Postgame Quotes - Indiana at Louisville - Indiana University Athletics

Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller

(Opening Statement)
"Give Louisville credit. I thought they did a really nice job in the second half. They did some of the things in the first half that we tried to take away, especially second shots. They got some really big second shots, 50/50 opportunities got them going. Our perimeter shooting in the second half … really put a lot of pressure on us in a lot of areas, just not being able to stretch the game. We made some open ones. When it comes down to the last six minutes, four minutes, just had some really tough turnovers which kind of broke the game open. Give them credit. They're really long. They've got a big team. Changing defenses can confuse you. I thought, for the most part, we handled things pretty well, but when you go 0-for-12 in the second half from 3, that's tough to overcome. You have to be able to make open shots. The ones you get that are open, you're not going to get many against Louisville, the ones you do get, if you're going to beat them here, you've got to step up and make some shots. All in all, I thought we were prepared to play. We knew it was going to be a tough game, just disappointed we weren't able to get it done."

(On performance of front line players)
"I think our frontcourt guys continue to be a good presence for us. They didn't play much, I don't know how much they played in the first half, so they got 15 minutes total in the first half. We didn't have them in the first half, so to be able to have a lead at halftime was good. I thought in the second half, they continued to give us a good presence. Our perimeter guys, at the rim, was definitely going to be difficult tonight. We tried to focus those guys on being able to penetrate to hit it down low, drive to pass because of their shot-blocking ability, and we just didn't get many avenues to be honest with you. It'll come around and you got guys going through some ups and downs. We're not even in January or February yet – sometimes, guys take a while to get out of a rut or get something going. That's not to speak that next week, they'll be some guys – you just got to stay with it. You have to be an everyday guy. Whether it's good or bad, the frustrating part about it is you can't get down on yourself. You can't get down on teammates. You've got to be able bring it right back this week. Find a way. We've got Notre Dame next Saturday and they're obviously very good, so we've got to keep improving."

(On 3-point shooting)
"Off the top of my head, as I think about it, I'm sure that out of the 12, most of them were pretty good looks. Some of them looked very good. Then, when you watch the film, you'll go back and say it's probably a tougher shot. But, we had some decent looks, just didn't go down, especially early in the second half. I thought we had three or four really good ones that didn't go in. We've got to get that going. We've been an inconsistent shooting team from the perimeter. That has to pick up in terms of our percentages if we're going to have a chance to play against the competition we have. We can't just throw the ball inside every time down and expect to get two points. We have to have some inside-out and there's got to be some pressure off of our defense as well to stretch the game when you have leads. When you miss open shots, it's tough to overcome in the course of a game."

(How much did Ray Spalding affect the game on both offense and defense?)
"He's a good player, he's a really good player. Five blocks, six offensive rebounds, double-double… really impressive guy. He's obviously getting better and better as the years have gone by. He's one of Louisville's go-to guys, I think… You can tell he understands the moments of the game. Whether it be the offensive rebounding effort, the shot-blocking ability to finish plays when guys look like they have an avenue. He also stretched to make 3's. I think of their nine 3's I think five of them - at least four of them - were made by their front court players. Props because they shot the ball pretty well today, too, from the front court."

(Juwan (Morgan) had a really good stat line in this game, but got into some foul trouble. When he is out, how does that affect what you guys do?)
"He's our most consistent player right now, he's pretty much stuffing the stat sheet regularly here over the last month. 17 and 9 tonight in 23 minutes against this size. I thought was really impressive. He gives you what you've got. Defensively he's one of our most consistent guys as well. We need him out there and when he's not out there, we need other guys to step up. And I thought for the most part today… Nine minutes in the first half for Freddie (McSwain) which were good, earned minutes. I thought Zach (McRoberts) continues to give us good minutes and Collin (Hartman), although 18 minutes today probably doesn't show up in the stat sheet, he's still very important. The length and the ability to get good looks just wasn't there, and that's why we needed Juwan in the game because he was creating stuff around the rim for us."

(Do you feel guys are responding when those perimeter shots aren't going down the way you needed them to?)
"I thought we were fine. There wasn't anyone who was overly frustrated over the course of the game. It wasn't like we quit playing. Obviously, the game went in a way that we didn't want it to, but we were right there for 37 minutes. Until the very end, obviously a couple of turnovers led to some breakouts, but it was anyone's game there pretty much the whole time. We just needed to get stops. We needed to find a way to make a couple open ones and we didn't. That's just the way it bounces."

(Rob (Johnson) had no points in 35 minutes. When he's been good this year he's been driving to the basket, but didn't really get that today.)
"There weren't very many seams for our guards to drive. When they did drive, there was either a challenge at the basket, or we shot a layup and fell down, because we didn't get the call. Or we made a good pass or good decision on the pass. Once you get in there against these guys, as a perimeter guy you've got be really good. You've got to have a mid-range game, you've got to be able to play above the rim, you've got to be able to have contact. Our guards weren't able to do that. But I just didn't feel Ron had very many seams tonight. Against their switching and their zones, he didn't get very many clean looks, which I'm sure they were keying in on a little bit. You're not going to see him play 35 minutes – down at the other end, he's as solid of a guy as we have. We count on him every day to be the leader, and he's going to finish this season very, very strong because of his attitude. One bad game doesn't define his season."

(Do you feel you've improved in knowing what a good shot is?)
'Yeah, we've improved in our shot selection. I think for the most part, when we're playing pretty well, we're taking good shots. The 15 turnovers was a little bit disappointing, mostly because there was probably three or four of them in the last four minutes of the game. A couple just didn't go our way. I thought for the most part we played a pretty clean game. It's not always going to be clean when you play them, there's going to be possessions that don't look right or look funny because of all their switching and all their size and whatnot. But for the most part we were right there. End of the day, it's basketball. It's basketball. When you're open, it goes in. When you're a better team, you're a better player. First half looked a little better and second half it didn't. The difference is we made some shots. Second half we didn't knock them in - didn't knock in the open ones. And I thought they did a nice job, especially in the second half on the glass. They really started to offensive rebound in the second half."

Louisville Head Coach David Padgett

(Opening statement)
"I just tell the guys the most pleasing thing about that win besides the score was the fact that it was a team win. We got nine or 10 guys step up and make some very important plays at big times. Malik Williams, obviously in the first half, comes in and gets us out of an offensive funk. Ryan McMahon came in and gave us huge minutes considering he hasn't played in two months. VJ King probably won the game for us in the second half with those couple plays with that offensive rebound and that transition basket. It was an overall team win. I couldn't be happier for our guys because I know how much they wanted that. They played their hearts out and it was very pleasing to see. That's a heck of a basketball team, and you can see the foundation that Archie (Miller) is trying to lay with them. That team, they played hard and they're very physical, so very, very happy with this win. With that being said, we're going to enjoy the rest of the day and turn around to get ready for Monday."

(What did you see yesterday in Ryan that made you think he was pretty good for him to be in?)
"He's practiced the last two days and he got his tests and all that earlier in the week and they said everything looked about as healed as it's going to get it's just about comfort. He just said he wanted to play and we threw him out there a little on Thursday and a little more yesterday. I asked him before the game how do you feel? And he said I feel really good. He looked like he was about to throw about because he was so nervous, but he is experienced. Obviously, we know his ability to make a shot, but his experience, you know he had a couple plays in the second half where he came off the ball screen and saw Anas Mahmoud on the roll a couple times. It's just plays like that you just know as an older player, so he was very valuable for us today."

(On defending the 3-pointer and IU going 0-12 from the three, was that a big emphasis?)
"It was, and that's always going to be an emphasis with us, first or second half doesn't matter. We were doing a good job at the first half, with what we call' first shot defense'. We were doing good job at making them miss, we just did poor job of defensive rebounding. You have to give them credit they were crashing hard. We did a good job of challenging shots, we played zone, we went man, just trying to keep mixing it up. Obviously, Ray Spalding, 14 rebounds and five blocks that's pretty big number performance. Overall, great team win on both ends of the floor."

(On getting validation from a win over a quality opponent)
"I don't think we can use just one game. Obviously, I don't want to call it a feel-good win, every win feels good, but we wanted to get some momentum going. We didn't want to look ahead, but we wanted to play in two-game stretches. We won the one on Wednesday, and we wanted to win the one today, and we've got a couple more Monday and Saturday next week. So, we're just trying to play in those two game stretches, and we won the first stretch. Like I said, we've got to build on it, we've got to enjoy it, and we've got to get ready for Monday."

(Malik Williams had some big threes in this game. What did you say to him to get him going offensively?)
"Nothing. It's kind of the same thing with all of our guys. Q (Quentin Snider), again, he's a much better shooter than the way he's shooting the ball. I knew Malik was a much better shooter than the way he was shooting the ball. It's a matter of just getting a couple going, and you're off to the races. You can see that with Malik (Williams). I just said, 'Look, if you're open, if it's in rhythm of the offense, by all means shoot the ball.' I'm not going to tell a guy not to shoot an open shot. We've got to continue to try to get good shots, and then if we're open, we've got to shoot it."

(You guys were down 10 a couple times in the first half. Was there a message sent there, or did you just let them play through it?)
"No, I knew we missed a couple of easy shots, which seems to be the common theme for every game we have this year in the first half. We just couldn't make shots, but like I said, I thought our first-shot defense was pretty good. We didn't do a very good job in transition a couple times. We gave up offensive rebounds to them, which they did a good job of crashing hard. But I told Q (Quentin Snider), Deng (Adel), and VJ (King) at halftime that they only had one defensive rebound between the three of them. I said, 'We've got to rebound the ball because then we can get it to go.' It was just the same common theme, can't let your offense affect your defense. We did a decent job of that in the first half, but even the last five or so minutes of the game, we needed one or two from the free throw line, Ryan (McMahon) missed a wide open three, Anas (Mahmoud) missed a post move, and we didn't let it affect our defense, which was really, really good to see."

(On needing more rebounds from the guard position)
"We're going to have to be a team rebounding team this year. I know that sounds redundant, but you can't just rely on Anas (Mahmoud) or Ray (Spalding) to get all of them. It's got to be all five guys, and that's where guys like Donovan Mitchell in the past, or Terry Rozier, or Terrence Williams, guys I played with from the guard spot rebounded the ball and it helps your team. A lot of times when you play zone, teams take long shots, and long shots mean long rebounds, so our guards have to come back and rebound the ball. We were down I think five or something on the backboard, or around there, and then we were even in the game. I think they only had four the last 25 or so minutes of the game, so that was a big big reason why we were able to come back."

(On how much of a relief it was when Deng Adel hit a shot at the end of the game)
"It was a big shot. I knew as soon as he shot it that he made it because I've seen him make that shot numerous times in practice. It's that hesitation 17-foot shot, which is a very tough shot. I just kept telling them, 'If we get good looks and they don't go in, get back we have to play defense; just keep playing defense.' Our older guys know that, they've been around long enough. It's a matter of continuing to take good shots and getting back on the other end to defend."

(On what is going right for the offense and defense when Quentin Snider is playing well)
"After the Seton Hall game especially, we tried to make it a point when we get a rebound, let's get it to Q [Quentin Snider] quicker instead of someone else trying to bring it up the floor and then get it to him. He can push it and the other guys can take off and run to the corners. The beauty of that is, and these guys are starting to see it, they're going to get the ball back from him. He's the best decision maker we have in the open floor. They just have to get it to him and then take off and run and they'll get it back. He's struggling to shoot the ball from 3, but I'm not worried about that in the least. He's 5-for-5 from the free throw line and has five assists and one turnover. It's going to be a matter of time before he hits four or five 3s in a game, but as long as he keeps taking open shots I'm fine with it."

(On Ray Spalding's activity in the second half)
"That's who Ray Spalding is. I don't know how many deflections he had, I didn't ask, but he had five blocks. He covers for so many people. He and Anas – Anas (Mahmoud) wasn't quite as good tonight, he didn't have a block – but Ray just covers for people so well. If someone gets beat off the bounce or if they don't communicate, his instincts on defense and his ability and wingspan help erase a lot of mistakes. It was pretty evident tonight."

(On cutting down on turnovers)
"I think just getting the ball in Q's [Quentin Snider's] hands more. It also helps to have a guy like Ryan (McMahon) when he comes in because he's played. He's experienced. Darius (Perry) does a great job on defense, which is what we need him to do. Darius had two assists and no turnovers, so he did a better job. It was an overall team focus of taking better care of the ball. It was a big emphasis coming into this game, because when you drive, they slap down so hard and they are so physical. Our guys did a good job of paying attention to the scouting report and being strong with the ball."

Postgame Quotes - Indiana at Louisville

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