Indiana University Athletics
Talking about Michigan State
1/20/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 20, 2014
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana Hoosiers (12-6, 2-3 Big Ten) travel to Michigan State for a Tuesday 7:00 p.m. contest. The game will be broadcast on ESPN. Head Coach Tom Crean and associate head coach Tim Buckley met with the media on Monday to preview the matchup.
Head Coach Tom Crean:
Opening Statement:
“We are getting ready for Michigan State right now, who is playing extremely well and really playing well on both sides of the ball at both ends and with consistency considering they have been without one of best players in the country in Adreian Payne for the last couple games. We are trying to continue to get better here at what we have to improve upon and get ourselves prepared in a hurry to get up to Michigan State.”
On what he is looking for from today’s practice:
“I’m just looking for us to improve, I don’t think it’s anything different. I don’t think it’s anything that’s going to change. I think you just keep getting better. You have to pace your team constantly, with the long season, that it really is and then you continue to adjust that pace. It doesn’t change much and it’s very much in the sense of what you are trying to get done fundamentally. It’s not like anything is going to miraculously change; nor does it need to. We just need to continue to improve and understand how we play best, what brings the best out of our team and what hurts our team. Film can show that sometimes. But also continuing to be absorbed in the fundamentals, the parts of the game and that understanding.
“Most of the mistakes we made the other day (against Northwestern) were self-inflicted, like going under screens, mistakes with shots we took, mistakes not reversing the ball one more time. A big one was not taking one more dribble close to the basket, and letting the contact influence the play rather than taking one more dribble and getting all the way to the basket and putting a little more pressure on the rim, so to speak, and the defense. That one more dribble a lot of times creates one more angle. So that’s one of those fundamental things that can be fixed and adjusted so we will continue to work on it.”
What Michigan State is doing well without Payne in the lineup to have success:
“Gary Harris is playing at an extremely high level and I think that has a lot to do with it. I think they have different players that are showing different things on different nights. Denzel Valentine might not have a great game one night but then he turns around and has a tremendous game.
“They are showing the product of the fact that they have a pretty good understanding of how they play. The new guys that come in, much like some of the other better teams in this league, they are adjusting to the veterans. And the veterans help them along rather than the other way around. That is a sign of a great team with where they are at.
“And then you have one of the most dependable, reliable guards in America in Keith Appling, who continues to do so many good things. The ‘X-Factor’ for them, and we knew it in our game (earlier this year) and we could see it coming and he is shooting an incredible amount from behind the 3-point line is Kenny Kaminsky … 3-of-4 of his shots are going in from the 3-point line so we have a heck of a challenge there when he is on the court.”
On comparing a good game and a game where the team struggles to show the young team:
“Not exactly. You can make comparisons and parallel. There were still times in the Wisconsin game where we didn’t defend the proper way. And it was a different game in the sense of the way the lane opened up. The lane was going to open up for us (against Northwestern) if we would have attacked a little more out of the corners, which would have created more opportunities to pull people out of the lane and then get the next drive.
“We made 14 layups in the first half of the Wisconsin game and we missed about that many in the Northwestern game. Some of that was because we made it harder on ourselves by not going up through the contact, not taking one more dribble. So a lot of it, really, is fundamental. And a lot of it is playing through contact and not waiting for the whistle to blow or hoping you are going to get a call or trying to manufacture a shot. That is what we tried to do too much the other day, we tried to manufacture plays rather than let them happen.
“You don’t want to play patient, but you don’t want to play in a hurry. Sometimes, one more reversal, one more dribble or one more pass – those things make a huge difference. So you try to get those things across. And then what happened the other day when it wasn’t as easy is we started to settle. And that’s the sign of a team that’s not at a mature place yet, with understanding what it takes to win and that every night is different.
“But that is all part of this process that we have with this team and we have to continue to grow through it.”
On what Indiana can take from the first game against Michigan State:
“We didn’t follow the game plan, to put it very simply. The other thing was that we weren’t strong enough with the ball. We were a little sloppy with it at times. The biggest thing for us was the 13 points that Michigan State got off ‘live ball’ turnovers in that game. But there are certain things you need to do against Michigan State and when we have done them the last couple years, we have done a pretty good job. Obviously we had a different team the last couple years with different players, but there are still certain things in every game that become ‘gameplan specific’ for that game. There are certain personnel tendencies that guys have that you have to take advantage of.
“The other thing was we really let Gary Harris get far too comfortable and loose in the game and he did a phenomenal job. And now he is playing even better than he was then. There is no question that we could have played a lot better (in the first game) and we didn’t. So hopefully we will learn from some of that right now.”
Associate Head Coach Tim Buckley:
On preparation and challenges going up against Michigan State
“We have had really good preparation the last two days and have learned a lot from our previous two games. We are looking forward to going into a very tough environment. We know we have to play together as a team and we have to continue to grow and develop.”
On what needs to happen in second game against Michigan State:
“I think we have to do a better job of decision making and taking care of the ball. They did a good job of shooting the gap at times and coming up with steals and scored points in situations where we were not able to get our defense set to stop it. We have to do a better job, which we have been and its been a great emphasis for us in that area. That is something that hurt us the first time we played.”
On what was learned from looking at film against Northwestern:
“Doing the things that you need to do fundamentally offensively, inside taking one more dribble, taking it up strong and finishing. Also being more shot ready on the perimeter, so you are ready to catch and shoot. We need to make good decision and open up the lane a little bit more with ball reversals. Obviously, a lot of things that we can point to and a lot of areas we have worked on over the past couple of days and some of it is just getting in the gym and getting ready to shoot the ball and getting good repetitions in that regard.”
