Indiana University Athletics
Talking About Purdue
2/14/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2014
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana head coach Tom Crean met with the media via teleconference on Friday morning to preview Saturday's game at Purdue. The game starts at 4 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPN.
Here's a transcript of what Coach Crean had to say:
On what challenges Purdue presents:
"They are very good. They rebound the ball extremely well and they play very hard. They get very good inside and outside scoring. They have a tremendously talented inside player in A.J. Hammons. They have veterans guard, they have speed, and they have the shooting ability. You know that you are going to get 40 minutes of incredible hard-nosed competitiveness from them. They bring a lot of issues to the table, which they always do and you have to go in there and play very hard and be very competitive. We have to play smart and be aggressive with the ball and be strong with the ball. There are a lot of things you have to be on top of your game with."
On what he saw watching the Penn State film:
"We just needed to make the simple plays. Hit the open man when he is open. Make the simple play. We could have screened a little bit better, but more importantly we could have rolled back off of ours screens. We missed some open people. We also did a lot of really good things in the game, but the bottom line is, win or lose, you can always get better in every area and that is exactly what we are trying to do."
On how the team handled the loss to Penn State and last couple days:
"I think they are totally focused on improving. They were disappointed certainly, but the bottom line is you have to move on through your disappointment and get right back on top of your game and learn from it, make the adjustments and corrections and work hard on the fundamentals and move forward. That is exactly how the program is run and that is exactly how it has been run and that is the attitude they take and they know we have another tough task in front of us with Purdue."
On Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell, being a lead guard and improvements in shooting:
"A lead guard is someone who is going to play at a very high level no matter if they are playing well or not. That means that playing at a high level is not just about your shooting or your statistics, it's about how you run the team. Are you keeping the team moving in a good way, are you setting the tone defensively, do they look at you as the calm in the eye of a storm, so to speak. That is what being a lead guard is. It is not just about what the statistics look like at the end of the night. It is did you impact winning on both ends of the court, not just with your play, but with what you are demanding from your teammates.
"His shooting has improved because he works very hard at it and his footwork and follow-through are very good. He can score off the dribble, he can score off the catch, he can get to the rim, and he is a tremendous foul shooter. It becomes important for him to not be in a pre-determined mindset when he has the ball, he is taking what the defense gives him for himself or his teammates."
On what makes A.J. Hammons such a tough player:
"He is very good, we spent a lot of time preparing for him. He's got good feet, can go over either shoulder, nice touch, uses his size well and is in great shape. Those are the things that we see."
On what Coach likes about what the team is doing well and what they can do better:
"There are so many things we just need to keep improving on. We need to continue to build on our strengths and improve our weakness and stay true to what were doing."
On what specifically their doing well: "I think were getting better, we are doing a lot of good things at a pretty good pace, and were more focused on how we can do those things better and how we can improve."
On Basketball Rivalries and scheduling:
"I think rivalry games are great, but any coach who has an opinion what the schedule makers are going to with the Big Ten are not looking at it with a clear point of view. The Big Ten will do what the Big Ten wants to do and do. I support your question, absolutely. This is our sixth trip to West Lafayette and they have made four trips here and of course you would like to have that because it's good for everyone because there is a lot of interest in it. But to sit here and lobby for it is not in my interest and I will leave it up to somebody else to do that. It all comes down to how the Big Ten decides to schedule games."
On Purdue's Ronnie Johnson:
"He's got tremendous speed, quickness, athleticism, and gets to the rim better and he's shooting the ball better, and gets up into you defensively. He's a winner and an outstanding player, no doubt."
On playing a rivalry game after a tough loss:
"I think the bottom line is you got to be ready for anybody, if it's Purdue, it's Purdue. That's one of the bigger games when you're at Indiana and when you're at Purdue, that's the bottom line. The fact of the matter is that you turn right back around and get ready to go the next day for no matter who is on your schedule, and its all about what level of improvement you can get in that time. Mentally, physically, emotionally, the whole thing is you get ready for the next game but you get ready to make yourself better."
