Indiana University Athletics
Coach Crean Previews Home Game vs. Iowa
3/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 2, 2015
Follow On Social Media: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
BLOMINGTON, Ind. - Read what head coach Tom Crean had to say as he previewed Wednesday's game at Northwestern (7:00 p.m.; BTN).
Opening Statement:
“Well, we’ve had a good few days. We rested on Thursday. Then it’s just really been getting ourselves acclimated with where we need to improve. As usual, it’s constant. You want your improvement to be constant. Whether it’s the skill. Certainly all the things we’ve got to do to get better defensively. The things we’ve got to do to get better in transition. Rebounding. All those things we’ve worked really hard.
“At the same time, we’ve had time to put the Iowa plan in. Our guys are excited to play. It’s the last week of regular season. Two games at home. Final chances this year to play in front of the crowd and the crowd has been fantastic. We’ve got to have incredible energy in this building, starting Tuesday night.
“We’re playing two teams that have been road-tested and won on the road. Starting with Iowa, they play extremely fast. The one thing we’re trying to get across to our players is they are as fast after your made basket as they are after your missed shot. There’s got to be a high level of urgency on getting back, getting matched up, getting to the corners and getting to the rim. They’ve got great runners, great striders. The running ability of guys like Aaron White is just amazing. They just keep getting better. It’s the test of skill. The test of will and the battle for endurance. Not to sound cliché but that’s what it is. You’ve got to have that constantly. That’s what were working towards.
“We have a lot of respect for Iowa, for Coach McCaffrey and their staff. They are playing at an extremely high level. They have a lot of length and size, and they can play multiple defenses. They have a lot of very skilled players. Mike Gesell is one of the better floor generals in the country. He can make shots, his mid-range game is good and he finds people. When they win, he’s getting a high number of assists.
“They space the floor well. They shot the three well. They shoot it really well in transition. So again, you’re not just getting back and getting to the rim, you’re getting back and getting three-point shooters marked. That’s really important.
“But, at the end of the day, it comes down to not only how you transition defense, but do you finish defense with a rebound. That’s where we’ve really got to be good. When we have won games, we are plus-eight on the glass and when we lose, we are minus five. We’ve got to be on the plus side. We’ve been on the plus side more times than I thought we would have been, but rebounding is crucial. Keeping them off the foul line is crucial. Getting back in transition is crucial. It’s not a game where matchups make a lot of sense because of their size, so we’ve just got to do the best we can with that. And at the same time, we have to be able to switch defenses. We’ve to challenge the shots rather than giving anything up early on the clock.”
On Collin Hartman’s status:
“I don’t know. I was just watching him shoot. He’s not doing anything live with us yet. We miss him. We don’t just miss the fact that he’s a leading 3-point shooter in the league, percentage wise, we miss his hustle game. We miss the spacing that he brings. You can put him in all different situations, offensively and defensively. You can switch with him. He fights and we miss him. We really do miss him.
“I wouldn’t hold out hope right now for having him Tuesday night, but he’s making progress. When we say day-to-day, that’s what it is. He’s doing much better today than he was yesterday.
“We went through that span where we didn’t have Hanner for weeks. We went up to Wisconsin, make a run at the end of the game and didn’t have James Blackmon Jr. Everybody goes through injuries. We’ve rarely had a time where we’ve had everybody together for a stretch. We’ve had them together for games, but not for a very long stretch.
“Hopefully, we get through this and we get him back fairly soon. Everyone is different. He’s very diligent in his rehab. We’re talking about a guy who recovered from that surgery the way that he did. This is just really what’s going to give him the best chance to be successful and pain free as much as he can be. But he’s making progress. There’s not clear cut time when he’ll be back.”
On whether there is a plan for the bye-week early in the season or if you adapt as the week gets closer:
“I think all that is, is saying I have got a plan and a strategy. But if you’re not willing to adjust it and be flexible, that’s not any good. We’ve looked at exactly what we’ve needed to do. We’ve pinpointed what we could improve upon and on Thursday, we spent a lot of time looking at what has to happen for us, what can we do, what can we improve upon. How close is this? How close is that? And at the same time, we are getting ready for the games.
In my case, I haven’t looked a lot at Michigan State. I looked at their box score tonight. I’ve been studying Iowa and at the same time, studying us. We’re always in a self-scout I think. This period gives you a little more time with that.
“We’ve had high-level practices, with energy and we have gone up and down, in the sense of competitive scrimmage-type situations, keeping ourselves sharp and at the same time, segmenting them into areas. Especially when we came back from the game the other night and we weren’t very good defensively in the one span, what could we have done better there?
“Our ball screen coverage wasn't as good in the zone or main, especially on the side. If you can really refurbish those things and really work on watching guy’s energy levels and their skill levels go up.
“I’ve never believed you are who you are at this time of year. You are always working to improve. This team has a great attitude towards improving. I mean they have a high-level of attitude towards getting better. It’s been that way all year. That’s why we have been resilient and able to bounce back. That’s why we’ve been consistent throughout the whole year. There are four non-conference Top 25 wins by Big Ten teams and we have two of them. We’ve been able to respond all year long and that’s why they are a joy to be around.”
On whether the games this week affect the teams on the “NCAA bubble”:
“That doesn’t affect it at all. I was getting ready for Iowa. It doesn’t matter what their record is. It doesn't matter what there RPI is. It only matters what their skills level is and how well coached they are and what their capabilities are. There are trends and you’re always looking at those. We don’t get caught up in that. Those just get to be distractions and you have to focus on what you have to be locked into. How much better you can get, how you can prepare to play that team, what they do well, what you have to takeaway. This gives us a little time to look at the personnel. That’s what it really comes about.”
On Iowa’s physicality:
“They are one of the better teams: physicality comes into it, mental toughness comes into, speed and endurance. They go. They really go. What they have is tremendous. So much experience, they have so many guys who have been through it. They are a resilient team. They show great resiliency. I think Aaron White is the second-most efficient offensive player in the league behind Frank Kaminski when I looked at it a couple days ago. You’ve got guys that are capable of having big nights. They have very good balance.
“Where their physicality really comes out is on the glass. They are going to be physical with their screening and if you’re not aware and ready to get hit, you’re going to get hit. You just have to go. The physicality of the rebounding and the quickness of the rebounding is really a strength for them. They’re really good.”
