Postgame Quotes: Indiana vs. Nebraska
12/13/2019 10:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Indiana vs. Nebraska
Postgame Quotes
Dec. 13, 2019
Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller
COACH MILLER: Fortunate and very thankful and also excited to win the game. At the end of the day you're playing a Big Ten Conference game in early December. Our entire league's going through it right now. When you play these games, it's just a different feeling.
And for our guys to be able to go last Saturday to Wisconsin and then respond on Tuesday in New York. And then emotionally and physically to be taxed the way we were, just being ready to play the game and finding a way to win it, we're very thankful. And to be able to get that done.
So give Nebraska credit. Their guards were as good as any I've seen in a while. They were absolutely four steps faster than us, and we could not keep them in front all night long and just created a real problem for us. Couldn't get sort of our bearings defensively throughout the course of the game.
And I thought Justin and Trayce pounded late in the game really did a good job around the basket. Our team in general embraced the glass, did a great job rebounding. It was one of the keys to our game in playing them. We thought we could get on the glass.
And that resulted in a ton of free throw attempts which saved us in a night where we weren't very confident shooting the ball or just didn't go down a ton.
But we're going to have to shoot the ball better; make no mistake about that. We have some guys wide open that need to step up and make them. I don't know, you watched, I've just got to go back and watch the film. (Indiscernible) as a coach, I just sit here, I say, man, what could I have done to help our guys be better.
But you've got to give Nebraska some credit, they had a lot to do with it. Very quick with the ball and those three guards really had their way with us. And for us, we had a lot of different guys have to get in there get out. Finally found a group there late that worked and Rob being back obviously saved us basically all week.
Q. Justin Smith said earlier he thought you guys could do, in his words, a whole lot better on defense. Where do you feel your defense is and what do you need to do better moving forward?
COACH MILLER: We can't guard the ball. Guard your man. Keep it as simple as that right now. We're getting picked on on the bounce. And those guys really exposed us to start the game.
Our guard play right now, defensively, isn't very good on the other teams' guys. And I would say just in general tonight we were very spaced out, very man conscious, not very good from a positioning standpoint.
And comparably to how hard we played and what we had to do on Tuesday, we were five steps too slow. Maybe that has a lot to do with the trip, but there's not a whole lot of excuses when it comes down to it. We have to get a lot better guarding the ball and we've shown we can be better.
But in our two Big Ten games here in December, we've gotten -- our defense has gotten shredded. Thankfully we were at home tonight with a great crowd, and we had some kids step up and make some big plays at home, which is what you have to do. But defensively two out of our last three games in particular haven't been very good.
Q. You talked about how little Rob Phinisee has practiced. To be able to make some of the plays he did in the game today, how impressive is that?
COACH MILLER: He had a really impressive week. I think he played 26 minutes tonight and needed them all. Played 13 the other night. He stepped up really big late for us being able to get to the basket a few times and then hit a huge 3. Made big free throws the end of regulation.
And -- but he's about as a team guy as you get. He's stepped up and he's ready. He's been paying attention and maybe with some reps and other things to get under his belt he'll continue to find himself back into the rhythm. But it won't take him long to get back. He's a guy that's engaged you can tell out there he's got his bounce back.
Q. You shot 25 3-pointers tonight. You talked a lot about not aspiring to be a team to shoot a ton of shots from deep. When you guys are shooting that many 3-pointers, I guess, what's going wrong in the offense and how do you go back to not shooting that many times especially when they're not falling?
COACH MILLER: It's hard to shoot when you're left wide open. At some point you have to take them and make them. If you look at our 3s in the game, I'm not sure a lot of them were challenged or quick. There's some good ones late. There's some guys that are taking a lot of open shots and we have some guys that are a little funky right now. Armaan is not shooting the ball real well and he's getting some good looks.
But that works itself out through the course of the year. And we took too many in the first half and we were too stagnant offensively in the first half. In the second half we got a lot of point-blank shots and we were able to consistently score for the most part.
They played a little matchup, a little point zone there for a while. Baited us a couple times, I thought, to step in with confidence. I didn't feel we were very confident. But we were able to figure that out and got the ball inside to Trayce and Justin a few times and they made a few good, hard, attacking plays. But if you're asking me, do we have to shoot the ball better, yes. And I would say that the ones we're taking, if we're open, keep taking them and it will balance itself out.
Q. Can you talk a little bit about Trayce tonight, 25 and --
COACH MILLER: It's hard to process it through the course of the game on what he actually was doing. But in the second half I felt he was rolling, especially offensively around the basket. He got 11 free throws. He was able to get six offensive rebounds, 15 total.
I didn't necessarily think he was great in the first half, or as aggressive. But he turned it up a notch in the second half. And every single basket that he made we needed. It wasn't like he got one that was an easy one or what not. Every basket he got, he needed. And he had a great second half, he really did.
Q. On that note, what kind of changed? Was there anything that you guys did to get him looks or get him some openings or anything that he did differently, maybe, to get himself open?
COACH MILLER: I thought he ran hard tonight. I thought he really put forth a lot of effort running to the rim. We were able to get it to him a few times in and around the basket. And then he was much more inclined to handle it better than he did in the first half. He was reluctant to attack the basket in the first half. He passed it out.
I thought in the second half he was more wheeling and spinning. He was trying to get himself going, and he was also on the offensive glass. He was big. He had good touches around the basket on a couple of tough shots, too, that he made. But he played big in the second half.
Q. Was there a thought to foul on purpose late in regulation, the final seconds, that four-point play before -- (indiscernible) four-point play give you pause?
COACH MILLER: Yeah, I'll take complete blame on that. It's one of those ones when the guy shoots it, it goes in that you never live down as a coach, especially when it's in your belief and it's what you do was to foul. We had a timeout. Should have called a timeout and fouled, or at least got Rob's attention there at half court because he was attentive knew what was going on.
But we haven't been in that situation a ton with that team. But with a timeout definitely we should have fouled. That was on me. At the end of the day they'll have to give up a 3 as well.
But, yes, definitely, in my opinion, across half court, to do it over again, would have fouled, should have fouled, and very regrettable. If we don't come out on the winning end of that game, that will be one that as a staff, in particular, me, you have to eat that one and go away really sour for a long time.
Q. With this team that hasn't had much time to practice together healthy, how big is this week now, get a full week before you play again?
COACH MILLER: It's important. I think the one thing is once you get to, like, the holiday break and finals and you get a break in between the games you say, boy, we're going to just practice our butts off this week. And in all reality it's about being fresh and it's about being energetic and it's about working to get better.
And this team practiced for the first time with all able bodies, realistically, just yesterday, which is a good sign that we have them.
We're into finals this week, so our guys have to make sure we're doing what we need to do there. But I would say more than anything, after this week of hitting really late Tuesday against Florida State, play at Wisconsin, you basically have about 24 hours before you get on an airplane and deal with New York City. And then getting home at 4:30 in the morning after the New York City game on Tuesday, 4:30 in the morning, our players didn't get to their dorm rooms until about 5:30 in the morning.
And it goes from right there -- and I know how I felt on the trip -- it goes from right there to try to figure out how do we muster up this game plan here moving forward into tonight.
Our biggest concern was our legs and our energy, but I thought we got off to a good start. I thought we got off to a really good start. And we came with new bodies as the half continued to unfold. And it got away from us defensively tonight. I don't think it had a lot to do with energy or legs; we just weren't sharp. We weren't good. And sometimes good games can go that way. We're very fortunate to win, like I said.
But we have some time to recover physically. We'll get back to work. But we have to be energized for the Notre Dame game when the time comes. We have some other things we have to do this week. The Crossroads game is really big, it's a great environment, and Notre Dame is obviously a really good team, and we'll have to be ready, much better than we were tonight.
Q. Was it a good sign that you snapped back in overtime and hit five to seven shots and played at a higher level a little bit?
COACH MILLER: Yeah, OT, it was really good to see. Obviously Rob was a big part of that. We were able to get some stops and get a lead right out of the gate. So being able to take that group and get to that 11th, sort of that 11th segment, 11th four-minute game, however you want to do it.
But sometimes when you're at home, you get into overtime, it turns into that, wow, I can't believe we're here. They didn't do that. Came out, really responded. Got off to a great start. Played hard all the way through, especially that last four minutes.
Q. Devonte looked like he kind of came off something, a little bit of an injury and didn't come back -- I'm sure you're tired of getting asked about health issues -- but where is he at?
COACH MILLER: I'm not sure where he's at. I asked him what was wrong with him. He said his Achilles was bothering him. I'm not sure how serious yet. He'll have to get a ton of treatment. If he can't go, we'll be ready with the other three guys.
Indiana Players - Rob Phinisee, Trayce Jackson-Davis & Justin Thomas
Q. Trayce and Justin, when you guys had some of the -- playing in the second half you seemed to be feeding off each other a bit. When some of those jump shots aren't falling, you guys have the success that you have in the interior, what's kind of -- what kind of [inaudible] do you guys have when you're playing together with each other?
JUSTIN SMITH: It's kind of -- well, I'd say that we have mismatches down there. If a bigger guy is on either one of us, we can use our quickness. If a smaller guy is on us, we can use our strength.
And like you said, our shots were not falling really at all. So it was kind of part of the game plan to kind of go inside and try and get easier baskets and punish them inside.
Q. Rob, obviously you dealt with a lot of injuries earlier in the season. How rewarding or satisfying was it to be able to hit some of the shots you did in overtime?
ROB PHINISEE: Very satisfying, actually. I mean, really made shots for my team when they needed it. Really just tried to make a big play when we needed it.
Q. Trayce, can you talk a little bit about what it was like for you emotionally out there, with it being as tight as it was, first overtime game in your college career, how you kept your calmness in there about you?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Just really my teammates. Give all the credit to them. They keep me level headed. They keep me moving on to the next play when I make a mistake. But first overtime game in Assembly Hall, it was rocking. Shout out to the fans because they really helped us get the sixth-man.
Q. Trayce, obviously they were trying not to let you have the ball, basically. You only had three in the first half. What did you guys try to do to attack and put you back in better positions to score starting the beginning of the second half?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: In the first half I didn't really try to put an emphasis on running the floor very hard, and I thought I could beat my man down the floor. In the second half, I tried to run past him and get as deep as I could and try to leg whip over him. And I got a few easy buckets on that, and when you see a shot go in, you just want to -- it gives you the confidence to knock down other ones.
Q. Trayce, you've been making some mid-range shots and even some 3s in practice and the workouts. You've been working on turning over your opposite shoulder, going right-handed. How game-ready are those things, and how much do those things help you now that you're starting to get 10 games, 10/11 games into the season?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: I really just practice those things just in case you have to use them. But I haven't really had to use them that much. I've had a few right-hand shots. Teams are probably going to scout that here in the future, so I'm going to have to use the right hand more, shooting out to 15 feet. I don't think I need to shoot 3s that much right now. But I'm just going to keep working on it.
Q. Going back to a little bit of the question, what you talked about earlier, Justin, what are the different ways you guys want to attack a zone when you aren't able to space it with a 3-pointer? It felt like they were bringing you to kind of the free-throw line a little bit tonight to drive the ball. What are some of the ways you guys can use your athleticism to attack the zone (indiscernible) right now?
JUSTIN SMITH: Well, specifically this game, they were kind of dropping off of us, especially when we caught it in the middle. So that kind of allowed us to kind of get some spacing and really be able to attack going downhill because it was really a one-on-one. And we were able to use our quickness to get the shots that we wanted and a couple went down.
Q. Justin or Trayce, as basketball players, speak to how hard it is for someone like Rob to play at the level he did, given how few practices he's actually been able to play in this year?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Most definitely. It's hard to come back from injury on anything, and especially coming back from an ankle injury and playing as much as he did, I thought he really just raised his level and he played really hard out there. And when you're a gamer like he is, you're just going to get things done.
Q. On the defensive end of the floor, how satisfied are you with that facet of the game, the way you guys played at all?
JUSTIN SMITH: Not at all.
Q. What do you think you guys could do better?
JUSTIN SMITH: A lot. Everything.
ROB PHINISEE: That's it.
JUSTIN SMITH: Give Nebraska credit; they played a really good game. But we can't get spread out like that. We can't give up those easy shots, easy 3s. We've just got to get a little bit more tighter on defense.
Q. To play off that, basically seemed like the back door cuts were something they were getting a lot of easy layups on. What did you see going wrong there in terms of how they were able to get some of those kind of clean ones?
JUSTIN SMITH: They scouted us really well and they saw a weakness in our defense and they were able to exploit it. Really weren't expecting it. And, so, I mean, give credit to them; they did a really good job working on our weaknesses.
Q. Justin or Rob, kind of the emotion of Burke hitting the shot to send it to overtime, how did you guys kind of regroup, and how important was it to get off to the quick start in overtime that you guys did?
ROB PHINISEE: Really we just tried to keep our composure. You don't want to panic just because he hit a big shot. I feel like our older guys really kept us level headed and I felt like we played really hard in overtime and got the win.
Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg
Opening Statement
"Let me just start off by saying, I am really proud of our team for the way we came out and competed tonight against a really tough Indiana team that's playing great basketball right now. I thought besides the start, we're a jumped this early, we continued to fight and stay together, and we had extremely, hard and unbelievable effort and went out there and made the right play offensively. We had balls flying around, great ball movement, great player movement. We were back cutting when they pressured us. You know guys that were playing for each other for the entire 45 minutes tonight. The difference was the size and strength of Indiana's front line and the paint. We tried to do everything that we could to stay in front, keeping them out of the help in the backside and trying to get, trying to find and secure the rebounds. We had some good defensive possessions, dig out the tough rebound. That's what they do, that's Indiana's game. They try to beat you up make it a brawl, get to the free throw line. Very free throw making, offensive rebound, that's the difference. But like I told the guys in the locker room, it was very disappointing in there and they are very disappointed. But if we go out and play with that kind of effort, we are going to have the chance to win a lot of games this year."
You mentioned that kind of slow start, down 11-2. What kind of started clicking for you guys to get back into transition?
"Burke got ahead of the defense and got that and one, to cut it to a 6-point game. They had too many paint scores early, we limited that as the half went on and climbed back into the game. Again, I give our guys credit for going out there and continuing the trust. Trust each other. Trust the system to get the ball moving where it needed it to be. We gave ourselves an opportunity to win a game shorthanded against a really quality opponent."
Obviously, this was your guys' first Big Ten Game and from what you've seen from this game and I'm sure you've been paying attention to the other games that have been going on. What's the difference from the Big Ten to the Big 12 that you've seen?
"Well they are both great leagues. Different styles but unbelievable leagues. Big Ten this year, every time you turn the TV on it's some competitive games, it's a battle, a war. The teams are going in, there's been a lot of upsets early, especially when these high ranked teams are going on the road. It's the 20 league games. It's tough. It's going to be a battle every time we go out there and play. We are just going to need to compete. If we go out there and do what we did tonight, we're going to have a chance.
You mentioned Rob Phinisee's shot there at the end there and that 3-pointers. Were you kind of impressed by the poise that he showed?
"Yeah. You can see that he's the hard soul in this thing with that team. With that poise and the way, he plays, have the patience to get that thing down to the 1 and shot fake and rise up and knock it down. It's a big time shot. His ability to guard. His ability to make the right play. Getting him back in the lineup was huge for Indiana. As long as he's in the run of the show, there's bright days ahead."
Postgame Quotes
Dec. 13, 2019
Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller
COACH MILLER: Fortunate and very thankful and also excited to win the game. At the end of the day you're playing a Big Ten Conference game in early December. Our entire league's going through it right now. When you play these games, it's just a different feeling.
And for our guys to be able to go last Saturday to Wisconsin and then respond on Tuesday in New York. And then emotionally and physically to be taxed the way we were, just being ready to play the game and finding a way to win it, we're very thankful. And to be able to get that done.
So give Nebraska credit. Their guards were as good as any I've seen in a while. They were absolutely four steps faster than us, and we could not keep them in front all night long and just created a real problem for us. Couldn't get sort of our bearings defensively throughout the course of the game.
And I thought Justin and Trayce pounded late in the game really did a good job around the basket. Our team in general embraced the glass, did a great job rebounding. It was one of the keys to our game in playing them. We thought we could get on the glass.
And that resulted in a ton of free throw attempts which saved us in a night where we weren't very confident shooting the ball or just didn't go down a ton.
But we're going to have to shoot the ball better; make no mistake about that. We have some guys wide open that need to step up and make them. I don't know, you watched, I've just got to go back and watch the film. (Indiscernible) as a coach, I just sit here, I say, man, what could I have done to help our guys be better.
But you've got to give Nebraska some credit, they had a lot to do with it. Very quick with the ball and those three guards really had their way with us. And for us, we had a lot of different guys have to get in there get out. Finally found a group there late that worked and Rob being back obviously saved us basically all week.
Q. Justin Smith said earlier he thought you guys could do, in his words, a whole lot better on defense. Where do you feel your defense is and what do you need to do better moving forward?
COACH MILLER: We can't guard the ball. Guard your man. Keep it as simple as that right now. We're getting picked on on the bounce. And those guys really exposed us to start the game.
Our guard play right now, defensively, isn't very good on the other teams' guys. And I would say just in general tonight we were very spaced out, very man conscious, not very good from a positioning standpoint.
And comparably to how hard we played and what we had to do on Tuesday, we were five steps too slow. Maybe that has a lot to do with the trip, but there's not a whole lot of excuses when it comes down to it. We have to get a lot better guarding the ball and we've shown we can be better.
But in our two Big Ten games here in December, we've gotten -- our defense has gotten shredded. Thankfully we were at home tonight with a great crowd, and we had some kids step up and make some big plays at home, which is what you have to do. But defensively two out of our last three games in particular haven't been very good.
Q. You talked about how little Rob Phinisee has practiced. To be able to make some of the plays he did in the game today, how impressive is that?
COACH MILLER: He had a really impressive week. I think he played 26 minutes tonight and needed them all. Played 13 the other night. He stepped up really big late for us being able to get to the basket a few times and then hit a huge 3. Made big free throws the end of regulation.
And -- but he's about as a team guy as you get. He's stepped up and he's ready. He's been paying attention and maybe with some reps and other things to get under his belt he'll continue to find himself back into the rhythm. But it won't take him long to get back. He's a guy that's engaged you can tell out there he's got his bounce back.
Q. You shot 25 3-pointers tonight. You talked a lot about not aspiring to be a team to shoot a ton of shots from deep. When you guys are shooting that many 3-pointers, I guess, what's going wrong in the offense and how do you go back to not shooting that many times especially when they're not falling?
COACH MILLER: It's hard to shoot when you're left wide open. At some point you have to take them and make them. If you look at our 3s in the game, I'm not sure a lot of them were challenged or quick. There's some good ones late. There's some guys that are taking a lot of open shots and we have some guys that are a little funky right now. Armaan is not shooting the ball real well and he's getting some good looks.
But that works itself out through the course of the year. And we took too many in the first half and we were too stagnant offensively in the first half. In the second half we got a lot of point-blank shots and we were able to consistently score for the most part.
They played a little matchup, a little point zone there for a while. Baited us a couple times, I thought, to step in with confidence. I didn't feel we were very confident. But we were able to figure that out and got the ball inside to Trayce and Justin a few times and they made a few good, hard, attacking plays. But if you're asking me, do we have to shoot the ball better, yes. And I would say that the ones we're taking, if we're open, keep taking them and it will balance itself out.
Q. Can you talk a little bit about Trayce tonight, 25 and --
COACH MILLER: It's hard to process it through the course of the game on what he actually was doing. But in the second half I felt he was rolling, especially offensively around the basket. He got 11 free throws. He was able to get six offensive rebounds, 15 total.
I didn't necessarily think he was great in the first half, or as aggressive. But he turned it up a notch in the second half. And every single basket that he made we needed. It wasn't like he got one that was an easy one or what not. Every basket he got, he needed. And he had a great second half, he really did.
Q. On that note, what kind of changed? Was there anything that you guys did to get him looks or get him some openings or anything that he did differently, maybe, to get himself open?
COACH MILLER: I thought he ran hard tonight. I thought he really put forth a lot of effort running to the rim. We were able to get it to him a few times in and around the basket. And then he was much more inclined to handle it better than he did in the first half. He was reluctant to attack the basket in the first half. He passed it out.
I thought in the second half he was more wheeling and spinning. He was trying to get himself going, and he was also on the offensive glass. He was big. He had good touches around the basket on a couple of tough shots, too, that he made. But he played big in the second half.
Q. Was there a thought to foul on purpose late in regulation, the final seconds, that four-point play before -- (indiscernible) four-point play give you pause?
COACH MILLER: Yeah, I'll take complete blame on that. It's one of those ones when the guy shoots it, it goes in that you never live down as a coach, especially when it's in your belief and it's what you do was to foul. We had a timeout. Should have called a timeout and fouled, or at least got Rob's attention there at half court because he was attentive knew what was going on.
But we haven't been in that situation a ton with that team. But with a timeout definitely we should have fouled. That was on me. At the end of the day they'll have to give up a 3 as well.
But, yes, definitely, in my opinion, across half court, to do it over again, would have fouled, should have fouled, and very regrettable. If we don't come out on the winning end of that game, that will be one that as a staff, in particular, me, you have to eat that one and go away really sour for a long time.
Q. With this team that hasn't had much time to practice together healthy, how big is this week now, get a full week before you play again?
COACH MILLER: It's important. I think the one thing is once you get to, like, the holiday break and finals and you get a break in between the games you say, boy, we're going to just practice our butts off this week. And in all reality it's about being fresh and it's about being energetic and it's about working to get better.
And this team practiced for the first time with all able bodies, realistically, just yesterday, which is a good sign that we have them.
We're into finals this week, so our guys have to make sure we're doing what we need to do there. But I would say more than anything, after this week of hitting really late Tuesday against Florida State, play at Wisconsin, you basically have about 24 hours before you get on an airplane and deal with New York City. And then getting home at 4:30 in the morning after the New York City game on Tuesday, 4:30 in the morning, our players didn't get to their dorm rooms until about 5:30 in the morning.
And it goes from right there -- and I know how I felt on the trip -- it goes from right there to try to figure out how do we muster up this game plan here moving forward into tonight.
Our biggest concern was our legs and our energy, but I thought we got off to a good start. I thought we got off to a really good start. And we came with new bodies as the half continued to unfold. And it got away from us defensively tonight. I don't think it had a lot to do with energy or legs; we just weren't sharp. We weren't good. And sometimes good games can go that way. We're very fortunate to win, like I said.
But we have some time to recover physically. We'll get back to work. But we have to be energized for the Notre Dame game when the time comes. We have some other things we have to do this week. The Crossroads game is really big, it's a great environment, and Notre Dame is obviously a really good team, and we'll have to be ready, much better than we were tonight.
Q. Was it a good sign that you snapped back in overtime and hit five to seven shots and played at a higher level a little bit?
COACH MILLER: Yeah, OT, it was really good to see. Obviously Rob was a big part of that. We were able to get some stops and get a lead right out of the gate. So being able to take that group and get to that 11th, sort of that 11th segment, 11th four-minute game, however you want to do it.
But sometimes when you're at home, you get into overtime, it turns into that, wow, I can't believe we're here. They didn't do that. Came out, really responded. Got off to a great start. Played hard all the way through, especially that last four minutes.
Q. Devonte looked like he kind of came off something, a little bit of an injury and didn't come back -- I'm sure you're tired of getting asked about health issues -- but where is he at?
COACH MILLER: I'm not sure where he's at. I asked him what was wrong with him. He said his Achilles was bothering him. I'm not sure how serious yet. He'll have to get a ton of treatment. If he can't go, we'll be ready with the other three guys.
Indiana Players - Rob Phinisee, Trayce Jackson-Davis & Justin Thomas
Q. Trayce and Justin, when you guys had some of the -- playing in the second half you seemed to be feeding off each other a bit. When some of those jump shots aren't falling, you guys have the success that you have in the interior, what's kind of -- what kind of [inaudible] do you guys have when you're playing together with each other?
JUSTIN SMITH: It's kind of -- well, I'd say that we have mismatches down there. If a bigger guy is on either one of us, we can use our quickness. If a smaller guy is on us, we can use our strength.
And like you said, our shots were not falling really at all. So it was kind of part of the game plan to kind of go inside and try and get easier baskets and punish them inside.
Q. Rob, obviously you dealt with a lot of injuries earlier in the season. How rewarding or satisfying was it to be able to hit some of the shots you did in overtime?
ROB PHINISEE: Very satisfying, actually. I mean, really made shots for my team when they needed it. Really just tried to make a big play when we needed it.
Q. Trayce, can you talk a little bit about what it was like for you emotionally out there, with it being as tight as it was, first overtime game in your college career, how you kept your calmness in there about you?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Just really my teammates. Give all the credit to them. They keep me level headed. They keep me moving on to the next play when I make a mistake. But first overtime game in Assembly Hall, it was rocking. Shout out to the fans because they really helped us get the sixth-man.
Q. Trayce, obviously they were trying not to let you have the ball, basically. You only had three in the first half. What did you guys try to do to attack and put you back in better positions to score starting the beginning of the second half?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: In the first half I didn't really try to put an emphasis on running the floor very hard, and I thought I could beat my man down the floor. In the second half, I tried to run past him and get as deep as I could and try to leg whip over him. And I got a few easy buckets on that, and when you see a shot go in, you just want to -- it gives you the confidence to knock down other ones.
Q. Trayce, you've been making some mid-range shots and even some 3s in practice and the workouts. You've been working on turning over your opposite shoulder, going right-handed. How game-ready are those things, and how much do those things help you now that you're starting to get 10 games, 10/11 games into the season?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: I really just practice those things just in case you have to use them. But I haven't really had to use them that much. I've had a few right-hand shots. Teams are probably going to scout that here in the future, so I'm going to have to use the right hand more, shooting out to 15 feet. I don't think I need to shoot 3s that much right now. But I'm just going to keep working on it.
Q. Going back to a little bit of the question, what you talked about earlier, Justin, what are the different ways you guys want to attack a zone when you aren't able to space it with a 3-pointer? It felt like they were bringing you to kind of the free-throw line a little bit tonight to drive the ball. What are some of the ways you guys can use your athleticism to attack the zone (indiscernible) right now?
JUSTIN SMITH: Well, specifically this game, they were kind of dropping off of us, especially when we caught it in the middle. So that kind of allowed us to kind of get some spacing and really be able to attack going downhill because it was really a one-on-one. And we were able to use our quickness to get the shots that we wanted and a couple went down.
Q. Justin or Trayce, as basketball players, speak to how hard it is for someone like Rob to play at the level he did, given how few practices he's actually been able to play in this year?
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Most definitely. It's hard to come back from injury on anything, and especially coming back from an ankle injury and playing as much as he did, I thought he really just raised his level and he played really hard out there. And when you're a gamer like he is, you're just going to get things done.
Q. On the defensive end of the floor, how satisfied are you with that facet of the game, the way you guys played at all?
JUSTIN SMITH: Not at all.
Q. What do you think you guys could do better?
JUSTIN SMITH: A lot. Everything.
ROB PHINISEE: That's it.
JUSTIN SMITH: Give Nebraska credit; they played a really good game. But we can't get spread out like that. We can't give up those easy shots, easy 3s. We've just got to get a little bit more tighter on defense.
Q. To play off that, basically seemed like the back door cuts were something they were getting a lot of easy layups on. What did you see going wrong there in terms of how they were able to get some of those kind of clean ones?
JUSTIN SMITH: They scouted us really well and they saw a weakness in our defense and they were able to exploit it. Really weren't expecting it. And, so, I mean, give credit to them; they did a really good job working on our weaknesses.
Q. Justin or Rob, kind of the emotion of Burke hitting the shot to send it to overtime, how did you guys kind of regroup, and how important was it to get off to the quick start in overtime that you guys did?
ROB PHINISEE: Really we just tried to keep our composure. You don't want to panic just because he hit a big shot. I feel like our older guys really kept us level headed and I felt like we played really hard in overtime and got the win.
Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg
Opening Statement
"Let me just start off by saying, I am really proud of our team for the way we came out and competed tonight against a really tough Indiana team that's playing great basketball right now. I thought besides the start, we're a jumped this early, we continued to fight and stay together, and we had extremely, hard and unbelievable effort and went out there and made the right play offensively. We had balls flying around, great ball movement, great player movement. We were back cutting when they pressured us. You know guys that were playing for each other for the entire 45 minutes tonight. The difference was the size and strength of Indiana's front line and the paint. We tried to do everything that we could to stay in front, keeping them out of the help in the backside and trying to get, trying to find and secure the rebounds. We had some good defensive possessions, dig out the tough rebound. That's what they do, that's Indiana's game. They try to beat you up make it a brawl, get to the free throw line. Very free throw making, offensive rebound, that's the difference. But like I told the guys in the locker room, it was very disappointing in there and they are very disappointed. But if we go out and play with that kind of effort, we are going to have the chance to win a lot of games this year."
You mentioned that kind of slow start, down 11-2. What kind of started clicking for you guys to get back into transition?
"Burke got ahead of the defense and got that and one, to cut it to a 6-point game. They had too many paint scores early, we limited that as the half went on and climbed back into the game. Again, I give our guys credit for going out there and continuing the trust. Trust each other. Trust the system to get the ball moving where it needed it to be. We gave ourselves an opportunity to win a game shorthanded against a really quality opponent."
Obviously, this was your guys' first Big Ten Game and from what you've seen from this game and I'm sure you've been paying attention to the other games that have been going on. What's the difference from the Big Ten to the Big 12 that you've seen?
"Well they are both great leagues. Different styles but unbelievable leagues. Big Ten this year, every time you turn the TV on it's some competitive games, it's a battle, a war. The teams are going in, there's been a lot of upsets early, especially when these high ranked teams are going on the road. It's the 20 league games. It's tough. It's going to be a battle every time we go out there and play. We are just going to need to compete. If we go out there and do what we did tonight, we're going to have a chance.
You mentioned Rob Phinisee's shot there at the end there and that 3-pointers. Were you kind of impressed by the poise that he showed?
"Yeah. You can see that he's the hard soul in this thing with that team. With that poise and the way, he plays, have the patience to get that thing down to the 1 and shot fake and rise up and knock it down. It's a big time shot. His ability to guard. His ability to make the right play. Getting him back in the lineup was huge for Indiana. As long as he's in the run of the show, there's bright days ahead."
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