Year for 2014-15.

FERRELL PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN
• Senior All-Big Ten guard Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell has been named second team Preseason All-American by The Sporting News and USA Today, in addition to garnering third team honors from Athlon Sports and fourth team mention in Blue Ribbon Magazine. A first-team NABC and USBWA All-District selection last season, Ferrell was sixth in the Big Ten averaging 16.3 points and was fourth in assists at 4.9. He also has made a three-pointer in 65 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the nation. Ferrell, 6-0, and a native of Indianapolis, ranks 22nd on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,379 points, sixth in career assists at 438 and fourth in 3-point field goals made with 193. All three of those totals will make him the Big Ten's active leader in those categories entering his final season.

WATCH LISTS
• The Indiana Hoosiers were well represented on the preseason watch lists released by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame earlier this month. The watch lists recognize the top 20 players in the country at each of the five positions on the court. Here's who was recognized from Indiana:
Bob Cousy Award (Top PG): Kevin Yogi Ferrell
Jerry West Award (Top SG): James Blackmon Jr.
Julius Erving Award (Top SF): Troy Williams
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award (Top C): Thomas Bryant

STAFF WITH EXPERIENCE
• The Hoosiers have three former head coaches on their coaching staff this season (Buckley, Martin, Judson). Associate Head Coach Tim Buckley begins his eighth year at Indiana. Former head coach at Ball State. His Cardinals beat No. 3 Kansas and No. 4 UCLA at the 2001 Maui Classic. Assistant Coach Chuck Martin is in his second year with the Hoosiers and was the head coach at Marist (2008-13). Assistant Coach Rob Judson is in his first year as an assistant coach after serving as Director of Operations in early 2014. He was the head coach at Northern Illinois (2001-07) and won the MAC West title in 2006.

Press Conference Transcript
Indiana head coach Tom Crean
Nov. 2, 2015

On Ottawa:
"They have obviously played a lot of games. They just played three games in the last the last three days I believe and today is their day off. They are coming in after a loss, so I'm sure they will be in a good mood.

"We have a lot of respect for this team, that's why we scheduled them. Our trip to Canada, for those of you who were there, know exactly what I'm talking about. There is outstanding basketball throughout that country. Obviously, it is starting to become well known at the grass-roots level and the high school players, but the collegiate teams are really good as well.

"I think Ottawa is tremendous. I think James is a tremendous coach and he's very innovative. They play at an extremely high level. They played the other night and took 68 shots, 48 of them were three's. That's a lot of 3-point shots.

"At the same time, the scariest thing is all the offensive rebounds they got out of that. So one of the biggest keys in this game is going to be the 50/50 balls because they are used to the 24 second clock and at the same time they are used to stealing possessions inside of that.

"But, as far as their team, tremendous condition. I think they move the ball extremely well. They can play out of the post, where they try and create some four-around-one to create some isolation in the post, to try and get you to over-help, then kick it out. Their whole offense is predicated on penetrate and kick. Getting you to over help.

"They are very quick in transition. They space the floor and don't put anybody out on the court that can't make a play. Their penetrate-and-kick game, especially over the weekend, has been phenomenal. So we think it's going to be an excellent test, just as next week will be with Bellarmine. And were excited about it.

"As far as we stand, were dealing with the aches and the pains and the recoveries and things of that nature right now. Not sure if we'll have Collin Hartman tomorrow night or not. I know he'd like to be, so that decision will get made tomorrow. But we're probably going to be, obviously, when he comes back he's going to be in limited minutes. But we'll also have some other guys that we'll probably try to really manage their minutes. James Blackmon Jr.'s knee still gets a little sore sometimes, so we'll probably manage his minutes. Certainly going to manage the freshman's minutes because it's a long season, and they have all dealt with different things throughout the preseason. So we'll try and work them in the best that we can. We want to play through fatigue, and we want to play to a point of fatigue. But at the same time, we don't want to put them in situations they're not ready for yet. That really goes for the whole team so we'll get a real feel for how it's going tomorrow night. I know they're (Indiana) are extremely ready to play somebody else and as a coach, it'll be great to see them go against somebody we have a lot of respect for this early in the season."

On whether Ottawa's style of play reminds him of other teams:
"Well they are very skilled. So when you're in a league like this, I wouldn't…… Notre Dame comes to mind a little bit. I say that in terms of their forwards can really drive the ball as well as shoot it. That's just off the top of my head. I didn't look at them like that.

"They're what you would see when you turn on, you know, NBA TV and you watch the Euro finals or FIBA. They are very much like that. And in this league, you're dealing with a lot of different skilled positions. You're dealing with some teams that have skilled pick-and-pop shooting fives. They have driving fours. They have a lot of different players that can make plays. Number 11 for them obviously, gets us ready for seeing other really good guards. But he's just one of the parts of the machine. They've got a lot ability to penetrate and kick with everybody. And it almost seems to me that what you want is that you want everybody to be a playmaker. So I hope that we can stop them from being that tomorrow night, but at the same time, that's ultimately where we want to be as a team. Where you put everybody on the floor, and they're not only making plays, but they're making plays for others. And I think they do a really good job of that."

On how personnel changes from last year could all Indiana to use different lineups:
"Sure, well I don't know if you could do that. It's been so much that has been removed from that. But I do know the things that stood out in the game, as we gave up a lot of 3-point attempts. They got off to a 20-7 start and I didn't think that we put the pedal to the metal at all at the end of the game. We weren't ready to really go on the attack in the last eight minutes of that game. And it wasn't like they took control it, but we never went back and got control of it. And I think that's going to be a huge huge thing for this team. Are we going to be able to read the momentum of the game? Get momentum? Keep Momentum? And keep going at it?

"One of the biggest things for us is when we get a lead, if we get a lead, can we continue to build on that lead. By getting it inside, by getting to the foul line, by continuing to move the ball. And that to me is what ultimately we are looking at as much as anything. When we play games like this, there are so many segments of the game when you go back and look at it, and how did we do in those segments. In closing the game. In closing the game. In closing the game in the last four minutes, eight minutes. But certainly getting off to the right kind of start, and again you might not be making shots.

"Last year when we played them we turned the ball over. We had some big time miscommunications and obviously that was August. Right? So that's going to happen. But we let them get too comfortable in the game and we never took that comfort level from them. So those are the kind of things that I would remember about that game that we'll look at this, but we've got to have that against everybody."

On what he wants to see defensively:
"It starts with transition defense, because we have to get back and find the shooters. That prepares you for all the good teams that you face. Everyone that runs the floor for them [is skilled], they are a quick moving team, and they play off the pass far more than they play off the dribble. There are a couple of guys that will really penetrate and kick but they make the next pass like it is breathing. That, to me, is what we have got to get back and stop.

"Our post defense, certainly that is going to be a concern because of the newness of our team. The only returner, who has not been out there the last couple weeks, is Collin Hartman that guarded people on the frontline. Yogi has, Troy has, but not where they really have to guard those people. Tomorrow night will be a little but more four-on-one if they play the way that they have played, with one true big guy that plays around the basket area. But we have got to be better at everything in that sense. Post defense, controlling the paint, and the next biggest thing is can we make adjustments on the fly in the game with our ball screen defense, with our post defense, and if we change defenses. We have not done much of that yet; we have not really worked hard at that. We do want to be able to challenge their personnel throughout the game. Can the team make adjustments on the fly with that? It is an acquired art, and we have got to start working on that tomorrow like we have in practice."

On using different lineups in the exhibition games:
"I am not sure yet. I will go with different lineups at times. It is not about who starts or who finishes, it is more important to me right now, in an exhibition game, that we are managing the minutes a little bit. There are definitely a couple of lineups that might present themselves that I would like to see. Really it is about getting people to play, getting them at game speed, finding out what their game speed is, and how far do they play over that when they hit that wall of fatigue.

On possibly using bigger lineups:
"We do that at different times in practice. We truly do not have a lineup right now. It is really a matter of mixing and matching and getting guys comfortable. It is taking things from the other day with things we did not do, and it does not matter who is in there. If we do not roll better when we set a ball screen and force rotations then that hurts our whole game.

"It does not matter if it is two forwards together, if it is Troy at a position, it does not matter. Again, we wanted to have a good mix of battles the other day. We wanted to mix some matchups so guys had to guard different people. We will definitely play that [bigger]. I said a long time ago that I am not married to playing with three guards all season, I am married to Joanie, not a lineup."

On potentially having a rim protector on defense:
"Maybe, maybe not. It depends on our coverage. It is more about not over-helping in this game. They are going to stretch you out. Invariably, no matter what you are used to guarding, you are going to have to go guard the perimeter. That is one of the reasons that we took this game. They are better than I even thought they were a year ago, and they have had an incredible run over the last three years.

"We cannot get into a position where we are over-helping on the ball because we could not contain the ball, no matter who that is. We work on scramble defense, on shot clock defense, and shot challenges but the big thing is going to be not over-helping. I like when teams over-help on us because it allows us to play at the speed that we want. We have to be able to continue to dictate how we get our matchups when it comes to our offense.

"Defensively, we want to do a sound job of containing the ball. They are coming in here with a lot of experience, they are game tested, and they are a veteran group to begin with. I kind of like that, I did not realize at the time that we scheduled this that they would have this many games, but they do, and I think that is great for us.

On planning and expectations of exhibition season…
"We waited to decide on this game until late for a reason. Some were different matchups, especially when the Maui matchups came out. If you have the luxury of waiting, which we did, we knew that we were going to get a good team. We knew that coming out of last year. I would love to play Carlton here at some point. We want to play those teams [Canadian programs] because they really test you. They have so much skill that you are going to see moving forward.

"The Bellarmine situation was one that we have talked about in the past, and it just worked out. It is not the perfect day for me, as far as day of the week, but it works in the sense of timing before we start our season. It will allow us to take a day off and have a couple of days to get ready for Eastern Illinois.

"There are times that you want to play a team in-state, which we have pretty consistently, but you want to look at matchups. We put a lot of research into that. A couple guys on the staff really do research the lineups and the film, and then we will look at it in terms of whether the team will spread us or be really physical with us.

"Next week, Bellarmine will be extremely physical. They are a great screening team. It continues to prepare you for the different things you are going to see from a team that is very committed to their half-court offense and defense. It is really based on potentially what you are going to see early in your season. At the same time it could just be that you have a relationship with that school, or that person, or you have been looking forward to it for some time. It is not always a scientific approach, but we do approach it based on what we are going to see."

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Players Mentioned

James Blackmon Jr.

Thomas Bryant

Kevin Yogi Ferrell

Collin Hartman

Troy Williams

Indiana University Athletics