Indiana University Athletics
Postgame Quotes - Indiana vs. Northwestern
1/14/2018 8:09:00 PM | Men's Basketball
COACH MILLER: A good win for our team. I have a lot of respect for Northwestern and how well they execute and some of the things they did. I thought our guys really amped it up in the first half in terms of our intensity level defensively.
We were stagnant against the zone and not having Juwan for a good part of that first half obviously impacted our offense not being able to play through them a little bit.
But the defensive intensity in the first half was excellent. I thought in the second half offensively we were much different. We moved better, really shared the ball and had some guys step up and make some big baskets, alleviate some of the pressure. But really good win for our team and excited for them. Have another week here to work a little bit before we play again so we've got to take some time.
(missing quotes here)
COACH MILLER: ... aggressive right now. I think when you get into league play you're only be as good as your guards. I think being able to win these two games this week you can really start and look at our back court and say, Josh Newkirk probably had the best two-game stretch of the season. He was terrific today, I though -- he was very good against Penn State.
When you have solid play at the guard spot it helps you. Rob is Rob. Rob is going to be a guy that we're going to count on to score a little bit for us. He's been asked to do a lot. But Devonte had a great game against Penn State. Al came in today and made good plays.
But the better and more consistent we are with our guards -- high assists, low turnovers and shooting percentages, especially from behind the line -- if we can get those guys to be a little bit more consistent our team is going to be better. And I think in this game in particular when your guards were able to make the plays that they made tonight you have an easier time.
Q. How have those guards responded just rebounding the ball -- I think Rob said 18 rebounds the last two games -- (indiscernible) respond to that kind of pressure?
COACH MILLER: We've got a number and we're trying -- we can add Zach in there, but from our perimeter guys we're constantly hunting, trying to get over 12 defensive rebounds a game for our back court. I think it's a big number to focus those guys in on.
And Juwan and Justin and Freddie, those guys will be asked to do a lot. Sometimes they'll be on the wrong side of a guy; sometimes they'll be undersized. But if our guards mix it up, they get up in there and clean up the long ones, they don't leak out -- I think tonight, I think, they told me the number, I'm not sure what the number was, but Newkirk has three, Rob has six, that's nine, Zach has three, that's 12. Al has three, that's 15. Devonte four, that's 19 defensive rebounds by your guards.
When your guards rebound it really helps your transition game. All five guys being committed to it. And I didn't think we did a good job late in the game in terms of getting the long ones. They ended up getting 12 offensive rebounds. But for the most part we're doing a better job, a concerted effort by our perimeter guys. Rebounding has been a big emphasis.
Q. Coming into halftime Justin was able to kind of get behind their zone a couple times and score points. Is that a point of emphasis you stressed to him?
COACH MILLER: Yeah, we worked on a couple things at the half, just in terms of our movement and where we needed to get the ball. We needed more action, needed more reversal, cutting. And Justin is good down there. But we found a way to hit him behind the basket, in terms of either Juwan finding him or guards finding him.
But that got us off to a decent start. Our offense was much more fluid in the second half compared to in the first half.
Indiana Players - Clifton Moore, Josh Newkirk, Robert Johnson
Q. Just defensively what do you think really helped you guys keep the defensive energy for 40 minutes?
JOSH NEWKIRK: Just having a locked-in approach, all five guys talking and staying in the gaps and just finishing the playoff with a rebound. I think that's the most thing. Just everybody talking staying connected and just putting more forth a better effort.
Q. After, I don't remember what game it was, Penn State, you said something about back-to-back, complete, 40-minute efforts. In your mind I imagine that's another one. Just what's led to that? Can you kind of point to things across these three games that maybe you can say we've been able to do this consistently and this consistently.
ROBERT JOHNSON: First I want to give thanks and glory to God. But I think this was the third game of that. I think on the defensive end it's probably been our best game thus far. And I think if we can build on that and continue to tighten a couple of things up on the offensive side we'll be in a good spot.
Q. What do you attribute the improvement defensively to, just more familiarity with the game plan, being more connected? How do you explain kind of the progress?
ROBERT JOHNSON: Yeah, I definitely would say it's being more connected. When we're out there, I can feel guys talking more, putting forth a better effort, trying to not let the man to their right or to their left down. So I think we're more connected and there's better communication.
Q. Playing time (inaudible)?
CLIFTON MOORE: I felt that I was ready because we work hard in practice. So throughout the season just learning the concepts, learning how Coach wants me to play, I felt comfortable out there.
Q. Robert, do you think you (inaudible) a lot of confidence right now. What is it about (indiscernible)?
ROBERT JOHNSON: It's the guys around me, the coaching staff, my teammates. They never lost faith or confidence in my ability to shoot the ball, so I give all the thanks to them.
Q. Him and Freddie in particular, with Juwan in some of the early foul trouble, seemed to give you some quality minutes in the first half. Just how important were those bench contributions down low?
JOSH NEWKIRK: It's big for us. When one guy gets in foul trouble or whatever, it's big for guys like Clifton to step up, be ready and just be aggressive.
Q. There was a stretch you guys were holding them to under (indiscernible) percent, which is a ridiculous number. What have been the big keys without De'Ron in there as a rim protector that you guys can play defense for a sustained amount of time (indiscernible).
ROBERT JOHNSON: I think one of the things that we knew once De'Ron went out was we were going to be smaller so we're going to have to pick up our intensity and our ball pressure. And I think we've caused a little more turnovers, guys are putting that much more of an effort towards defense and I think it's been good for us.
Q. When Josh (indiscernible) the second half offense really picked up. What was the (inaudible)?
JOSH NEWKIRK: Just attacking their pressure, getting into the gaps of their zone, finding an open teammate and just making the extra pass.
Q. You guys run so much of your offense through De'Ron. Without him out there, did that kind of accentuate the need to being in there on the defensive end to maintain that, especially without him on the offensive end?
ROBERT JOHNSON: Yeah, I definitely think so. Juwan is such a weapon for us offensively that he's kind of like our safety net when we need a basket we go to them. But I think guys did a good job of sharing the ball and getting better shots. And that was good for us.
Q. Rob, just since De'Ron is gone how much did the staff place an emphasis on rebounding, especially for the guards? And how much more pressure is on you guys to get to the ball?
ROBERT JOHNSON: It's something we talk about a lot. We have a certain amount of rebounds we want to get every game from the guard position. And Coach is always reminding us throughout the game and at halftime how close we are to that benchmark. And that's something that I think we've done a pretty good job at.
Q. Is that a moving target? Does it change game by change, or is it a pretty consistent number?
ROBERT JOHNSON: It's pretty consistent, like, 12, I think.
Q. Josh, you guys have talked about just having more effort and more connectedness defensively. Are you having fun playing defense now?
JOSH NEWKIRK: Yeah, it's fun playing defense, getting turnovers because it leads to easy offense. So we want to keep getting stops, want to keep getting easy transition points because it makes the offensive end that much easier.
Q. Rob, I noticed at halftime you all came out, like seven minutes left. Is that normal for you to come out (indiscernible) or were you all trying to get into rhythm shooting a little bit early, get a little more time to practice?
ROBERT JOHNSON: To be honest, I really don't pay attention to at what point we come out in the second half. We just went through our normal halftime routine of things we needed to do in the second half, and that was the time that was left.
Q. Was there any talk in the locker room saying, we need to turn it up a little bit, even though you had the lead? The ball wasn't quite going down like it did early in the second half?
ROBERT JOHNSON: We just wanted to stay consistent on the defensive end and continue to build on that end. And we knew that if we continue to share the ball and play inside/out we were going to make shots.
Q. Clifton, I assume you went against De'Ron a lot in practice. Without him in practice now, how has that affected your approach of how you try and challenge yourself?
CLIFTON MOORE: Going against De'Ron is a tough matchup. So I think the challenge of that has got me better and better progressively. And that's what made me ready.
Q. Can you guys talk about three wins in a row, now you're heading to Michigan State, a place you guys haven't really done that well at, but how your energy and how you're going to go in there feeding off of these three wins?
ROBERT JOHNSON: Yeah, I think we're going to go back and try to build each day in practice this week, and I'm sure we'll be confident when we head down there.
Q. Clifton, give me three or four weeks that you think are important for you to continue to get playing time moving forward?
CLIFTON MOORE: Rebounding. I would say learning the concepts on defense. Learning the timing on plays and executing offense.
Northwestern Head Coach Chris Collins
Opening Statement
"Congratulations to Indiana. I thought their effort was worthy of winning. I'm disappointed in out offensive output and you have to give them credit for a lot of it. That being said, I just didn't see that coming from us, offensively. I thought our defense gave us a chance in the first half to keep it within five there at halftime and then we just couldn't get in any rhythm. Their perimeter guys were doing a really good job on our guys, forcing us out of the floor and being physical. I thought their big guys were active in the paint. We just couldn't get in a rhythm and when we got open shots we couldn't knock them down. It was a frustrating game and we got to go back to the drawing board, get home, and get ourselves ready for the next one."
Is it frustrating coming off of a good win and then have that happen?
"Yeah, very, and I actually thought to start the game our energy was good. Our defense was alive, we were active, and I thought we were forcing them into some tough shots. Now, we're fortunate, (Juwan) Morgan being in foul trouble, that made a difference in the first half. But our defense could only hold on for so long. After a certain point when you're that inept offensively and you can't score, it just grinds out the other facets of your game. And I thought that's what would happen. We start to wear down and we could never get any kind of momentum to make a push on these guys.
How much of the poor offensive performance was missing shots versus something Indiana was doing on defense?
"I want to give them credit. I thought their defense was good. I don't want to say it was just all us. I thought they were active, I thought their principles were good, I thought they had good energy, I thought their big guys fought inside against Dererk with their coverages and that contributed to us not playing good offense. That being said, I don't think we cut with the precision we needed to. I didn't think we were screening hard. I didn't think we were being strong with the ball, so I think you combine them both and you see something like this. But make no mistake; I think Indiana played very hard and very well on that end of the floor."
With Juwan Morgan, what have you seen in his development and what makes him difficult to contain?
"Sometimes when your team changes, dynamic wise, with a big fella going down, and now that he's playing as the 5-man, it allows him to be such a unique player at that position. He's strong enough and quick enough he defend that position but he's a very difficult matchup on the other end because he can drive the ball, he can pass, he can shoot, and he's having a great year. We were a little bit fortunate there in the first half that he had to sit for a long time with foul trouble. But watching him on film and what he's done, he's been the leader of the team this year and he's playing great basketball."
We were stagnant against the zone and not having Juwan for a good part of that first half obviously impacted our offense not being able to play through them a little bit.
But the defensive intensity in the first half was excellent. I thought in the second half offensively we were much different. We moved better, really shared the ball and had some guys step up and make some big baskets, alleviate some of the pressure. But really good win for our team and excited for them. Have another week here to work a little bit before we play again so we've got to take some time.
(missing quotes here)
COACH MILLER: ... aggressive right now. I think when you get into league play you're only be as good as your guards. I think being able to win these two games this week you can really start and look at our back court and say, Josh Newkirk probably had the best two-game stretch of the season. He was terrific today, I though -- he was very good against Penn State.
When you have solid play at the guard spot it helps you. Rob is Rob. Rob is going to be a guy that we're going to count on to score a little bit for us. He's been asked to do a lot. But Devonte had a great game against Penn State. Al came in today and made good plays.
But the better and more consistent we are with our guards -- high assists, low turnovers and shooting percentages, especially from behind the line -- if we can get those guys to be a little bit more consistent our team is going to be better. And I think in this game in particular when your guards were able to make the plays that they made tonight you have an easier time.
Q. How have those guards responded just rebounding the ball -- I think Rob said 18 rebounds the last two games -- (indiscernible) respond to that kind of pressure?
COACH MILLER: We've got a number and we're trying -- we can add Zach in there, but from our perimeter guys we're constantly hunting, trying to get over 12 defensive rebounds a game for our back court. I think it's a big number to focus those guys in on.
And Juwan and Justin and Freddie, those guys will be asked to do a lot. Sometimes they'll be on the wrong side of a guy; sometimes they'll be undersized. But if our guards mix it up, they get up in there and clean up the long ones, they don't leak out -- I think tonight, I think, they told me the number, I'm not sure what the number was, but Newkirk has three, Rob has six, that's nine, Zach has three, that's 12. Al has three, that's 15. Devonte four, that's 19 defensive rebounds by your guards.
When your guards rebound it really helps your transition game. All five guys being committed to it. And I didn't think we did a good job late in the game in terms of getting the long ones. They ended up getting 12 offensive rebounds. But for the most part we're doing a better job, a concerted effort by our perimeter guys. Rebounding has been a big emphasis.
Q. Coming into halftime Justin was able to kind of get behind their zone a couple times and score points. Is that a point of emphasis you stressed to him?
COACH MILLER: Yeah, we worked on a couple things at the half, just in terms of our movement and where we needed to get the ball. We needed more action, needed more reversal, cutting. And Justin is good down there. But we found a way to hit him behind the basket, in terms of either Juwan finding him or guards finding him.
But that got us off to a decent start. Our offense was much more fluid in the second half compared to in the first half.
Indiana Players - Clifton Moore, Josh Newkirk, Robert Johnson
Q. Just defensively what do you think really helped you guys keep the defensive energy for 40 minutes?
JOSH NEWKIRK: Just having a locked-in approach, all five guys talking and staying in the gaps and just finishing the playoff with a rebound. I think that's the most thing. Just everybody talking staying connected and just putting more forth a better effort.
Q. After, I don't remember what game it was, Penn State, you said something about back-to-back, complete, 40-minute efforts. In your mind I imagine that's another one. Just what's led to that? Can you kind of point to things across these three games that maybe you can say we've been able to do this consistently and this consistently.
ROBERT JOHNSON: First I want to give thanks and glory to God. But I think this was the third game of that. I think on the defensive end it's probably been our best game thus far. And I think if we can build on that and continue to tighten a couple of things up on the offensive side we'll be in a good spot.
Q. What do you attribute the improvement defensively to, just more familiarity with the game plan, being more connected? How do you explain kind of the progress?
ROBERT JOHNSON: Yeah, I definitely would say it's being more connected. When we're out there, I can feel guys talking more, putting forth a better effort, trying to not let the man to their right or to their left down. So I think we're more connected and there's better communication.
Q. Playing time (inaudible)?
CLIFTON MOORE: I felt that I was ready because we work hard in practice. So throughout the season just learning the concepts, learning how Coach wants me to play, I felt comfortable out there.
Q. Robert, do you think you (inaudible) a lot of confidence right now. What is it about (indiscernible)?
ROBERT JOHNSON: It's the guys around me, the coaching staff, my teammates. They never lost faith or confidence in my ability to shoot the ball, so I give all the thanks to them.
Q. Him and Freddie in particular, with Juwan in some of the early foul trouble, seemed to give you some quality minutes in the first half. Just how important were those bench contributions down low?
JOSH NEWKIRK: It's big for us. When one guy gets in foul trouble or whatever, it's big for guys like Clifton to step up, be ready and just be aggressive.
Q. There was a stretch you guys were holding them to under (indiscernible) percent, which is a ridiculous number. What have been the big keys without De'Ron in there as a rim protector that you guys can play defense for a sustained amount of time (indiscernible).
ROBERT JOHNSON: I think one of the things that we knew once De'Ron went out was we were going to be smaller so we're going to have to pick up our intensity and our ball pressure. And I think we've caused a little more turnovers, guys are putting that much more of an effort towards defense and I think it's been good for us.
Q. When Josh (indiscernible) the second half offense really picked up. What was the (inaudible)?
JOSH NEWKIRK: Just attacking their pressure, getting into the gaps of their zone, finding an open teammate and just making the extra pass.
Q. You guys run so much of your offense through De'Ron. Without him out there, did that kind of accentuate the need to being in there on the defensive end to maintain that, especially without him on the offensive end?
ROBERT JOHNSON: Yeah, I definitely think so. Juwan is such a weapon for us offensively that he's kind of like our safety net when we need a basket we go to them. But I think guys did a good job of sharing the ball and getting better shots. And that was good for us.
Q. Rob, just since De'Ron is gone how much did the staff place an emphasis on rebounding, especially for the guards? And how much more pressure is on you guys to get to the ball?
ROBERT JOHNSON: It's something we talk about a lot. We have a certain amount of rebounds we want to get every game from the guard position. And Coach is always reminding us throughout the game and at halftime how close we are to that benchmark. And that's something that I think we've done a pretty good job at.
Q. Is that a moving target? Does it change game by change, or is it a pretty consistent number?
ROBERT JOHNSON: It's pretty consistent, like, 12, I think.
Q. Josh, you guys have talked about just having more effort and more connectedness defensively. Are you having fun playing defense now?
JOSH NEWKIRK: Yeah, it's fun playing defense, getting turnovers because it leads to easy offense. So we want to keep getting stops, want to keep getting easy transition points because it makes the offensive end that much easier.
Q. Rob, I noticed at halftime you all came out, like seven minutes left. Is that normal for you to come out (indiscernible) or were you all trying to get into rhythm shooting a little bit early, get a little more time to practice?
ROBERT JOHNSON: To be honest, I really don't pay attention to at what point we come out in the second half. We just went through our normal halftime routine of things we needed to do in the second half, and that was the time that was left.
Q. Was there any talk in the locker room saying, we need to turn it up a little bit, even though you had the lead? The ball wasn't quite going down like it did early in the second half?
ROBERT JOHNSON: We just wanted to stay consistent on the defensive end and continue to build on that end. And we knew that if we continue to share the ball and play inside/out we were going to make shots.
Q. Clifton, I assume you went against De'Ron a lot in practice. Without him in practice now, how has that affected your approach of how you try and challenge yourself?
CLIFTON MOORE: Going against De'Ron is a tough matchup. So I think the challenge of that has got me better and better progressively. And that's what made me ready.
Q. Can you guys talk about three wins in a row, now you're heading to Michigan State, a place you guys haven't really done that well at, but how your energy and how you're going to go in there feeding off of these three wins?
ROBERT JOHNSON: Yeah, I think we're going to go back and try to build each day in practice this week, and I'm sure we'll be confident when we head down there.
Q. Clifton, give me three or four weeks that you think are important for you to continue to get playing time moving forward?
CLIFTON MOORE: Rebounding. I would say learning the concepts on defense. Learning the timing on plays and executing offense.
Northwestern Head Coach Chris Collins
Opening Statement
"Congratulations to Indiana. I thought their effort was worthy of winning. I'm disappointed in out offensive output and you have to give them credit for a lot of it. That being said, I just didn't see that coming from us, offensively. I thought our defense gave us a chance in the first half to keep it within five there at halftime and then we just couldn't get in any rhythm. Their perimeter guys were doing a really good job on our guys, forcing us out of the floor and being physical. I thought their big guys were active in the paint. We just couldn't get in a rhythm and when we got open shots we couldn't knock them down. It was a frustrating game and we got to go back to the drawing board, get home, and get ourselves ready for the next one."
Is it frustrating coming off of a good win and then have that happen?
"Yeah, very, and I actually thought to start the game our energy was good. Our defense was alive, we were active, and I thought we were forcing them into some tough shots. Now, we're fortunate, (Juwan) Morgan being in foul trouble, that made a difference in the first half. But our defense could only hold on for so long. After a certain point when you're that inept offensively and you can't score, it just grinds out the other facets of your game. And I thought that's what would happen. We start to wear down and we could never get any kind of momentum to make a push on these guys.
How much of the poor offensive performance was missing shots versus something Indiana was doing on defense?
"I want to give them credit. I thought their defense was good. I don't want to say it was just all us. I thought they were active, I thought their principles were good, I thought they had good energy, I thought their big guys fought inside against Dererk with their coverages and that contributed to us not playing good offense. That being said, I don't think we cut with the precision we needed to. I didn't think we were screening hard. I didn't think we were being strong with the ball, so I think you combine them both and you see something like this. But make no mistake; I think Indiana played very hard and very well on that end of the floor."
With Juwan Morgan, what have you seen in his development and what makes him difficult to contain?
"Sometimes when your team changes, dynamic wise, with a big fella going down, and now that he's playing as the 5-man, it allows him to be such a unique player at that position. He's strong enough and quick enough he defend that position but he's a very difficult matchup on the other end because he can drive the ball, he can pass, he can shoot, and he's having a great year. We were a little bit fortunate there in the first half that he had to sit for a long time with foul trouble. But watching him on film and what he's done, he's been the leader of the team this year and he's playing great basketball."
Players Mentioned
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