Postgame Quotes
2/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Head Coach Tom Crean |
Where did you meet Brian Jones (guest in the press conference)?
I met Brian in a hospice a few weeks ago. I visited with him and his family. I learned a little bit about him before I went there. I know Brian is an absolute diehard Indiana fan for a long time, as his family has been.
I was as inspired walking out of there seeing him as he would have been happy to see me. Probably 10 times more I was inspired walking out of there.
This is something I've had planned. He didn't know it. But when he would be able to get here, we're going to do this press conference together.
I will have to speak a little more for you. Did you enjoy the night? I'll take that as a yes.
Needless to say, a performance like that, when our guys are initiating the offense the way they did, attacking, we knew we were going to see a team that was going to bring pressure that we hadn't seen lately. We needed to attack it.
The whole key, like I said, was going to be recognition and understanding when we had a quick shot, understanding when we could reverse it.
First couple possessions we were a little slow against their zone, then we started to get it figured out. Our guys did a tremendous job.
We knew we were going to deal with difficulties inside of this game tonight, inside of their ability to play in the post. Certainly with the way Andre Hollins is playing, they're a very good team.
In a league of teams that should be NCAA tournament teams or considered for it, they are right there with everybody else because they're getting better.
We had to play very well. We shot the ball extremely well. Really proud of the way the guys kept moving the ball. Proud of the attack.
Defensively we had over 40 deflections, which was key. We needed to rebound the ball well. We needed to get second-chance points. We did that.
But the bottom line is the ball was on a string all night for us. When it's on a string like that, you're getting very good movement, Yogi is leading the way the way he did, you're going to get looks. Tonight those looks went down. We were very fortunate to have those go down. Sometimes they don't. Tonight they did. I'm excited about that and proud of the way the guys played.
How were you able to out-rebound Minnesota?
I was surprised at the number. I think we were really conscious of being on the offensive glass and we really had to do that. But our whole basis, as simple as it sounds, we have to have five guys inside the paint when that shot goes, and five guys inside to rebound the ball.
In a game like tonight when you have to get into the big guys, the forwards, the breakdown of the rebounds, Troy had nine, I didn't study the stat sheet, but bottom line is you have to have five guys in. We knew the more we defensive rebounded, the more we could get out on that break. Our guys did a good job with that.
How important was it for Rob and James to have the night they did?
They've hit the wall a couple times. Are you referring to the Maryland game?
Yes.
I don't think that was a wall situation. They missed some shots. But those guys played a lot of minutes. There were there on the court at the
A wall is when you're mentally not able to stay with it defensively, you're getting discouraged easily. That's not the case at all.
I try to explain it to these guys. That proverbial weight on your shoulders, when you're missing shots, you let it affect you, it becomes slower.
We'll do different things. I kept James out there a little longer at the end of the shoot-around for 10 extra minutes working on complete speed and attack to get it into his mind that everything is fine, when you're on the attack you're in great shape. I kept reminding him of that. You don't want the mental part of that to play in because it's really not there. Because physically they're good. So you don't want the fact that they missed a couple of shots to take them away from what their most important job is, which is to play a complete game.
They work hard on their shooting, they all do. They work very hard on their shooting. I think if you hit a wall, you wouldn't be spending that extra time.
I think we hit that wall a couple times. Will we hit it again? Maybe so. That certainly wasn't the case on Wednesday night. They wouldn't have come back and played the way they didn't today.
We haven't seen from Troy that perimeter game.
He works very hard on his shot. That's something that's growing. It's something that is a part of him. He wants to be a complete player.
Is it something that is a huge part of everything right now? It will be. But the bottom line is it's got to continue. He's working to a point where he's feeling confident and those shots look good. I credit Tim Buckley for the extra time he spends with him. Troy is very serious about his shot.
The three-point shooting tonight. How instrumental was Yogi?
Yogi gets so much attention from the other teams' coaches, game plans and players. Yogi continues to play the game. He makes adjustments inside the game well.
We're asking him to do an extraordinary amount of stuff, not just on the offensive end. When you switch the defenses, we have to make up for what we don't have in post size, he's asked to do a lot.
We probably did maybe five, six different things defensively. He's a key part of every bit of that. One possession, he's guarding Andre Hollins, two possessions later he may be in a combination zone. You have to be smart and tough to be able to do those things. We were fortunate to get a couple breaks with him tonight.
I said, Great job passing the ball.
He said, I have a lot of great shooters to pass to.
It is a lot about him. He is very, very serious about his improvement. We practiced on Friday. We got done about 6:00, 6:15. The night goes. All of a sudden 9:20 at night I'm coming in from downstairs, he's walking out of the locker room to head onto the court on a Friday night. That's the kind of dedication he has. He is working every day to become a complete player. He's getting closer to it every day.
You have been a really good three-point shooting team all season. Why is that?
I think it's just movement. The ball just has to move. That's what it is more than anything else.
A lot of that three-point shooting, that's just a part of what we do. It's not like they were set play calls for a three. It's more about the movement.
We've got a lot of different guys. Troy can play on the baseline, on the wing. Troy can initiate the offense. Troy can get into the pick'n roll. Collin we didn't do as much with it tonight. Emmitt, that's coming.
We have to be that way and be versatile because we don't have a team that we're going to go line up on that block and play high-low, run cross screens constantly, things like that. We just don't have that.
Bottom line, it's got to come in drive and kick. We turned it over too much. There's still things we got to get better at.
The bottom line, I say it all the time, it sounds simple but it's hard to do, pass the ball one dribble sooner, all right? When you hold it too long, it allows the defense to adjust. We're trying to create two-on-ones all over the court.
When the guys are moving, it's not about the scouting report, it's about moving constantly.
On breaking the three-point shooting record...
They're also fourth in the nation to turnover percentage. They didn't lose many stat points on that.
Talk about the ability not to get steals against you.
Again, it's ball moving, getting the ball advanced. At certain times we're trying to get rest, making sure we have enough ball handlers on the court.
It sounds simple, but it's just doing your job. It's getting the ball to the middle, getting it reversed. Yogi takes the ball out of bounds. We had a plan if they started trying to deny Yogi what we were going to do.
We have so much versatility that allows us to do different things, we have to make sure we understand that once we're in those things, that's your job.
I think that's key. Again, it's spacing. It's spacing. It's ball movement. It's getting the ball advanced up the court. I'm really proud of the recognition.
A couple times we might have shot it too quick or tried to make a drive that wasn't there. But I'm really, really proud of the way they moved the ball.
I can't tell you how proud I am to have met this guy right here and his family. This would be a model of perseverance to me right here. Brian Jones is a model of perseverance. He's not had an easy life from everything I understand. He has a great family from what I've seen and everything that I understand.
It's a rare, rare person that can make you feel better, all right, about you when you're there trying to make them feel better about them. That's what this guy's got. That's why we're doing this.
I'm really excited that you came here tonight. I'm excited that you got to see us tonight. I pray for you every day. I hope you just continue to get better. I appreciate you guys putting him up here where people can see. This is a model of perseverance right here.
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Indiana Players |
James, talk about sitting out last game.
BLACKMON: So excited to get back out there. It was so hard to sit out, especially against Wisconsin, since they're the top team.
Coming in I worked hard on the defensive things, things I had to know to get back into it. They helped me get going from right off tonight.
Talk about last year's struggle against Michigan.
JOHNSON: I say the difference has been mindset, our mental mindset going into a close game like that. You got to get a stop, whatever is necessary to get it. We go out there and we fight for each other and we fight for the team. We come out with the outcome we want.
WILLIAMS: Last year, at the time of the game, wasn't in the game. He got in all the people at the end of the game that would do that for us. We're just happy that changed this year.
Do you ever look back at film and look at what could be different?
JOHNSON: I say the biggest thing from last year to this year is making more simpler plays, not trying to make the home run play. Driving in, just hitting the open guy, not trying to throw a crazy like behind-the-back pass. We can throw a pass to another pass for a shot. We call it the Indiana assist. Doing basically whatever we can to help the team win.
How much does it help the team having James Blackmon back in the lineup?
JOHNSON: Yeah, just another guy they have to guard. We definitely missed James in Wisconsin because that would have opened up the floor more for our drives, our guards.
I say he definitely helped us in this game.
Troy, what was the difference for you after halftime?
WILLIAMS: The short alley. Just stayed in, kept moving, got back cuts, dunks, got fouled a couple times.
I guess I got comfortable out there, got the steal for the three-pointer. I guess after that I just got more comfortable.
Yogi, what does it mean to you moving forward with Hanner?
JOHNSON: For us moving forward, just got to get back in shape, got to get back in game shape. I know he played a couple stretches tonight.
He's definitely going to help us. We need that big body down there. Hanner helped us with wins at Illinois and Nebraska. To have him back, we're going to need him.
What does this mean to you?
WILLIAMS: I mean, builds everybody's confidence. Some people like break down or whatever, but we just stay with it in practice, stay with it on the court, off the court. Just feels better.
You talk about not looking too big picture in the middle of the season. You still have Maryland. But do you feel like coming through this you have played well enough to move to an easier schedule in Big Ten play?
JOHNSON: These last couple games we have are basically going to define who we are. That's where teams get made basically, going from here on.
Last couple stretches, we have to have the best focus we've had all year, last couple weeks. Every game we play from here on now is a championship game. Every possession is a championship possession. Once we get those, win those, we'll eventually be in the championship game.
What is it like being in this position at this point in the season?
JOHNSON: Yeah, we didn't really look too much where everybody picked us. They picked us low in the Big Ten. Expectations are high. Just gave us a little bit extra chip on our shoulder to go out there and prove everybody wrong. They don't know us. But they’re getting ready to find out.
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Coach Pitino |
You went man-to-man briefly, did you feel like that was worse?
We were playing man on all misses, and our transition defense was not very good, not communicating well, and I thought for a second there that if we go back zone everybody will spread to their spots, maybe that will make a little more sense. Nothing we were doing was working. Man, zone, nothing was working.
Obviously they’re a great shooting team, did you think it was more of their hot shooting or did your zone look a lot different than it has in the last couple of games?
A little bit of both. I think we kind of got freaked out a little bit by some of the bombs they were hitting, and then we were over-committing to the ball and they were driving it by us. They’re a tough team to guard too, one of the best offenses in the country.
Thoughts on how the team reacted to IU’s outside shots.
That’s what I was really disappointed with. Obviously when a team sets a school record for three’s you’re disappointed, but the rebounding is what really, really disappointed me. I mean Joey played 31 minutes, zero rebounds. Moe played 28 minutes, one rebound. We really talked about how we’ve got to rebound the ball.
Thoughts on James Blackmon
Great player. They have some really good players now, I love their team. And they’re so tough to guard, they put you in so many binds with the way that they play, because they play small. We don’t have a whole lot of depth to go blow-for-blow with them playing small. They just kicked our butt, flat out kicked our butt.
This is the first time you guys have really lost this way, you’ve had so many close losses. How do the players react to a loss like this versus a last-second shot?
Time will tell. I’m sure when I watch the film I’m not gonna be real happy so I’m not sure. It’s the first time we’ve really been blown out like this so I think we gotta learn from it and we just gotta move on. We played a very good Northwestern team, we just beat Iowa at home, they’re gonna feel very good about themselves, so we’ve always talked about “don’t get too high,” “don’t get too low.” I mean they really kicked our butt you’ve got to give them credit.
What makes it difficult guarding a team that’s so small?
Well they have so many shooters, and so we don’t have a lot of depth with the guard spots, so the answer would maybe be matching up with them and playing four guards. I don’t even have four guards really that I can play, cause I have those subs. So then, if we want to try to play them zone, and try to pound it inside, well then they shoot it. They put you in a lot of binds. Especially when they set ball screens with shooters, and you switch it, we don’t have real mobile like Joey is not real mobile and then they put you in a bind. Or put us in a bind, I should say.