Postgame Quotes vs. Minnesota

Indiana vs. Minnesota
Jan. 30, 2016
Postgame Quotes

Indiana Head Coach Tom Crean
Opening Statement…
HEAD COACH CREAN: First and foremost, I'm not sure how many times people listen to me as of late, especially with how much we missed James Blackmon, we never made an excuse. We miss the guy and the stuff that he can create for us.

But I'm not sure everybody listened to me. I think my team did, I think they really did. They saw the film. Because they believe what they see. Not what they're supposed to hear, you know, what a record is.

Minnesota is good. They're a good team. And they are extremely well coached. They're right there. They easily could have won the Purdue game the other night. And I'm not making any excuse. But I'm really proud of the way we found a way to win.

And that's the bottom line. Because they've got good players. They got us in transition, where we defended the transition extremely well up at Minnesota. I think they were maybe 4-19 on the break, and here they were really good on the break. We just didn't get back as well.

But it wasn't for lack of effort. It wasn't for lack of want to. And it wasn't for lack of preparation. Because if you're not prepared and ready to play then you don't find a away to win the game. We're not a team that turns it on late. And I don't think that happened. I just don't think we were as sharp.

I think we let our lack of outside shooting at times affect us. We didn't get back obviously as well. And they're very good in the ball screen, and we lost our awareness a little bit, lost our awareness on the weak side.

But we fought. And they were resilient in finding a way to win. And before anybody asks about the shooting, I'm not the least bit concerned about that. I don't think we shot enough threes. And that's the last thing I get worried about with this team.

But they are focus and their ability to be resilient inside of this game, and refocus when they got so close, I'm very proud of it. So we'll take the win.

Q. Can you talk about Thomas Bryant's development?
HEAD COACH CREAN: I think he's getting better constantly because he's putting even more focus on his ability to get better defensively. So he made adjustments inside the game. He was always a presence. I think he got better as the game went on. I don't think he posted as strong at the very beginning of the game. And then I think the couple of rebounds, the dunks, a couple of the post moves got him going.

It was one of those games that you have to find a way to win, no matter what. And he did a lot of things in the game that impacted the game. He also had some moments that you want back. But that's all part of it.

Those three freshmen played -- I didn't really look at stats yet, but they played a considerable amount of minutes. I don't think we'd have won the game without all three of them.

Q. Can you talk about the freshman rebounding?
HEAD COACH CREAN: That's key, we made a lot of improvement on the glass, a lot of improvement. We spent a lot of time at it. They're athletic. They're getting quicker. They're understanding it more. Your greatest toughness level is your consistency level, right? So going to the glass consistently, that makes your team tough. It shows that they're pretty tough. And you show your toughness in different ways. And us getting to the backboards has got to be a huge part of it.

Obviously it's been a long time since we won as good in transition defense. It's not from lack of work at it, it's must maybe we missed more shots than we usually miss and they got out and went at it, which was strong.

But we got the rebounds that we had to get and the put backs that we had to get to win the game.

Q. Can you talk about Thomas (Bryant) carrying the offense?
HEAD COACH CREAN: I don't look at it like that, I guess that makes sense, he's got a lot of energy. Thomas is just one of the guys. He's a key guy.

I don't look at it like -- I think he's a big factor in that. But Thomas is a great teammate. We said that when we signed him. And that's done nothing but get better and better as he's gotten more comfortable all the time.

So Thomas is one of the guys. And I think we've got an interesting group in that they get along at a really good rate. Young and old. And that's really important.

So he brings a lot of energy to everybody, you know, and the key is -- when it's not going so well, that he doesn't get emotional the other way. That's where he's kind of continued to mature, but he is. I'm proud of him.

Q. Can you talk about the shooting struggles?
HEAD COACH CREAN: I'd agree rushing shots. But I also think we weren't spaced deep enough at times. We've got that NBA line down for a reason. It's not to shoot behind the NBA line as much, it's to space behind it. And that's the most important thing.

So there were a couple of times where we'll look at it and say we weren't -- our technique wasn't as good. I know Nick (Zeisloft) rushed a couple. But -- and we didn't shoot enough. We didn't shoot as many as we needed to.

And I'll have to look back at the film and look back at the possession charts and things of that nature. I'm not concerned about the 3-point shooting at all.

Q. Can you talk about the keys to the second half of the Big Ten season?
HEAD COACH CREAN: Yeah, I just have to watch the film and get ready for Michigan. I don't have any look back, book forward thoughts, I really don't. I'm not being evasive. I know a couple of records in the league, I don't know many. And I'm sure that I could figure it out. I don't spend any time on that.

So this is all about how we get better, it really is. And it's all about them understanding what their strengths are, how to play to them, what we have to get better at, take what the game has given us, and continue to find ways.

I'm proud of them. I'm proud of our staff. Over this period of time -- the first part of it we're trying to figure out how to play without one of the best guards in the country. And we'll do this, because he's not there. We miss that kid. And he is a huge part of our team.

So it's still an evolvement for us in a lot of ways on how we're playing without him, even going into this week, because the opponents have figured out he's not out there, too.

So we've just got to continue to improve and get ready for Michigan.

Q. Can you talk about Rob (Johnson)'s rebounding?
HEAD COACH CREAN: That's big. That's when I miss James (Blackmon). James was doing a great job on the defensive glass. So for us to win we've got to get guard rebounds. We have a number to hit and we don't hit it very often and when we do we're really good. But that -- Rob is getting a lot done, and it's not always showing up on his scoring but it's showing up in other areas, and I think it will show up in his scoring as we go.

INDIANA PLAYERS POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
Thomas Bryant, Kevin Yogi Ferrell

On the final minutes after Minnesota took the lead:
FERRELL: Basically we just needed to score. They came down and got a quick bucket, and we just wanted to get it out quick, you know, and get a score when we needed to get it. We weren't down, I feel like we were just quiet at points during that game. They were kind of taking our spirit out, but down the stretch I felt like we found a way to win the game.

On rebound importance:
BRYANT: Rebounding is very important to this team , you know. When you're the big man of the team and you know you can get in there, you've got to have that mindset and go in there and get it. It's the end of the game. It was close. We were down right there. That makes it all more important to get the rebound right there and just try to get it back out and get another shot.

On struggling from behind the 3-point line:
FERRELL: I think the main thing was we weren't getting enough driving kicks, making their defense have to collapse. So basically every time we shot it, they were there and they could contest it. I thought we didn't get any push outs enough. That's probably on me, definitely didn't push the ball enough this game, but we definitely did rush a few shots. We probably could have cut more on our offensive sets.

On your confidence level between now and the beginning of the season
BRYANT: I'm always confident with or without the ball in my hands. This team isn't just around me. It's an all around thing. I'm not the one that always wants the ball. I'm always he guy that's going to be happy when Yogi makes a play or one of my other teammates makes a play. I've always had that confidence installed in me.

On Thomas's performance:
FERRELL: I feel like Thomas stayed with it, even when calls didn't go his way. He kept his head. He played great defense. He rebounded well for us, and he kept that poise for us and to start the game he had that push for us with a few points in the paint. You know, that's just what's so special about our team. Different guys are going to step up different nights, and tonight it was Thomas.

The growth of this years team:
FERRELL: We don't always want to look back on last year. I feel like this is a new team. With this new team we have made many strides from the beginning of the season with how we want to win close games. The close games that we had early on in the season, and losing them, helped us turn those into wins now. In this game Coach Crean did a great job in the huddles. He was calm with us, never upset. He told us that we were going to win this game, he believed it, and he made us believe it.

Open layups for Minnesota:
FERRELL: Our transition defense was terrible. We were not getting back at all, and we had bad matchups in transition. Thomas was on the point guard and that is not what we want. We had terrible communication.

OT game at Wisconsin on Tuesday causing more fatigue…
FERRELL: I don't think the Wisconsin game had anything to do with it. Minnesota is a great team, they are a scary team, and they have been in close games with everybody. We have had two close games with them. I feel like at times in this game we just were not there in the moment. We weren't buckling down and doing what we needed to do defensively. We know our offense is going to come, but at the end of the day we have got to get stops.

Key to the second half of the Big Ten schedule:
FERRELL: The key is just going to be to give it your all. These games are a dime a dozen. You just have to go out there with a mindset, you have to talk, and you have to give that guy next to you the confidence. When you give your teammates confidence that is what makes your team great. Not just giving yourself confidence, but giving the guy to your right and left confidence will go a long way in these close games.

On having less turnovers…
FERRELL: We are pretty excited about that [not having to run 17's]. But we just wanted to take better care of it. I did not feel like we played as fast. At Wisconsin I felt like we played pretty fast, and maybe that is what caused the turnovers. We did not play as fast this game, and that is probably because they took our legs.

On making the final three field goals for Indiana:
BRYANT: It feels good. Luckily a ball bounced my way when I went to go get that rebound and I went right back up with it. I was right by the rim. Coach always tells me in practice that I have to go up strong to the rim, and that's what happened today.

On the play following Nate Mason's missed three-pointer near the end of the game, where Yogi Ferrell opted to push the tempo on offense:
FERRELL: That was a really weird play. I had no idea what they were doing. I felt like they thought we were going to call a timeout, and then I see all four of their players walking to the sideline so I decided to push. Luckily, Thomas was down there and I got him the ball on the dunk. It's probably one of the weirder plays I've ever seen playing in a basketball game.

Minnesota Head Coach Richard Pitino
On losing aggressiveness towards the end of the game…
HEAD COACH PITINO: Yeah, I thought we were really getting downhill, we were really tough to guard and we were spreading them out. We were getting to the rim, doing a lot of good things. I think with the speed of Dupree (McBrayer), Kevin (Dorsey), and Nate (Mason) it's a tough cover. I think they maybe tightened up defensively, you have to give them credit. I know people make fun of us for our record and so on but I'm really proud of these guys. They're fighting. There's days when I'm down and they pick me up, there's days when they're down and I pick them up. It really has been fun to coach this team. I know people mock our record but I'm proud of these guys, they're battling. You're really playing with seven scholarship guys, Gaston (Diedhiou) didn't even play the second half. He played a little bit in first, did some good things, to do that versus a very good team on the road shows great heart and character.

On playing without guard Carlos Morris…
HEAD COACH PITINO: Kevin (Dorsey) got a lot more minutes. We got in foul trouble, you have to get give them credit, their zone hurt us a little bit. They went on a run and we got in real foul trouble. Kevin (Dorsey) took advantage of a great opportunity, wasn't perfect but 29 minutes and no turnovers. We had four turnovers and (Charles) Buggs had three of them, so that's pretty good. I think what cost us the game was we got a couple of stops there and we gave up offensive rebounds, a couple of loose balls. Our guys were really tired and that's what happens when you have one less guy in the rotation, it's difficult.

On the freshman handling the Assembly Hall atmosphere…
HEAD COACH PITINO: They didn't seem rattled at all, they seemed pretty comfortable out there. They seemed pretty poised I thought. Dupree (McBrayer) missed a couple of shots, he needs to work on that, I think a lot of that has to do with strength. We were getting to the rack, I thought were really spreading them out and getting by guys and showing great composure.

On containing Indiana…
HEAD COACH PITINO: I think we did a really good job on them. I think our three-point field goal defense is getting better. We scored more baskets then them, I think it's our second game in a row. Obviously the free throw shooing, if we could just correct that, it would be great because we are hard to keep in front. I think it's a little bit of nerves still.

On slowing down Thomas Bryant…
HEAD COACH PITINO: It's pretty challenging, especially when we were undersized. You have to do a good job of slapping down and trusting. Sometimes the reason you don't trust it is because you are guarding great shooters on the perimeter. He (Bryant) really, really hurt us. I thought that Troy Williams really hurt us too with his speed. You can't simulate their speed, they are talented and they play hard and they cut fast. They're really tough. You have to do a good job of slapping down on them and we are not the biggest team but I'm sure size and length will bother them.

On differences of Indiana since last matchup …
HEAD COACH PITINO: I noticed it on film. I think we did a good job today of limiting their shots. They didn't shoot as many three's as I thought they would. It's a great environment, one of the best in college basketball, and I think they like to get the fans out of their seats and get them going. I think they like to turn on the crowd at home and there's nothing wrong with that. They are a dynamic team, there's times when they are driving at you, back cutting. They have different guys going at you. Everybody is different at home.

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Thomas Bryant

Kevin Yogi Ferrell

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