Indiana University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Indiana vs. Southern Indiana
11/1/2018 10:14:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Indiana vs. Southern Indiana (Exhibition)
Postgame Quotes
Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller
ARCHIE MILLER: Some good and some bad. It's good to play in front of the fans for the first time. I think that really gets the jitters sort of off the plate for the rest of the season.
Conditioning played a good role tonight in terms of some of that fatigue in terms of who is available for the game. There will be some good, some bad, really teachable stuff.
First half defense, pretty locked in. Second half defense, not really locked in at all. Then I think first half offense, not doing a really nice job of sharing it, moving it. Second half much more efficient in terms of how we played.
There's some good and bad. We'll break it down. Have three days to get ready for our opener on Tuesday. We're looking forward to Chicago State.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. From a shooting standpoint, last year three-point shooting was something you were missing. Tonight 50% of them. Something positive there.
ARCHIE MILLER: It was encouraging. I think in the second half, obviously Damezi showed a little bit of what he can do from behind the line. He's a big guard, can shoot the ball. Zach knocking two down was really good to see. For the most part I thought most of the shots were pretty good. So we got to keep developing that.
Clearly right now our guards are thin. As we get a couple guys back in the near future we can continue to be better from the perimeter.
Q. How much is Rob staking a claim to the point guard position?
ARCHIE MILLER: He's taking advantage of opportunity. It is what it is. Right now it's come to the level that he's that man up. He has to be able to step in and do a good job. I think you saw a little bit of a glimpse of what we kind of see every single day: solid, really, really tough-minded defensively, smart. Offensively still has to learn how to play the college game. Doesn't really know how that feels yet. For the most part he's been pretty impressive.
Q. Points off turnovers?
ARCHIE MILLER: Defense to offense. Defense to offense is always something we've prided ourselves on. The better you are on defense, you have a chance to really be good at offense. That's the hardest thing to stop, is transition.
For us, in our Loyola scrimmage, I can't remember maybe 10 or 11 steals. Tonight we had 10 more steals. We have a long team. We have a quick team. We have an active team. As we become better defensively, a little bit more locked in, hopefully we're a team that does a better job of being able to convert off those things.
I didn't think in the first half we were very good when we had our opportunities with numbers to take advantage of. We didn't advance the ball. We didn't make an easy look for somebody wide open. We dribbled one too many times which let them get back. We'll kind of show that on film.
Q. Romeo picked up a few steals tonight. How key is he in what you want to do defensively?
ARCHIE MILLER: He has to keep getting better defensively. I think he knows that. He's been getting better week by week. Naturally he's gifted in the passing lane, has a long arm. Can get his hand on a lot of balls, deflections. As we get better, you'll see him out more in transition being able to finish.
Q. With so many scorers on the team, how will it affect how you find your rotation?
ARCHIE MILLER: Yeah, kind of trial by error a little bit. Part of it's who is available. We have to play who is available. I think right now, just in terms of the rotation that's coming in, we're starting to feel a little bit better about it.
With Al going out tonight, obviously a couple guys not available, you're having to throw some guys in there that maybe you wouldn't. Hopefully they get better from this and they take advantage of it.
We have to develop a better chemistry offensively. I think just understanding what our identity is, how we want to play. We have to continue to do a good job of really trying to teach it and play a little bit like we did in the second half rather than just the first half sort of was a little bit just not smooth, not smooth.
We've been feeling that way as a staff here early part in the year, that's where we're going to have our biggest climb, is offensive identity. I think defensively it is what it is. We're going to play the way we play. Offensively we have to get these guys in a situation where they're successful.
Q. You mentioned the second half not being as good offensively as you were in the first half. Anything stand out?
ARCHIE MILLER: Fatigue. Fatigue. Guys play too many minutes. Second thing would be transition defense, having guys take the ball to the basket, whether it's Romeo, Rob, Justin, guys on the baseline, not having rotations getting back. That was a big problem.
They made six threes. They shot a good percentage from three. Their front court players hit a couple of them. Just stops and starts to transition defense. If you're going to give guys easy baskets, whether you're not organized, running hard, that's going to kill you. Second half a lot of stuff to talk about in terms of transition defense.
Q. Juwan had six points at halftime.
ARCHIE MILLER: He's got to demand the ball, get the ball where he wants it, when he wants it. I thought the start of the second half put him in the focal point of what's going on. Got him the ball, guys found him. He wanted the ball. That kind of got him going a little bit in the first part.
Put six fouls on him in the first five minutes. That's a good start for him. He has to do that earlier in the game where he doesn't free-lance as match.
Q. De'Ron had a couple of baskets in the second half where he worked his way in there. Thoughts on how he played? Is he okay?
ARCHIE MILLER: I they he may have rolled his ankle, tweaked his ankle, I'm not sure. I wasn't told anything that anything was coming.
It's tough. It's conditioning, man. He's having to play himself into shape during the games, which is really hard to do. I don't know how many he played tonight, but he's picking up quick fouls. Some of the stuff you expect him to be. Just a little bit rusty.
But he's got to find a way to play himself into better shape. That's a big thing, him being able to play longer stretches.
He commands attention. He's a good player, great feet, hands around the basket. It's conditioning level on both ends of the floor where he's going to have to try to work hard through it. It's difficult to get in shape during games. The month of November will be hard on him physically.
Q. Damezi, streaky shooting in practice or just this one time?
ARCHIE MILLER: No, he can shoot the ball. He's a good shooter. I think once he made a couple tonight, probably made him feel a little bit better.
His struggles are like all young guys. He's learning how to play defense the first time a certain way. Offensively he's learning how to play a new style. He thinks a lot at times. But I thought tonight it was nice to see him let it go. He has that ability, the skill level behind the three-point line. He's a big, strong kid. I think the better he gets defensively, the more minutes he'll get.
Q. You talked more generally about the defense. You want improvement there. Do you feel younger guys are picking it up better from the older guys this year?
ARCHIE MILLER: Without question. It's easier to learn by having guys tell you where to go or seeing it on a film done correctly, whether that is practice or games. I think Rob and Romeo as freshmen playing that amount of minutes, you are you're looking at two guys doing a pretty good job right now early in their career, not making a ton of mistakes.
It's going to be a work in progress all season. I think this team can be pretty good defensively. We have a lot of length. I think we're quick. Part of it's going to be just that competitiveness.
I think start of this game, it's tough sometimes when you play like a Southern Indiana, they're undersized, five out, you're not dealing with true size, you're not getting stuff yet. They tried to space it out. We knew they were going to try to shoot a lot of threes. We did a decent job in the first half. Second half not so good.
Q. (Question about Romeo and Rob halfcourt offense.)
ARCHIE MILLER: Without really watching the film and seeing it, I think Rob really had some nice plays. I thought he was in the paint a few times. He's attacking the rim. With Rob, what we're trying to get Rob to see is see the floor a little earlier in transition where he can get guys like Romeo or Juwan the ball a little bit ahead of the defense where they have some more room to attack. Advancing the ball a little bit more for him.
Romeo is a naturally gifted scorer. He's going to learn how to play through contact better. At the end of the day, as we get and smoother running our stuff, he's going to be able to make some more plays. He's a natural transition type of a player. We're trying to find more ways to get in the open court. Those two guys are doing a great job, they're very coachable.
Indiana Players - Justin Smith, Evan Fitzner and Johnny Jager
THE MODERATOR: First question for the players.
Q. Talk about the offensive balance. 13 players scored.
JUSTIN SMITH: I'd say we have a very deep team, a very versatile team that can do a lot of different things. Our offense is very free-moving. There's a lot of opportunities for everybody to get involved.
Everybody just took advantage of what the defense gave them and we were able to capitalize.
JOHNNY JAGER: I think everybody that plays is very unselfish. We play within our offense. Nobody cares who gets the credit as long as we get the W at the end of the day.
Q. Robert, no turnovers, 10 points, is that reflective of what you're seeing in practices?
EVAN FITZNER: I think it's definitely what we've been seeing in practice and scrimmages, our previous scrimmage against another team. He's done a good job as a freshman coming in, playing tough. It's tough as a freshman to come in and play well defensively, kind of run the team. He's done a really good job with it so far.
Q. Evan, biggest step from that scrimmage on Saturday to tonight?
EVAN FITZNER: I think we were better offensively moving the ball like Justin talked about. I thought we found the open man really well. Yeah, we played fast. That's what coach wants us to do this year. We put a lot of points on the board. I think that was the result of us playing fast, doing what we wanted offensively.
Q. Talk about you guys being a little bit ahead defensively to where you are offensively as a team. Where do you feel maybe offensively you still have a lot of work to do?
JUSTIN SMITH: I would say getting more comfortable within our motion, being patient on offense. We focused a lot on defense during the off-season. We're kind of implementing the same system, but it's kind of tweaked a little bit from last year.
We're still trying to get used to it and trying to get comfortable with everybody in different spots.
Q. Justin, where you are defensively, how different is it for this team just the length you can put on the floor and rotate through, maybe not just one or two lineups that have a lot of length, you can go with a lot of different combinations where you still have guys?
JUSTIN SMITH: Like I said before, we're a very versatile team. That allows us to play a lot of different guys in a lot of different positions. We have an athletic, long team that's able to get in the passing lanes, make it difficult for the offense to score.
We're going to look forward on capitalizing and using our strengths to the best advantage.
Q. Evan, walk us through the last play of the half.
EVAN FITZNER: I don't want to give away any of our plays. It's something we've worked on in practice, kind of a late-game situation. It was good that we executed it. Rob made the right pass.
Q. The way Damezi lit up the scoreboard in the second half, how big of a weapon could he be down the road?
JOHNNY JAGER: He's a shooter, as you can see. Put it up, he makes it. Having a weapon like that stretches out the defense. You have to stay with him. Opens up driving lanes. Kick it to him, money three. It's a big weapon.
Q. What was the like playing against Chance Coyle, your high school teammate?
JOHNNY JAGER: It was really cool. I was wondering if that was going to happen at some point tonight. I was a senior, he was a freshman. He's one of the guys I've grown up playing with. It was really cool to be out there with him on the court.
Q. Guessing you probably go up against Rob in practice a lot. Anything stood out when you were going against each other in practice?
JOHNNY JAGER: Coming in as a freshman, he's the strongest freshman I've ever seen. That dude is built, he's tough. When he's on the ball, defense is really good. It's tough to get around that guy. He's strong, quick, fast. He's just really solid all around.
Q. Your thoughts how they played tonight.
JUSTIN SMITH: They played a good game. They challenged us offensively and defensively. They gave us a little different actions that we haven't really focused on yet. I mean, they played a good game. We're looking forward to build off of it.
EVAN FITZNER: They shot the ball well. Obviously in the second half, they shot a pretty high percentage. Coach was talking we need to kind of buckle down defensively in the second half, not let that happen. They did a good job of knocking down shots, running their stuff. Kudos to them.
Q. You had a couple chances to play against someone else other than yourself. Anything surprise you guys?
EVAN FITZNER: I think defensively has been the biggest positive thing, surprise, like we've talked about since we've been up here. We have a lot of length, a lot of athletic ability. I think we've done a good job both games defensively.
I mean, at least I was pleasantly surprised. It's tough to really tell that when you're going against each other in practice. To see that in a game, it's good.
Q. Justin, you talk about defense being a big focus in the off-season. Where do you feel this team has made the most progress defensively?
JUSTIN SMITH: I would say we have our rotations down. Compared to last year, we have our rotations down a lot earlier than last year. We still have to work on ball screens, a lot of other different things.
We're a little bit more ahead. We're just looking to build off of any opportunity we can to play.
Q. You talk a lot about defense, rightly so. There's seven newcomers on this team. Five played tonight. Is it safe to say there's considerably more firepower this year than last year?
JUSTIN SMITH: I mean, it depends. It depends on how you look at it. Last year we had a lot of experienced guys, but we were all adjusting to a new system.
This year, the new guys, they've kind of had us bring them up through it, kind of teach them. They got a lot of early opportunities this year. Last year everybody was kind of going through it together. So having that experience one year under all our belts in this system, it's probably helped the younger guys having us be able to teach them.
Q. Talking about the defense in particular, do you see the younger guys, new guys, picking it up faster than last year? You can talk them through it a little bit more than maybe anybody?
JUSTIN SMITH: Yeah, definitely. It's different. When the coaches tell you... But having your own teammate being able to explain it a different way, having gone out there and done the stuff they're asking us to do, having that different perspective is definitely helpful.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
Southern Indiana Head Coach Rodney Watson
Really tough battle for you guys tonight but they seemed to come out and respond pretty well. What are your initial thoughts?
"I liked our initial attack and I liked how our guys came off the bench. Rebounding is an objective stat because it measures effort and we played it fairly even throughout the game, that's a great rebounding team. They play a Pack-line defense which makes it very tough for us to score and we got some baskets early and I though our guys played with good courage. We really challenged this week, especially yesterday going into this thing, that we weren't quite, even though it's the end of October, we weren't where we wanted to be. The 19 turnovers had a lot to do with Indiana's personnel on defense, has some to do with maybe how we're executing but that's the next phase we have to start cleaning up. I thought our defensive energy was very solid, but I thought we lapsed there as we got tired late. With (Damezi) Anderson making four threes, those the kinds of things can't happen if you're going to be a championship team regardless of the score. Indiana's got a very good team, a team that will have a lot of success this year and it was great for us to play faster, stronger, jump higher, and do all those things you need to do to come out of your comfort level."
What did you learn about your team tonight?
"I liked our fight. I think that rebounding is a stat that gives you a pretty objective parameter of your energy and effort and it was pretty much even throughout the entire night. I liked the fact that when we made substitutions we didn't have a lapse in terms of someone not being ready to go. You can't play 5-on-4 in any game and you especially can't win this one. I thought our bench was really good. They were able to come in-and-out of the game. I thought we handled the pace of the game really well. Obviously, Indiana's length and their Pack-line defense created a lot of problems for us. Coach Miller is one of my favorite coaches ever because he knows how to put his personnel in great positions, like when he went to foul out our guys. Our guys were giving them problems, especially the big ones. They were holding their own, walling up well and we were playing at a really nice physical level that I think we all like the watch. I think we're all kind of fearful at this point in the year of so many choppy fouls, but I thought there was a good flow to the game and that our guys could play well at it."
What did it mean to hold a lead at the beginning of the game?
"That was really a big deal because we knew it was going to be a long game. The thing we said at the end was 'don't be okay with the score, we're not okay with the score.' I'm not unrealistic, I'm not being silly about this. It's just when you're a competitor, don't be okay with how that turned out. The 19 turnovers to the 11, we have to get that cleaned up and be able to handle pressure, we're going to see really good pressure throughout the year. You have to get a couple shots down to really start feeling good about yourself and your team. So, to answer your question, it was good we were able to score early because that gives a team a lot of lift and a lot of confidence. Even though we scored 20 points at half time, I felt that it was a good half." and that they got the separation at the basket on the pick-and-pop at the end. But all-in-all I thought our guys played with a good purpose."
Postgame Quotes
Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller
ARCHIE MILLER: Some good and some bad. It's good to play in front of the fans for the first time. I think that really gets the jitters sort of off the plate for the rest of the season.
Conditioning played a good role tonight in terms of some of that fatigue in terms of who is available for the game. There will be some good, some bad, really teachable stuff.
First half defense, pretty locked in. Second half defense, not really locked in at all. Then I think first half offense, not doing a really nice job of sharing it, moving it. Second half much more efficient in terms of how we played.
There's some good and bad. We'll break it down. Have three days to get ready for our opener on Tuesday. We're looking forward to Chicago State.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. From a shooting standpoint, last year three-point shooting was something you were missing. Tonight 50% of them. Something positive there.
ARCHIE MILLER: It was encouraging. I think in the second half, obviously Damezi showed a little bit of what he can do from behind the line. He's a big guard, can shoot the ball. Zach knocking two down was really good to see. For the most part I thought most of the shots were pretty good. So we got to keep developing that.
Clearly right now our guards are thin. As we get a couple guys back in the near future we can continue to be better from the perimeter.
Q. How much is Rob staking a claim to the point guard position?
ARCHIE MILLER: He's taking advantage of opportunity. It is what it is. Right now it's come to the level that he's that man up. He has to be able to step in and do a good job. I think you saw a little bit of a glimpse of what we kind of see every single day: solid, really, really tough-minded defensively, smart. Offensively still has to learn how to play the college game. Doesn't really know how that feels yet. For the most part he's been pretty impressive.
Q. Points off turnovers?
ARCHIE MILLER: Defense to offense. Defense to offense is always something we've prided ourselves on. The better you are on defense, you have a chance to really be good at offense. That's the hardest thing to stop, is transition.
For us, in our Loyola scrimmage, I can't remember maybe 10 or 11 steals. Tonight we had 10 more steals. We have a long team. We have a quick team. We have an active team. As we become better defensively, a little bit more locked in, hopefully we're a team that does a better job of being able to convert off those things.
I didn't think in the first half we were very good when we had our opportunities with numbers to take advantage of. We didn't advance the ball. We didn't make an easy look for somebody wide open. We dribbled one too many times which let them get back. We'll kind of show that on film.
Q. Romeo picked up a few steals tonight. How key is he in what you want to do defensively?
ARCHIE MILLER: He has to keep getting better defensively. I think he knows that. He's been getting better week by week. Naturally he's gifted in the passing lane, has a long arm. Can get his hand on a lot of balls, deflections. As we get better, you'll see him out more in transition being able to finish.
Q. With so many scorers on the team, how will it affect how you find your rotation?
ARCHIE MILLER: Yeah, kind of trial by error a little bit. Part of it's who is available. We have to play who is available. I think right now, just in terms of the rotation that's coming in, we're starting to feel a little bit better about it.
With Al going out tonight, obviously a couple guys not available, you're having to throw some guys in there that maybe you wouldn't. Hopefully they get better from this and they take advantage of it.
We have to develop a better chemistry offensively. I think just understanding what our identity is, how we want to play. We have to continue to do a good job of really trying to teach it and play a little bit like we did in the second half rather than just the first half sort of was a little bit just not smooth, not smooth.
We've been feeling that way as a staff here early part in the year, that's where we're going to have our biggest climb, is offensive identity. I think defensively it is what it is. We're going to play the way we play. Offensively we have to get these guys in a situation where they're successful.
Q. You mentioned the second half not being as good offensively as you were in the first half. Anything stand out?
ARCHIE MILLER: Fatigue. Fatigue. Guys play too many minutes. Second thing would be transition defense, having guys take the ball to the basket, whether it's Romeo, Rob, Justin, guys on the baseline, not having rotations getting back. That was a big problem.
They made six threes. They shot a good percentage from three. Their front court players hit a couple of them. Just stops and starts to transition defense. If you're going to give guys easy baskets, whether you're not organized, running hard, that's going to kill you. Second half a lot of stuff to talk about in terms of transition defense.
Q. Juwan had six points at halftime.
ARCHIE MILLER: He's got to demand the ball, get the ball where he wants it, when he wants it. I thought the start of the second half put him in the focal point of what's going on. Got him the ball, guys found him. He wanted the ball. That kind of got him going a little bit in the first part.
Put six fouls on him in the first five minutes. That's a good start for him. He has to do that earlier in the game where he doesn't free-lance as match.
Q. De'Ron had a couple of baskets in the second half where he worked his way in there. Thoughts on how he played? Is he okay?
ARCHIE MILLER: I they he may have rolled his ankle, tweaked his ankle, I'm not sure. I wasn't told anything that anything was coming.
It's tough. It's conditioning, man. He's having to play himself into shape during the games, which is really hard to do. I don't know how many he played tonight, but he's picking up quick fouls. Some of the stuff you expect him to be. Just a little bit rusty.
But he's got to find a way to play himself into better shape. That's a big thing, him being able to play longer stretches.
He commands attention. He's a good player, great feet, hands around the basket. It's conditioning level on both ends of the floor where he's going to have to try to work hard through it. It's difficult to get in shape during games. The month of November will be hard on him physically.
Q. Damezi, streaky shooting in practice or just this one time?
ARCHIE MILLER: No, he can shoot the ball. He's a good shooter. I think once he made a couple tonight, probably made him feel a little bit better.
His struggles are like all young guys. He's learning how to play defense the first time a certain way. Offensively he's learning how to play a new style. He thinks a lot at times. But I thought tonight it was nice to see him let it go. He has that ability, the skill level behind the three-point line. He's a big, strong kid. I think the better he gets defensively, the more minutes he'll get.
Q. You talked more generally about the defense. You want improvement there. Do you feel younger guys are picking it up better from the older guys this year?
ARCHIE MILLER: Without question. It's easier to learn by having guys tell you where to go or seeing it on a film done correctly, whether that is practice or games. I think Rob and Romeo as freshmen playing that amount of minutes, you are you're looking at two guys doing a pretty good job right now early in their career, not making a ton of mistakes.
It's going to be a work in progress all season. I think this team can be pretty good defensively. We have a lot of length. I think we're quick. Part of it's going to be just that competitiveness.
I think start of this game, it's tough sometimes when you play like a Southern Indiana, they're undersized, five out, you're not dealing with true size, you're not getting stuff yet. They tried to space it out. We knew they were going to try to shoot a lot of threes. We did a decent job in the first half. Second half not so good.
Q. (Question about Romeo and Rob halfcourt offense.)
ARCHIE MILLER: Without really watching the film and seeing it, I think Rob really had some nice plays. I thought he was in the paint a few times. He's attacking the rim. With Rob, what we're trying to get Rob to see is see the floor a little earlier in transition where he can get guys like Romeo or Juwan the ball a little bit ahead of the defense where they have some more room to attack. Advancing the ball a little bit more for him.
Romeo is a naturally gifted scorer. He's going to learn how to play through contact better. At the end of the day, as we get and smoother running our stuff, he's going to be able to make some more plays. He's a natural transition type of a player. We're trying to find more ways to get in the open court. Those two guys are doing a great job, they're very coachable.
Indiana Players - Justin Smith, Evan Fitzner and Johnny Jager
THE MODERATOR: First question for the players.
Q. Talk about the offensive balance. 13 players scored.
JUSTIN SMITH: I'd say we have a very deep team, a very versatile team that can do a lot of different things. Our offense is very free-moving. There's a lot of opportunities for everybody to get involved.
Everybody just took advantage of what the defense gave them and we were able to capitalize.
JOHNNY JAGER: I think everybody that plays is very unselfish. We play within our offense. Nobody cares who gets the credit as long as we get the W at the end of the day.
Q. Robert, no turnovers, 10 points, is that reflective of what you're seeing in practices?
EVAN FITZNER: I think it's definitely what we've been seeing in practice and scrimmages, our previous scrimmage against another team. He's done a good job as a freshman coming in, playing tough. It's tough as a freshman to come in and play well defensively, kind of run the team. He's done a really good job with it so far.
Q. Evan, biggest step from that scrimmage on Saturday to tonight?
EVAN FITZNER: I think we were better offensively moving the ball like Justin talked about. I thought we found the open man really well. Yeah, we played fast. That's what coach wants us to do this year. We put a lot of points on the board. I think that was the result of us playing fast, doing what we wanted offensively.
Q. Talk about you guys being a little bit ahead defensively to where you are offensively as a team. Where do you feel maybe offensively you still have a lot of work to do?
JUSTIN SMITH: I would say getting more comfortable within our motion, being patient on offense. We focused a lot on defense during the off-season. We're kind of implementing the same system, but it's kind of tweaked a little bit from last year.
We're still trying to get used to it and trying to get comfortable with everybody in different spots.
Q. Justin, where you are defensively, how different is it for this team just the length you can put on the floor and rotate through, maybe not just one or two lineups that have a lot of length, you can go with a lot of different combinations where you still have guys?
JUSTIN SMITH: Like I said before, we're a very versatile team. That allows us to play a lot of different guys in a lot of different positions. We have an athletic, long team that's able to get in the passing lanes, make it difficult for the offense to score.
We're going to look forward on capitalizing and using our strengths to the best advantage.
Q. Evan, walk us through the last play of the half.
EVAN FITZNER: I don't want to give away any of our plays. It's something we've worked on in practice, kind of a late-game situation. It was good that we executed it. Rob made the right pass.
Q. The way Damezi lit up the scoreboard in the second half, how big of a weapon could he be down the road?
JOHNNY JAGER: He's a shooter, as you can see. Put it up, he makes it. Having a weapon like that stretches out the defense. You have to stay with him. Opens up driving lanes. Kick it to him, money three. It's a big weapon.
Q. What was the like playing against Chance Coyle, your high school teammate?
JOHNNY JAGER: It was really cool. I was wondering if that was going to happen at some point tonight. I was a senior, he was a freshman. He's one of the guys I've grown up playing with. It was really cool to be out there with him on the court.
Q. Guessing you probably go up against Rob in practice a lot. Anything stood out when you were going against each other in practice?
JOHNNY JAGER: Coming in as a freshman, he's the strongest freshman I've ever seen. That dude is built, he's tough. When he's on the ball, defense is really good. It's tough to get around that guy. He's strong, quick, fast. He's just really solid all around.
Q. Your thoughts how they played tonight.
JUSTIN SMITH: They played a good game. They challenged us offensively and defensively. They gave us a little different actions that we haven't really focused on yet. I mean, they played a good game. We're looking forward to build off of it.
EVAN FITZNER: They shot the ball well. Obviously in the second half, they shot a pretty high percentage. Coach was talking we need to kind of buckle down defensively in the second half, not let that happen. They did a good job of knocking down shots, running their stuff. Kudos to them.
Q. You had a couple chances to play against someone else other than yourself. Anything surprise you guys?
EVAN FITZNER: I think defensively has been the biggest positive thing, surprise, like we've talked about since we've been up here. We have a lot of length, a lot of athletic ability. I think we've done a good job both games defensively.
I mean, at least I was pleasantly surprised. It's tough to really tell that when you're going against each other in practice. To see that in a game, it's good.
Q. Justin, you talk about defense being a big focus in the off-season. Where do you feel this team has made the most progress defensively?
JUSTIN SMITH: I would say we have our rotations down. Compared to last year, we have our rotations down a lot earlier than last year. We still have to work on ball screens, a lot of other different things.
We're a little bit more ahead. We're just looking to build off of any opportunity we can to play.
Q. You talk a lot about defense, rightly so. There's seven newcomers on this team. Five played tonight. Is it safe to say there's considerably more firepower this year than last year?
JUSTIN SMITH: I mean, it depends. It depends on how you look at it. Last year we had a lot of experienced guys, but we were all adjusting to a new system.
This year, the new guys, they've kind of had us bring them up through it, kind of teach them. They got a lot of early opportunities this year. Last year everybody was kind of going through it together. So having that experience one year under all our belts in this system, it's probably helped the younger guys having us be able to teach them.
Q. Talking about the defense in particular, do you see the younger guys, new guys, picking it up faster than last year? You can talk them through it a little bit more than maybe anybody?
JUSTIN SMITH: Yeah, definitely. It's different. When the coaches tell you... But having your own teammate being able to explain it a different way, having gone out there and done the stuff they're asking us to do, having that different perspective is definitely helpful.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
Southern Indiana Head Coach Rodney Watson
Really tough battle for you guys tonight but they seemed to come out and respond pretty well. What are your initial thoughts?
"I liked our initial attack and I liked how our guys came off the bench. Rebounding is an objective stat because it measures effort and we played it fairly even throughout the game, that's a great rebounding team. They play a Pack-line defense which makes it very tough for us to score and we got some baskets early and I though our guys played with good courage. We really challenged this week, especially yesterday going into this thing, that we weren't quite, even though it's the end of October, we weren't where we wanted to be. The 19 turnovers had a lot to do with Indiana's personnel on defense, has some to do with maybe how we're executing but that's the next phase we have to start cleaning up. I thought our defensive energy was very solid, but I thought we lapsed there as we got tired late. With (Damezi) Anderson making four threes, those the kinds of things can't happen if you're going to be a championship team regardless of the score. Indiana's got a very good team, a team that will have a lot of success this year and it was great for us to play faster, stronger, jump higher, and do all those things you need to do to come out of your comfort level."
What did you learn about your team tonight?
"I liked our fight. I think that rebounding is a stat that gives you a pretty objective parameter of your energy and effort and it was pretty much even throughout the entire night. I liked the fact that when we made substitutions we didn't have a lapse in terms of someone not being ready to go. You can't play 5-on-4 in any game and you especially can't win this one. I thought our bench was really good. They were able to come in-and-out of the game. I thought we handled the pace of the game really well. Obviously, Indiana's length and their Pack-line defense created a lot of problems for us. Coach Miller is one of my favorite coaches ever because he knows how to put his personnel in great positions, like when he went to foul out our guys. Our guys were giving them problems, especially the big ones. They were holding their own, walling up well and we were playing at a really nice physical level that I think we all like the watch. I think we're all kind of fearful at this point in the year of so many choppy fouls, but I thought there was a good flow to the game and that our guys could play well at it."
What did it mean to hold a lead at the beginning of the game?
"That was really a big deal because we knew it was going to be a long game. The thing we said at the end was 'don't be okay with the score, we're not okay with the score.' I'm not unrealistic, I'm not being silly about this. It's just when you're a competitor, don't be okay with how that turned out. The 19 turnovers to the 11, we have to get that cleaned up and be able to handle pressure, we're going to see really good pressure throughout the year. You have to get a couple shots down to really start feeling good about yourself and your team. So, to answer your question, it was good we were able to score early because that gives a team a lot of lift and a lot of confidence. Even though we scored 20 points at half time, I felt that it was a good half." and that they got the separation at the basket on the pick-and-pop at the end. But all-in-all I thought our guys played with a good purpose."
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Monday, November 17
IUWBB Postgame at Florida State
Monday, November 17
IUBB Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, November 16
Darian DeVries Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, November 16