Indiana University Athletics
Postgame Quotes vs. UMass Lowell
11/16/2016 10:12:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Indiana vs. UMass Lowell
Nov. 16, 2016
Postgame Quotes
Tom Crean
Indiana, 100 - UMass Lowell, 78
COACH CREAN: We did a lot of good things. I think at times, especially at the start of the game, when you're coming off a great win like we had, you think the game's going to be easier, but it's not. And you've got to figure out, say this all the time, you've got to figure out what the game is giving you, and what we needed to do was figure out that what we do constantly is what works the best, when we play through the paint.
I think at one point in the first half, once we figured it out, we had 15 straight scores going through the paint. And with the uniqueness of guys that can drive it, handle it, pass it, post it, you know we can get there different ways. And that's what we have to be, especially when we're playing the sagging defenses that we see.
So the most important thing is to create that separation by moving without the ball, going through the paint, getting a reverse quickly, dropping it out of the corners, and not looking to come into the game trying to establish our jump shot, but trying to establish our physicality and try to establish our speed. Going into that first half we got a lot better.
And defensively we did some good things. We rebounded. We wanted to switch a lot. We wanted to play a lot of guys tonight. We played a lot of different lineups. I think we were -- almost 40 percent of our possessions had two or more freshmen in the game at some point in time.
So that's good learning for us. So at times it's going to look sloppy with that, especially with the way we're trying to bring fatigue to the game. But 23 assists in a game like this is good for us. There will be good things to build off of that we can get better at. Because we do want to be a team that switches.
There were times they were unorthodox with a 6'2", 6'3," and there were times they had five shooters in the game.
And our team has got to learn how to adjust constantly because that's going to be something defenses have to do to us. We want to make sure, while we're trying to make the defense adjust to us, we're not getting beat on that. So there's good learning for us to get from this. Short turnaround before the next one, then a short turnaround before the one after that. But that will be good for us.
And we had some good performance. Obviously James' first half was excellent, especially because the way the ball was moving. And I thought he did a really good job of facilitating and moving the ball in the second half. Rob was the beneficiary of some really good things there. And we had numerous guys with three or more assists. That's good.
So the ball was moving. And at times we didn't shoot the ball as well. At times we didn't rebound it as well. But it's early November, and what we've said all along is we can continue to get better. And I think we will. So go ahead.
Q. Tom, you did a little bit of full court pressure. I know you talk about that.
COACH CREAN: We did a lot on the ball tonight, which was by design as far as guarding the ball full court.
Q. And I guess when you think you will spend a period of time on the full court press?
COACH CREAN: Possibly. But I think that's something that we want to do, but we've got to continue to get better in the half court. Our communication offensively, especially because we haven't played any zone yet or anything like that. Tonight was a big personnel night and trying to get established, okay, we're going to try to take the right shoulder here, we're going to try to take this guy's right hand there.
And that takes communication and that takes some experience. And if you press, a lot of times those things are out the window. Now you're bringing fatigue to the game.
You're playing fast. And we're not at the point yet of five-on-five experience up and down. I know it looks at times like we're fast, but we want to be able to play fast on both ends.
So we'll get the pressures in. We'll get the full court pressures in as we go. But the most important thing is we can bring fatigue to the game by pressuring the ball and not give up easy baskets in the half court. And we did a little too much of that tonight. But some of that was we respected the dribble too much.
We respected the drive rather than switch it out, keep the dribble in front of us, don't leave the man. And we over-helped a couple of times. And make sure that we work through that. But that team played fast. We knew they were going to move the ball well.
We knew they would put numerous people out there. They beat Wagner the other night after Wagner had a huge win over UConn. So they've had a couple of games to get their system under their belt. So we'll learn from it.
Q. UMass Lowell showed offensive versatility.
COACH CREAN: It was a good night to put those guys in situations where defensively they would have to be away from the basket more. Especially De'Ron. Thomas is getting more used to it.
And then at the same time we weren't where we were -- we didn't get into the bonus in the first half until the eight-minute mark, I don't believe. So those are the type of things, okay, let's establish what we want to do in the low post but let's put guys in the situation where they've got to play the switching and things of that nature or the big shows and the ball screen, whatever the coverage was, and communicate it.
So we don't practice those two very much together. They're usually going against each other. And we'll drill with them together. We don't go against each other a lot -- together on a five-on-five situation. It's something we're going to have to do more of. And I think we will.
Q. When they were up five early, seemed like your guys stayed pretty patient and tried to work. How hard is that to find a lower level Division I program, get out to a quick start to stay patient and not --
COACH CREAN: I think it's always what's correctible. And the correctible was going to the paint enough. We're shooting too many 3s. It's not that we don't want to shoot 3s, but we don't want to shoot 3s without going through the paint. And they were there. So it's not like we were taking bad shots.
But that's still not moving the defense. And when you're playing to the defense's hand, they came at us. One thing we haven't done much of when we came back from Hawaii is play full court. And I probably overthought the whole legs thing and five-hour time zone thing and all that type of stuff.
And it hits everybody differently. It actually hit some guys probably tonight a little bit. But the one thing we didn't do is bear down and do a lot of things in transition. We did it one day since we've been back. So that got us a little bit.
But I figured we'd play through that, and the most important thing is we would understand that getting the ball posted or getting the ball driven through the post through the paint was going to be the most important thing to settle us in, because that's usually how we play our best. So it's a matter of them doing that and then just keep bringing fatigue.
Especially with pressing teams, a lot of pressing teams will be down at half. We weren't pressing, per se. We were pressing the ball. But pressing team would be down at half because you're expecting to bring that fatigue in the second half. We were hopeful we would do that at some point tonight.
Q. Beyond the scoring, what's the ripple effect on your offense having James back?
COACH CREAN: I think there's a confidence when they look at him. He's moving the ball well. He's really just like Josh Newkirk and Juwan, for that matter, because Juwan, this is really only the third week he's been live, contact, and we've already had a couple of games.
James is a lot more explosive than what he was. And he could always dunk and things like that. But he's playing with more force. He's playing downhill more. He's covering more ground.
And to come back from an injury like that and to be a better athlete than he even was and be stronger like he is, that takes a little time for him to get used to. I think we're getting better and understanding each other. There were a couple times even tonight we hit the guy just a pass too late or a dribble too late or threw the bounce pass to the post a little too early before he was set, or we look for the back cut that wasn't quite there yet.
We just don't have that synergy of really understanding each other yet. It's the nuances that only the players know. It's not the sets, it's the way they understand each other. James is really working at that.
So I think the fact that he's moving the ball, the fact he's getting better defensively, that's a really good thing. And I think you can't help but be impressed on this team with his work ethic. And again he's not the only one coming off surgery and injury. So there's a lot of guys that have worked really hard to do that.
But everybody really likes James. They love James. And went through those hard parts with him with his injury. So now they're happy to have him back.
Q. What is his impact on what you can do offensively?
COACH CREAN: Numerous things. We posted him to start the game. He's stronger in there. Big thing for us, we want to get him fouled. And we can definitely post him more than we could have in the past because of that strength. He can get downhill better, which is going to create more drive and kick opportunities. He's moving the ball well.
We haven't really even put in a lot of screen sequences yet for him to come off staggers and double staggers and things like that. We haven't even put those things in yet.
I think the next big thing for him is going to be really moving without the ball without a screen, whether it's cut on the baseline, whether it's a dive off the slot, whether it's getting behind the defense on the break, those things.
So there's going to be a myriad of things we can do with him as we move forward.
Q. Having freshmen working through some things, De'Ron, I know he had a couple of big free throws in Hawaii, a little more run tonight. Seemed very confident, especially offensively. How far has he come in the short amount of time and where is his comfort level?
COACH CREAN: He's come along a lot in the last couple of weeks. His confidence has grown a lot in the last couple of weeks, because again when you're trying to learn a lot of things. But to come into a realm that he had not known because he wasn't here in the summer, you've got to remind him there's some things he can go to and he can rebound the ball and he can score.
And so while we're figuring everything else, his shooting and all those different things and cuts and movements, you can score and rebound. And what he's shown is he can really get down and move his feet defensively.
He's got great feet. And he's got very good hands. Going to be a very good passer as he gets comfortable with it. But he can really get out and guard. And I think that's what's brought a lot of confidence to his teammates and on the court. Not just himself. But he works extremely hard. He's conditioning extra all the time. And he's a product of it. And I think he'll look different in two weeks. It's just one of those things.
Indiana Players – Robert Johnson, Juwan Morgan and OG Anunoby
Q. I guess there was a point there early in the second half, you guys posted something like 15-0 run. And you have shown the propensity to do that both in exhibitions and tonight. Just kind of what fuels those spurts where you cracked down it at both ends of the floor and build 15-0, 16-3 run?
ROBERT JOHNSON: It all starts on defense. That's where you can get out in transition. Once we get stops, specifically defensive rebounds, we can get ourselves in place. And once we get stops that's really good for us.
Q. Also early in that second half, about three minutes in, there's a huddle right before Thomas went to the free-throw line. He was kind of gesturing to other end of the court, seemed like he was frustrated with defense or something. What was he saying at that moment? What was frustrating at that moment?
ROBERT JOHNSON: I'm not sure, but in our huddles that's when we try to figure out issues that we have been having during the game. And it was probably something defensively that we didn't do a good job communicating with. So he probably was just trying to fix it.
Q. How much do you inform yourselves of your shortcomings or what have you. How much do you try to pick each other up in those moments?
ROBERT JOHNSON: We try to do it a lot just from the simple fact we're going to be a player-driven team. We're holding ourselves accountable, I think. That's the main way to get better.
Q. Juwan, we saw a catch, steal and spin from OG tonight and some other things. What are some things you've seen from him in practice, his offensive game growing, just the things that he did?
JUWAN MORGAN: Just attacking right away. That's really grown and that came with as his confidence went up, as his shot got better. He's always in the gym. He's probably in there more than anybody else. And he's just always working on that. He's always working. And every time we're in practice there's something new coming out. As he gets better and better at it, it just almost becomes natural for him.
Q. OG, what do you have to focus and concentrate on as a team and individuals when you're playing a team that you may be dramatically more talented than?
OG ANUNOBY: Just not playing the team, just playing to dominate. Getting multiple stops on defense, rebound, and just move the ball on offense.
Q. And how well did you feel like you guys did that tonight?
OG ANUNOBY: We felt like we did it decently. We know we can do better, though.
Q. For either of you guys how much easier is it to change when James gets going on the offensive end?
JUWAN MORGAN: It's a lot easier. It opens up so much more of the floor, especially when -- I'm pretty sure guys, when they scout James, they already know he's a scorer, and then when he's locked in, even when they're keying in on them, he's still scoring, he's still driving, making plays. That just opens up things like that because extra passes, throwing inside to the post and they had to respect him. And it just opens up everything.
Q. Juwan, De'Ron had a couple of big free throws for you guys tonight. He got a little bit more -- eight points, three rebounds. Even though he came in late, just how quickly have you seen him adapt and especially maybe when he's had guys like you and Thomas to work with in practice, how quickly has he grown?
JUWAN MORGAN: It's been tremendous. The jump he made from week one to week two and then from week two to week three and so forth it's just an incredible rate that he's going at.
And he's been in better condition on his own. That was something he came to me about, just saying he wanted to be in better condition, being able to be in the game longer, things like that. And with that change in his body he started to be more comfortable. As you could see it's starting to pay off.
Q. To follow up, when you're in the preseason getting ready for the season, how do you work with a young guy on maybe getting his legs under him a little bit more if he hasn't had that summer?
JUWAN MORGAN: I guess it would just be pushing him in practice, at times when he wants to take breaks when we're doing full-court things, just making sure he's in there. And like he does extra running and things like that when we have off days or something, and just helping him with that, being there supporting him with that.
Q. How much have you worked on that press defense going into tonight? And is that something you will see more of going forward?
ROBERT JOHNSON: At one point when we got up, kind of got a couple of shots in the back court, that was completely random. So that's something we want to continue to build on. We wanted to pressure them full court, man to man, but that was just something we did a good job of rotating with and it was good for us.
Q. Juwan, I saw you in particular talking to Freddie at different points during the game, pointing where he needs to be. How much do you coach him up during the game, bring him along, get him up to speed?
JUWAN MORGAN: Whenever he needs it. Whenever I see somebody in there that doesn't know what they're doing I try to know all five spots. That way if they're stuck on where they need to be I can help them. And even when I'm in the game, running to another spot, I'll try to be directing traffic, making sure they know where they're going, making sure they know what to do. And, I don't know, it just comes with it.
Q. Robert, I'll ask you, I wouldn't think you would necessarily notice anything during the course of the game, but how awesome are the renovations here at Assembly Hall and do they have any impact on the game itself?
ROBERT JOHNSON: I think they're really a big deal for us, especially for the program, recruits and things like that, for them to see that. But during the game, I really don't notice anything differently. Maybe the backdrop on the one side that's more open. But other than that, nothing really.
Q. OG, what spots on the floor do you feel like you're more productive at than maybe others?
OG ANUNOBY: I'd say I'm more comfortable everywhere.
Q. When you see James take on like that, how does that help you as a shooter having that guy right next to you?
ROBERT JOHNSON: It helps a lot. For the simple fact what J-Mo said, it spreads the court and opens it up that much more for driving lanes, so you're always putting the defense in the situation where they've either got to pick to stay with them or give you a lane to drive.
UMass Lowell Head Coach Pat Duquette
You guys stuck with them the first half of the first half. Then in the second half of the first half, they sort of got to you:
"I was happy how we played in the first half. I thought we played the right way. I thought we played within ourselves. They made some threes. I'm going to have to go back and watch the film to see if we need to contest those threes more or if they just knocked down some tough shots. I guarantee that a team like that, when they shoot the ball like that, they can beat a lot of teams worse than us. I think they are a legitimate top five team. That's where they are ranked. We didn't play perfect, but we played well. And more importantly, I thought we played like ourselves."
What can you take away from a game like that:
"That if we play like ourselves, we can have some success. For us to score 78 points against a really talented Indiana team on their home court, that's a great sign. Also, I don't think we were too effected by the atmosphere. We don't play in front of crowds like this. We don't play in arenas like this. I was happy that our guys didn't get distracted by that and stuck to the game plan, and we played within ourselves."
What are your thoughts on James Blackman Jr. in the first half:
"You saw what I saw. I'll go see if there was much we could have done to contest those shots a little more. But I feel like our players played as hard as they could, and we couldn't stop him. He's one of the most talented guards in the country. He certainly was tonight."
It seemed like it turned around for them when they played both of their 6-10 guys in the second half. Do you feel you were just outsized:
"We can't control that. That happens from time to time. The only way we can offset that is really, really good offense and make threes. Sometimes we were able to do that, but we aren't going to get bigger anytime soon. I think they have size at every position. I think their guards are big too. There were so many people that could get offensive rebounds. There were some just outside of our control out there."
You guys beet Wagner, who beat Connecticut. Is that a positive to take away? You guys were down 29, but came back to 21 or 22:
"I think we got better from our Wagner win. I think we played just as good, if not better tonight. We are going through a big transition. We were just Division II three years ago. We've made a ton of progress, and we've learned to measure ourselves in more than just wins and losses. You got to do that when you're going through a transition like this. You got to look at the things you can control and see what you're getting better at. And we are getting better at things. So despite some losses, as long as we keep getting better, we will be in good shape."
Is it more difficult than you thought making this transition:
"In some ways, but we are able to have more success than people thought we would. I am blessed with a good staff and good administration. I feel supported. I'm a pretty positive guy, I think that's important. I think the guys will continue to have fun. Is it tough? Yes, but I am coaching basketball. It can't get much better than that."
Nov. 16, 2016
Postgame Quotes
Tom Crean
Indiana, 100 - UMass Lowell, 78
COACH CREAN: We did a lot of good things. I think at times, especially at the start of the game, when you're coming off a great win like we had, you think the game's going to be easier, but it's not. And you've got to figure out, say this all the time, you've got to figure out what the game is giving you, and what we needed to do was figure out that what we do constantly is what works the best, when we play through the paint.
I think at one point in the first half, once we figured it out, we had 15 straight scores going through the paint. And with the uniqueness of guys that can drive it, handle it, pass it, post it, you know we can get there different ways. And that's what we have to be, especially when we're playing the sagging defenses that we see.
So the most important thing is to create that separation by moving without the ball, going through the paint, getting a reverse quickly, dropping it out of the corners, and not looking to come into the game trying to establish our jump shot, but trying to establish our physicality and try to establish our speed. Going into that first half we got a lot better.
And defensively we did some good things. We rebounded. We wanted to switch a lot. We wanted to play a lot of guys tonight. We played a lot of different lineups. I think we were -- almost 40 percent of our possessions had two or more freshmen in the game at some point in time.
So that's good learning for us. So at times it's going to look sloppy with that, especially with the way we're trying to bring fatigue to the game. But 23 assists in a game like this is good for us. There will be good things to build off of that we can get better at. Because we do want to be a team that switches.
There were times they were unorthodox with a 6'2", 6'3," and there were times they had five shooters in the game.
And our team has got to learn how to adjust constantly because that's going to be something defenses have to do to us. We want to make sure, while we're trying to make the defense adjust to us, we're not getting beat on that. So there's good learning for us to get from this. Short turnaround before the next one, then a short turnaround before the one after that. But that will be good for us.
And we had some good performance. Obviously James' first half was excellent, especially because the way the ball was moving. And I thought he did a really good job of facilitating and moving the ball in the second half. Rob was the beneficiary of some really good things there. And we had numerous guys with three or more assists. That's good.
So the ball was moving. And at times we didn't shoot the ball as well. At times we didn't rebound it as well. But it's early November, and what we've said all along is we can continue to get better. And I think we will. So go ahead.
Q. Tom, you did a little bit of full court pressure. I know you talk about that.
COACH CREAN: We did a lot on the ball tonight, which was by design as far as guarding the ball full court.
Q. And I guess when you think you will spend a period of time on the full court press?
COACH CREAN: Possibly. But I think that's something that we want to do, but we've got to continue to get better in the half court. Our communication offensively, especially because we haven't played any zone yet or anything like that. Tonight was a big personnel night and trying to get established, okay, we're going to try to take the right shoulder here, we're going to try to take this guy's right hand there.
And that takes communication and that takes some experience. And if you press, a lot of times those things are out the window. Now you're bringing fatigue to the game.
You're playing fast. And we're not at the point yet of five-on-five experience up and down. I know it looks at times like we're fast, but we want to be able to play fast on both ends.
So we'll get the pressures in. We'll get the full court pressures in as we go. But the most important thing is we can bring fatigue to the game by pressuring the ball and not give up easy baskets in the half court. And we did a little too much of that tonight. But some of that was we respected the dribble too much.
We respected the drive rather than switch it out, keep the dribble in front of us, don't leave the man. And we over-helped a couple of times. And make sure that we work through that. But that team played fast. We knew they were going to move the ball well.
We knew they would put numerous people out there. They beat Wagner the other night after Wagner had a huge win over UConn. So they've had a couple of games to get their system under their belt. So we'll learn from it.
Q. UMass Lowell showed offensive versatility.
COACH CREAN: It was a good night to put those guys in situations where defensively they would have to be away from the basket more. Especially De'Ron. Thomas is getting more used to it.
And then at the same time we weren't where we were -- we didn't get into the bonus in the first half until the eight-minute mark, I don't believe. So those are the type of things, okay, let's establish what we want to do in the low post but let's put guys in the situation where they've got to play the switching and things of that nature or the big shows and the ball screen, whatever the coverage was, and communicate it.
So we don't practice those two very much together. They're usually going against each other. And we'll drill with them together. We don't go against each other a lot -- together on a five-on-five situation. It's something we're going to have to do more of. And I think we will.
Q. When they were up five early, seemed like your guys stayed pretty patient and tried to work. How hard is that to find a lower level Division I program, get out to a quick start to stay patient and not --
COACH CREAN: I think it's always what's correctible. And the correctible was going to the paint enough. We're shooting too many 3s. It's not that we don't want to shoot 3s, but we don't want to shoot 3s without going through the paint. And they were there. So it's not like we were taking bad shots.
But that's still not moving the defense. And when you're playing to the defense's hand, they came at us. One thing we haven't done much of when we came back from Hawaii is play full court. And I probably overthought the whole legs thing and five-hour time zone thing and all that type of stuff.
And it hits everybody differently. It actually hit some guys probably tonight a little bit. But the one thing we didn't do is bear down and do a lot of things in transition. We did it one day since we've been back. So that got us a little bit.
But I figured we'd play through that, and the most important thing is we would understand that getting the ball posted or getting the ball driven through the post through the paint was going to be the most important thing to settle us in, because that's usually how we play our best. So it's a matter of them doing that and then just keep bringing fatigue.
Especially with pressing teams, a lot of pressing teams will be down at half. We weren't pressing, per se. We were pressing the ball. But pressing team would be down at half because you're expecting to bring that fatigue in the second half. We were hopeful we would do that at some point tonight.
Q. Beyond the scoring, what's the ripple effect on your offense having James back?
COACH CREAN: I think there's a confidence when they look at him. He's moving the ball well. He's really just like Josh Newkirk and Juwan, for that matter, because Juwan, this is really only the third week he's been live, contact, and we've already had a couple of games.
James is a lot more explosive than what he was. And he could always dunk and things like that. But he's playing with more force. He's playing downhill more. He's covering more ground.
And to come back from an injury like that and to be a better athlete than he even was and be stronger like he is, that takes a little time for him to get used to. I think we're getting better and understanding each other. There were a couple times even tonight we hit the guy just a pass too late or a dribble too late or threw the bounce pass to the post a little too early before he was set, or we look for the back cut that wasn't quite there yet.
We just don't have that synergy of really understanding each other yet. It's the nuances that only the players know. It's not the sets, it's the way they understand each other. James is really working at that.
So I think the fact that he's moving the ball, the fact he's getting better defensively, that's a really good thing. And I think you can't help but be impressed on this team with his work ethic. And again he's not the only one coming off surgery and injury. So there's a lot of guys that have worked really hard to do that.
But everybody really likes James. They love James. And went through those hard parts with him with his injury. So now they're happy to have him back.
Q. What is his impact on what you can do offensively?
COACH CREAN: Numerous things. We posted him to start the game. He's stronger in there. Big thing for us, we want to get him fouled. And we can definitely post him more than we could have in the past because of that strength. He can get downhill better, which is going to create more drive and kick opportunities. He's moving the ball well.
We haven't really even put in a lot of screen sequences yet for him to come off staggers and double staggers and things like that. We haven't even put those things in yet.
I think the next big thing for him is going to be really moving without the ball without a screen, whether it's cut on the baseline, whether it's a dive off the slot, whether it's getting behind the defense on the break, those things.
So there's going to be a myriad of things we can do with him as we move forward.
Q. Having freshmen working through some things, De'Ron, I know he had a couple of big free throws in Hawaii, a little more run tonight. Seemed very confident, especially offensively. How far has he come in the short amount of time and where is his comfort level?
COACH CREAN: He's come along a lot in the last couple of weeks. His confidence has grown a lot in the last couple of weeks, because again when you're trying to learn a lot of things. But to come into a realm that he had not known because he wasn't here in the summer, you've got to remind him there's some things he can go to and he can rebound the ball and he can score.
And so while we're figuring everything else, his shooting and all those different things and cuts and movements, you can score and rebound. And what he's shown is he can really get down and move his feet defensively.
He's got great feet. And he's got very good hands. Going to be a very good passer as he gets comfortable with it. But he can really get out and guard. And I think that's what's brought a lot of confidence to his teammates and on the court. Not just himself. But he works extremely hard. He's conditioning extra all the time. And he's a product of it. And I think he'll look different in two weeks. It's just one of those things.
Indiana Players – Robert Johnson, Juwan Morgan and OG Anunoby
Q. I guess there was a point there early in the second half, you guys posted something like 15-0 run. And you have shown the propensity to do that both in exhibitions and tonight. Just kind of what fuels those spurts where you cracked down it at both ends of the floor and build 15-0, 16-3 run?
ROBERT JOHNSON: It all starts on defense. That's where you can get out in transition. Once we get stops, specifically defensive rebounds, we can get ourselves in place. And once we get stops that's really good for us.
Q. Also early in that second half, about three minutes in, there's a huddle right before Thomas went to the free-throw line. He was kind of gesturing to other end of the court, seemed like he was frustrated with defense or something. What was he saying at that moment? What was frustrating at that moment?
ROBERT JOHNSON: I'm not sure, but in our huddles that's when we try to figure out issues that we have been having during the game. And it was probably something defensively that we didn't do a good job communicating with. So he probably was just trying to fix it.
Q. How much do you inform yourselves of your shortcomings or what have you. How much do you try to pick each other up in those moments?
ROBERT JOHNSON: We try to do it a lot just from the simple fact we're going to be a player-driven team. We're holding ourselves accountable, I think. That's the main way to get better.
Q. Juwan, we saw a catch, steal and spin from OG tonight and some other things. What are some things you've seen from him in practice, his offensive game growing, just the things that he did?
JUWAN MORGAN: Just attacking right away. That's really grown and that came with as his confidence went up, as his shot got better. He's always in the gym. He's probably in there more than anybody else. And he's just always working on that. He's always working. And every time we're in practice there's something new coming out. As he gets better and better at it, it just almost becomes natural for him.
Q. OG, what do you have to focus and concentrate on as a team and individuals when you're playing a team that you may be dramatically more talented than?
OG ANUNOBY: Just not playing the team, just playing to dominate. Getting multiple stops on defense, rebound, and just move the ball on offense.
Q. And how well did you feel like you guys did that tonight?
OG ANUNOBY: We felt like we did it decently. We know we can do better, though.
Q. For either of you guys how much easier is it to change when James gets going on the offensive end?
JUWAN MORGAN: It's a lot easier. It opens up so much more of the floor, especially when -- I'm pretty sure guys, when they scout James, they already know he's a scorer, and then when he's locked in, even when they're keying in on them, he's still scoring, he's still driving, making plays. That just opens up things like that because extra passes, throwing inside to the post and they had to respect him. And it just opens up everything.
Q. Juwan, De'Ron had a couple of big free throws for you guys tonight. He got a little bit more -- eight points, three rebounds. Even though he came in late, just how quickly have you seen him adapt and especially maybe when he's had guys like you and Thomas to work with in practice, how quickly has he grown?
JUWAN MORGAN: It's been tremendous. The jump he made from week one to week two and then from week two to week three and so forth it's just an incredible rate that he's going at.
And he's been in better condition on his own. That was something he came to me about, just saying he wanted to be in better condition, being able to be in the game longer, things like that. And with that change in his body he started to be more comfortable. As you could see it's starting to pay off.
Q. To follow up, when you're in the preseason getting ready for the season, how do you work with a young guy on maybe getting his legs under him a little bit more if he hasn't had that summer?
JUWAN MORGAN: I guess it would just be pushing him in practice, at times when he wants to take breaks when we're doing full-court things, just making sure he's in there. And like he does extra running and things like that when we have off days or something, and just helping him with that, being there supporting him with that.
Q. How much have you worked on that press defense going into tonight? And is that something you will see more of going forward?
ROBERT JOHNSON: At one point when we got up, kind of got a couple of shots in the back court, that was completely random. So that's something we want to continue to build on. We wanted to pressure them full court, man to man, but that was just something we did a good job of rotating with and it was good for us.
Q. Juwan, I saw you in particular talking to Freddie at different points during the game, pointing where he needs to be. How much do you coach him up during the game, bring him along, get him up to speed?
JUWAN MORGAN: Whenever he needs it. Whenever I see somebody in there that doesn't know what they're doing I try to know all five spots. That way if they're stuck on where they need to be I can help them. And even when I'm in the game, running to another spot, I'll try to be directing traffic, making sure they know where they're going, making sure they know what to do. And, I don't know, it just comes with it.
Q. Robert, I'll ask you, I wouldn't think you would necessarily notice anything during the course of the game, but how awesome are the renovations here at Assembly Hall and do they have any impact on the game itself?
ROBERT JOHNSON: I think they're really a big deal for us, especially for the program, recruits and things like that, for them to see that. But during the game, I really don't notice anything differently. Maybe the backdrop on the one side that's more open. But other than that, nothing really.
Q. OG, what spots on the floor do you feel like you're more productive at than maybe others?
OG ANUNOBY: I'd say I'm more comfortable everywhere.
Q. When you see James take on like that, how does that help you as a shooter having that guy right next to you?
ROBERT JOHNSON: It helps a lot. For the simple fact what J-Mo said, it spreads the court and opens it up that much more for driving lanes, so you're always putting the defense in the situation where they've either got to pick to stay with them or give you a lane to drive.
UMass Lowell Head Coach Pat Duquette
You guys stuck with them the first half of the first half. Then in the second half of the first half, they sort of got to you:
"I was happy how we played in the first half. I thought we played the right way. I thought we played within ourselves. They made some threes. I'm going to have to go back and watch the film to see if we need to contest those threes more or if they just knocked down some tough shots. I guarantee that a team like that, when they shoot the ball like that, they can beat a lot of teams worse than us. I think they are a legitimate top five team. That's where they are ranked. We didn't play perfect, but we played well. And more importantly, I thought we played like ourselves."
What can you take away from a game like that:
"That if we play like ourselves, we can have some success. For us to score 78 points against a really talented Indiana team on their home court, that's a great sign. Also, I don't think we were too effected by the atmosphere. We don't play in front of crowds like this. We don't play in arenas like this. I was happy that our guys didn't get distracted by that and stuck to the game plan, and we played within ourselves."
What are your thoughts on James Blackman Jr. in the first half:
"You saw what I saw. I'll go see if there was much we could have done to contest those shots a little more. But I feel like our players played as hard as they could, and we couldn't stop him. He's one of the most talented guards in the country. He certainly was tonight."
It seemed like it turned around for them when they played both of their 6-10 guys in the second half. Do you feel you were just outsized:
"We can't control that. That happens from time to time. The only way we can offset that is really, really good offense and make threes. Sometimes we were able to do that, but we aren't going to get bigger anytime soon. I think they have size at every position. I think their guards are big too. There were so many people that could get offensive rebounds. There were some just outside of our control out there."
You guys beet Wagner, who beat Connecticut. Is that a positive to take away? You guys were down 29, but came back to 21 or 22:
"I think we got better from our Wagner win. I think we played just as good, if not better tonight. We are going through a big transition. We were just Division II three years ago. We've made a ton of progress, and we've learned to measure ourselves in more than just wins and losses. You got to do that when you're going through a transition like this. You got to look at the things you can control and see what you're getting better at. And we are getting better at things. So despite some losses, as long as we keep getting better, we will be in good shape."
Is it more difficult than you thought making this transition:
"In some ways, but we are able to have more success than people thought we would. I am blessed with a good staff and good administration. I feel supported. I'm a pretty positive guy, I think that's important. I think the guys will continue to have fun. Is it tough? Yes, but I am coaching basketball. It can't get much better than that."
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MBB: Postgame Press Conference - Louisville (12/6/25)
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IUWBB Highlights vs. Western Michigan
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