Indiana University Athletics
Postgame Quotes - UIndy vs. Indiana
11/5/2017 5:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller
COACH MILLER: Good win for the team. Like I told them after the game, anytime you win you enjoy it because they're so hard to come by and we're getting ready to experience what that really feels like here as we get ready to get started into the opening season and into the opening game.
Because I think everything that we're going to be dealing with is going to be hard here early on. And we're going to have to really earn the right to win games. So I was proud of their effort. I thought some guys did some better things than they did last week.
I thought some guys didn't do some things we asked them to do. That's part of it. And we'll learn from it. We have a big week of improvement with a huge, huge home opener on Friday, and that's what we're focused in on right now.
Q. What are you looking for from the center position? You had two guys who came close to double-double. But specifically what are you looking for?
COACH MILLER: We want to put pressure on the rim. In transition we want to put pressure on the rim. We've got to find a way to get easy catches in there, because it's going to be hard just to run plays and do things. So I think the first opportunity is early offense to get inside. And we worked on that this week. We missed them.
Biggest emphasis tonight coming out of the game in my mind is our ability to feed the post and get the ball inside when guys are ready. It became apparent that it was going to become a jump-shooting contest in the first half rather than work the ball and get the ball inside/out which we've talked about quite a bit.
We're a quick-shooting team. And I don't like that. I think if you shoot the ball quick, it's got to be a great look, a wide-open look to a guy that you trust that can make it. But I'm not sure three or four 3s in a row without ever getting the ball inside or turned a few times to make the defense work is a good thing. And that was frustrating tonight. I thought we would have been better in half-court movement, and we weren't.
I think the second half we were better. Obviously I think De'Ron and Freddie did a tremendous job impacting the game on the glass, couple of tip-ins early and they got the ball deep a few times.
Freddie really energized the game with his ability to offensive rebound. So the physicality in and around the basket is what we're hunting for, and that type of consistency from those two guys will be something that will be obviously, we really would need.
Q. How much of a difference have you seen in Freddie since you arrived to now?
COACH MILLER: Freddie wants to do well. Freddie wants to please the coaches. He's a guy that if you ask him to do something, he's going to try like heck to do it.
I think he's a guy that's learning a new role, sort of what we're asking him to do compared to what he was asked to do before. I think he understands his role better. You could see in this game he was pretty active on both ends of the floor. He's small and undersized at times in the post, but I think he's working hard on that.
And he gets up and goes and gets balls. There's a value of six offensive rebounds in the game. There's a value to whatever he played -- I guess 13 minutes, nine rebounds. There's a value to that.
He's a physical guy who can help us hopefully contain on the glass and play hard on defense, and he'll take his spots on offense. I was pleased with Freddie tonight. I think he had a big momentum twist when he was in the second half. I think that helped us.
Q. Is there an appreciation of what Collin brings, (indiscernible] momentum given he hasn't been playing the last couple of weeks?
COACH MILLER: It was good to have him out there. I think you can start to see a little bit how he can space the floor for us. He was on a minutes restriction or he probably would have played a little more tonight. But able to make three shots. That's one thing he gives us.
The other thing he gives us is confidence, because he's a guy that talks in huddles, engaged right now in the locker room. He's a guy that through good and bad is going to be the same. So definitely an added bonus to having an experienced guy out there.
Q. The turnovers tonight, were you pleased -- mentioned the first half, the quick shots --
COACH MILLER: I think the one thing is the turnover number, eight, is always -- anything under 10 is always what we're gunning for.
But if you add in six to eight bad shots in later-down-the-line games against good competition is going to turn into offense on the other side of the ball.
So we have to be a little bit more mindful in shot selection. I thought the turnovers in the first half were related to guards just keeping it too long, not hitting the first open man on the break.
When we did hit the first open man up the floor off a missed shot or made shot, good things happen. Don't try to make something harder than it is. When there's an open guy open, hit the first open guy. That's the best option you have.
I thought when we did that it was good. We were low turnovers tonight, maybe a little bit too many settled for 3s. What did we take in the first half, 14 of our 26 -- 14 of our 30 in the first half were 3s. And only took six 3s in the second half. I thought that was obviously big improvement in terms of shot selection.
Q. You mentioned the other day that who starts is not as important as who finishes, but you have used the same starting five in both the exhibition games. How important or unimportant is it to you to --
COACH MILLER: We'll look at it this week. We'll come out of this game, look at last week's practice statistics, we'll look at this game on the film and we'll see what direction. We have been hampered by not having Collin and Al available. So we're relegated to maybe a three guard lineup.
I would love to get a little bigger if I could, and I also think it would help us rebounding-wise if we could get a little bigger on the perimeter when Justin is ready or even Zach for a little bit.
But we're going to have to play it by ear here. I think as the game gets moving on, I'm more comfortable right now knowing who I want to put in and keep in and who I need to get out when I need to get out.
But Al was on a ten-minute restriction as well tonight. He was only going to play about ten minutes. So Al probably would have played another five to seven minutes if I could have got him out there as well. Rotation is going to be something that's going to be tinkered with and played with most of the season, I think, and my hope is that we have some guys emerge and feel like they keep competing and working towards getting on the floor more.
Q. I didn't notice much, if any, switching out there, defensively. Were you guys, by design, just making people stay the pace, fight through screens.
COACH MILLER: We're not a big switch team at all. Predominantly try to stay away from switching as much as possible unless it's obviously a special situation or a special cover, a certain guy that you don't want to get open on something. But for the most part I think we're just trying to play our base defense right now and let our players react off it.
Worst thing we're doing right now is just guarding the ball. We're spread out, which is tough to get to, once you can get tough and tough behind the defense. And the way we want to play, we don't ever want the ball just to go in a straight line to the front of the rim without having help or whatnot.
That was concerning a little bit. But not a lot of switching, I think we'll have the ability to switch at times if we need to, but predominantly just sticking with our base stuff right now.
Q. That wasn't a free-throw shooting contest, but of the 19 you took, only hit 53 percent. How important is it going to be as the competition gets tougher that that number rises?
COACH MILLER: Both -- the attempts have to go up and obviously the makes have to go up. We're a better free throw shooting team. Devonte missed, I think, three in a row on a 3-point shot. That kind of deflates the deal.
But at one point in time we're 2-for-7 in the first half. It kills you. If you're a good free throw shooting team and you're about getting fouled, that's part of winning basketball. And tonight, going I think 11-for-19, and De'Ron was 3-for-6, which is something he's got to concentrate on. Devonte is better than that. But hopefully we can come consistent free-throw shooting team. I know that we've had guys on this team have great percentages throughout their career.
Q. You wanted to see -- Lasko said the other day he wanted to see 15 extended minutes or give or take with De'Ron at a high pace. Is there growth there --
COACH MILLER: He played 24 minutes tonight and he was exhausted in a couple of stretches. I think that's when the big fellow in the second half started just to get easy catches and got around him a couple times. But I also thought he played better throughout longer stretches tonight. He played 24 minutes, I don't know if that's the most he's played, but we've asked him to do, that's definitely the most he's been able to deal with.
And De'Ron will be a guy we gotta keep out on the floor. If he's able to play 24, 25 minutes a night, it's probably a good thing for him right now early. If he ever gets to be a guy that can play 30 then I think he's worked himself into game shape. De'Ron has to play in games to get in game shape, and thankfully, like I told those guys, we've got a ton of them coming.
Q. You talked about Al, and I knows he's on restriction, but you mentioned he's a guy that can really contribute. What did you see in a limited role tonight?
COACH MILLER: I think the one thing about Al you didn't get a chance to see is he got some good looks and didn't knock them down. He's a really good shooter. I think he's going to be a guy that can really continue to make good shots for us.
He makes good decisions. He's an efficient player. Doesn't need to dribble it a ton to make plays. I think he had that one drive where he got, coming off the right side of the elbow, which he curled off a little screen and slid it in for a basket. And he also had a finish with the left hand at the basket. He's like a smooth offensive player.
And he's trusted right now defensively although in limited action in games. And I think he's doing the right thing. So I think Al definitely has a chance to grab a really good role. He's worked hard at it. You're seeing a guy that hasn't practiced but probably 10 times this season. He's probably had, what, 30, missed at least half of them being out at least a week early and then at least another seven to ten days here recently. He doesn't even have the reps the other guys have had.
Q. You may have already said this, have you decided who to redshirt?
COACH MILLER: Race Thompson is the only guy on the team that will be redshirt. There could be some conversations maybe this week if we thought about doing something like that, but I think we'll need all hands on deck with our roster. We've got so many guys that have been banged up in their career. You never know how that's going to work with injuries.
And I also think that our young guys, maybe even Justin and Clifton who aren't playing as much right now, I've seen guys in that same role by February play double figure minutes for you at certain times if things aren't going right.
Right now the only thing that's 100 percent is Race Thompson will be redshirted this season.
Indiana Student-Athletes Quotes
Q. Collin, thoughts on obviously your shooting season?
COLLIN HARTMAN: It felt good. It's been over a year since I've been able to put this jersey on and play against somebody else with these guys. And it really felt good to get the first one under our belt and get the ball rolling.
Q. You had a grade today, talk about short of a triple double or double-double?
ROBERT JOHNSON: I felt great on the court. Like I say, I got comfortable with our group of guys. And I just work hard every day and keep improving.
Q. There was emphasis on taking care of the ball better, but the two exhibition game, you have done a really good job, anything specific that stands out that you guys did better that contributed to that?
ROBERT JOHNSON.: I think so. It's a daily emphasis for us every day in practice. The things that we run, we know all of the options, all of the different ways that the defense can play us. So I think comes down to making the right reads and executing every time.
Q. Collin, Freddie, what stood out for you?
COLLIN HARTMAN: Freddie is who -- Freddie was who he is every day in practice. Relentless on the boards. And just brings a lot of energy and toughness to the game and has really boosted us as a team in getting second chances and being able to guard the 5 and just being a motor that never stops. If he can stick with that all year, which I'm confident he can, it will really help us for sure this year.
Q. Collin, are your minutes limited right now?
COLLIN HARTMAN: Yeah, we limited them a little bit today, just slowly working back into it and everything, doing more and more in practice every day and just trying to get back into the flow of things, not rushing anything right now too soon.
Q. Robert, you feel like you guys are at the point now where you're ready to start the regular season?
ROBERT JOHNSON: I mean, we have no choice, really. But I think there's a lot we definitely need to work on. I think Coach Archie is going to do us a great job of giving us a game plan of how to get better every day until we get to Friday. So I'm confident that we'll be ready.
Q. Freddie, during the offseason what was the biggest thing that you worked on, and are you more confident this year than you were?
FREDDIE MCSWAIN JR.: Yeah, what I worked on mostly offseason was just my mid-range jumper and just being patient in the post and working my post moves and just being confident overall, just being confident in my game. And that's really it.
Q. Why do you think you're more confident this year?
FREDDIE MCSWAIN JR.: Because my group of guys just have confidence in me. So I have confidence in myself as well.
Q. Is that mid-range jumper something you're going to feel confident taking on in a game-by-game basis?
FREDDIE MCSWAIN JR.: Of course. Worked on it so I'm going to take it.
Q. Rob, defensively, do you feel like you're more together than any other time?
ROBERT JOHNSON: I definitely think so. I still think we're far away from where we need to be. But I think for where we're at right now, I think we definitely have a good base, a good base to start at. But we definitely need to improve moving forward.
Q. Robert, is your offense where you think it is, or do you want it to step up?
ROBERT JOHNSON: I'm trying not to really be concerned with it. As long as I'm being aggressive, I'm making the right reads and I'm taking good shots, that's what I really want to focus on from that standpoint. But I just know if I play hard and let the game come to me, it's going to make it easier offensively.
Q. Collin, now that you have the tune-up games out of the way, what's the feeling in the locker room heading into the season?
COLLIN HARTMAN: I mean, everybody's up. It's take a win when you get it. But we have a little stretch here before we start really getting into the games. We have a few days to really lock in and fine tune some things as a team and really focus on getting those details locked in, because we're going to end up playing five games in roughly ten days, right off the bat. And this is kind of our last little deep breath before we just really, really get rolling.
UIndy Head Coach Stan Gouard
Coach Gouard: "First of all we are extremely grateful for coach to give us this opportunity to come out and play. As these guys prepare for the season they could've chosen from a lot of opponents but we're fortunate enough to play these guys so we're fortunate. Thoughts on the game? Those guys are really athletic. They out hustled us. They beat us back in transition and spaced the court out pretty well. That was some of my concerns coming into the basketball game. Some of our kids…we wanted to get back in transition and when you cut that in half, I think these guys scored 17 points in transition to our zero. We're generally, our team tends to get 12-16 points in transitions and we got 0 tonight. That's a negative for us. We didn't do a good job in terms of rebounding. We got out rebounded by 20. We just didn't do fundamentals in terms of boxing out. They were athletic and we didn't box them out. A lot of positives for us in the basketball game. We had about 27 to 30 points tonight, we got on the same page defensively. Defensively, I thought we did a decent job at least the first ten minutes of guarding those guys.
Q: With the tornado warning before the game, is that something you've dealt with as a coach and how do you think the team handled it?
Coach Gouard: "This is part of human nature. We can't control that. They were dealing with the same thing we dealt with. We both sat out after warmup and there's nothing we can do about that. The main thing is that it was a safety issue for each team and everybody inside this auditorium. If it bothered us, that's no excuse. Those guys were in the same boat. They sat for 30 minutes as well that's no excuse for them."
Q: On shooting percentage
Coach Gouard: "We shot 41. But their defense is really good. I felt like it against Marian, they lacked on defense but tonight they kind of extended a little bit on the offensive end. But their defense, it was hard for our guards rather to get into the paint because they had shot blockers from even the weak side. They blocked a couple early, our guys started changing their shots, and think twice about getting into the paint."
Q: On offensive rebounds for Indiana
Coach Gouard: "They just wanted it more. They shot and I watched a number of plays where they were just flying in we weren't boxing out. We practiced all week, when the shot goes up to box the guy out. We didn't do that. Those were tough man plays that work on every day in practice. We didn't do that, we did it early. But late in the basketball game, we got tired and fatigued and we didn't do that."
Q: What player stood out for Indiana and is there a player or something that happened that happened that you didn't expect?
Coach Gouard: "I thought everybody did well. Looking at the stats, they didn't have a guy that just jumped out and scored 30 points, it was pretty balanced throughout the basketball game. And you know looking at the stats, all those guys are pretty balanced. They were very efficient on their offensive end. They didn't shoot a good percentage from the three but if you look at their shots, they were pretty much mostly open shots. They were pretty balanced across the board with defense and everything."
Q: What were the differences in your team and Indiana now and the last time you played an exhibition game in 2014?
Coach Gouard: "Well, gosh, 2014 that's a long time. Of course different coach, Coach Crean did an amazing job here, when he was here. And now coach is doing a nice job. I'm really impressed with again, the way these guys space the floor. I think when we played them before, they had Yogi Ferrell and he kind of dominated the ball more, which is rightfully so, because he really good at making decisions. With this group, they had a number of guys who can handle the basketball and I was telling a couple of the guys before the game how impressed I was how they space the floor. When that ball gets passed they are moving, when that ball is on the floor, they moving. They
