Indiana University Athletics
Tom Crean Talks About Opener Against Laval
8/9/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Read the Recap and Player Quotes
Montreal, Canada - Indiana University men's basketball coach Tom Crean talks about the Hoosiers 110-70 win over Laval, Friday night.Opening Statement
"A couple things, I thought our defense got significantly better in the game. Our deflections were high in the first quarter but getting up and making it tough to get looks was not our strength, but it got a lot better and I thought our guys responded to change in defenses well and that was good in the first half for us. I like the fact that in the game we had 20 deflections in the first quarter, we had seven in the second, then we turned around and had 20 and 19 in the last two quarters, which is very good activity. I think some of that's because we were bringing pressure to the game, we were bringing fatigue to the game, but we stayed with our ability to constantly run. What I've been trying to get across to these guys is that the harder we run, the more we run for layups - and if it's not there, get to the corners - the better our offense is going to be. We knew it was going to happen, it's going to continue to happen all throughout the year - you have to guard the corners this year. You had to guard them the couple years we had the 50-plus wins and with those teams you had to guard the corners every game. You didn't have to guard the corners last year for 3's, you had to guard for back-cuts, now you have to guard it for everything. That just increases our ability to do so many different things on offense."
"No question about it, our defense in the second quarter got the offense going. The ball moved well throughout the entire game. Our turnovers were still a little high, but our turnovers-forced was extremely high. Last year we were very low in forcing turnovers, and very high in the turnovers. I say that not to bring up last year, I say that to say those are areas we have to continue to improve upon with what's going to be a young team all year. But, if we can create turnovers, and with the way we're moving the ball, with the way we have guys that you have to guard and space, and again, if we can play at this pace over a period of time, we certainly enjoyed that 24 -second clock. But, for us to take steps of understanding - we're not going to get it measured and figured out here - but at least we can get more of an understanding of it. We have got to be a very good rebounding team. We had one player in Noah Vonleh that got 27 percent-plus of defensive rebounds when he was in the game. There was only one other guy in the country that I know of that did that and that was Joel Embiid. The bottom line is, like I said to them, of all the teams I've coached, this is going to be the one where everybody has got to be a part of the rebounding game, because we're to be small at times - maybe a lot of times - we have to be fast, we have to be aggressive, we have to be physical in the block outs and we've got to get excited about rebounds on both ends. I thought it got better from the second quarter on today, so that's the general view."
On Yogi Ferrell leading the team on the court
"Absolutely. He's a third-year player that's very comfortable. He does a lot of things for us at practice. I was talking to the referee to get clarification early on the travel call, and he's sitting right there running the huddle. That's what we do, he's done that since his freshman year. I'll give him the huddle and he took it right there to get his team settled in and I love that. That's what you want, you want a team of collective leadership, but they have to be able to look to somebody that's been through it and he has to understand that they need him constantly. We've got some very confident young men in the program and, at the same time, we have respectful ones and they respect what he's done, and he respects them. I think that's what's going to make this team continue to be cohesive as we move through the season. There's a high respect level for each other's talents, and that's already been shown. Now, building a bond and a chemistry and all that takes time, but the respect level is crucial. I think Yogi's got a lot to do with that on both ends."
On the offense playing more through Troy Williams during the game
"Playing through', I don't know if I would use that term on anybody right now. I'll look and what our number of passes were compared to the other team when we get back, but everybody did. Everybody in the game - everybody - was a product of very good ball movement. That's the way we have to be. The bottom line is: you want a team of playmakers. A team of playmakers are ones that make plays for others and that's where Troy can continue to make strides. There's no question he's improving, no question he's improved to this point, it's just a continuance of really understanding what it takes. It's like I said to players today, you can't go in to the game as scientists, the players are not scientists. Scientists love to experiment, practice is for experimentation, not the games. In the games we have to go with what's working and in our program - to a high degree - we practice to their potential. It's never a situation where we talk about what they can't do or what they have to do better, then don't work on it. At the same time, we're always looking for things to stretch their game. But when we get into the game, more than ever with a young team, we've got to do a very good job of playing to our strengths in the game and I thought Troy did a good job of that."
On which of the newcomers left an impression
"They all did, they all did. I wouldn't differentiate; they all did at certain points. Some key highlights would be Robert (Johnson) being such a defensive stalwart in the second quarter, he made some key, key defensive plays - and had a good stretch in the third quarter. I thought James (Blackmon Jr.) continue to play and do good things and got even more explosive with the ball as the game went on. Max (Hoetzel) had a tough run at the beginning because he jogged about his fourth trip. That's a non-negotiable for us this year. That's an out. If you're not running hard every possession, we have to sub you. When he went back in, he did a much better job. I think Tim Priller continued to move and understand. I thought Nick Zeisloft went in and played extremely confident. I mean I would have loved to see him try to do even more, but he's a teammate and he's establishing a level of leadership. They already respect him at a high level, so he just went in there and played."
On what he got out of the practices leading up to the game
"Well, it's not what I learn, it's what they absorb. We've been seeing what's in front of us since the spring, literally since we started individuals the week after the season ended and when Spring Break ended. We had some change obviously in the roster and we knew we had the other guys coming in. It was all about how we're getting ready to play and we just really tried to get that across. If there's one thing we haven't done a lot of inside those 10 practices, we certainly haven't over-scrimmaged or anything like that. We've not been overly physical. I would say in a regular season practice, you'd be doing a lot more rebounding drills and block out drills, we haven't done those, to the point where that maybe gave me the most nervousness tonight. But, it is a very long season so you have to have a lot of variations and, at the same time, how do you get to the fundamental part of it? How do you understand the spacing, which is something we want to continue to work on? How do understand all the different defensive concepts? We've used a lot of that time to build a base and then to add to defensive concepts - how we would play screen-to-screen or how we would play this pick and roll set, that pick and roll set. We probably worked on two things that this team did this morning. We spent most of the time working on things that we'll see over a period of time so we're really taking it as a real head start to getting your formula in to how you guard, how you run and how you play on offense. Then make adjustments inside of the game. That's the reason I was calling timeouts late, we wanted to get something done at the end with that group. We haven't tried to overly bring fatigue to the practices. We've tried to bring a big mental part to it. We're dong a lot of mirror drills and things of that nature that may be saving on their bodies, but pushing their minds a little bit and, at the same time, try to compete where we can. Practices have been great and we're trying to get a lot out of it every day here as well."
On how Troy Williams' physical changes can help him
"I think that will continue to grow, he's done a fantastic job since he's been at Indiana of changing his body. Again, he was the biggest player on the floor for us when we started the game and that's just the way that it is. Of all the teams we've had at Indiana, this might be the most position-less team. Obviously Hanner (Mosquera-Perea)'s not here, but Hanner's really improved defensively. Every game that Hanner doesn't get here, sets him back but it can't set us back. He's had the practices, he's done everything with us, this just came up last week. You wish that he was out there getting a chance to play these extended minutes and things of that nature, but he's not so it opens it up for somebody else. I think Troy is a product of that tonight. Troy played numerous spots offensively and defensively. I thought he did a pretty good job and got better as the game went on. That's the endurance and conditioning part of that process for him."
On the importance of James Blackmon Jr. and Robert Johnson's production
"I think that will be big, I think the deflections part will be big, I think the activity part, I think the rebounding part is going to be very big. I've coached three-guard lineups before that rebounded the ball tremendously. Tonight we basically had five guards out there when you start counting Troy with the starting lineup. Those guys are a big part. They don't have to grow, they probably won't, but they do have to continue to expand their games. I think they will, I think they know that, they both have high goals as players for the future. I also think they know they're learning a lot, they're gaining a lot. They're still fully in a thinking process at times right now. I'm yelling some of the fundamental things about pushing the ball out, get your eyes up, things that will become second nature to them over a period of time, they just aren't there yet. To answer your question, there's no doubt they're going to have to be - they're fully capable, I shouldn't say `they have to be', they're fully capable of being guys who can do numerous things for us and will be known for a lot more than just shooting, driving, offense, things of that nature. No question about it."
On how Jeremiah April will help the team this year
"It's too early to tell, it's August. He can pass the ball, his footwork is getting better, he's definitely been getting better inside the practices. There's no question every game a guy like that misses out here, even for a freshman - Tim (Priller) had to go out there and actually go against quickness and speed and got down and got better defensively with the challenge to play at the rim. That would be the same thing for Jeremiah. He can really pass the ball for that size, and he has a really soft touch. How that parlays into him being able to play through the contact, the spacing and things like that, we'll see. But he was really having a good couple of days before he got hurt over the weekend."
On how the 24 second shot clock helped with the pace
"Some of the things we've been doing at practice in the half court, we starting at 19 seconds and I doubt there were many times tonight we started at 19, though they did a good job of pressuring us, taking us out of it a little bit. To validate their score, they have to turn right back around and it's a shot clock situation of 6,7,8,9,10 and they've got to respond. We're not just going to take the shot with the guy with the ball, we have to get it reversed. In 10 seconds, we have to get it reversed twice, 8 seconds we have to get it reversed once. Eventually we'll be able to dictate tempo back home with our defense more this year. Right now, we're trying to get the base of our defense. Our man, our zone, our combination defenses, things of that nature right now. Some full-court pressure. Really what we're trying to get the team to understand - and the 24 second clock helps a lot with this - is the depth of the team is going to come down to who goes into the game and impacts winning. When we can bring fatigue to the game, can we sub and bring more fatigue to the game, or do we sub and bring the team more energy because we gave them more opportunities, gave them more easy baskets, gave them a chance to catch their breath. We weren't good at that last year, we didn't bring fatigue to the game enough. We didn't have enough differentiators last year. We had some guys who were more concerned about the offensive part of it than bringing it to the defensive end of it, which created the energy, which created the fatigue. This game got going tonight because we defended. That's when our pullaway began, we came down and got good shots." You learn from it and you say, `Okay, this is how we're going to get this to a playing group.' I've said it before, there's no question we subbed a lot last year - too much - because we were looking for some type of consistency and most times it didn't come. We still won 17 games, still won some big games, still won ranked games, we had eight games go down to one possession and we were 2-6 in those games. But, we didn't bring enough, we get them down, we get them tired, let's go pounce on them. That's what we have to learn how to do. Will we be good at that? I don't know, but we're sure working on that now."
