Indiana University Athletics
Tom Crean Previews Game at Purdue
1/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 27, 2015
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BLOMINGTON, Ind. - Read what head coach Tom Crean had to say as he previewed Wednesday's game at Purdue (9:00 p.m.; BTN).
On the size of the Purdue team:
"Oh, there is no question (they have size) but it's more than their size. It's that they have a great length at all the positions really, especially with the starting lineup. Octeus is long, I don't know what his wing span is but he looks very long, very active. He's a tremendous guard and can do a lot of different things. The way he scores, he's a little like what Darius Morris was in this league a few years back. Maybe not quite as big but with that speed, that downhill speed, that's incredible and it makes their team better in so many areas. He's long and certainly their perimeter guys are so no doubt about it, their length, their size, their ability to play inside, those are all really big challenges for us; and there are not many games that we don't have that challenge to deal with the size, but this one certainly because of A.J. Hammons and Isaac Haas is a big one and they shoot the ball well and we're not getting ready to prepare for those guys off of percentages and we're getting ready to prepare for those guys off of what we think they can do and what they have done. It'd be like a team getting ready for us after the first couple of games looking at our percentages thinking "well, maybe they don't shoot so well." No we can shoot pretty good, and so can Purdue. The bottom line is, there really is not much help you can get because pretty much everybody who's put on the floor can make plays."
On quickness vs. size:
"I don't know about that (if quickness can beat size), they are really big. We're going to find out because as I said before, we're not going to get a lot bigger in a short period of time so we'll find out, it will be a fun game for people to watch and hopefully it will be an exciting game for the players to be a part of and I'm looking forward to it myself. I think they pose a lot of challenges and they always do, but no matter if they're big, no matter if they're small, no matter if they're old, no matter if they're young, they always set a standard for how hard they play and how competitive they are and I think he is an outstanding coach, Matt, and his staff. They do a great job year in and year out of winning the hustle game and you have to match that intensity as much as anything you prepare for when it comes to the X's and O's or it comes to the personnel."
On top defensive player Rapheal Davis:
"Well I think that they have quite a few defensive players, I'm not sure any of us are looking forward to dealing with Jon Octeus, I mean he can really guard as well. Certainly the pose problems in the lane because of that size and length and they cover a lot of ground. They're like most good teams, they give good help on defense and they're longer than I think people realize and it certainly, when you're putting Raphael Davis and you've got Vince Edwards in there, and Stephens is a longer young man and shooting the ball extremely well, they're very aggressive so they cover a lot of ground. They're good all the way around."
On practicing height:
"Oh, we don't. I mean, what are we going to do, you know? I mean, unless Alan Henderson or Haris Mujezinovic lives in the area, Kent Benson, we could bring him down. I see Todd Lindemen when I drop my daughter off at St. Charles. I'm not sure they'd want to come over but that'd be about the extent of it. We deal with that all the time so we make do."
On Purdue playing size as a strength:
"I don't know, I really don't know. I think what you do is you prepare your game plan for everything. Certainly it's not a long week to prepare on the court so you prepare them on the court for what we definitely want to do. You try to show film but you have that plan for them to make adjustments and you know that it's certainly a possibility. I mean, you have to seven-footers like that and that kind of ability, certainly it's a possibility that he could put them on the floor together that way. It's a possibility they could play man-to-man, they could switch, they could play zone, they could do a lot of different things so you just have to have a plan and you try to teach it the best you can to these guys and hope they absorb it the best they can. No matter what they do, you don't let any panic or mental fatigue come into it, you just deal with it and hope that your spacing and ball movement and defensive transition and willingness to be inside the lane to rebound the ball and be physical with contact and things of that nature. I think we're going to see them at a very high rate on the glass, we're going to have to match that. It's not as much about the size, that's a great story line because they have it and we don't but the bottom line is they play really really hard and we're going to have to match that."
On Robert Johnson update:
"No, I think he's getting better, I don't think there's any doubt about that so we'll see when we practice. We'll see how he does but there is no reason to anticipate that he won't be available right now but on what level I don't know, it's far too early to tell and that might not be until closer to tomorrow."
On the Ohio State game:
"I pretty much saw the game. I pretty much saw it on film the way I saw the game. We certainly could have played better and when we made the game simple and when we moved the ball and stayed true to what we wanted to do on offense we got really good looks. When we complicated it by over-penetrating or trying to make plays that weren't there, they got easy looks because we turned it over and we weren't as connected defensively. We weren't as connected as we needed to be against a team like that and we never had anybody absolutely get up and say "Dangelo Russell, we're going to stop him from making the plays that he's making." That's part of it and we've got to get ourselves ready to go do it again."
