Postgame Quotes: Indiana vs. Penn State
1/9/2018 9:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Indiana vs. Penn State
Postgame Quotes
Jan. 9, 2018
Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller
COACH MILLER: Really good win for our team. I thought we really grinded one out here today when we didn't shoot the ball particularly well. Found other ways to make the plays that we needed to make to win.
And really happy about our guard play tonight. Thought it was fantastic. We had Devonte in double figures, Josh in double figures. Both guys really did a great job at the free-throw line. Only turn it over nine times, I think that was a step in the right direction. Second half got a little bit sloppy.
But for the most part we had to do the things that you had to do to win a league game that you know is going to go all 40 minutes. And I'm really, really impressed with Penn State's team. They've got some really tough personnel. Tony Carr is one of the best guards we've played all season long.
And he kept those guys in it, I think, in the last seven to eight minutes sort of by himself. But for us, really happy for our guys being able to come back and work.
We have to take a look at this film and find a way to continue to take more steps to keep getting better.
Q. Collin said there was kind of an active conversation had about following one good performance with another; that there had been too many sort of dips after a strong game. You talk about not shooting well, but kind of finding the other plays you needed to win. How encouraging is it to see Minnesota and stringing it together with this?
COACH MILLER: Attack mode. This time of year in January you want your guys attacking. You don't want to have to coach them on every dribble and every pass. You've got to give these guys the freedom to make some plays and be aggressive. I think we're trying to get our guards to make more plays. But I think the big thing is our attitude as a team is pretty good right now.
And with every injury and whatever, it just seems like we've had a couple of opportunities for guys to step up and play and they've made the plays and been ready.
It will be the same on Sunday. Every game we play is going to be very, very difficult. We know that. If we could ever find our touch behind the line here at home, it would make some things a little bit easier.
But I'll tell you, it feels good to win, especially in this conference. Man, every game's hard.
Q. You've got I think a 23-to-1 edge in bench production. Can you talk about that?
COACH MILLER: Penn State, just looking at their roster and what they've done, they had five double figure scorers coming into the game. They play predominantly all the minutes when they sub. Obviously they're not as deep as some other teams. But they're really good and they have great chemistry. So I don't think that the bench discrepancy was something that I'd be surprised. Now getting 23 points off our bench is nice.
Devonte Green getting 13 points, Collin getting 10 points off the bench, you know, those two guys being able to step in and play Big Ten minutes. I'm not sure we've had five guys in double figures at all this season. But really, really happy.
Justin just couldn't get in the flow of fouls tonight. So hopefully he can get back in the mix and give us another presence.
But it's going to be a different guy almost every night. The one guy who is consistent has been Juwan. I think he's been that way from the beginning. He's playing at an all-conference level right now.
Q. Newkirk, bounce-back game, four big free throws at the end.
COACH MILLER: Yeah. He did a nice job. I thought he was playing pretty well all game long. His free throws, four assists, no turnovers. Big thing for him: Four assists, no turnovers. He ends up playing, I think, 30 minutes. So Josh is a great kid. He's a great teammate. Eventually good things happen to guys like him who just stay with it every day.
Q. You mentioned Devonte. He played 21 minutes. Also didn't have a turnover, is that something you've seen the growth in him?
COACH MILLER: Just post Minnesota. I think he and Josh both struggled taking care of the ball late in the game. Especially the last eight minutes, I think we rode Al the last eight minutes of the game.
Those guys have to understand: It's not about taking chances; it's about absolutely running the team and being a rock solid player. Because if we don't turn it over, we're a better team.
I think Devonte and Josh both got that message coming out of Minnesota. If you turn the ball over, you can't play. Thankfully Al saved us in the Minnesota game. And then tonight both those guys emerged.
And I've been saying it: If we can get some consistency with our guards, just consistency in assist-to-turnover ratio and some point production, a little bit we'll be a little bit, a little bit more to handle moving forward.
Q. Seemed like you guys were a little more on the same page. What's been the difference?
COACH MILLER: We've been better. I think even in our Wisconsin game we were okay there for a while. We got soft against Wisconsin. They got us in the last eight minutes. But up in Minnesota, we were a collective group. I think understanding right now it's about playing to win. It's about going and getting the wins.
Find a way to get the win. I think that was a big boost at Minnesota being able to get that one. Tonight, against a good Penn State team, I thought we played to win. I didn't think there were any shenanigans going on, whether sloppy turnovers or lack of detail.
We weren't great, by any stretch of the imagination. But guys were locked in, playing to win. I think we had a good mindset in terms of that and we've got to keep growing.
Q. Going back to Devonte for a moment. You've coached now for a couple months. What's it like coaching a guy like, that can freelance like that, but keep him within the constraints of the offense, how do you coach?
COACH MILLER: You've got to give Devonte his freedom. He's got to be willing to play through mistakes. As a coach, you have to give him some rope. But it's the type of mistakes. Is it the home run, trying to go for the home run as soon as you get in, or are you easing your way into the game, making the right plays? Then when you take that chance four, five minutes in, it's not so bad. I think that's the big thing for him, is to get himself eased into the game and play like he did tonight.
He was very comfortable out there. Devonte, he's a tough guy. He's stubborn. I think the one thing about him he's very intelligent and he knows the better he plays, the better we're going to be. It's not like he doesn't want to play well or doesn't want to get more minutes. He wants them. He's just got to come our way.
If he practices every day like he does, there should be great translation in the game. And that's been the one frustrating thing: He has practiced really well. By far and away one of our more talented guys on a daily basis. He just hasn't been able to really figure his role out, how he wants to play.
And I think the big thing is go out there to play to win against the guards you're going against, attack them. On the other end of the floor be a pest defensively and make some plays. And I thought tonight Devonte did a really good job.
Q. Talked about Juwan playing all-conference level, you say. But last two games he's improved on the 3-point shooting as well. Are you still seeing improvements from him in all aspects?
COACH MILLER: He was 2-for-17 from three going into the Minnesota game. Most of the 3s he takes are good ones. I think he's reluctantly stayed away from them because I think he's concentrating on other things.
Against Minnesota, he had some good looks. And what's going to happen, if De'Ron is not out there a ton, he's got a lot of different types of mismatches that he can get into.
And I think just having some confidence on the wide open ones is good. He made his first two tonight. But also I think if you look at him, 11 rebounds, three offensive, eight defensive rebounds, those are the numbers I'm looking at, the 21 points. Some really good post-ups and some really good finishes as well.
Q. What's the challenge of facing Stevens and Watkins? How do you assess containing them and knowing the rebound better?
COACH MILLER: They're a good 1-2 punch. Watkins is a great finisher, tremendous rebounder. I think he played a little bit through foul trouble in the first half. A little bit of foul trouble which helped us. Stevens was terrific in the first half. We had no answer for him, especially early in the game, he brought it right at us.
They have a good mix. They have great size under there and versatility with Stevens, especially when he was shooting the ball like that.
But rebounding is about committed on the glass, and I thought that five defensive rebounds by Zach, five defensive rebounds by Rob, those are encouraging numbers. That's what we're looking at now. Our guards have to find a way to mix it up, get defensive rebounds. And we're able to outrebound them and got great hustle rebounds as well.
Q. You looked at the shots not falling early on. Outshot substantially. But they did so many other things that you talk about all year long trying to get them to do. Seemed like it all gelled at once, even the free throw unit. 80 percent.
COACH MILLER: Shooting the ball for whatever reason has been the one frustrating thing with this team. I've always said this: I think we're a better 3-point shooting team than we've shown. Guys are getting good looks, they're just not going down.
We're playing through that now. There's other ways you can win the game. You can win the game with stops and with rebounding and win the battle at the free-throw line; hey, don't turn the ball over.
There's a lot of other ways you can impact the game from shooting. Shooting doesn't have a whole lot to do with it. I think if you looked at our Minnesota game, I think five of the 3-point shots in the game were by Justin and Juwan.
You don't really account for that in the scoring output. But we found a way to hang in there. That's what we have to do, keep getting better, and I think you're starting to see some chemistry with some guys on the floor right now. In particular, I think some of these guys are starting to get really used to playing in a certain role. So we'll see. Sunday's going to be a heck of an environment. It's going to be a really tough game against a good team.
Q. Juwan was talking about that period where Penn State kind of made that little run, got ahead one or two. And you kind of got it back. And I think threw a run back on them. And he said he feels that guys are better stopping that stuff in real time; they don't need a timeout to regroup. Do you see that from your group right now?
COACH MILLER: A little bit, yeah. I think we've played through some ups and downs and some runs in days gone by when you shot the ball the way we shot it in the first half; we tended to get really frustrated and go away. That didn't happen. I thought we continued to fight and battle through and it was really, really important the last four minutes of the half that we finished the way we did.
We ended giving up 35 to 31 at the half, when it really, in all reality, could have been down or tight. So it's important to start the second half with a lead. And then I think we played pretty comfortably in the second half.
We didn't finish the last couple of minutes as detailed as we needed to be, to let that team sort of have their run to get it to two or four or whatever. But we'll get better. We've just got to keep working at it.
I think these guys want to do well. And we're just trying to teach them and improve them. If you can get a little bit better every day individually you can get your group to play tough. That's the goal right now, just keep getting tougher and keep getting better.
Indiana Players - Robert Johnson, Collin Hartman and Juwan Morgan
Q. Obviously it's tough down the stretch for you guys, pulled out a win what does it say about this team and the resiliency it has?
COLLIN HARTMAN: I think we worked day in, day out for times like these. And we have a lot of older guys that have been in situations like this. And guys stepped up. Josh and Devonte made big shots, but we've got to finish every play, finish games strong. And we'll continue to work on that, but I'm proud of our guys and how we dug that win out.
JUWAN MORGAN: Just repeating what Collin said, they had some big free throws late, and I think we just closed out the game strong. We didn't really back down even when they went on the run and took, I think, it was like a one or two point lead. We got together and we fixed it right there on the court. We didn't need a timeout. I think it speaks to volumes of leadership that's come a long way since the beginning of the Big Ten.
To go off that, I just thank God for the growth of this team. I think this is the first time all season we was able to string together two consecutive, what we felt were 40 minute efforts, and I think that's big for us moving forward; if we can continue to do that we'll continue to do better.
Q. Juwan, obviously your season is well underway now, you've faced a lot of talented big men, so to go up against a guy like Watkins tonight, are you more comfortable facing the more talented post players?
JUWAN MORGAN: I've always been confident. The work that we've put in every day, I still think that when I'm going against other bigs I still feel like I have the advantage, no matter how tall they are or how much stronger they are than me. And I think that just goes to the testament of the work we put in every day. And even if I don't have it, I know my guys will knock down shots, and I can just kick it out to them.
Q. Guys (inaudible) but all the hard work, no turnovers, the second chance points (inaudible) is that kind of (inaudible) play into?
COLLIN HARTMAN: Yeah, just we always trying to do in practice is just play your heart out every play. Don't take plays off. We've got guys that are ready to go. And if you're not ready to go someone else is going to sub you in. So you just gotta come in ready. And that hard working and that scrappy mindset is what we have to have every day and carry over to these games.
Q. Collin, could you talk about you guys had came off a good game against Duke and then you lost, came off a good victory against Notre Dame and lost, and then played well against Minnesota. Were you worried at all that this might be the same thing?
COLLIN HARTMAN: We addressed that, that we have done that twice -- had the big win and then a fall-off. And we addressed that and that's something that we have to get better at and continue to work on and concentrate as you have to come ready for every day.
You can't get too high. You can't get too low. You can't listen to the outside noise. It's what we do every day and it's who we are every day. And we can't get away from that.
Q. To that point, what did it look like when you addressed that? Who led that discussion and maybe what do you all feel positive came out of it?
COLLIN HARTMAN: Coach brought it up first, and I think it trickled down through all the guys, older guys all the way down. And our mental preparation our physical preparation, everybody getting extra treatment, doing whatever you have to do, getting up extra shots. We watch film, prepare. It's just mentally locking into everything that you do and not taking any steps back in any area of the game.
Q. Juwan, I think Collin mentioned about you guys getting ready somebody else coming in. (Inaudible)?
JUWAN MORGAN: Definitely. It could be anybody's night on any given game. And I think just being ready to go, mentally preparing to go into the game, seeing the game in your mind, all that goes into just the mental preparation of playing. And then once they get into the game they're ready, and they can get right into the flow of things and not have like a really bad play just to get acclimated. And I think that just goes to the work they put in every day.
Q. (Inaudible)?
ROBERT JOHNSON: I think it just came down to constant communication. I think we're doing a better job of when we see problems within a game, instead of everybody going our separate ways and just them trying to figure it out on their own, I think we come together and try to find a solution and not try to stack negative plays but positive plays on top of each other. And then I think with that we have more stretches of positive play instead of negative.
Q. Did you guys talk at halftime about the 3-for-17 on threes and going inside more and kind of changing that approach?
JUWAN MORGAN: Yeah, we talked about it, but I don't think really much, but, like, probably two or three of those 3s were bad shots. I think we were just getting -- we were getting good looks and open looks but we just weren't knocking them down. And with good looks come driving lanes, and I think that we just have to get inside a few more times and just get a little confidence of seeing the ball go through the hoop and we'll be able to knock those shots down.
Q. Zach McRoberts plays 26 minutes, doesn't score but still has a huge impact in the game. Just talk about his kind of his roll and how he's helping the team right now?
ROBERT JOHNSON: Yeah, he's been huge for us, especially since he's been starting. He just plays within himself and gives everything that he has. And I think if we can all recognize what we need to give for the betterment of the team, I think we'll all be better.
Q. Juwan, you mentioned (indiscernible) three points. Just under four minutes to play, you take one from the right wing (inaudible). The fact that you have shown (inaudible) does that help your overall game now that defense has stepped up?
JUWAN MORGAN: I think it does definitely. Like you said, he had to respect that I could hit that shot and he had to close out, and when he left his feet I had an open drive lane to take it the way I did or pass it to an open teammate.
Q. (Inaudible)?
ROBERT JOHNSON: I think tonight he just was poised. He wasn't really rushing anything. He let the game come to him and was being a good point guard first. And I think when he did that I think things opened up for him.
Penn State Head Coach Pat Chambers
Q: Not having Josh Reaves for this one, what kind of impact did that have on the team?
COACH CHAMBERS: We were definitely out of sync. I think that was noticeable. There's some stretches where Josh could really lift us up, get a rebound, get a stop. He's long, he's very athletic. He's one of our best assist guys. So, I think Tony and Lamar had to take on a little bit more especially in the first half to just keep it where it was at 35-31. And then give Indiana credit. They came out and jumped us the first eight minutes, but Josh Reeves just brings the energy, he just brings juice, and hopefully we'll have him back Friday and if not, we're going to make some adjustments and watch this film and get better.
Q: Juwan Morgan, I think his fifth double-double in nine games. You guys saw him last year, the year before that as well. What's different this year than in the past with him?
COACH CHAMBERS: I just think they are making him more of a priority. They're giving him the ball more in the post. He's really worked on his game. He looks terrific. From this year to last year, he's definitely improved. he might be my most improved up until this point.
Q: Can you talk a little bit about what's the difference in your ball club this year than in past years. You're playing everyone pretty tough.
COACH CHAMBERS: Obviously we're talented, but we're a little bit older. We're a little bit older now. So, last year we went through a lot of rough games, a lot of hard finishes, and I think we've learned from those experiences. So, we're competing, were going to compete that's for sure, but we're going to have to learn how to finish now. I give Indiana credit, they made their free throws. I don't think it was their last four minutes, that first eight minutes, I though they played terrific, that's where they really won the game.
Q: What about Shep Garner? He's a good three-point shooter. He was a little off tonight.
COACH CHAMBERS: He was right there. He was 2 for 4. I think we have to get him more shots though. If Josh is out, we're going to have to get Shep some more shots, get him more involved in the offense and that's on me so I have to work on that.
Q: Was there anything Indiana was doing?
COACH CHAMBERS: No, if you look at the stat sheet, Tony 20 shots, Lamar took 15. I mean, those guys were taking the shots. So, we have to work with Shep to get him moving, get him open a little bit more, get him some space.
Q: What is it about Indiana Penn State in the last several years that makes these games go down to the last possession pretty much?
COACH CHAMBERS: I have no idea. I have no idea, but it's become a nice competitive series between us since my time here. You know, it's unfortunate we came out with the L tonight, but we never gave up, we competed till the very end so there some positives I can take away from this game.
Q: Your thoughts on Archie Miller and their direction of the Indiana program?
COACH CHAMBERS: Archie is great coach, got a great staff and he'll get it going. Obviously, he just won two in a row so it may be sooner than later.
Postgame Quotes
Jan. 9, 2018
Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller
COACH MILLER: Really good win for our team. I thought we really grinded one out here today when we didn't shoot the ball particularly well. Found other ways to make the plays that we needed to make to win.
And really happy about our guard play tonight. Thought it was fantastic. We had Devonte in double figures, Josh in double figures. Both guys really did a great job at the free-throw line. Only turn it over nine times, I think that was a step in the right direction. Second half got a little bit sloppy.
But for the most part we had to do the things that you had to do to win a league game that you know is going to go all 40 minutes. And I'm really, really impressed with Penn State's team. They've got some really tough personnel. Tony Carr is one of the best guards we've played all season long.
And he kept those guys in it, I think, in the last seven to eight minutes sort of by himself. But for us, really happy for our guys being able to come back and work.
We have to take a look at this film and find a way to continue to take more steps to keep getting better.
Q. Collin said there was kind of an active conversation had about following one good performance with another; that there had been too many sort of dips after a strong game. You talk about not shooting well, but kind of finding the other plays you needed to win. How encouraging is it to see Minnesota and stringing it together with this?
COACH MILLER: Attack mode. This time of year in January you want your guys attacking. You don't want to have to coach them on every dribble and every pass. You've got to give these guys the freedom to make some plays and be aggressive. I think we're trying to get our guards to make more plays. But I think the big thing is our attitude as a team is pretty good right now.
And with every injury and whatever, it just seems like we've had a couple of opportunities for guys to step up and play and they've made the plays and been ready.
It will be the same on Sunday. Every game we play is going to be very, very difficult. We know that. If we could ever find our touch behind the line here at home, it would make some things a little bit easier.
But I'll tell you, it feels good to win, especially in this conference. Man, every game's hard.
Q. You've got I think a 23-to-1 edge in bench production. Can you talk about that?
COACH MILLER: Penn State, just looking at their roster and what they've done, they had five double figure scorers coming into the game. They play predominantly all the minutes when they sub. Obviously they're not as deep as some other teams. But they're really good and they have great chemistry. So I don't think that the bench discrepancy was something that I'd be surprised. Now getting 23 points off our bench is nice.
Devonte Green getting 13 points, Collin getting 10 points off the bench, you know, those two guys being able to step in and play Big Ten minutes. I'm not sure we've had five guys in double figures at all this season. But really, really happy.
Justin just couldn't get in the flow of fouls tonight. So hopefully he can get back in the mix and give us another presence.
But it's going to be a different guy almost every night. The one guy who is consistent has been Juwan. I think he's been that way from the beginning. He's playing at an all-conference level right now.
Q. Newkirk, bounce-back game, four big free throws at the end.
COACH MILLER: Yeah. He did a nice job. I thought he was playing pretty well all game long. His free throws, four assists, no turnovers. Big thing for him: Four assists, no turnovers. He ends up playing, I think, 30 minutes. So Josh is a great kid. He's a great teammate. Eventually good things happen to guys like him who just stay with it every day.
Q. You mentioned Devonte. He played 21 minutes. Also didn't have a turnover, is that something you've seen the growth in him?
COACH MILLER: Just post Minnesota. I think he and Josh both struggled taking care of the ball late in the game. Especially the last eight minutes, I think we rode Al the last eight minutes of the game.
Those guys have to understand: It's not about taking chances; it's about absolutely running the team and being a rock solid player. Because if we don't turn it over, we're a better team.
I think Devonte and Josh both got that message coming out of Minnesota. If you turn the ball over, you can't play. Thankfully Al saved us in the Minnesota game. And then tonight both those guys emerged.
And I've been saying it: If we can get some consistency with our guards, just consistency in assist-to-turnover ratio and some point production, a little bit we'll be a little bit, a little bit more to handle moving forward.
Q. Seemed like you guys were a little more on the same page. What's been the difference?
COACH MILLER: We've been better. I think even in our Wisconsin game we were okay there for a while. We got soft against Wisconsin. They got us in the last eight minutes. But up in Minnesota, we were a collective group. I think understanding right now it's about playing to win. It's about going and getting the wins.
Find a way to get the win. I think that was a big boost at Minnesota being able to get that one. Tonight, against a good Penn State team, I thought we played to win. I didn't think there were any shenanigans going on, whether sloppy turnovers or lack of detail.
We weren't great, by any stretch of the imagination. But guys were locked in, playing to win. I think we had a good mindset in terms of that and we've got to keep growing.
Q. Going back to Devonte for a moment. You've coached now for a couple months. What's it like coaching a guy like, that can freelance like that, but keep him within the constraints of the offense, how do you coach?
COACH MILLER: You've got to give Devonte his freedom. He's got to be willing to play through mistakes. As a coach, you have to give him some rope. But it's the type of mistakes. Is it the home run, trying to go for the home run as soon as you get in, or are you easing your way into the game, making the right plays? Then when you take that chance four, five minutes in, it's not so bad. I think that's the big thing for him, is to get himself eased into the game and play like he did tonight.
He was very comfortable out there. Devonte, he's a tough guy. He's stubborn. I think the one thing about him he's very intelligent and he knows the better he plays, the better we're going to be. It's not like he doesn't want to play well or doesn't want to get more minutes. He wants them. He's just got to come our way.
If he practices every day like he does, there should be great translation in the game. And that's been the one frustrating thing: He has practiced really well. By far and away one of our more talented guys on a daily basis. He just hasn't been able to really figure his role out, how he wants to play.
And I think the big thing is go out there to play to win against the guards you're going against, attack them. On the other end of the floor be a pest defensively and make some plays. And I thought tonight Devonte did a really good job.
Q. Talked about Juwan playing all-conference level, you say. But last two games he's improved on the 3-point shooting as well. Are you still seeing improvements from him in all aspects?
COACH MILLER: He was 2-for-17 from three going into the Minnesota game. Most of the 3s he takes are good ones. I think he's reluctantly stayed away from them because I think he's concentrating on other things.
Against Minnesota, he had some good looks. And what's going to happen, if De'Ron is not out there a ton, he's got a lot of different types of mismatches that he can get into.
And I think just having some confidence on the wide open ones is good. He made his first two tonight. But also I think if you look at him, 11 rebounds, three offensive, eight defensive rebounds, those are the numbers I'm looking at, the 21 points. Some really good post-ups and some really good finishes as well.
Q. What's the challenge of facing Stevens and Watkins? How do you assess containing them and knowing the rebound better?
COACH MILLER: They're a good 1-2 punch. Watkins is a great finisher, tremendous rebounder. I think he played a little bit through foul trouble in the first half. A little bit of foul trouble which helped us. Stevens was terrific in the first half. We had no answer for him, especially early in the game, he brought it right at us.
They have a good mix. They have great size under there and versatility with Stevens, especially when he was shooting the ball like that.
But rebounding is about committed on the glass, and I thought that five defensive rebounds by Zach, five defensive rebounds by Rob, those are encouraging numbers. That's what we're looking at now. Our guards have to find a way to mix it up, get defensive rebounds. And we're able to outrebound them and got great hustle rebounds as well.
Q. You looked at the shots not falling early on. Outshot substantially. But they did so many other things that you talk about all year long trying to get them to do. Seemed like it all gelled at once, even the free throw unit. 80 percent.
COACH MILLER: Shooting the ball for whatever reason has been the one frustrating thing with this team. I've always said this: I think we're a better 3-point shooting team than we've shown. Guys are getting good looks, they're just not going down.
We're playing through that now. There's other ways you can win the game. You can win the game with stops and with rebounding and win the battle at the free-throw line; hey, don't turn the ball over.
There's a lot of other ways you can impact the game from shooting. Shooting doesn't have a whole lot to do with it. I think if you looked at our Minnesota game, I think five of the 3-point shots in the game were by Justin and Juwan.
You don't really account for that in the scoring output. But we found a way to hang in there. That's what we have to do, keep getting better, and I think you're starting to see some chemistry with some guys on the floor right now. In particular, I think some of these guys are starting to get really used to playing in a certain role. So we'll see. Sunday's going to be a heck of an environment. It's going to be a really tough game against a good team.
Q. Juwan was talking about that period where Penn State kind of made that little run, got ahead one or two. And you kind of got it back. And I think threw a run back on them. And he said he feels that guys are better stopping that stuff in real time; they don't need a timeout to regroup. Do you see that from your group right now?
COACH MILLER: A little bit, yeah. I think we've played through some ups and downs and some runs in days gone by when you shot the ball the way we shot it in the first half; we tended to get really frustrated and go away. That didn't happen. I thought we continued to fight and battle through and it was really, really important the last four minutes of the half that we finished the way we did.
We ended giving up 35 to 31 at the half, when it really, in all reality, could have been down or tight. So it's important to start the second half with a lead. And then I think we played pretty comfortably in the second half.
We didn't finish the last couple of minutes as detailed as we needed to be, to let that team sort of have their run to get it to two or four or whatever. But we'll get better. We've just got to keep working at it.
I think these guys want to do well. And we're just trying to teach them and improve them. If you can get a little bit better every day individually you can get your group to play tough. That's the goal right now, just keep getting tougher and keep getting better.
Indiana Players - Robert Johnson, Collin Hartman and Juwan Morgan
Q. Obviously it's tough down the stretch for you guys, pulled out a win what does it say about this team and the resiliency it has?
COLLIN HARTMAN: I think we worked day in, day out for times like these. And we have a lot of older guys that have been in situations like this. And guys stepped up. Josh and Devonte made big shots, but we've got to finish every play, finish games strong. And we'll continue to work on that, but I'm proud of our guys and how we dug that win out.
JUWAN MORGAN: Just repeating what Collin said, they had some big free throws late, and I think we just closed out the game strong. We didn't really back down even when they went on the run and took, I think, it was like a one or two point lead. We got together and we fixed it right there on the court. We didn't need a timeout. I think it speaks to volumes of leadership that's come a long way since the beginning of the Big Ten.
To go off that, I just thank God for the growth of this team. I think this is the first time all season we was able to string together two consecutive, what we felt were 40 minute efforts, and I think that's big for us moving forward; if we can continue to do that we'll continue to do better.
Q. Juwan, obviously your season is well underway now, you've faced a lot of talented big men, so to go up against a guy like Watkins tonight, are you more comfortable facing the more talented post players?
JUWAN MORGAN: I've always been confident. The work that we've put in every day, I still think that when I'm going against other bigs I still feel like I have the advantage, no matter how tall they are or how much stronger they are than me. And I think that just goes to the testament of the work we put in every day. And even if I don't have it, I know my guys will knock down shots, and I can just kick it out to them.
Q. Guys (inaudible) but all the hard work, no turnovers, the second chance points (inaudible) is that kind of (inaudible) play into?
COLLIN HARTMAN: Yeah, just we always trying to do in practice is just play your heart out every play. Don't take plays off. We've got guys that are ready to go. And if you're not ready to go someone else is going to sub you in. So you just gotta come in ready. And that hard working and that scrappy mindset is what we have to have every day and carry over to these games.
Q. Collin, could you talk about you guys had came off a good game against Duke and then you lost, came off a good victory against Notre Dame and lost, and then played well against Minnesota. Were you worried at all that this might be the same thing?
COLLIN HARTMAN: We addressed that, that we have done that twice -- had the big win and then a fall-off. And we addressed that and that's something that we have to get better at and continue to work on and concentrate as you have to come ready for every day.
You can't get too high. You can't get too low. You can't listen to the outside noise. It's what we do every day and it's who we are every day. And we can't get away from that.
Q. To that point, what did it look like when you addressed that? Who led that discussion and maybe what do you all feel positive came out of it?
COLLIN HARTMAN: Coach brought it up first, and I think it trickled down through all the guys, older guys all the way down. And our mental preparation our physical preparation, everybody getting extra treatment, doing whatever you have to do, getting up extra shots. We watch film, prepare. It's just mentally locking into everything that you do and not taking any steps back in any area of the game.
Q. Juwan, I think Collin mentioned about you guys getting ready somebody else coming in. (Inaudible)?
JUWAN MORGAN: Definitely. It could be anybody's night on any given game. And I think just being ready to go, mentally preparing to go into the game, seeing the game in your mind, all that goes into just the mental preparation of playing. And then once they get into the game they're ready, and they can get right into the flow of things and not have like a really bad play just to get acclimated. And I think that just goes to the work they put in every day.
Q. (Inaudible)?
ROBERT JOHNSON: I think it just came down to constant communication. I think we're doing a better job of when we see problems within a game, instead of everybody going our separate ways and just them trying to figure it out on their own, I think we come together and try to find a solution and not try to stack negative plays but positive plays on top of each other. And then I think with that we have more stretches of positive play instead of negative.
Q. Did you guys talk at halftime about the 3-for-17 on threes and going inside more and kind of changing that approach?
JUWAN MORGAN: Yeah, we talked about it, but I don't think really much, but, like, probably two or three of those 3s were bad shots. I think we were just getting -- we were getting good looks and open looks but we just weren't knocking them down. And with good looks come driving lanes, and I think that we just have to get inside a few more times and just get a little confidence of seeing the ball go through the hoop and we'll be able to knock those shots down.
Q. Zach McRoberts plays 26 minutes, doesn't score but still has a huge impact in the game. Just talk about his kind of his roll and how he's helping the team right now?
ROBERT JOHNSON: Yeah, he's been huge for us, especially since he's been starting. He just plays within himself and gives everything that he has. And I think if we can all recognize what we need to give for the betterment of the team, I think we'll all be better.
Q. Juwan, you mentioned (indiscernible) three points. Just under four minutes to play, you take one from the right wing (inaudible). The fact that you have shown (inaudible) does that help your overall game now that defense has stepped up?
JUWAN MORGAN: I think it does definitely. Like you said, he had to respect that I could hit that shot and he had to close out, and when he left his feet I had an open drive lane to take it the way I did or pass it to an open teammate.
Q. (Inaudible)?
ROBERT JOHNSON: I think tonight he just was poised. He wasn't really rushing anything. He let the game come to him and was being a good point guard first. And I think when he did that I think things opened up for him.
Penn State Head Coach Pat Chambers
Q: Not having Josh Reaves for this one, what kind of impact did that have on the team?
COACH CHAMBERS: We were definitely out of sync. I think that was noticeable. There's some stretches where Josh could really lift us up, get a rebound, get a stop. He's long, he's very athletic. He's one of our best assist guys. So, I think Tony and Lamar had to take on a little bit more especially in the first half to just keep it where it was at 35-31. And then give Indiana credit. They came out and jumped us the first eight minutes, but Josh Reeves just brings the energy, he just brings juice, and hopefully we'll have him back Friday and if not, we're going to make some adjustments and watch this film and get better.
Q: Juwan Morgan, I think his fifth double-double in nine games. You guys saw him last year, the year before that as well. What's different this year than in the past with him?
COACH CHAMBERS: I just think they are making him more of a priority. They're giving him the ball more in the post. He's really worked on his game. He looks terrific. From this year to last year, he's definitely improved. he might be my most improved up until this point.
Q: Can you talk a little bit about what's the difference in your ball club this year than in past years. You're playing everyone pretty tough.
COACH CHAMBERS: Obviously we're talented, but we're a little bit older. We're a little bit older now. So, last year we went through a lot of rough games, a lot of hard finishes, and I think we've learned from those experiences. So, we're competing, were going to compete that's for sure, but we're going to have to learn how to finish now. I give Indiana credit, they made their free throws. I don't think it was their last four minutes, that first eight minutes, I though they played terrific, that's where they really won the game.
Q: What about Shep Garner? He's a good three-point shooter. He was a little off tonight.
COACH CHAMBERS: He was right there. He was 2 for 4. I think we have to get him more shots though. If Josh is out, we're going to have to get Shep some more shots, get him more involved in the offense and that's on me so I have to work on that.
Q: Was there anything Indiana was doing?
COACH CHAMBERS: No, if you look at the stat sheet, Tony 20 shots, Lamar took 15. I mean, those guys were taking the shots. So, we have to work with Shep to get him moving, get him open a little bit more, get him some space.
Q: What is it about Indiana Penn State in the last several years that makes these games go down to the last possession pretty much?
COACH CHAMBERS: I have no idea. I have no idea, but it's become a nice competitive series between us since my time here. You know, it's unfortunate we came out with the L tonight, but we never gave up, we competed till the very end so there some positives I can take away from this game.
Q: Your thoughts on Archie Miller and their direction of the Indiana program?
COACH CHAMBERS: Archie is great coach, got a great staff and he'll get it going. Obviously, he just won two in a row so it may be sooner than later.
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