Indiana University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Indiana at Nebraska
1/2/2016 8:24:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Tom Crean Postgame vs. Nebraska
Jan. 2, 2016
Indiana 79, Nebraska 69
Opening Statement:
"(Nebraska) has a couple of great players in Shavon Shields and Andrew White, but they move the ball really well. They create a lot of problems for opponents because they move without the ball. White is one of the best cutting guys – he's like Troy Williams for us – and then you add the fact that he is a tremendous 3-point shooter. So they are going to get better and better.
"We knew that we were going to have to play an extremely solid game in a challenging environment, and it was. I was proud of the way that our guys weathered the storms in the first half. And there were some storms and we answered that. I though the 3-pointer at the end of the half from Yogi was like being down at the end of the half and kicking a field goal and adding a couple points to feel good about yourself going into halftime. That was big.
"Yogi did a great job directing our team, but we got great contributions from a lot of people. It was great to have Thomas Bryant come back after having a tough day (at Rutgers) with the fouls. He did a great job offensively, but he was in for 27 possessions in the second half and they scored seven times. That's really important.
"We are getting real contributions from freshmen, which is important anyways. But it's really important when you take out a guy that is as good as James is and the fact that he averages 16 points per game and creates so many opportunities for other people.
"It was really good play, strong defensive play. Andrew White had to earn his points and Shavon had to earn his points. Our guys answered the bell from start to finish. We played much better in the second half, but I thought the second half was able to happen for us because we weathered the storms in the first half. Weeks ago or a month ago, we might not have come back from weathering those storms. And in this league, you have to be able to do that. Everyone has a plan and then you have to be able to make adjustments the rest of the way.
"We beat a good team. (Tim Miles) is an excellent coach. I have great respect for him and the entire staff and their program. And I think this win is going to be great for us down the road."
On Yogi Ferrell defending White most of the game and the reason for it:
"Matchups. We don't have a great matchup for a guy like that. We don't have a great matchup for Shavon Shields and I thought Collin Hartman did an excellent job too. You can't guard those guys with one guy. But when you do have one guy on them, you have to make them earn it. The couple times when Andrew made his shots, our hands weren't up and we were late on a screen one time. He can rise up. He's really good and you can see that on the film and we saw it in real life tonight.
"But Yogi has done that before for us. He may not be large in size, but his heart, his mindset and his toughness is really big. That is what is has to be and it will have to be again. He rises to the occasion. Last year, (Nebraska) did a nice job with their trapping of him and we were very conscious of that coming here and he was very conscious of that. I thought he moved the ball extremely well and that freed him up to make shots. His good defense got his offense going, there is no doubt about that."
On what was the difference for Bryant today compared to at Rutgers:
"We weren't that concerned about what we saw last time on film. We had to make sure that he knew what he could correct and showed him things like 'this is probably not a travel'. Let's just make the adjustments and respond. What we did, we put him right back in the gym at 11:00 a.m. Thursday morning with the other freshmen and our perimeter players and got working on ball handling, our driving, our situational stuff. And then we practiced a little bit later that night, not very much. The last thing you want to talk about is the negatives, a lot of times. You want to get right into what is going to correct it.
"It's one thing to talk about the turnovers, it's another thing to correct them and then start seeing them on film. It's the same thing when a guy has foul issues.
"People forget that Cody Zeller, in his first Big Ten game as a freshman, we were at Michigan State and it was really, really hard. He stayed in the game, but it was physical and they basically beat him up. He comes back and fouls out the next game, but we beat Ohio State when they were ranked.
"I think it proves true that there is a lot of improvement from game one to game two. OG Anunoby did that. He had a really good game at Rutgers and came in today and was even better than that. That's what you want. You want them to understand that they can get better and they can impact the game when things aren't going right for them. And I thought Thomas' points were a real tribute to how well he guarded today, especially with the adjustments he mad guarding the ball screen."
Jan. 2, 2016
Indiana 79, Nebraska 69
Opening Statement:
"(Nebraska) has a couple of great players in Shavon Shields and Andrew White, but they move the ball really well. They create a lot of problems for opponents because they move without the ball. White is one of the best cutting guys – he's like Troy Williams for us – and then you add the fact that he is a tremendous 3-point shooter. So they are going to get better and better.
"We knew that we were going to have to play an extremely solid game in a challenging environment, and it was. I was proud of the way that our guys weathered the storms in the first half. And there were some storms and we answered that. I though the 3-pointer at the end of the half from Yogi was like being down at the end of the half and kicking a field goal and adding a couple points to feel good about yourself going into halftime. That was big.
"Yogi did a great job directing our team, but we got great contributions from a lot of people. It was great to have Thomas Bryant come back after having a tough day (at Rutgers) with the fouls. He did a great job offensively, but he was in for 27 possessions in the second half and they scored seven times. That's really important.
"We are getting real contributions from freshmen, which is important anyways. But it's really important when you take out a guy that is as good as James is and the fact that he averages 16 points per game and creates so many opportunities for other people.
"It was really good play, strong defensive play. Andrew White had to earn his points and Shavon had to earn his points. Our guys answered the bell from start to finish. We played much better in the second half, but I thought the second half was able to happen for us because we weathered the storms in the first half. Weeks ago or a month ago, we might not have come back from weathering those storms. And in this league, you have to be able to do that. Everyone has a plan and then you have to be able to make adjustments the rest of the way.
"We beat a good team. (Tim Miles) is an excellent coach. I have great respect for him and the entire staff and their program. And I think this win is going to be great for us down the road."
On Yogi Ferrell defending White most of the game and the reason for it:
"Matchups. We don't have a great matchup for a guy like that. We don't have a great matchup for Shavon Shields and I thought Collin Hartman did an excellent job too. You can't guard those guys with one guy. But when you do have one guy on them, you have to make them earn it. The couple times when Andrew made his shots, our hands weren't up and we were late on a screen one time. He can rise up. He's really good and you can see that on the film and we saw it in real life tonight.
"But Yogi has done that before for us. He may not be large in size, but his heart, his mindset and his toughness is really big. That is what is has to be and it will have to be again. He rises to the occasion. Last year, (Nebraska) did a nice job with their trapping of him and we were very conscious of that coming here and he was very conscious of that. I thought he moved the ball extremely well and that freed him up to make shots. His good defense got his offense going, there is no doubt about that."
On what was the difference for Bryant today compared to at Rutgers:
"We weren't that concerned about what we saw last time on film. We had to make sure that he knew what he could correct and showed him things like 'this is probably not a travel'. Let's just make the adjustments and respond. What we did, we put him right back in the gym at 11:00 a.m. Thursday morning with the other freshmen and our perimeter players and got working on ball handling, our driving, our situational stuff. And then we practiced a little bit later that night, not very much. The last thing you want to talk about is the negatives, a lot of times. You want to get right into what is going to correct it.
"It's one thing to talk about the turnovers, it's another thing to correct them and then start seeing them on film. It's the same thing when a guy has foul issues.
"People forget that Cody Zeller, in his first Big Ten game as a freshman, we were at Michigan State and it was really, really hard. He stayed in the game, but it was physical and they basically beat him up. He comes back and fouls out the next game, but we beat Ohio State when they were ranked.
"I think it proves true that there is a lot of improvement from game one to game two. OG Anunoby did that. He had a really good game at Rutgers and came in today and was even better than that. That's what you want. You want them to understand that they can get better and they can impact the game when things aren't going right for them. And I thought Thomas' points were a real tribute to how well he guarded today, especially with the adjustments he mad guarding the ball screen."
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