Postgame Quotes - Indiana vs. Northwestern
2/25/2017 11:22:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Indiana Head Coach Tom Crean
February 25, 2017
COACH CREAN: I'll be brief. Very proud of the resiliency of this group. Certainly numerous times they could have turned it in. And they never did.
And I never felt like they would. And that's the -- you've got to have the reward for going through the hard stretch that we've gone through and the reward is resiliency. And I'm not sure I could get it across to you, if most people would have any idea how hard it is to keep coming back day after day when you're working so hard and you're right there, and then it doesn't go the right way.
And that's what they've had to deal with. But there's not been one day in here -- in the Michigan game we didn't play quite as well at the end. But there's not been one day in here where these guys didn't get -- didn't bring it at a high level of focus, work, preparation.
And if you do those things and you stay consistent with it, at some point in time the bounce is going to go your way. And literally the bounce went our way.
Northwestern's an outstanding team. They're an NCAA Tournament team, if I know anything about basketball. And I don't know if I do or I don't. But I do think they are one.
He's done a great job coaching this team, building this team. And they have a lot to be proud of. It was a great battle. But our guys to find a way down seven with a minute and a half, whatever it was, to stay in there and keep coming, especially after, I don't remember when Bryant banked the three, but for those guys to do that very proud of them.
Q. Talk about the sequence at the end of the first half. Down by 12 (indiscernible). What was the key point?
COACH CREAN: Defense. They were three I think of 18 when they didn't get in the paint. So it was defensive stops. And that was the biggest thing.
Q. After James makes the 3 at the end and Northwestern got the ball back, (indiscernible) McIntosh hits the shot before the dunk. What did you tell your guys in response to that?
THOMAS BRYANT: I was, like, I don't even know, man. You're giving me sequences I can't think about. I don't know. I'm sure I said something. It probably didn't work. But I said something.
Q. How much of a momentum boost was that Devonte Green buzzer beater to cap the 22-0 run?
COACH CREAN: It gave us three more points. I think that was cool. It energized the crowd. The players felt good about that. But we didn't come out and have the same response at the start of the second half that we needed to. And so -- but no question. To cap off a half, you know, this team is not used to going on 22-0 runs. We've had teams in the past that have done that.
This one hasn't as much. But again it was how they got it. They got it with the defense. And so it was a great shot. I didn't get a good look at it. I'll watch it later. But you don't get to see that every day. So a lot of remarkable things tonight. Bob Hamlin just said no one's been proposed to on senior night that was actually out on the court. That was cool.
Q. Were you in on Collin's plans?
COACH CREAN: Yeah, absolutely. Not many were. I kept it quiet. He told my wife. And he told me. It's been in the works for a little while. But absolutely.
Q. You got contributions from many guys. But during that 22-0 run Devonte didn't play at all outside of (indiscernible)?
COACH CREAN: Very good.
Q. On the run to end the first half...
COACH CREAN: I think that group, I think the Devonte, Juwan, De'Ron, James, Josh, if I remember correctly, I think that group was plus-15 in the first half. That's outstanding. And I think he just played it with a high motor. Moved the ball. There's certain things you've got to live with. That one turnover late in the game, it's just not -- he's going to get so much better when he can play with those eyes up. And he'll be such a better player. He really will.
Most guys go through it and he's got to get to that point. But he played hard. He just played basketball. And he held his matchups very well. So he did an outstanding job.
Q. Just that last about nine seconds from when James grabs it, dumps it off to Thomas, how did you see that unfold? Were you trying to get --
COACH CREAN: It was just a great play. It was just a great play. They did a great job.
Q. They were doubling Thomas a lot inside. To adjust in the second half away --
COACH CREAN: There's two things we weren't doing with the double. It's a post escape. The post escape, we were holding the ball too long on the first pass. The pass out of the trap is usually going to be the second pass. So two things need to happen -- well, three things need to happen.
You get it swung, okay, to the first pass. You get it swung again quickly to the other side and you sprint in front of the nearest man. So whether it's your man or the doubler, okay, sprint in front of him and seal him in the middle of the paint. We weren't doing a very good job of that. We were holding the ball, trying to dribble it rather than try to reverse it. That's where we had slippage.
And we knew -- part of our adjustment package, you can't not play through your four man when you know that's who the double is, but we tried to move them more in the second half just like we opened the game, trying to move them invariably when the ball is going into the post randomly they're going in there. So we work every day on post escape. We just didn't get that ball swung as quickly. We were trying to look to throw it back in on the same side. We didn't get a flash middle.
Q. How satisfying is it to not only break the losing streak but for Collin Hartman?
COACH CREAN: I'm happy for the players. I really am. Coached 18 years, there's very little I haven't been through or haven't seen. Not a lot anymore affects me one way or the other. But senior night always will and no question about it. And especially knowing what I knew was going to transpire after, you want that to be good.
And so it's fantastic. And it's bittersweet with Collin, but like I said in here yesterday it's the epitome of what you want of Indiana basketball. He's got options. He can move into a great position work-wise or he can come back and play another year.
And no one could fault him either way. He's done a fantastic job. You can all see it. He's an outstanding young man with an outstanding family. And now he's joining another one. So that's great.
Q. Is that your first proposal?
COACH CREAN: I'd have to think about it. But I imagine yeah, I think so.
Q. (Indiscernible)?
COACH CREAN: Very good. Because we were in a different defense. And once we went back man we didn't feel as good with it. But Thomas needed to settle in a little bit and we needed -- I felt good with that. There's been a couple other times we've been close to that. And he did fine.
Q. You said yesterday Collin still open (indiscernible) the last game one way or another --
COACH CREAN: I wouldn't think so.
Q. On looking ahead to Purdue...
COACH CREAN: We'll get into that tonight. It's another one of those games, like I reminded these guys -- who is at the top of the league right now, Wisconsin, Maryland Purdue? All three of those games came down to either the buzzer, the last possession or the last two possessions. And so what these guys have got to understand we didn't get those wins, but at the end of the day we just gotta figure out how to get over those humps. Will it be easy in there? Absolutely not. Very difficult place to play. They're good. They hit on all cylinders. We'll make adjustments in our plan. There will be some different things we'll need to do, no doubt about that, as we've gotten a little bit healthier. And at the end of the day you've got to go in there and weather runs. We're not going to be able to go in there and have periods of time where we're not getting good looks or we're turning the ball over. At the end of the day with them it's defending them in transition and it's blocking out at the end so they're not getting the second shots. That's the most important thing I think and just kind of build as we go.
Indiana Players
Q. Question about last play of the game.
JAMES BLACKMON, JR.: Yeah, that was in my mind, just be aggressive and make a good play. I heard the bench calling timeout, but I was already in my move so I just went with it and tried to be confident.
Q. Question about the last play.
JAMES BLACKMON JR.: First I was coming down and they collapsed on me dribbling, and I saw two or three guys coming at me, so I knew TB was going to be at the right spot and that's where we work on. He wedged and it was a perfect play.
Q. What were you looking for before that final play?
JAMES BLACKMON, JR.: Just really get a stop, whatever it took. We were looking to tie it up for McIntosh and put pressure on him. And we played a great defensive possession and it allowed us to come up with a rebound.
Q. Thomas, what were you thinking when the ball was hanging up in the air?
THOMAS BRYANT: Just really staying in the follow through, Just staying into the shot. Coach Crean preaches that when we're shooting and on the line as well.
Q. From a confidence standpoint especially going down the stretch of the seaso?
JAMES BLACKMON, JR.: It really gets our confidence going you know. We always stick with it. We know that we're right there. The games we've lost have come down to one or two possessions just like tonight. So it was good to get this one going.
Q. What about sending a guy like Collin Hartman out on a win on senior night, how satisfying is that for you guys?
THOMAS BRYANT: That feels good because Collin has done so much for this program, for us as a team; and to go out there and win for him, you know, since he couldn't be out there with us, it means a lot to us, especially for him.
Q. What about Green's half-court shot to beat the buzzer at halftime?
THOMAS BRYANT: That was crazy. I didn't know that was going to happen. So I was shocked.
Q. The last possession, were you expecting to get the ball, or what did you think was going to happen?
THOMAS BRYANT: I thought James was going to take the shot, so I was really getting ready for rebounding position. I knew I could get on the backside. He was up and watching. I was going the backside. And when James did a hesitation, came through, I was like oh, it's open right here. So I'm just going to keep wedging him out and just be on that backside, which he dumped it off to me and it was a good pass.
Q. Talk about the lift Devonte gave you?
JAMES BLACKMON, JR.: He brought a lot of confidence to the game. He made confident plays and big plays and it got us going. So I feel like he really gave us a lift off the bench and even the other guys did as well.
Q. You guys ended the game on an 8-0 run - was was a key to that for you guys?
THOMAS BRYANT: Staying together defensively. We knew that we were down and we had to come back. So it all started with a defensive mindset, just getting the rebounds and getting up and go. Our best offense is when we get out and go. Get out and we get a rebound. So that was our big thing. And when we got into the offense and getting a good shot.
Q. Is there a feeling of I guess relief or anything just (indiscernible) having the confidence in a game like that?
JAMES BLACKMON, JR.: I think it's more getting our confidence going, just like I said before. The games we lost were right there. So just looking at the film and things that can get us better and carry it out through the next game.
Northwestern Head Coach Chris Collins
Opening Statement:
"So obviously it was a disappointing loss for us, especially we the way we played the second half after the way the first half ended with the huge run and the half-court shot. For us to rally the way we did and come out and play as well as we did in the second half, and tough. Just disappointing that we couldn't finish the game. I really feel for the guys, because they put their hearts on the floor, and they made a lot of big plays in a tough environment, just a tough loss."
How would you describe the emotional swings, up and down throughout the game?
"It was a game of runs. I thought we came out of the gates and played really well early. 26-14 I think we were up. Then they hit us with a blitz there at the end of the half 22 to nothing with a half-court shot, and we came into the locker room and we regained our poise. We didn't panic, we actually talked about how we have been there before with our Nebraska game on the road. It was a similar type thing, it wasn't 22 points but it was like a 15 point 0 run or something like that with the same type of shot at the end of the half.
"We just said there was 20 more minutes, let's go there, and we fought. It's just at the end of the day we didn't finish the game in the last two minutes. We had some missed free throws, we lost Blackmon there with a five-point lead. Which was a huge shot to cut it to two. I thought that was a big, big possession just to get it to a one possession game. I thought we got a good look but give them credit. Blackmon gave a really nice pass. It's just hard to give up a 3-point play there. I don't want to blame them, its nobody's fault, it's just a tough way to lose."
Coach, on a positive note, it was Scotty's best game since coming back. Do you think he is back in the swing of things now?
"I thought that he was moving well. I thought he played with great energy. It was good to see him being aggressive and taking his shots and it was more back to the way that he has been playing. Which obviously helps us, we need his scoring. That's something for us, we play good defense, we've got to find enough points to win these games. So, having him back and playing well is a big thing for us."
With B-Mac, he played really well at home against Indiana, and he played really well tonight. Do you think he relishes the opportunities?
"I don't know if it was about Indiana tonight but it's just the last week of the season you know, we are excited to play. We talked about it before the game, through all the ups and downs, great wins, tough losses. Coming into the game if we would have said to each other that we were going to be 20-9, 9-6 In the league, we would have been excited about that. We would have been fired up to play this last week, and we were. As tough as Tuesday was at Illinois, I thought we had a great couple days with great spirit. We prepared really well, we were ready to play and it showed tonight. I thought this was the best we've played in about five or six games. So that's an encouraging thing. We need to take that into the last week of the season."
What did you get away from during the 22-point run going into the half?
"It really started when Green hit a big three in the corner to kind of get them. Then they started driving us. I thought we were causing some problems when they were trying to beat us up inside. I thought some of our post doubling schemes were pretty good, and it got them a little bit out of rhythm. To their credit, I thought Tom made a good adjustment on the floor and they started driving the ball and got to the basket. I thought Morgan gave them really good minutes during that stretch. He had a couple of buckets, and thought that his energy kind of got them back in the game. They had six threes, we lost them at the tree point line. It was kind of a combination of everything. When you don't score for six minutes or seven minutes, it's going to be tough. We really bounced back and played really well in the second half."
February 25, 2017
COACH CREAN: I'll be brief. Very proud of the resiliency of this group. Certainly numerous times they could have turned it in. And they never did.
And I never felt like they would. And that's the -- you've got to have the reward for going through the hard stretch that we've gone through and the reward is resiliency. And I'm not sure I could get it across to you, if most people would have any idea how hard it is to keep coming back day after day when you're working so hard and you're right there, and then it doesn't go the right way.
And that's what they've had to deal with. But there's not been one day in here -- in the Michigan game we didn't play quite as well at the end. But there's not been one day in here where these guys didn't get -- didn't bring it at a high level of focus, work, preparation.
And if you do those things and you stay consistent with it, at some point in time the bounce is going to go your way. And literally the bounce went our way.
Northwestern's an outstanding team. They're an NCAA Tournament team, if I know anything about basketball. And I don't know if I do or I don't. But I do think they are one.
He's done a great job coaching this team, building this team. And they have a lot to be proud of. It was a great battle. But our guys to find a way down seven with a minute and a half, whatever it was, to stay in there and keep coming, especially after, I don't remember when Bryant banked the three, but for those guys to do that very proud of them.
Q. Talk about the sequence at the end of the first half. Down by 12 (indiscernible). What was the key point?
COACH CREAN: Defense. They were three I think of 18 when they didn't get in the paint. So it was defensive stops. And that was the biggest thing.
Q. After James makes the 3 at the end and Northwestern got the ball back, (indiscernible) McIntosh hits the shot before the dunk. What did you tell your guys in response to that?
THOMAS BRYANT: I was, like, I don't even know, man. You're giving me sequences I can't think about. I don't know. I'm sure I said something. It probably didn't work. But I said something.
Q. How much of a momentum boost was that Devonte Green buzzer beater to cap the 22-0 run?
COACH CREAN: It gave us three more points. I think that was cool. It energized the crowd. The players felt good about that. But we didn't come out and have the same response at the start of the second half that we needed to. And so -- but no question. To cap off a half, you know, this team is not used to going on 22-0 runs. We've had teams in the past that have done that.
This one hasn't as much. But again it was how they got it. They got it with the defense. And so it was a great shot. I didn't get a good look at it. I'll watch it later. But you don't get to see that every day. So a lot of remarkable things tonight. Bob Hamlin just said no one's been proposed to on senior night that was actually out on the court. That was cool.
Q. Were you in on Collin's plans?
COACH CREAN: Yeah, absolutely. Not many were. I kept it quiet. He told my wife. And he told me. It's been in the works for a little while. But absolutely.
Q. You got contributions from many guys. But during that 22-0 run Devonte didn't play at all outside of (indiscernible)?
COACH CREAN: Very good.
Q. On the run to end the first half...
COACH CREAN: I think that group, I think the Devonte, Juwan, De'Ron, James, Josh, if I remember correctly, I think that group was plus-15 in the first half. That's outstanding. And I think he just played it with a high motor. Moved the ball. There's certain things you've got to live with. That one turnover late in the game, it's just not -- he's going to get so much better when he can play with those eyes up. And he'll be such a better player. He really will.
Most guys go through it and he's got to get to that point. But he played hard. He just played basketball. And he held his matchups very well. So he did an outstanding job.
Q. Just that last about nine seconds from when James grabs it, dumps it off to Thomas, how did you see that unfold? Were you trying to get --
COACH CREAN: It was just a great play. It was just a great play. They did a great job.
Q. They were doubling Thomas a lot inside. To adjust in the second half away --
COACH CREAN: There's two things we weren't doing with the double. It's a post escape. The post escape, we were holding the ball too long on the first pass. The pass out of the trap is usually going to be the second pass. So two things need to happen -- well, three things need to happen.
You get it swung, okay, to the first pass. You get it swung again quickly to the other side and you sprint in front of the nearest man. So whether it's your man or the doubler, okay, sprint in front of him and seal him in the middle of the paint. We weren't doing a very good job of that. We were holding the ball, trying to dribble it rather than try to reverse it. That's where we had slippage.
And we knew -- part of our adjustment package, you can't not play through your four man when you know that's who the double is, but we tried to move them more in the second half just like we opened the game, trying to move them invariably when the ball is going into the post randomly they're going in there. So we work every day on post escape. We just didn't get that ball swung as quickly. We were trying to look to throw it back in on the same side. We didn't get a flash middle.
Q. How satisfying is it to not only break the losing streak but for Collin Hartman?
COACH CREAN: I'm happy for the players. I really am. Coached 18 years, there's very little I haven't been through or haven't seen. Not a lot anymore affects me one way or the other. But senior night always will and no question about it. And especially knowing what I knew was going to transpire after, you want that to be good.
And so it's fantastic. And it's bittersweet with Collin, but like I said in here yesterday it's the epitome of what you want of Indiana basketball. He's got options. He can move into a great position work-wise or he can come back and play another year.
And no one could fault him either way. He's done a fantastic job. You can all see it. He's an outstanding young man with an outstanding family. And now he's joining another one. So that's great.
Q. Is that your first proposal?
COACH CREAN: I'd have to think about it. But I imagine yeah, I think so.
Q. (Indiscernible)?
COACH CREAN: Very good. Because we were in a different defense. And once we went back man we didn't feel as good with it. But Thomas needed to settle in a little bit and we needed -- I felt good with that. There's been a couple other times we've been close to that. And he did fine.
Q. You said yesterday Collin still open (indiscernible) the last game one way or another --
COACH CREAN: I wouldn't think so.
Q. On looking ahead to Purdue...
COACH CREAN: We'll get into that tonight. It's another one of those games, like I reminded these guys -- who is at the top of the league right now, Wisconsin, Maryland Purdue? All three of those games came down to either the buzzer, the last possession or the last two possessions. And so what these guys have got to understand we didn't get those wins, but at the end of the day we just gotta figure out how to get over those humps. Will it be easy in there? Absolutely not. Very difficult place to play. They're good. They hit on all cylinders. We'll make adjustments in our plan. There will be some different things we'll need to do, no doubt about that, as we've gotten a little bit healthier. And at the end of the day you've got to go in there and weather runs. We're not going to be able to go in there and have periods of time where we're not getting good looks or we're turning the ball over. At the end of the day with them it's defending them in transition and it's blocking out at the end so they're not getting the second shots. That's the most important thing I think and just kind of build as we go.
Indiana Players
Q. Question about last play of the game.
JAMES BLACKMON, JR.: Yeah, that was in my mind, just be aggressive and make a good play. I heard the bench calling timeout, but I was already in my move so I just went with it and tried to be confident.
Q. Question about the last play.
JAMES BLACKMON JR.: First I was coming down and they collapsed on me dribbling, and I saw two or three guys coming at me, so I knew TB was going to be at the right spot and that's where we work on. He wedged and it was a perfect play.
Q. What were you looking for before that final play?
JAMES BLACKMON, JR.: Just really get a stop, whatever it took. We were looking to tie it up for McIntosh and put pressure on him. And we played a great defensive possession and it allowed us to come up with a rebound.
Q. Thomas, what were you thinking when the ball was hanging up in the air?
THOMAS BRYANT: Just really staying in the follow through, Just staying into the shot. Coach Crean preaches that when we're shooting and on the line as well.
Q. From a confidence standpoint especially going down the stretch of the seaso?
JAMES BLACKMON, JR.: It really gets our confidence going you know. We always stick with it. We know that we're right there. The games we've lost have come down to one or two possessions just like tonight. So it was good to get this one going.
Q. What about sending a guy like Collin Hartman out on a win on senior night, how satisfying is that for you guys?
THOMAS BRYANT: That feels good because Collin has done so much for this program, for us as a team; and to go out there and win for him, you know, since he couldn't be out there with us, it means a lot to us, especially for him.
Q. What about Green's half-court shot to beat the buzzer at halftime?
THOMAS BRYANT: That was crazy. I didn't know that was going to happen. So I was shocked.
Q. The last possession, were you expecting to get the ball, or what did you think was going to happen?
THOMAS BRYANT: I thought James was going to take the shot, so I was really getting ready for rebounding position. I knew I could get on the backside. He was up and watching. I was going the backside. And when James did a hesitation, came through, I was like oh, it's open right here. So I'm just going to keep wedging him out and just be on that backside, which he dumped it off to me and it was a good pass.
Q. Talk about the lift Devonte gave you?
JAMES BLACKMON, JR.: He brought a lot of confidence to the game. He made confident plays and big plays and it got us going. So I feel like he really gave us a lift off the bench and even the other guys did as well.
Q. You guys ended the game on an 8-0 run - was was a key to that for you guys?
THOMAS BRYANT: Staying together defensively. We knew that we were down and we had to come back. So it all started with a defensive mindset, just getting the rebounds and getting up and go. Our best offense is when we get out and go. Get out and we get a rebound. So that was our big thing. And when we got into the offense and getting a good shot.
Q. Is there a feeling of I guess relief or anything just (indiscernible) having the confidence in a game like that?
JAMES BLACKMON, JR.: I think it's more getting our confidence going, just like I said before. The games we lost were right there. So just looking at the film and things that can get us better and carry it out through the next game.
Northwestern Head Coach Chris Collins
Opening Statement:
"So obviously it was a disappointing loss for us, especially we the way we played the second half after the way the first half ended with the huge run and the half-court shot. For us to rally the way we did and come out and play as well as we did in the second half, and tough. Just disappointing that we couldn't finish the game. I really feel for the guys, because they put their hearts on the floor, and they made a lot of big plays in a tough environment, just a tough loss."
How would you describe the emotional swings, up and down throughout the game?
"It was a game of runs. I thought we came out of the gates and played really well early. 26-14 I think we were up. Then they hit us with a blitz there at the end of the half 22 to nothing with a half-court shot, and we came into the locker room and we regained our poise. We didn't panic, we actually talked about how we have been there before with our Nebraska game on the road. It was a similar type thing, it wasn't 22 points but it was like a 15 point 0 run or something like that with the same type of shot at the end of the half.
"We just said there was 20 more minutes, let's go there, and we fought. It's just at the end of the day we didn't finish the game in the last two minutes. We had some missed free throws, we lost Blackmon there with a five-point lead. Which was a huge shot to cut it to two. I thought that was a big, big possession just to get it to a one possession game. I thought we got a good look but give them credit. Blackmon gave a really nice pass. It's just hard to give up a 3-point play there. I don't want to blame them, its nobody's fault, it's just a tough way to lose."
Coach, on a positive note, it was Scotty's best game since coming back. Do you think he is back in the swing of things now?
"I thought that he was moving well. I thought he played with great energy. It was good to see him being aggressive and taking his shots and it was more back to the way that he has been playing. Which obviously helps us, we need his scoring. That's something for us, we play good defense, we've got to find enough points to win these games. So, having him back and playing well is a big thing for us."
With B-Mac, he played really well at home against Indiana, and he played really well tonight. Do you think he relishes the opportunities?
"I don't know if it was about Indiana tonight but it's just the last week of the season you know, we are excited to play. We talked about it before the game, through all the ups and downs, great wins, tough losses. Coming into the game if we would have said to each other that we were going to be 20-9, 9-6 In the league, we would have been excited about that. We would have been fired up to play this last week, and we were. As tough as Tuesday was at Illinois, I thought we had a great couple days with great spirit. We prepared really well, we were ready to play and it showed tonight. I thought this was the best we've played in about five or six games. So that's an encouraging thing. We need to take that into the last week of the season."
What did you get away from during the 22-point run going into the half?
"It really started when Green hit a big three in the corner to kind of get them. Then they started driving us. I thought we were causing some problems when they were trying to beat us up inside. I thought some of our post doubling schemes were pretty good, and it got them a little bit out of rhythm. To their credit, I thought Tom made a good adjustment on the floor and they started driving the ball and got to the basket. I thought Morgan gave them really good minutes during that stretch. He had a couple of buckets, and thought that his energy kind of got them back in the game. They had six threes, we lost them at the tree point line. It was kind of a combination of everything. When you don't score for six minutes or seven minutes, it's going to be tough. We really bounced back and played really well in the second half."
Players Mentioned
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