Indiana University Athletics
Postgame Quotes Indiana vs. Michigan State
3/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Head Coach Tom Crean |
Opening Statement
"I'm proud of our fight. We fought better in the game.
You have to be-- Michigan State is going to bring the toughness out in you, or it's going to expose what's not there and there was some times on the backboards we don't do a good job there and had to do more subbing than what we like to do. Our block outs weren't as good as they need to be underneath and they got some kickouts because of that.
But we got tougher inside of the game, and I think the toughness thing for me, and I didn't realize this until Don Fisher said it with 3:50 to go, I knew we were down, we were down 11; and I'm proud of the way they came back, I really am, because that's not easy. I thought the crowd had some real energy and really helped them pop, too, which was really good because they need that, they really need that, the kids need it.
They were going to win the game and we got right there, at least to tie it and it just didn't happen. But they played well. They took advantage, some offensive rebound opportunities and got the kickouts that went for them, and we didn't get as many, and we didn't have-- you know, when you go play Michigan State, you're going to play this time of year, and be successful, you've got to have a lot of guys playing well in the game that are your best players and we didn't have that today.
But I thought we got tougher in the game. I thought James, the play he made late in the game before he got fouled, getting all the way to the rim-- I think it was, wasn't it -- he had a couple other ones earlier in the game. He didn't go up as strong. I mean, that's the kind of stuff that we have to continue to learn.
End of the game, five seconds to go, no way they trying to miss that free throw on purpose. I don't know if anybody would ask that-- three seconds, no question we are trying to miss it on purpose. But there's enough time right there and it's not about the arrow because you are not going to get enough time to get a trap.
We were in position in case we missed it but we didn't want to miss it there. We want to try to get another five, steal, go back and still have enough time to get a couple of passes on our play. So I don't know if that was going to come up but I will put that one to bed right now. That's not a strategy that I would employ five seconds.
And at the end, we were in position for our free throw play again, obviously trying to make it and we just didn't get it. And then at the very end of the game, we were coming right back to Yogi off an elevator screen, and obviously he wasn't going to be the only look, but in that situation, he's one of our best baseball passers and we didn't want him to get another look. We had to take it out-of-bounds, but we did. And they covered it; and Nick and James, Nick got a little higher, but they are going to force you into that. We wanted to get a little slip action there and we got the catch, just wanted to get a catch.
But I'm proud of the way they fought. Michigan State is an extremely talented and tough team, and they executed a high level, and they got some guys come off their bench today like Ellis who has really not done a whole lot lately and all of a sudden he's got a great game. I like the way we responded when we got down and continue to come back, and we're going to get tougher for it."
On Yogi at the line?
"Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, I'm really-- thought we should have ended the half with a couple free throws to be honest with you with him on the line, and have seen nothing that would lead me to believe differently, but absolutely.
I mean, he hurts. My shirt stretched from holding on to him. These kids want to win. They practice so hard and it's not just the last couple days, they are like that all the time.
But he's got to bounce back. That's why we put him right back in a situation whether he can make a catch or not but Yogi is a winner. Yogi is one of the greatest winners that I've ever had the personal or the ability to recruit watching him win, okay, and that was before he moved here when he was in high school at Park Tudor in the way then won: He won two straight championships as a junior and senior, and finished as a runner-up as a sophomore, and we put him in that position again. So I love coaching him. I love coaching him."
Was Michigan Stat's offensive boards a problem?
"Absolutely, yeah, there's no question and that's why we had to sub more. James and Yogi had seven boards, so you know you have to do a good job blocking out with your forwards and I use that term forwards lightly because we don't have the great size. We had Collin back, he was in the fight.
But we missed some block outs. We are going to see that film and know that was not good. And so you've got to block out the forwards so your guards can slide in and get it, and when we did that, we did a good job. But a couple times we didn't hit him. Sometimes we did, and there are a couple of times that we didn't and they got the ball and it is a very physical game.
So you've got to get ready for that and we did at times, but we didn't. I did see the rebound numbers, but I know those during the game. And certainly we've got to get more out of Troy than three boards, especially when he's had 27 the last two games, and he knows that. He knows that.
But we had to do what we had to do, and we had to sub to be in the fight, and so that's the tough thing."
What do you see on film-- to stay in the zone?
"They are also really good around that basket. And we mixed our defenses up. They execute very well. We gave up some threes in the zone but we also gave up some on the missed block outs and things.
I'll have to watch it closer. But the biggest reason there, we don't want to get spread out and not be able to board the ball, because you get in too many one-on-one situations down there with Matt and Marvin rebounded well, and certainly you're preparing for Dawson and Valentine is an excellent rebounder. You have got to have guys closer to the rim. So that's as much as anything.
What did they shoot, 7-of-28. So they shot 25 percent from three. And Travis made a couple of big ones there. So that was our reasoning there.
You mentioned Troy's four points and three rebounds, why didn't he click on today?
"I don't know, because he practiced great. He's practiced great. You know what I'm proud of him that when he wasn't playing as much and he wasn't as effective, we were putting him back in the game at the end of the game to help win the game."
What do you think you got out of Collin today?
"I didn't think we got that much because it wasn't determined until today fully. It was looking that way, that we were going to be able to get him to go, but because he's done very little the last couple days, he had to play through it a little bit.
It's amazing how the percentages are when he's not on the floor, not necessarily his and we are still talking about a guy that didn't make a three last year that is the leading three-point shooter in the league percentage-wise. So we missed that, but we missed his ball movement, his basketball IQ, his hustle, his talk, his tenacity and the way he gets shots for other people from that position."
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Indiana Player Quotes |
Yogi what was going through your mind on those free throws?
Kevin Yogi Ferrell: "That I was going to make them. The first one rolled in. I guess the basketball gods were good for me for that first free throw, and then the second one just rolled out. So pretty disappointing missing that second one, but it happens."
On looking ahead?
Kevin Yogi Ferrell: "Yeah, right now, we are just right now working and preparing for the tournament, getting ready to leave Wednesday for Chicago. We are not looking to see where we stand for the NCAA Tournament right now. We are just trying to get into the Big Ten Tournament and win a couple games there."
You guys came out second half and scored four straight-- what were you seeing?
James Blackmon Jr.: "Really from my perspective, myself, I came out too slow, and I feel like we all tried to turn it on too late. You turn it on and made that run but we should have just picked it up from the start. Looking at some things I have some things I'm going to watch on film now I'm going to regret-- I didn't go hard all the time and I didn't go hard to the end. So my team just needed me from that 10- to 7-minute mark to give a spark and I know I'm going to regret that."
Six weeks ago, 5-1 in the league and since then you're 9-9. Has it changed in terms of the way people have played you or what do you think is happening?
Nick Zeisloft: "Well, we all know it's a very tough league. And you know, we didn't have a great start-- so now we have to learn-- like James said and do better and we're looking forward to the tournament."
On a chance again for those shots?
Kevin Yogi Ferrell: "I feel like I'm always in the gym working on my shots so I'm always going to try to take a last shot, I think I have enough confidence to do that."
They were finishing offon rebounds?
Kevin Yogi Ferrell: "Yeah, that's basically how they got their run in the second half. They got a lot of second chance opportunities with the offensive rebound kick-outs. We've just got to fight them better. Got to crack them before they come into the paint because we know that they are big, so just got to carve out space and try to get the rebound."
What happened with the shooting percentage?
Nick Zeisloft: "My teammates, they try to find me when I'm open. When we move the ball and move bodies, going hard, any of us can go after that. As you all know and the other teams know-- we're quick and it's not just me doing it, it's James, Rob, anybody really."
Talk about blocking out the late season form as you get ready for the postseason but for any of you, has it ever been-- how hard has it been to block that out?
Kevin Yogi Ferrell: "Yeah, Coach is always talking about not listening to anybody, not reading anything, not seeing our name just a minute because we know all that. We know all the negativity is out there.
So I mean, it's a negative world, so we know that's going to be out there and that's going to happen. You've got to keep a positive mind-set, stay together and we'll be okay."
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Head Coach Tom Izzo |
Opening statement:
"I was overpaid today. I didn't do a very good job. I know you won't believe this but we tried to miss the free throw. We did not try to foul, we used all of our timeouts. I know Tom is under scrutiny here but I'm supposed to be a good coach and I didn't do a very good job down the stretch and that's happened a couple of times this year.
"I thought they did a marvelous job down the stretch and fouling and travelling and the things they did, making shots. I look at it like I've got to coach, we've got to play down the stretch. We've been unlucky a lot this year and luck came to our side for once. I think we deserved to win because we played pretty well most of the second half but some of my key guys really struggled today. And I mean the best players played well Kenny made 9 free throws and we celebrate that. We just have to find ways to be sharper down the stretch but if you miss free throws, what are you gonna do."
Can you talk about what you got out of Alvin and Marvin today?
"Marvin played good but he played some of those open threes, you know we were switching with guys who have never done it before. It was a stressful time on the court. I mean, we had lineups in there when Travis and Trevor were in foul trouble. It was a stressful time. I guess they did a pretty good job, but we have to get more disciplined. I told them, we gotta play hard, we gotta play good, we gotta play smart. We played hard enough during the second half, I don't think we played quite good enough, I didn't think we played very smart. And that falls on me, so I think [Indiana] did a much better job down the stretch than we did."
On Marvin's performance:
"You have to have people to defend to win in this league. We've got a lot of guys right now that defend in moments and then don't defend in moments, and some of the switching was so simple to me, we just did such a poor job. When we came back after that Purdue game, I came in the next day thinking BJ was playing no doubt, and then we really had some incredible travel screw-ups, so we've just been getting behind. We try to have 7 o'clock practice, we're going to have another one down here to go over some of the things that they do because they're as good as doing things offensively as any team we've played and so I can't blame it all on them."
On Yogi:
I said to him, "You've had a hell of a year. You've been one of the greatest players in this conference. I love your energy, I love the way you play." If there's a team that plays harder than [Tom Crean's] then I don't know who it is. I mean those guys come off those screens and those cuts, they cut harder than any team I've ever played, Princeton, anybody. Yogi is the master at it and he's hard to guard, we guarded him with a tribe. I felt sorry, I mean how many did he have? 21? Somewhere there's a Spartan guard up there that said they deserved one this year, and I guess maybe that was it. He didn't deserve the loss but maybe we deserved the win. We've lost so many games at the free-throw line and they still shot, what, 75% from the line? I feel for the kid, I really do. I love that kid, I think he's a hell of a player."
On Tom Crean:
"When that stuff happens at the beginning of the year ... we lost a kid in August that would have made this team really, really good. When you have incidents happen that are completely out of your hands, that distraction is incredible. I talked Tom off the ledge then. I couldn't believe how positive he was. I talked to him every night in the hospital. Sometimes these kids do not understand that okay, my bad, that's in the playground. You can't be my bad at this level and compete at this level for championships. My bad doesn't make it. This program is out of control. Let me tell you something, my writers know this, my program had problems a few years ago, too. Look at the ticker. There are a lot of really good programs that have problems. Some keep them down a little more than others. Sooner or later they come out. Players, this is a family situation, players and coaches. To make it work you have to be like the Spurs, everybody has to be on board. I look back at who he lost, who he missed, who left early. Vonleh was a good player. I'm not sure anybody thought he would be one-and-done. Maybe two-and-done. How do you recruit to that? I read articles where people say don't over recruit. I'm missing some players right now. We're not a real, real talented team. It's very difficult. He's a great recruiter. I think he's a great Xs and Os coach. I think he gets misread sometimes for a variety of reasons. You can't have distractions and be successful at this level if you care. My kid doesn't go to class. We had to bus here because I wouldn't let my guys out of class at 2:30. We had practice at 6:30 in the morning. Does the NCAA or anyone care about student welfare when our kids are getting up at 5:30 or 6 in the morning? He's in the hospital talking to me for three days, not even hardly leaving there. No one knows those things. Am I a little frustrated with it? Yeah, I am. Do I think he is a hell of a coach? Yes, I do. Do I think he has to make adjustments like I did and everbody else? Probably. I'm telling you the guy can coach and the guy can recruit. He built my program. He helped me build my program. My program wouldn't be as good as it is without Tom Crean."
