Indiana University Athletics
Tom Crean Previews Matchup at Illinois
1/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 17, 2015
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BLOMINGTON, Ind. - Read what head coach Tom Crean had to say as he previewed Sunday's game at Illinois (1 p.m.; Big Ten Network).
On Illinois:
“Well, they’re a dangerous, dangerous team because they have tremendous quickness and speed combined with the ability to not only being able to get to the rim but with shooting three’s. They’ve got numerous guys that can get 15-20 on any given night and so it’s not about the balance of the stat sheet, it’s about the balance of their team.
“And they’ve had different guys step up and make plays at different times in games because everybody can make a play. I think they’ve responded really well to the loss of (Rayvonte) Rice, who’s one of the better players in our league without question. But because of the fact that they have so many guys with versatility to get to the basket and to shoot the three--not to mention one of the more mobile players, I wouldn’t even call him a center, he’s a big-- one of the most mobile, forward big men in our league in (Nnanna) Egwu.
“The things he can do--he creates all kinds of issues because of what he can do--protecting the rim because of how he can guard ball screens. They can trap with him, they can back him off, he can shoot, they can run spacing action for him to catch the ball on the 3-point line. He’s incredibly dangerous from 17 to 19 feet and he posts and they’ve got some depth.
“So I think their team is really good and I think everybody knew they would be good and they’re playing with a lot of confidence right now. I thought the way they played against Northwestern was just a great example of how much speed and quickness they have with the skill. No question going into that environment is one of the toughest environments in our league, and certainly it’s always a big game when Illinois has a home game but they’re always well aware of when Indiana is coming to town. We’ve got to respond to the challenge of taking care of the ball, of getting back on defense and making sure we’re challenging shots and blocking out and at the same time making the game as simple for ourselves as we can.
“They go zone on misses a lot, they go man on makes, they can press--really, it’s like getting ready for Louisville. You spend so much time worrying about what they’re in, well that plays to their advantage. You just got to come down and play and have a lot of multi-dimensional stuff you can get to and just keep your spacing and your ball movement where it needs to be.”
On challenging the guards to rebound without Hanner:
“Well, that’s the million dollar-plus question with our team right now, because we don’t have that great rim protection. At the same time, teams pick different ways they want to get there. But keeping the ball in front of us--early help with early recoveries and certainly not getting away from the fact that the more penetration makes us rotate, the more open three’s get taken.
“In this league, percentages are misleading too--when guys get open looks, they’re bound to make them. We have to really make sure we’re giving early help and not getting caught up in over-helping. They sound the same but they’re two entirely different concepts.
“I think along with the fact that--we’ll figure out early if they really want to attack the post. They’ve got a lot of different-- I would call Malcolm Hill a wing-- they’re a four guard/ four wing offense a lot of times. They have different strengths, personnel-wise, that we have to make sure we have a couple of those things down in that we know what’s going to happen when guys get the ball in certain places. No question we have to do a really, really good job at keeping our chest in front of the ball, knowing the personnel, giving early help like I said and challenging the shot and blocking out.”
On if Stan can have an impact off the bench:
Yeah, absolutely. I mean everyone has to. The challenge is for really everyday--yesterday it was much more isolated and two on two, three on three, things like that for guys to really keep picking up their ability to defend the proper way. A big thing for us right now is not only staying down in that stance, which we’re doing a better job of, is the recovery and staying lower. We really have to work on staying lower because it’s like pad level in football. As the game goes on, the higher you’re up and the lower the opponent is or that pad level is, that’s why they always talk about it. It makes so much sense and I’ve used that before--we don’t have any football players out there but you have to stay low. The harder it gets, the lower you have to be. That’s why it’s a demanding game and that’s why it’s defense.
“That for us, when we see the film, creates so many situations. We get up--we’re in a stance-- but our heads over our body. We’re not bent at the knees, we’re bent at the waist. Those type of things we’ve got to keep correcting those constantly and avoid that slippage as much as possible in the game.”
On the young guys taking film study and applying it to the court:
“I think they’re doing a good job. I think they’re learning a lot about that and it’s building confidence. You see confidence come up in many ways. If you’re just waiting to have really good games and have scoring be there, then your confidence is going to be fleeting--it doesn’t matter who you are.
“Your confidence has to come from what you’re doing on the defensive end, what you’re bringing to impact the game like we always talked about and how much you know. Preparation leads to confidence and so the more you know about an opponent, the more you know about an individual in the game, and because we switch so much and play zone, it’s not just about your matchup. It’s never really about just your matchup, it’s about them and what are their strengths.
“Like we told the team, we could get ready for 50-60 different things in this game with Illinois and we can’t. You’ve got to get ready for their concepts. The concepts--the more they can pick those up off of film, the more they can pick up what this means and what that means, then the better they’ll be, the more confidence they’ll have because you want them to play as free as they can possibly play inside of the game.”
On what Illinois is doing differently without Rayvonte Rice:
“I would say this - in the last five minutes of the last two games against Northwestern and Maryland, Ahmad Starks and Malcolm Hill took 12 of the team’s 16 shots. Rice would have been taking some of those shots. It’s not as much what’s going on during the game because you have to be prepared for the end of the game.
“With that being said, Aaron Cosby is coming off his career high. There is no question that Tate is a very dangerous guard. Malcolm Hill is scoring from the mid-range and from the 3-point line; he is screening; he is really a great example of multi-dimensional, multi-purpose player and is turning into a lot of points. He is doing a really good job of getting people open and impacting the game with more than just his scoring.
“Kendrick Nunn is very good at creating offense. He is extremely good when you let him get to his left hand on the right side of the court and those types of things.
“I think it is just at the end of the game (where there are differences). Their ball is moving and they have a lot of guys that can make plays, they space the court very well and they run very well. Our transition defense along with being able to challenge shots and then get the defensive rebound will be key. But one thing hasn’t changed and that’s that they are shooting free throws at a tremendous rate. I think they are shooting 82 percent in Big Ten games and they are third in the country overall. Their defensive rebounding percentage is tremendous. So when you have the ability to get out and go on your break and have something happen when you attack the rim - either getting to the foul line or making points - that is dangerous. So we have to be great at the beginning and great at the end of the possessions as much as possible.
“I don’t know that much has changed with Rice not being out there other than the fact that it’s just another guy that is a bona fide shot maker.”
On Jeremiah April’s potential impact on the team with Hanner out:
“We will see. He is working at it. There will be a time and a place. But, really, it is just a matter of us having even better ball movement. We are not a team that is going to slow it down and throw it in the post because you aren’t going to be able to create the post double team right now. We are really weren’t getting the post double team anyway.
“His impact would have to come on the rebounding side and defensive abilities. It is coming. But Emmitt Holt is getting better. Collin (Hartman) and Max (Hoetzel) - Max is somebody that is definitely going to be somebody to provide more for us at different spots. Collin already is. Ryan (Burton) did the other night and hopefully we continue to build on that. So it is not as much about the size, it’s more about the activity. If Jeremiah can come in with that size and bring some activity and create some positive plays, then there will be an opportunity for him.”
On what makes James Blackmon an effective rebounder as a guard:
“I think he has a nose for the ball. And our job is to make sure that he has that nose open and to remind him to go get it. It is like Yogi when Yogi was a freshman - every time Yogi got a defensive rebound, we converted at an incredible rate on the break because he started the offense. When James gets offensive and defensive boards, really good things happen. He just has to be committed to going (to rebound) all of the time and deal with the block out by the defense. But he is long and he has some real good quickness to get to hit.
“For us, we have to rebound the ball. We can’t let our spacing dictate who goes to the backboards. Everybody has to go unless you are the guy that is back. And we spend a lot of time on those rotations. We have already had some weaknesses with this and we haven’t been as consistent. We haven’t been as consistent at our rebounding on the offensive end. Our block outs have been decent on the defensive end - we haven’t always gotten the ball and that’s why we have had some of the poorer margins. But the Michigan State game was really the worst of the games since Louisville. At that point, we were out-rebounding teams a pretty good rate. But we have to continue to improve the offensive rebounding. That’s not just for this game; it has to be everyday and every game.
“You just have to keep coming and coming and coming. We shoot 3’s like others do, so the more spacing you have - you can’t have guys just standing there because they really are in no-mans land. You have to be coming through to the glass and then getting back. If you are in a certain area, then you are back, but you have to sellout and go to the glass.
“When James, Nick, Stan and Troy - people who are constantly moving in our offense - do that, we are a better team. That is how we have to play. James can continue to do that at an even higher rate. We have to steal possessions as well as find all these different ways to get to the foul line.”
On Devin Davis’ update:
“He’s here with us. We should be able to have an update next week. We have had a lot of meetings and things like that since he has been back. He is with us every day in practice. This is going to be his first road trip with us. Those all become doctor’s decisions. It is Dr. Larry Rink and our athletic trainer Tim Garl that are in touch with the doctors that are working with Devin.
“We used to keep his practice jersey and shorts on a chair every day at practice. And now he is wearing them. I give him assignments in practice and I give him certain things that I want him to watch in practice and certain areas that he does it from. Today he was casually passing the ball, but they weren’t game-like passes. He has shot a little bit in some of our drills. But it hasn’t been very much.
“I think it is a situation where his attitude is great. He feels like he is doing really well. He feels as though he has recovered at a really high rate, but we have to keep trusting the plan and trusting the doctors, constantly, on what that means. I like the fact that he is hungry, but we also have to remain patient because we are all dealing with something that we have never dealt with before to this level. We really, really have to trust the doctors plan as we go through it. There is a long-term plan. His attitude is fantastic. It is great to have him around.
“Hanner is staying engaged. I knew that when Hanner went down, we would miss his presence with our team; He is just a different person since the Louisville game. And I know that it hasn’t always carried over to his play (on the court) but it did carry over to what we saw in practice. And he has certainly had some really good moments in games. A lot of that confidence they get comes from that energy and that talk and being able to give points.
“And the reason I say that is because that’s what we need Devin to do; to be able to keep learning the game and transfer those types of things to his teammates. So he is constantly engaged with the team, not just being with the team, but being an active part with the team even if he isn’t an active part of the team when they get out there and play. I think every week or so, we will be able to assess his progress and see if there is more that he can do.
“The most important thing is to get him back acclimated to being away from home and having the responsibilities that he has as a student and a member of the team. But also knowing that he is doing a lot of other things to get him healthy that the average basketball player or student-athlete or student is not doing. We really have to keep our focus heavily on that as well.”
