Indiana University Athletics
Tom Crean Previews Matchup vs. Minnesota
2/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BLOMINGTON, Ind. - Read what head coach Tom Crean had to say as he previewed Sunsday's game vs. Minnesota (7:30 p.m.; BTN).
Opening Statement:
In regards to Minnesota, I think the biggest thing for us in this game is going to be recognition; recognition of when to attack, press, recognition of when to swing it and make them guard, recognition of their defenses and really stay fundamental with moving the ball and really good screening and cutting. Defensively we are going to have to do a great job. They have multiple scorers. Going into Iowa City and winning like that especially with the way Iowa has been playing, it was a great win.
Minnesota has won five of their last seven games so they are playing extremely well. Hollins is shooting 58% from three in the last five games so he's playing at a high level. But again like all the other teams in this league, they are far more than a one or two person team. We will have to do a tremendous job of defending the post, their wing players, the quickness in the back court which they sometimes use to screen and a lot of times they refuse the screen, we have great awareness there.
Bottom line is you just cannot allow a guy like Hollins to just play with great freedom in the game. We're looking forward to it. We need a lot of energy in the building. I think it's the only Sunday night game we've had all year. We've had Sunday games but the only Sunday night game, we should have tremendous energy in there.
Some former players will be back. I just saw Christian Watford upstairs. Cody I believe is going to be back and Victor depends on what happens with the dunk contest, it looks like he could be back here tomorrow night. Love that when those guys are around. Bottom line is we just want to get out and compete again and build on our practices and go against a very good team.
On pressure Minnesota puts on compared to Louisville:
I haven't watched Louisville really since we played them early December, so I don't know what their pressure looks like right now. But as far as the history of it, I would say sure because they switch, they can man-press, zone-press, they can be on the ball and off the ball. They can fall off the zone and fall back man to man. They can match up when the ball comes to the middle which is something Rick Sr. does a lot. I'm sure there are similarities but we're really focused on how we want to attack them and what their personnel is like. But like I said, the key is recognition. When to attack, when not to settle - I mean you never want to settle - but when not to take the first shot off of the attack and make them play defense and make a move to get everybody involved defensively. It's just a matter of play, it's not a secret science out there. It just comes down to good recognition.
On guarding Hollins:
Multiple ways to score makes him tough to guard. He does a good job of using screens right now and he's doing a great job of setting screens and they do an incredible job of moving him around. They get him shots early, they get him shots late in the clock and in the middle. He's got a tremendous step-back and he's had that for a long time.
They are one of the older teams and they're in the top 50 of experience in the country. They have a lot of guys that have been through it, numerous guys, and certainly he has. The ability to read defenses, recognition, getting to the foul line, tremendous three-point shooter (can shoot it from the wings, top and the corners), and he can get his own shots. He knows he's really using screens well and he knows he can get his own shots when things break down.
On next steps for Hanner:
Just get ready to play against Minnesota. I thought he made really good improvements in the week.From a guy we didn't know until last Sunday was going to play. I thought he did some really, really important things for us on Wednesday night at Maryland. Played with really good confidence and it's just a matter of that. Keep letting the game come to him and refine his moves around the basket.
We weren't really able to do any of those types of things in his recovery. It wasn't like we spent a lot of time working him out in the sense of breaking down offense and things of that nature. For a long time, he shot free throws and rehabbed and all of a sudden we were able to get him back into the action and then didn't go full court like I said until really the day before the game. It's just a matter of that, playing him and getting him ready those types of things.
How important was it to see Hanner play the way he did against Maryland?
Absolutely. Very good. He played smart, he played hard, he was competitive, he got in position to defend and draw charges and we were doing some different things defensively in the game that he did not have the chance to do before. He picked that up well as far as when we're in a combination he knows where he needs to be. He's not just guarding his man or guarding an area. It was a combination of things for him and he did a really good job of that. And he had great intensity that night. He just needs to build on that.
How would you assess the performance against Maryland?
I liked a lot of it. I'm so far into Minnesota now. We executed well. Some things we didn't do as well and we just want to keep getting better at those things in practice.
What has Jordan Fuchs showed you in practice?
Jordan Fuchs has showed tremendous athleticism, competitiveness, toughness. He's got very, very good second and third reaction and short space quickness which is huge. It's really easy to see why he is a very good football play and it's easy to see why he has had success on the basketball court too.
Not only does he give that second and third effort but he gives that second and third reaction and they're two different things. A lot of guys want to give effort. They get beat and they want to give the effort but he's got the quickness and speed to do something about it. And he picks things up very fast. You can tell he has been well coached in basketball. There's no question about that. He has really good basketball instincts.
I've never seen him practice in football but I've got to believe that he picks things up pretty fast over there too and he's a quick learner on those types of things. Two different sports obviously. But I've been impressed with his attitude. He's brought competitiveness to practice. He goes to glass. He listens and we are excited to have him.
What are the realistic goals for Jordan Fuchs?
I don't have one. We wouldn't have brought him over if we didn't believe that he could help us. Like we said in the release, we would've done it probably earlier if there hadn't been not the injury that he had and then making sure he got all the way back from that. You never know. I'm not being evasive. I don't know. We didn't just bring him over to practice and we didn't bring him over with a timeline. We brought him over to help us.
