Postgame Quotes: Indiana at Michigan State

Indiana Coach Tom Crean Postgame Quotes

Opening Statement...
Michigan State played outstanding and the plays of the game that we really had to make sure didn't happen, they happened. They made too many threes. Their field goal percentage was outstanding because we gave up too many fast break baskets. The disappointing part is that we did a very solid job in the first half and we did not continue that by playing the personnel as well as we needed to. They were just too comfortable and when they are comfortable and getting great looks and not taking anything away from them, that makes them that much better. Twelve and 19 in transition, that was crucial. You can't do that. You can't give that up to a team and their break was so good. They always have a fantastic break but today it was as good as it's been or that I have seen. We didn't get back and find shooters as good as we needed to but we let their best players be comfortable. When we played the screens the right way we were good, but when we didn't (Byrn Forbes) made us pay and that's what good players do. Denzel (Valentine) and Matt (Costello) were outstanding and they didn't need a lot of help today. We just let those guys get to the rim, and when you are playing a good team with great players you just can't let them get to that. That's really what it was more than anything else. We didn't defend as well as we needed to, we gave up too many baskets and we gave up too many strength baskets, which means they got to their strengths. The game was physical and we weren't. We need to be better, and we were much better the other night and now we turn around and get ready to play Nebraska.

On Denzel Valentine's poise...
He's a great player, there is no question about it. The strength he has, the way that he throws the ball ahead, you can't let him come off and get to the right hand like we did. He got to play with his strengths and for the most part we did not put enough pressure on him and make him uncomfortable enough. He's a guy who can do a lot of different things because of his vision and ability to play through traps but you have to wear him down and Purdue showed that the other night. You have to put heat on him and we just did not do that. We have to learn better for the next matchup.

On Yogi Ferrell's struggles today...
I think he pressed a little bit tonight and in the Iowa game. It's just a matter of making too many things happen rather than moving it. We were having trouble scoring right but he had a long break with the fouls. He is used to playing a lot of minutes. We had a bunch of other guys who weren't making plays. Guys come in and impact the game, whether they start or not, they come in and impact the game. Today we didn't get enough impact from other players some starters and some substitutes. I'm not worried about his shooting, or his minutes. We prepared hard we just physically didn't have the ability to go hard or the time. It's a matter of us trying to stay on pace and improve.

On Ferrell's ability to help his teammates...
It's not one teammate, he had seven assists. We don't talk about slumps because he is not in one. You just have to take what the defense gives you and when you have the ball in your hands a lot, I'm sure he would like to be at the foul like more and he's trying to get to the rim more at times. We made 11 threes but we needed a few more from other guys. We are not going down the slump road, we are going down the, we need to get better in all areas and that starts with transition defense.

On his players defending Denzel Valentine...
He's a great player and we just tried to shut him down. You had to defend his driving, his scoring, his shooting and certainly his passing. You need to put more pressure on him and we didn't do that as much as we needed to.

On Matt Costello's improvements...
He's playing his way right into the NBA and we helped him today there is no doubt about that. He's having an outstanding year and leading the league in rebounds and averaging a double-double. He hit his second three. You have to guard him. He came to play as a young guy and learned to play. He's a product of the system and he is as tough a player as there is in the league. He has improved his speed and quickness, we let him get to his strengths and we let him get to that. We let him get too comfortable on the block with plays and we are not going to send a lot of double teams especially when they have 4 guys who in the last five games have been shooting over 50 perfect from three. They are doing an outstanding job of spacing and because he can shoot the ball and pass and because he can get people open it makes him incredibly valuable.

On Indiana's transition defense...
The biggest problem is we have two people in the paint. You need to have one guy in the paint and one guy guarding the rim, but then you got to get out. It's not as much about stopping the ball in this game as it is to get the wings covered because they run the wings so well. We have to do a better job of that and Iowa did a great job of throwing the ball ahead, but the bottom line for us is that too many times two people were in the paint and when you do that you leave too many people open and then we just don't get communicated. A couple of times there are no excuses and it will show in film, a few times we just didn't rotate quick enough and would be a lot happier if they could run that way every game. They were with their best and they were committed and we let them get some confidence from it.

On starting Max Bielfeldt...
Matchup situation and that is nothing that Colin (Hartman) did wrong. We didn't want (Bryant) Thomas to start on Costello because I know Tom's mindset because he did it with Zeller and he did it with Vonleh and they just tried to attack them. The bottom line is they were going to guard them but we wanted to let Thomas get stabilized in the game. Max answered it. All along in my mind we have numerous starters on our team. There is always a starting lineup but everyone out there can impact the game. Today we had a few guys who did and a few who didn't.

On Troy Williams' game...
He's got to understand how to impact the game when they are taking things away. One thing that Troy is really good with is obviously moving without the ball and getting to the corners. I give Tom and his staff a lot of credit for not losing sight of him. We wanted to see Troy play and they made a great adjustment to him because there were a lot of times that a guy would lose their man. He corrected that because it seemed to be an issue on Tuesday night and never let your guy out of sight. Troy impacted the game on the boards and defensively because its not all about the jump shot. You have to get more rebounds and lose balls when you are athletic like that. It is a learning experience for a guy like that. It's not like he isn't on the front page of a scouting report but sometimes he gets lost in the game and that is where a lot of his cuts come from. A lot come from organized sets but he needs to understand how he is going to cut in front of somebody, jump up and draw a charge but its not on him but he has to do better.

Players Mentioned

Max Bielfeldt

Troy Williams

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