Indiana University Athletics
Postgame Quotes - Indiana vs. UC Davis
11/23/2018 9:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Indiana vs. UC Davis
Nov. 23, 2018
Postgame Quotes
Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: Really hard-fought game. Credit our guys hanging in there. Sometimes it's not easy and it's not always going to be your night but found a way right about the 8-minute mark to dig in, get a little more solid defensively thought Juwan and Romeo, those threes those guys made really give us the confidence to finish it off.
But credit U.C. Davis. We knew coming in the game how well coached they are. That's a team that won 22 games last year with a lot of guys back from a conference championship, so we knew what we were getting into in terms of being able to compete against them. They do a good job.
So you know, credit to them, but we found a way and you know hopefully we can get a little bit better here leading into Tuesday. We have some time hopefully to recover and get a guy or two back maybe which would really help us.
Q. Juwan doesn't come out at all, finishes three points shy of his career high. What do you like about what he gave you tonight?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: We needed everything he had. First half he got us going with his energy level. Offensively he got going.
Defensively he tried to do a pretty good job I thought on the glass.
And in the second half he just is a man in there, and without him, you know, without him playing all 40 minutes, I didn't feel we would be able to win the game, and kept asking him if he was all right, all right, and he never really flinched, so to speak, in terms of his conditioning or whatnot.
But it was a great performance by him and he's had two this week, two "senior" performances, I thought.
Q. Talk about his 3-point shot and how far that has come.
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: He's worked very, very hard on it. Something we spent a lot of time in the off-season.
You know, I think he's a much more confident shooter right now than he's ever been and I thought it showed tonight with his ability to let it go, and you know, it was good to see.
Obviously making five in a game for him has got to be probably a high but he's a good shooter and I think when he takes good ones, he has a chance to make them.
Q. I know you don't ever want to focus too much on any one guy, but at the risk of over oversimplification, do you feel you have the confidence in Juwan and Romeo, if things are getting weird or hinky on the offensive end, to make something happen just to get something going?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: I think when you're in these type of games, when you're possession-by-possession, you're trying to claw your way to get those guys the ability to catch the ball where we want to get it and be able to play through those guys.
Right now, as crazy as it sounds, we just have a natural people that are in the game at certain times, you know, actually even get a little bit more chemistry out there with our experience level, especially at the guard slot and it will put guys in better situation to take advantage of those two guys.
But those two guys have confidence. It was a good week for our team to earn two hard fought wins when we haven't played particularly great. You're not always going to pray great and I think the rest of this month and December is going to be a real challenge. So to be able to have a couple tough, hard-fought wins is good.
Q. Romeo said they had led all the way until 7:20 left and he went baseline and scored a tie at 54, and he said that was a set that was called for him. Do you remember that?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: Yeah, he went baseline on the guy and was able to get going there. He tied the ball -- I thought once he tied the ballgame, the energy level went up and the crowd obviously played a big role again in the last eight minutes helping us pull it out.
Q. Maybe as simple as Davis just not making shots down the stretch but what you like about your team in the last eight minutes of defense to close out the game? What did you think was different in that period?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: We did a little bet e job guarding the ball. They were piercing us all night. They twisted a lot of ball screening angles at the last second and we just got beat straight line a ton.
I thought the last six minutes, seven minutes we were a little better on the ball which kept them in front of us, which hopefully was causing challenge two-point shots and draw a couple fouls, as well.
We'll have to watch the film. Obviously that was the worst our defense has been all season in terms of being able to get stops and get some things done. I think getting back to work a little bit practice-wise it important for us.
We haven't been able to really, really -- it's been a really tough week on the available guys so we've been trying to manage, but you have to work every day, you have to consistently bring your habits to the floor and I think you've seen a little bit of slippage due to our inability on either end of the floor, really, to be working hard at it every day. We're trying.
I think this will be a good weekend obviously if we can get a couple guys back, even if it's just for non-contact, just more bodies in practice.
Q. A little bit out of left field. Justin is a little bit more subdued statistically than some other guys but finishes plus 19. Are there ways he's learning to impact the game, beyond points and rebounds, that he's maybe embracing?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: Yeah, I think the big thing is his ability, hopefully, it continue to be a guy that we really trust defensively.
He's guarding a lot of guys right now that are perimeter-oriented, front court players and he's doing a decent job there. He's much better around the basket than he's been in the past, and you know, I thought he helped us tonight.
We've got to continue to get him to rebound the ball. We have to continue to be able to get him going in transition a little bit better, and you know, he's hanging in there.
He had a big three obviously late in the game and a good drive in that eight-minute stretch so he had can a key five points for us.
Q. I thought U.C. Davis had really good offensive action and they used almost the entirety of the shot clock and they would spring somebody open for a three. Is that as well as anybody's played against you?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: They are very organized offensively in terms of their ball screen motion and how they do things. They lift you, their front court guys do an amazing job of sprinting and changing angles at the last minute.
They had our guards really confused at times in terrible of being able to get over a screen or being able to contain the dribble so to speak.
And for the first time all season A.J. John played like A.J. John played a year ago, he came in shooting 15 percent from the floor. We knew eventually the guy was going to break through; he's a 40 percent three-point shooter. So I think that was one key deal tonight that they had a front court player that was obviously really causing some commotion out there in terms of spacing.
They did a good job. They have got a great point guard. He's really, really quick. Get it to the paint. They open the floor up. Like you said, they make you guard it. They make you turn; they make you guard it. You've got to be really, really solid. They shot the ball extremely well tonight.
Q. You said is were hopeful about getting Jerome back with the team this week. Is he back in any way?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: Jerome is back. He wasn't feeling really well tonight, so he didn't come to the game. But he was in the facility and he is back on campus, yeah.
Q. Anything more definitive on what he's dealing with?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: Not right now. He's had a couple procedures on his leg and I think we've got it down to a little bit where he's at right now but it's still wait and see on recovery. He's had a tough last week, but everything is indefinite right now in terms of like timetable or what we're doing or when he can comeback.
Q. You mentioned this week being tough with kind of two hard-fought games. When you're playing as many young guys as you are, as many minutes, how valuable is it for them to have these type of experiences early in the season?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: This is like light a fire just throw them in the fire. They are having to figure out how to get a stop late in the game, how to get a big bucket and they have never been there before. Sometimes you get down at home, it doesn't feel fun. Most of the time, they have been expected to be up big.
Those guys are learning this week, every game is hard. There's a lot of different ways you can win them and to have those guys in there. It's really valuable, you know what I mean.
Hopefully down the stretch as we get healthier and as you get into the thick of things, everyone knows what the Big Ten looks like now and every night's going to be very difficult.
Q. We touched on U.C. Davis's three-point shooting but what you have to do guarding the perimeter with Duke coming up next week?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: Guarding the ball, getting back in transition and keeping guys in front of you. I thought we got beat off the dribble way too much in the first half, which had us in rotation all over the place. They made some tough ones, too.
But without question this is a driving basketball game coming up on Tuesday with their ability to really spread the floor and play. It's going to come down to the day, how good are we going to be individually on the ball. I think the better you are there, the less you have break downs.
Indiana Players - Juwan Morgan, Justin Smith and Romeo Langford
Q. Coach talked about this is going to be a tough game. Did you expect it to be this difficult?
JUWAN MORGAN: Yeah, we knew they were a tough-playing team. They run good offense. We just had 20 keep sticking to the script, guarding how we guard and I think as the game wore on, we started to get to them. I think that just was staying within ourselves, not trying to do too much, and I think as the game went on we started to wear them down.
Q. Juwan, what did you make of the start? Did you feel there were minutes were they just playing really well? What did you make of that and what did you think the key was?
JUWAN MORGAN: You have to give credit to them. They are a great team. They were hitting all the shots I'm pretty sure they hit in practice, but I think just defensively we started to just have more pride in ourselves, just playing harder on that side of the ball and I think that turned into good things on the offensive end.
Q. Someone said that this off-season you shot a thousand three pointers a day. How far do you think you've come with making that a confidence shot for yourself?
JUWAN MORGAN: I mean, I don't know about a thousand but I've always been confident about my shot. I've always considered myself a shooter. It just was a matter of time before they started going in.
Q. Justin, at the risk of oversimplification, how much do you feel like if you are in a tight spot you can go through one of these two guys and if you need a play offensively or defensively, you can just kind of lean on one of these two guys next to you to make something happen?
JUSTIN SMITH: They are definitely there for us when we needed a play, especially I think we were down maybe 11, 13 points, and Juwan really stepped up to start the game and really kept us a part of the game because they were trying to take it and run away with it.
But these two guys over here they are very reliable, and having them on our side is very beneficial to us, especially when we do go through offensive lulls, they can really create their own shot and score the ball really well.
Q. Romeo, they had led the entire game, you guys finally tied it when you got the baseline drive. Talk about that play and also talk about what you saw on the subsequent three that you hit on the right wing.
ROMEO LANGFORD: Yeah, we were making a run. We were down by about two. Coached called a play for us and run and I just seen the lane to go in there and attack it, attack it hard and I was just going to get a foul and I made the shot to tie us up.
The three that I hit to give us a better cushion, me and Juwan we ran a two-minute game and I just seen them backing off on me and I couldn't pass up that shot. He knew it was good when it left my hand everyone and on the team, they always give they confidence and give me the green light to shoot and I shot it.
Q. Romeo, was your nose in the back of your mind at all at the beginning in terms of maybe taking a shot or anything that would have made you hesitant?
ROMEO LANGFORD: No, not at all.
Q. I know you didn't play in that game at Duke a few years ago, but going back down there, you played them tough last year. What does it mean to have a second crack in there and going into that environment in a big game?
JUWAN MORGAN: It will be fun. It's us versus them. I can't wait to get there and the ball is in the air, the jump ball. There's not really much more I can say. I'm just excited.
Q. Have you watched them at all so far in the first month?
JUWAN MORGAN: I watched when they played Gonzaga the other day. They are a great team, but I feel we're a great team, so it should be a good game.
Q. How much of this matchup is like a measuring stick to go against a team like that that's been top a ranked?
JUWAN MORGAN: I think every game is a measuring stick. Just whether you can stay within yourselves and do the things that's been working for you all day or people will get out of traffic and try to do things they haven't done all year. I think every game we're able to hold ourselves to that.
Q. Just in general, these last two games have been closer maybe than you guys have anticipated. Do you feel like having these type of close games is going to pay dividends later in the season when you've already been in a situation like this a couple times?
JUWAN MORGAN: A hundred percent. I think being in these situations now always will pay off later. When games are tough and we're deep in the Big Ten season, I feel like guys will have been here before and we know what it takes to win these games and let's do it, and I really think that will get the guys going.
Q. Romeo, ESPN has made a big deal about the IU-Duke game and you know some of those guys like RJ and Cam. What's the challenge like playing against those kinds of guys?
ROMEO LANGFORD: Obviously they are really good players, elite players. It really is not like really me or freshmen against freshmen or upperclassmen. It's Indiana against Duke. It's really a team effort. We're going to go in practice the rest of this week and get prepared for them and hopefully try our best and do what we do to get the win on Tuesday.
Q. Justin, same kind of question. You guys showed some versatility tonight. You and Juwan operate inside a lot, but you drilled a three at the end, and Juwan was 5-7 a team, and you were 10 of 17 for three tonight. Do you think that's something that you have to show Tuesday night down there, too, that you can go outside and hit?
JUSTIN SMITH: I would say if we stick to our game plan and play our game, we'll be right there to win the game when it comes down to it.
But we're just going to go in there and play our game and not try and do anything, trying to showcase anything that we can do. We're just going to go in there and do what we do every day.
Q. What does it mean to you guys, it's holiday time, a lot of people are out of town, the students are gone and you still got nearly 14,000 people here. Did they help you tonight? It seemed like they did.
JUWAN MORGAN: Yeah, they definitely head us, I think they were into the game the whole time and I think as we started playing harder on defense I think they were inspired by them. We gave them something to cheer about, and in return they gave us energy on the offensive end, as we started to build a little lead, I think we just kept our foot on the gas and we never looked back.
UC Davis Head Coach Jim Les
Opening Statement
Indiana is a good basketball team and I am very proud of our guys. I told them that this was a huge quantum leap forward in terms of who we need to beat. I thought our defense early was the aggressor. I thought our defense created offense for us and we really disrupted a lot of things they wanted to do. Our free-throw defense, thought we needed some work, we didn't spend enough time on that. I was talking to the officials about it and they were giving me some hints on how to improve as I was giving them some hints on how to improve. The execution was outstanding, and it was everybody. Guys came off the bench and didn't skip a beat and that's who we need to be. As I told the team, we need to continue to build on this and then we have to sustain it for 40 minutes. What this showed them, it didn't need to show us as a staff because we believe what a good team this can be. To me, it was the fact that if we can in this building against this team, in this environment, there isn't any place we can't go or any team we can't play with. I'm really proud of our team. We have to get some rest, get back to work next week and then get back to home and get our home winning streak back on and start sustaining this. It was a half, 30 minutes. We need to get this to 40 minutes and you can see this team will be a tough out.
Coach, talk about how AJ John played tonight and how his offense helped keep your team in the game.
We knew AJ is a good shooter and that is not going to last. The law of averages is going to play out. But where I thought AJ got going, and I believe this, he did all the other little things. He was so active defensively, active on the boards, he was sprinting, he was screening hard and that's what happens. When you do all those little things, the ball just finds you, the basket finds you and he certainly deserved it and I give him credit for continuing to battle. He was frustrated, not that he wasn't putting up numbers, he was frustrated that he was letting his team down. He wasn't but he got back to doing all the little things and it's how the ball goes in the basket then.
Your coaching staff has spent a lot of time with the shooting technique, tonight TJ Shorts was terrific as well as freshman Caleb Fuller…
We continue to develop confidence in Caleb and he continues to reward us. He's playing hard, doing the little things, he's a physical guy, a good driver and he's making some shots. I'm really pleased with his effort. We need everybody, everybody that played. Matt didn't get as many minutes because they were playing small and Morgan started making shots on the perimeter and I didn't feel like it was fair to Matt and I told him that after the game. That hurt his minutes but Matt is going to be a factor for us when it's all said and done.
Nov. 23, 2018
Postgame Quotes
Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: Really hard-fought game. Credit our guys hanging in there. Sometimes it's not easy and it's not always going to be your night but found a way right about the 8-minute mark to dig in, get a little more solid defensively thought Juwan and Romeo, those threes those guys made really give us the confidence to finish it off.
But credit U.C. Davis. We knew coming in the game how well coached they are. That's a team that won 22 games last year with a lot of guys back from a conference championship, so we knew what we were getting into in terms of being able to compete against them. They do a good job.
So you know, credit to them, but we found a way and you know hopefully we can get a little bit better here leading into Tuesday. We have some time hopefully to recover and get a guy or two back maybe which would really help us.
Q. Juwan doesn't come out at all, finishes three points shy of his career high. What do you like about what he gave you tonight?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: We needed everything he had. First half he got us going with his energy level. Offensively he got going.
Defensively he tried to do a pretty good job I thought on the glass.
And in the second half he just is a man in there, and without him, you know, without him playing all 40 minutes, I didn't feel we would be able to win the game, and kept asking him if he was all right, all right, and he never really flinched, so to speak, in terms of his conditioning or whatnot.
But it was a great performance by him and he's had two this week, two "senior" performances, I thought.
Q. Talk about his 3-point shot and how far that has come.
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: He's worked very, very hard on it. Something we spent a lot of time in the off-season.
You know, I think he's a much more confident shooter right now than he's ever been and I thought it showed tonight with his ability to let it go, and you know, it was good to see.
Obviously making five in a game for him has got to be probably a high but he's a good shooter and I think when he takes good ones, he has a chance to make them.
Q. I know you don't ever want to focus too much on any one guy, but at the risk of over oversimplification, do you feel you have the confidence in Juwan and Romeo, if things are getting weird or hinky on the offensive end, to make something happen just to get something going?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: I think when you're in these type of games, when you're possession-by-possession, you're trying to claw your way to get those guys the ability to catch the ball where we want to get it and be able to play through those guys.
Right now, as crazy as it sounds, we just have a natural people that are in the game at certain times, you know, actually even get a little bit more chemistry out there with our experience level, especially at the guard slot and it will put guys in better situation to take advantage of those two guys.
But those two guys have confidence. It was a good week for our team to earn two hard fought wins when we haven't played particularly great. You're not always going to pray great and I think the rest of this month and December is going to be a real challenge. So to be able to have a couple tough, hard-fought wins is good.
Q. Romeo said they had led all the way until 7:20 left and he went baseline and scored a tie at 54, and he said that was a set that was called for him. Do you remember that?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: Yeah, he went baseline on the guy and was able to get going there. He tied the ball -- I thought once he tied the ballgame, the energy level went up and the crowd obviously played a big role again in the last eight minutes helping us pull it out.
Q. Maybe as simple as Davis just not making shots down the stretch but what you like about your team in the last eight minutes of defense to close out the game? What did you think was different in that period?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: We did a little bet e job guarding the ball. They were piercing us all night. They twisted a lot of ball screening angles at the last second and we just got beat straight line a ton.
I thought the last six minutes, seven minutes we were a little better on the ball which kept them in front of us, which hopefully was causing challenge two-point shots and draw a couple fouls, as well.
We'll have to watch the film. Obviously that was the worst our defense has been all season in terms of being able to get stops and get some things done. I think getting back to work a little bit practice-wise it important for us.
We haven't been able to really, really -- it's been a really tough week on the available guys so we've been trying to manage, but you have to work every day, you have to consistently bring your habits to the floor and I think you've seen a little bit of slippage due to our inability on either end of the floor, really, to be working hard at it every day. We're trying.
I think this will be a good weekend obviously if we can get a couple guys back, even if it's just for non-contact, just more bodies in practice.
Q. A little bit out of left field. Justin is a little bit more subdued statistically than some other guys but finishes plus 19. Are there ways he's learning to impact the game, beyond points and rebounds, that he's maybe embracing?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: Yeah, I think the big thing is his ability, hopefully, it continue to be a guy that we really trust defensively.
He's guarding a lot of guys right now that are perimeter-oriented, front court players and he's doing a decent job there. He's much better around the basket than he's been in the past, and you know, I thought he helped us tonight.
We've got to continue to get him to rebound the ball. We have to continue to be able to get him going in transition a little bit better, and you know, he's hanging in there.
He had a big three obviously late in the game and a good drive in that eight-minute stretch so he had can a key five points for us.
Q. I thought U.C. Davis had really good offensive action and they used almost the entirety of the shot clock and they would spring somebody open for a three. Is that as well as anybody's played against you?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: They are very organized offensively in terms of their ball screen motion and how they do things. They lift you, their front court guys do an amazing job of sprinting and changing angles at the last minute.
They had our guards really confused at times in terrible of being able to get over a screen or being able to contain the dribble so to speak.
And for the first time all season A.J. John played like A.J. John played a year ago, he came in shooting 15 percent from the floor. We knew eventually the guy was going to break through; he's a 40 percent three-point shooter. So I think that was one key deal tonight that they had a front court player that was obviously really causing some commotion out there in terms of spacing.
They did a good job. They have got a great point guard. He's really, really quick. Get it to the paint. They open the floor up. Like you said, they make you guard it. They make you turn; they make you guard it. You've got to be really, really solid. They shot the ball extremely well tonight.
Q. You said is were hopeful about getting Jerome back with the team this week. Is he back in any way?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: Jerome is back. He wasn't feeling really well tonight, so he didn't come to the game. But he was in the facility and he is back on campus, yeah.
Q. Anything more definitive on what he's dealing with?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: Not right now. He's had a couple procedures on his leg and I think we've got it down to a little bit where he's at right now but it's still wait and see on recovery. He's had a tough last week, but everything is indefinite right now in terms of like timetable or what we're doing or when he can comeback.
Q. You mentioned this week being tough with kind of two hard-fought games. When you're playing as many young guys as you are, as many minutes, how valuable is it for them to have these type of experiences early in the season?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: This is like light a fire just throw them in the fire. They are having to figure out how to get a stop late in the game, how to get a big bucket and they have never been there before. Sometimes you get down at home, it doesn't feel fun. Most of the time, they have been expected to be up big.
Those guys are learning this week, every game is hard. There's a lot of different ways you can win them and to have those guys in there. It's really valuable, you know what I mean.
Hopefully down the stretch as we get healthier and as you get into the thick of things, everyone knows what the Big Ten looks like now and every night's going to be very difficult.
Q. We touched on U.C. Davis's three-point shooting but what you have to do guarding the perimeter with Duke coming up next week?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: Guarding the ball, getting back in transition and keeping guys in front of you. I thought we got beat off the dribble way too much in the first half, which had us in rotation all over the place. They made some tough ones, too.
But without question this is a driving basketball game coming up on Tuesday with their ability to really spread the floor and play. It's going to come down to the day, how good are we going to be individually on the ball. I think the better you are there, the less you have break downs.
Indiana Players - Juwan Morgan, Justin Smith and Romeo Langford
Q. Coach talked about this is going to be a tough game. Did you expect it to be this difficult?
JUWAN MORGAN: Yeah, we knew they were a tough-playing team. They run good offense. We just had 20 keep sticking to the script, guarding how we guard and I think as the game wore on, we started to get to them. I think that just was staying within ourselves, not trying to do too much, and I think as the game went on we started to wear them down.
Q. Juwan, what did you make of the start? Did you feel there were minutes were they just playing really well? What did you make of that and what did you think the key was?
JUWAN MORGAN: You have to give credit to them. They are a great team. They were hitting all the shots I'm pretty sure they hit in practice, but I think just defensively we started to just have more pride in ourselves, just playing harder on that side of the ball and I think that turned into good things on the offensive end.
Q. Someone said that this off-season you shot a thousand three pointers a day. How far do you think you've come with making that a confidence shot for yourself?
JUWAN MORGAN: I mean, I don't know about a thousand but I've always been confident about my shot. I've always considered myself a shooter. It just was a matter of time before they started going in.
Q. Justin, at the risk of oversimplification, how much do you feel like if you are in a tight spot you can go through one of these two guys and if you need a play offensively or defensively, you can just kind of lean on one of these two guys next to you to make something happen?
JUSTIN SMITH: They are definitely there for us when we needed a play, especially I think we were down maybe 11, 13 points, and Juwan really stepped up to start the game and really kept us a part of the game because they were trying to take it and run away with it.
But these two guys over here they are very reliable, and having them on our side is very beneficial to us, especially when we do go through offensive lulls, they can really create their own shot and score the ball really well.
Q. Romeo, they had led the entire game, you guys finally tied it when you got the baseline drive. Talk about that play and also talk about what you saw on the subsequent three that you hit on the right wing.
ROMEO LANGFORD: Yeah, we were making a run. We were down by about two. Coached called a play for us and run and I just seen the lane to go in there and attack it, attack it hard and I was just going to get a foul and I made the shot to tie us up.
The three that I hit to give us a better cushion, me and Juwan we ran a two-minute game and I just seen them backing off on me and I couldn't pass up that shot. He knew it was good when it left my hand everyone and on the team, they always give they confidence and give me the green light to shoot and I shot it.
Q. Romeo, was your nose in the back of your mind at all at the beginning in terms of maybe taking a shot or anything that would have made you hesitant?
ROMEO LANGFORD: No, not at all.
Q. I know you didn't play in that game at Duke a few years ago, but going back down there, you played them tough last year. What does it mean to have a second crack in there and going into that environment in a big game?
JUWAN MORGAN: It will be fun. It's us versus them. I can't wait to get there and the ball is in the air, the jump ball. There's not really much more I can say. I'm just excited.
Q. Have you watched them at all so far in the first month?
JUWAN MORGAN: I watched when they played Gonzaga the other day. They are a great team, but I feel we're a great team, so it should be a good game.
Q. How much of this matchup is like a measuring stick to go against a team like that that's been top a ranked?
JUWAN MORGAN: I think every game is a measuring stick. Just whether you can stay within yourselves and do the things that's been working for you all day or people will get out of traffic and try to do things they haven't done all year. I think every game we're able to hold ourselves to that.
Q. Just in general, these last two games have been closer maybe than you guys have anticipated. Do you feel like having these type of close games is going to pay dividends later in the season when you've already been in a situation like this a couple times?
JUWAN MORGAN: A hundred percent. I think being in these situations now always will pay off later. When games are tough and we're deep in the Big Ten season, I feel like guys will have been here before and we know what it takes to win these games and let's do it, and I really think that will get the guys going.
Q. Romeo, ESPN has made a big deal about the IU-Duke game and you know some of those guys like RJ and Cam. What's the challenge like playing against those kinds of guys?
ROMEO LANGFORD: Obviously they are really good players, elite players. It really is not like really me or freshmen against freshmen or upperclassmen. It's Indiana against Duke. It's really a team effort. We're going to go in practice the rest of this week and get prepared for them and hopefully try our best and do what we do to get the win on Tuesday.
Q. Justin, same kind of question. You guys showed some versatility tonight. You and Juwan operate inside a lot, but you drilled a three at the end, and Juwan was 5-7 a team, and you were 10 of 17 for three tonight. Do you think that's something that you have to show Tuesday night down there, too, that you can go outside and hit?
JUSTIN SMITH: I would say if we stick to our game plan and play our game, we'll be right there to win the game when it comes down to it.
But we're just going to go in there and play our game and not try and do anything, trying to showcase anything that we can do. We're just going to go in there and do what we do every day.
Q. What does it mean to you guys, it's holiday time, a lot of people are out of town, the students are gone and you still got nearly 14,000 people here. Did they help you tonight? It seemed like they did.
JUWAN MORGAN: Yeah, they definitely head us, I think they were into the game the whole time and I think as we started playing harder on defense I think they were inspired by them. We gave them something to cheer about, and in return they gave us energy on the offensive end, as we started to build a little lead, I think we just kept our foot on the gas and we never looked back.
UC Davis Head Coach Jim Les
Opening Statement
Indiana is a good basketball team and I am very proud of our guys. I told them that this was a huge quantum leap forward in terms of who we need to beat. I thought our defense early was the aggressor. I thought our defense created offense for us and we really disrupted a lot of things they wanted to do. Our free-throw defense, thought we needed some work, we didn't spend enough time on that. I was talking to the officials about it and they were giving me some hints on how to improve as I was giving them some hints on how to improve. The execution was outstanding, and it was everybody. Guys came off the bench and didn't skip a beat and that's who we need to be. As I told the team, we need to continue to build on this and then we have to sustain it for 40 minutes. What this showed them, it didn't need to show us as a staff because we believe what a good team this can be. To me, it was the fact that if we can in this building against this team, in this environment, there isn't any place we can't go or any team we can't play with. I'm really proud of our team. We have to get some rest, get back to work next week and then get back to home and get our home winning streak back on and start sustaining this. It was a half, 30 minutes. We need to get this to 40 minutes and you can see this team will be a tough out.
Coach, talk about how AJ John played tonight and how his offense helped keep your team in the game.
We knew AJ is a good shooter and that is not going to last. The law of averages is going to play out. But where I thought AJ got going, and I believe this, he did all the other little things. He was so active defensively, active on the boards, he was sprinting, he was screening hard and that's what happens. When you do all those little things, the ball just finds you, the basket finds you and he certainly deserved it and I give him credit for continuing to battle. He was frustrated, not that he wasn't putting up numbers, he was frustrated that he was letting his team down. He wasn't but he got back to doing all the little things and it's how the ball goes in the basket then.
Your coaching staff has spent a lot of time with the shooting technique, tonight TJ Shorts was terrific as well as freshman Caleb Fuller…
We continue to develop confidence in Caleb and he continues to reward us. He's playing hard, doing the little things, he's a physical guy, a good driver and he's making some shots. I'm really pleased with his effort. We need everybody, everybody that played. Matt didn't get as many minutes because they were playing small and Morgan started making shots on the perimeter and I didn't feel like it was fair to Matt and I told him that after the game. That hurt his minutes but Matt is going to be a factor for us when it's all said and done.
Players Mentioned
Guard
/ Men's Basketball
Forward
/ Men's Basketball
Forward
/ Men's BasketballFB: Rose Bowl Game Head Coaches Press Conference (12/31/25)
Wednesday, December 31
FB: Curt Cignetti Media Availability (12/30/25)
Tuesday, December 30
FB: Aiden Fisher Media Availability (12/29/25)
Tuesday, December 30
FB: Pat Coogan Media Availability (12/29/25)
Tuesday, December 30