Indiana University Athletics
Coach Crean Previews Big Ten Opener at Nebraska
12/30/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 30, 2014
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BLOMINGTON, Ind. - Read what head coach Tom Crean had to say about Wednesday's Big Ten opener at Nebraska, along with thoughts from Kevin Yogi Ferrell and James Blackmon Jr. on the matchup as well.
On the last three games (Butler, New Orleans and Georgetown):
"Well, we are playing better but we just have to get more consistent. If we would have played as consistent on Saturday (vs. Georgetown) as we did the previous Saturday (vs. Butler), we would have probably won the game. And that starts on the defensive end.
"We have got to do a better job of understanding how to play a full 40-minute game and what that entails. It is not just playing hard for 40 minutes, which we do, or wanting to win for 40 minutes, which we do. But it's really being committed to the big things, which are the hard things. And believe it or not, talking consistently throughout a game is a hard thing. You have to do it. You have to call out screens and cuts and cover for one another. We have a willingness - I love how this team works. I like the way they respond. There is a seriousness to them that they are gaining. It is showing up more often than not, but for us to keep taking steps forward, we have to keep getting it and getting it to where we put better stretches together, especially on the defensive end. And I think that will turn us into an even better offensive team.
"The other day (against Georgetown) turnovers hurt us some, when turnovers had really been negated since the Louisville game. We had a few to many at inopportune times. And again, there are going to be turnovers when you play as fast as we are trying to play. We are going to play even faster, but we can't have the turnovers that lead to baskets on the other end for our opponents because we made a more difficult decision than what was necessary. We are learning though, we are learning a lot about that.
"There were a lot of really good things in the Georgetown game. I thought the 17 minute mark in the second half is where we needed to make our mark and we didn't do that. But we took care of the last minute to get it where it needed to be and get to overtime. And then in overtime, we just didn't respond as well as we needed to. But we will learn from it - we have been learning from things all year - and I like where we are heading."
On defensive communication playing a role in all three losses this season:
"Well, on the defensive end, for a lot of teams, it is going to be. It is the ones that outgrow that the fastest that are the best. You have to outgrow it and you have to do it time and time again. It is really reminders. In coaching, you are not going to teach them something new during the course of the game. You are coaching them through it. On the court, some of the best teaching that can go on once you have taught the initial part is just reminding someone. That is what our team has to do, especially in the second half. They have to remind each other what the actions are. We are doing a good job when we switch defenses - our communication is good there. The reminders that come in are on who has what in the zone and who is responsible for what.
"The day before the game, Seth Greenberg, Jim Calhoun and Jon Schiambi all talked to our team at the practice that we had. All three had a different message, but it was really along the same lines - know who you are and do your job. That was Jim Calhoun's big message. He said he spends time with the New England Patriots for two or three days per year. Everywhere you go, it is about doing your job with the Patriots. I have two brother-in-laws that coach at a high level and they feel the same way. You look at other great coaches and programs and they get their teams to understand that. Jon Schiambi talked about covering the San Francisco Giants and what it is like inside of the culture, that when you come in, there is an expectation level that you have to meet. We have a lot of young guys so maybe we don't have the expectation level down yet. But when it comes to doing your job and helping other guys do their job, that is what we have to get down even better. Because that is going to be a real defining factor in this league."
On the offense working at a high level:
"We are and we aren't. I have a different view of it because I think it can get even better. I think it can get even faster and more efficient. I think our spacing can increase. I think we can run even better. I think we will get more things and create more layups when we get more defensive stops in a row, and bring even more fatigue to the game, on the offensive end. But if you had told me that we would get four points off our bench and have some of the turnovers that we had off of our bench, have some poor defensive performances from our starters and still be in overtime with Georgetown and the way that they played, I would have been shocked.
"We have to become a deeper team on both ends of the court. The efficiency - it was a rarity that we weren't as efficient off the bench that day. But at the same time, there is a lot room to be designed in our offense. We can't play and have Hanner Mosquera-Perea not score until the second-to-last possession of the game. He has improved too much. He has to be more aggressive, be on the attack and demand the ball more, just like we have to look for him more. We can be even more of an inside-outside team. The one thing that we can't get away from is that we have to go through the paint. We have to go through it on the drive, on the post, but especially through the drive. When you do that, it is amazing because you have to guard us a long way out. When we play laterally or along the 3-point line or a weave type of setting - we have some actions that are called `weave' but they are anything but a weave. They are more `attack' oriented, and when we don't attack and go through the paint, we are not nearly as good."
On Nebraska:
"I have watched a lot of film on them since Saturday after our game. I think I got back to my hotel room in New York at 4:00 p.m. and I turned it off at 1:30 a.m., and I think the other coaches were up as late or later in another room watching film on them. The bottom line is, we are looking for any little nugget that we can find, outside of the basics, against that team.
"They have tremendous talent. They are as talented, when it comes to matchups, athleticism and skills guys, as any in the league. There may be some teams that are a little deeper - Wisconsin certainly has a lot of talent - it is a talented league even though there is some youth in it. But Nebraska has a lot of talent. At any point in time, they have numerous guys that can just take off and go and get things done.
"We have to be really, really good on knowing their personnel. We have to do a great job of knowing who wants what. They run a lot offensive sets. They run a lot of different things against the zone. They don't seem to want to play a very fast pace and I think their time of possession is a little bit higher than ours. So we have to try to make the game go. I'm not sure what their mindset will be inside of that. There are not many times that you are playing a 7-footer like Walter Pitchford, who plays like a 2-guard. You have to deal with that. Shavon Shields and Petteway do a tremendous job of, not only scoring from the perimeter, but getting to the basket and the foul line.
"One of the reasons they were so good last year is because their matchups created problems for people. They still do because they have a lot of unique sizes. So we have to be really locked into those things, but at the same time, we have to make the game go."
On playing the first true road game of the season in the Big Ten opener:
"It will be. But any time you start in the Big Ten, there's no question that that will play into it. We have played in a couple great venues. Certainly the other day (at Madison Square Garden), that has an NCAA Tournament feel to it. At least to me it did. The Butler game was a tremendous crowd.
"I think anytime you play away from home, you are going to gain something for when you go truly on the road. We pumped in heavy, heavy doses of football crowd noise for practice today and we will do it again tomorrow. And we will do it against before we go up to Michigan State. Nebraska is one of the louder places, maybe in the country right now, but certainly in our league. They provide a great environment in there.
"I think it will be good for us to go through it. I think we gained a lot going on the road the first time when we played against Louisville. Even though we were in a neutral site, for the young guys, it was their first time away from our home court. We will go through it.
"There is no question that we were handed a gift by playing in two of the toughest road venues in the league right off the bat. So we will treat it as such."
PLAYER QUOTES
On the excitement of heading into conference play...
Yogi Ferrell: "I'm looking forward to getting into conference play. We have to play with an edge, turn the noise off and give it our best shot. We just want to go out there and play like we've been playing all year."
James Blackmon, Jr.: "We feel like we have a lot to prove to everybody so we're going to go out there and do that. Every game is going to be a big game and we just know we're going to have to bring our best every game. Just controlling what we can, doing what we do best and like he said, we know what we can do as a team so it's just a matter of going out and proving it.""
"We're going to listen to the coaches, get into practice, doing everything we got to do. I think we just listen to the game plan of each game that the coaches gives us so we can win."
On what it was like for Ferrell to have players to look up to in previous seasons of Big Ten play, and if he's ready to do that for the newer players...
Ferrell:"Guys like Vic and Cody, they especially had my back every game I felt like. When I go out there and make a mistake, they say `it's alright, get the next one.' So I think that's the main thing. As young guys - myself, I made mistakes - the main thing is just getting on to the next play.
On if playing Louisville in New York earlier in the season helped Blackmon against Georgetown:
Blackmon:"Yeah, definitely the Louisville game helped me. I just felt like I had to relax a lot more because I felt like I've played in a lot of big games throughout my career so it was just a matter of relaxing and just playing my game, just going out and playing to the game plan."
More on Nebraska:
Ferrell: "We both have guys who can perform at a high level. They're experienced, well coached and they play well at home. We have to be at our best."
Blackmon: "It really starts on defense for us. The more stops we get, the better our offense performs. We have to keep their crowd out of the game and communicate."
