Indiana University Athletics
Tom Crean Previews Matchup at No. 19 Maryland
2/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2015
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BLOMINGTON, Ind. - Read what head coach Tom Crean had to say as he previewed Wednesday's game at No. 19 Maryland (9:00 p.m.; BTN).
Opening statement on Maryland:
“I think Maryland provides us with a ton of challenges, and they’re playing extremely well at home and they’re coming off of a tough loss. They have tremendous spacing, ball movement, there’s no question that their ability to get fouled and make free throws is one of their great strengths. They’re a tremendous running team. The spacing and the ability to shoot threes is outstanding.
“The biggest thing is not only the way that they drive it to get those shots, but the way that they post it. And they post extremely well. Dez Wells obviously is a tremendous post-up player, driver, facilitator, and at the same time, is a fifty percent three-point shooter I believe in this league.
“Jake Layman posts and all of the players that play their five position (can post up). We’re going to see the same type of challenges that we see with an ability for a team to be able to play inside.
“This is one of the better shooting teams in the country as well. Not to mention one of the better transition teams. We have to do a great job defensively; and offensively we cannot come down and settle, we cannot come down and play into their hands of help defense. We have to make the ball move.
“Will we shoot it again like we did here a couple weeks ago? That remains to be seen. We have to move the ball to have a chance to beat this team the way that we played a couple of weeks ago. That’s going to be extremely, extremely important that we do not get into a situation where we’re giving them a lot of run-out baskets on turnovers. We don’t want to play slow, but we certainly don’t want to be a team that’s in a hurry and trying to make something happen that’s not there.
“Looking forward to seeing greater maturity on the road for us. We’ve had it at times, certainly with Nebraska and Illinois and we’ve had it inside other games, but you can’t go on the road and have lulls and pit stops in your game where you’re giving up baskets and you’re not making them. We’ve got to understand that our ability to build runs starts with our ability to defend and take care of the ball. That’s what we’re getting ready to do over the next little bit before we leave for Maryland.”
On recently playing Maryland and being familiar with their personnel:
“I think it helps both teams. They’ve got the edge right now because we beat them here and we beat them soundly. They’ve been looking forward to this game since they met with the media after the game.
“There’s no question that it does (help) on both parts. They’ll make adjustments. We’ll make adjustments. The bottom line is we’ve got to play a certain way. We had ten turnovers in that game. A couple of them were in the first half and they just weren’t smart at all. Those are the ones that really hurt you. We had some against Michigan. We’ve got to have a better value of spacing and really utilizing the spacing. Not just be there and not hit those people but be there and not try to.
“We get going too fast sometimes, and I like that we’re playing fast, but we can’t go so fast that we miss the open spot, that we miss the open man, that we don’t make the pass ahead. We’re so conscious of trying to get to the foul line because it’s so important because we don’t have that post up game that that’s where it’s a risk-reward type of thing. Sometimes it might look like we’re a little out of control, but if we don’t get to the free-throw line enough.
“We are a 73 or 74 percent free-throw shooting team so we’re going to want to get to the free-throw line. But if we don’t get to the free-throw line enough, we’re not going to win games. We don’t have a post up situation that just demands that. We’ve got to get to the rim. But we’ve got to also keep building our decision making as we’re doing that.”
On Hanner getting into shape while coming back from his injury:
“I think the shape will be ongoing, it’s getting into the rhythm a little bit. We did a lot of things with him yesterday in the half court to help. It’s just a matter of him getting used to it again. The conditioning will come. I’m not sure what the minutes limit is for this game. I’ll know more tomorrow. That becomes a day-to-day thing with Tim (Garl) and the doctors. We’ll see what that is tomorrow.
“We really didn’t do much as a team yesterday. We broke the day up pretty good for them in the afternoon, but we were able to be specific with him on a couple of things, which was good for him. We’ll just see. We’ve gained some confidence since he’s been out, in the sense of how we can play. There are still things that we miss that he really does. Not just defensively, but offensively. It’s just a matter of him coming in and the biggest thing is to come and get adjusted.
“If he can avoid those quick fouls, then we can play him. That was one of the issues before he got hurt. That’s the part of it, so it’s not even about sustainable minutes or quantity but more about the quality of the minutes, where there’s not the fouls. Just kind of get back in the rhythm of that, but at the same time be a presence in pick and roll defense, be a presence the post, be a presence at the rim, be a presence in help defense, run the floor, get people open, get the ball free inside so he can go up and do his jump up, things like that. We’ve just kind of got to wait and see how things turn out.”
On Hanner Mosquera-Perea creating mismatches:
“The one thing he hasn’t been able to in the Big Ten games sustain enough of those quality minutes, he can drive the ball. Is he going to shoot the ball like Collin Hartman? No, that’s not what his roll is. But, he can drive the ball, he’s got to be like everybody else - he has to play with his head up. When he sees an open man, he’s got to hit him. At the same time, we can play through the post in the sense of throwing it into him and he can find some cutters, especially when the head is up. At the same time, he gives us a guy that can play right at the basket with great length that they have to account for. But, it’s the rebounding, it’s the screen and roll. Those are the kind of things that are going to be really important for him.
“Again, it might become somewhat situational for a while because teams have sometimes tried to force us to match up with them and, at times obviously they’ve matched down with us. It just kind of depends on the flow of the game - what’s working well, what they’re doing well. There’s no question we’ve got to defend the low post better, but he has to defend the low post better. He wasn’t defending it real well before he got hurt with the fouls. If we can keep him moving and moving his feet with his length, being in position early, playing with verticality.
“Verticality is a huge, huge thing and it seems to be one of the things they’re really calling. There’s some things I would look at and say ‘I’m not sure this is being called this consistent,’ but verticality seems to be called pretty consistent, so you have to do a great job of getting your hands all the way up, getting them back behind your head. It’s not as much about blocking the shot as it’s altering the shot, being in position early. The other thing about Hanner that’s so good is he’s our leading charge-taker.”
On if Mosquera-Perea could play alongside Hartman in the lineup:
“Sure, absolutely. When Collin’s aggressive, Collin needs to be out on the floor. The games that Collin played at Ohio State, at Purdue - he can’t have those games. He just blended into the woodwork and he’s got to be a bigger part of both offense and defense in the sense of his closeouts, in the sense of his help defense, in the sense of facilitating, driving, being ready to shoot on the road, those types of things. Everybody that’s on the court should be a focal part of the offense. That’s why who scores, who doesn’t score, who the leading scorer is, who’s scoring in the half - none of that really matters with this team if we’re getting really good ball movement and he’s a big part of that. An answer to your question, yes they can play together.”
On if he sees an extra bounce in the step of Troy Williams, Stanford Robinson or Robert Johnson in getting to play near their hometowns on Thursday:
“I don’t know, that’s a good question. I would say Rob because he will have family there. What we did yesterday was really good, we didn’t go as a full team other than for about 30 minutes. So I’m sure we will see some of that today. Yeah, I would think so. We love that area, Indiana University loves that area. It’s the third-largest alumni base when you get outside of Indiana and you break away from Chicago and New York. I mean it’s huge, I think there’s around 11,000 alums just in that area alone. So, it’s a great place for us. Football’s recruiting there - has recruited there, is recruiting there.
“It’s such a bigger base now because of Maryland and Rutgers with Big Ten knowledge. So, I would think so. I haven’t looked at the ticket list yet, I would say that indicate excitement. I don’t know if there’s a bounce in Jayd’s (Grossman) step going through all that, but there will be a bounce in those guys’ steps I’m sure.”
On if early fouls by Mosquera-Perea are a mental thing:
“I think so and Collin’s had a couple of those. The screening is going to be called pretty tight and we all have different views of what tight is, we all have different views of who’s moving screens, who’s not. That’s not relevant. But, the bottom line to the beginning of the game is relevant in that it get’s called. So, you have to really plant your feet, you have to get a wide base, you’ve got to lock the arms.
“A lot of times it is the fault of the ball, the ball has got to wait for the screen, whoever’s got the ball. Those are some of the last reminders we have in practice constantly and at the same time, those are the things we’re working and teaching throughout practice.
“We’ll have referees out there today and we have the referees call it very tight when it comes to hands, when it comes to verticality, when it comes to the screening, things of that nature so we get in that habit. But we still make those mistakes from time-to-time as others do so we have to clean that up. But, that’s what it is more than anything else.”
On the possibility of furthering a series with the University of Louisville:
“Absolutely, I respect Rick (Pitino) a lot. I would say that if we get this series completed, a three-year series, then a series of that magnitude really deserves the respect of an official announcement and it being a big deal, because it would be.
“Are we in the midst of that among other things that we’re doing? Absolutely, we are in the midst of that, and we have been. But there are still too many things that have to be - with the series of that magnitude and the dates that we would potentially play it at and the way that we would play it - a lot of things have to get worked out. So, it’s premature for us to talk about it. Like I said, I hope when that time comes, it’s a big enough deal that it deserves the proper announcement.”
