Player Practice Quotes

Jan. 30, 2003

Tom Coverdale

Regarding progress in practice after two-straight conference road losses:
"We are a lot better just from the standpoint of knowing what we have to do to win. I think even though we lost on Tuesday night we took a step forward just because we played hard. We know we made a lot of mental mistakes, but at least the effort was there. Our practice today just shows that we can get to where we need to be, it's just a matter of getting there."

Regarding road games being psychological:
"I think it's just a learning process. We've got a lot of young guys and it's hard to win on the road, no matter what conference. In the big conferences it's definitely hard to win, we've just got to find a way. It's not going to get any easier for us. Saturday is probably going to be one of the toughest road games. But I think going out of conference and playing a team like Louisville is only going to help us, because you play a team that presses the whole length of the floor, you don't face that in the Big Ten and it's definitely going to help us when tournament time comes."

"Our guards have to look at the press as a challenge. If we break the press, we're going to get a lot of layups. That's the key to the game - getting a lot of easy points off of their press and making them pay for pressing."

Regarding the press last year:
"We handled it good last year, but this is a totally different (Louisville) team, it's ten times better than they were last year just because those guys have been in the system for a whole year. Now they know exactly what their coach wants them to do so it's just an all-around better team."

Mental preparation for facing the press:
"Taking care of the ball and everybody coming back and meeting every pass because you don't come and meet the passes or you don't put something on the passes, they're going to get steals and that's what is going to get the crowd into the game. We've got to keep the crowd out of the game by eliminating the turnovers."

Regarding three-point shooting and his concern about it:
"I'm not concerned at all. We're going to knock down shots. I think the reason it has gone down is because we haven't had a lot of open looks. A lot of the times we haven't been executing our offense a lot so it comes down to the last ten seconds of the shot clock and we've had to take bad shots. Our offense looked a lot better today and I think it's getting better every single day in practice. Hopefully we can eliminate that problem and get a lot more open looks and better shots."

Jeff Newton

Regarding the absence of Bracey Wright from the lineup:
"You've got to learn to play when somebody goes out. It's not guaranteed that you're going to have everybody every night. We have to have people ready to step up."

Regarding how the approach changes when facing a zone:
"We just mainly try to get the open shots, just try to find the free spots in the zone and get the open look from there."

Regarding Louisville and the press:
"It's going to be a hard game and it's going to be a game unlike any other we've had this year. We worked on it today and hopefully we'll be prepared for it. We faced them last year and we did good."

Intensity of practice lately:
"This was one of our better days intensity-wise. Coach got intense, we got intense and it just made things better. That's what we need every practice."

Regarding a non-conference game in the middle of the Big Ten schedule:
"I don't like having a week off. I think it's better to have a game in between."

Donald Perry

Regarding the upcoming Louisville game:
"I think it's going to be a different sort of game for us because we haven't faced a team like Louisville this year, that pressures you and is going to trap you the whole game. Practice has been real intense this week and we've been working on a lot of things, like facing the trap and playing with intensity on every possession. It's going to be a real intense game."

Regarding the press last year:
"Last year, we handled the press well. You've got to realize that last year was his (Louisville head coach Rick Pitino's) first year of coaching, so the guys weren't used to playing that style. They're three times better this year than they were last year. Especially for us on the road, at their place and with their crowd, it's going to make it harder too."

When asked why this team struggles on the road:
"I don't know. Lack of concentration, I think. We tend to play road games like we're at home. There are a lot of quick shots and on the road you can't do that because the crowd is going to bring the momentum to its team."

Indiana University Athletics

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Tom Coverdale

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Jeff Newton

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Donald Perry

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Bracey Wright

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