Previewing Sunday’s Game Against Arkansas
12/28/2019 5:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana head coach Archie Miller, Devonte Green and Aljami Durham met with the media today to preview Sunday's non-conference finale against Arkansas. Below are videos and a transcript of the media availability.
IU Head Coach Archie Miller
Q. Second straight kind of eight-day stretch without a game here. You've talked about working yourselves as much as opponents. Just what do you think guys have gotten out of this maybe physically, and also, with the ability to get home for a little while, mentally?
ARCHIE MILLER: I think the big thing is we were coming off finals week leading into Notre Dame, so it's always a mentally, really challenging week. To be able to come through and win that game, obviously, you get a breath of fresh air and sort of a deep breath when you go home to feel good about yourself. Our guys had a nice break. We came back ready to go. And we have had good workouts. But we have, we spent some time on ourselves. And this is a time before you get ready to hit conference play where you don't want to stand still. It can be hard and difficult as you're practicing, especially when you get into a groove of playing a lot of games in a row. But for us it's time to take care of ourselves, continue to work. And we got a really good opponent to play here on Sunday night to finish up non-conference. It's a great test and lead-in to what should be a very difficult stretch in the Big-10.
Q. As you get ready for Arkansas, I mean, what's the balance between kind of reminding these guys of what they know from last year and maybe trying to break them of what's -- of being too comfortable with what they know given that it's a different staff?
ARCHIE MILLER: There's no comfortable about anything. They're a really good team. Obviously, they're a brand new philosophy and they have some of the same players who played against us a year ago, so from a scouting standpoint you know the skill level. But they're playing very aggressively and playing a very small guard-oriented lineup. And Mason Jones, in particular, is just a matchup nightmare with Jimmy Whitt and Isaiah Joe and Sills and their complimentary guys in the backcourt, that it's very difficult to pick and choose who you match up with and what you're doing. They become very difficult to guard. They're prolific in transition.
But their defense really stands out. For being a quick team, a very fast team, they use it to their advantage to get in transition. They turn you over. They do great job of really crowding the floor in terms of not being able to feed the post. A lot of teams are turning the ball over, throwing it inside. You get into that maniac approach of feeding the post, their small they're doing this, and at the end of the day you play against yourself in terms of the way you turn it over, so we're going to have to be smart. But they're lethal in transition. And looking at our Nebraska game and how we played in a that game with that type of transition attack and their skill level, it's a very concerning game. So there's nothing to be real comfortable. This will be as difficult of a game as we have played all year.
Q. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is basically the most healthy you've been since the very start of camp and -- is that correct?
ARCHIE MILLER: Yeah, I think all 11 scholarship players were available here of late. And all scholarship players have been available for practice here as we have finished up. So it's given us a chance to have the most depth that we have had.
Q. And with this downtime, have you seen guys just kind of mentally refresh or practices being a little more crisp because they are healthy and now a little bit rested?
ARCHIE MILLER: Yeah, I think so. You're not as beat up and your practices aren't as long right now. Obviously, we're trying to emphasize the competition level and continue to earn your opportunities in the game and prepare yourself for the game. And you can is have slippage. As a player you can get comfortable. And I think teams that have great competition every day, that value their work, put pressure on each other to be ready to go and that prepares you for the game. So we're still trying to become that team that values what we do every day and we're trying to value the opportunity to compete and earn the opportunity to play. I mean, there's nothing set in stone with us. So as we get ready to head into this game against Arkansas, like I said, we're going to need to find a way to maybe play smaller than we have played and we're going to need to find a way to have our other lineups that have played traditional to be effective. We have to be on their offense and defense, we have to be effective with what they're going to do because they're not going to change much based on their personnel. So this is one of those games, we're going to have to be really ready to play with different combinations of players. And for the most part, I thought, even in the Notre Dame game when Notre Dame went small in the second half, it put some pressure on us. It put some pressure only our defense to be better, especially in transition. So there's a lot of concern, but also I think we have some adjustments we can make with our lineup.
Q. Talk about the unique challenge with their personnel. What do you, especially with freshman like Trayce Jackson Davis not having faced something like this, what can he do to stay in the game sort of and keep things rolling?
ARCHIE MILLER: He's got a lot of pressure on him. He's got -- he's had a lot of pressure on him to start the year, to be a good player for us, and we count on him. But we're looking for Trayce to take the next step. And part of the next step is, really, that attention to detail and coming ready to play against different types of styles and players that are going to give him problems. And this is a game that, quite frankly, he's going to have to be able to answer the bell inside and out. And we're going to have to find a way to maybe play four guards him around him at times in this game to give him a chance to play a little bit bigger, but we're going to have to play the most effective guys and Trayce is one of our most effective guys and he's got to keep growing and getting better and like I said, this is a huge step, teams can really make a jump here early in January, finding a way to dig out and find out big wins in early January is a confidence boost.
Q. Talk about Mason Jones, the matchup nightmare, what makes him that?
ARCHIE MILLER: He's a very, very crafty offense player, he's got great range, he's got good size for a forward, and he can put the ball on the floor. But he also isn't a guy that needs to have it to be effective. He moves without the ball well, he runs in transition well, they use him very effectively off the ball in space. He can also rebound the ball and go. So he's sort of one of those guys that's kind of like a jack of all trades, but from an offensive standpoint he can really, really take advantage of his matchups offensively because he can stretch the floor with the three so well, but he also can put the ball down. So he's a difficult player, he's really improved and their style's given him a chance to really be sort of a focal point.
Aljami Durham
Q. Talk about the unique challenge of playing against Arkansas with their personnel, a much smaller lineup than you're used to playing against.
ALJAMI DURHAM: Yeah, we're aware that they play small there and they are a bunch of guards and there's a lot of guard play, so we got to be able to sit down, guard the ball, keep them in front of us and get stops and allow that to lead our game. And let the defensive side dictate the offensive side.
Q. Having the one game in the two-week span, how much has that helped everybody just kind of take a breath and refresh themselves from the grind that you guys were in?
ALJAMI DURHAM: Yeah, it's always a good break. You get a restart button, I feel like, and it gives us some juice back, and you get ready to come back, ready to play again. So I feel like it's just it gave us a refresher and everybody was eager to get back to work, so I feel like it was a good thing for us.
Q. What do you guys do to try to help the freshmen kind of make that adjustment, because now they don't have to worry about school, they have been through a little bit of the season, and how do you help them?
ALJAMI DURHAM: School's a lot. School's a ton of work. You got to put in the hours, so just not having that load on them, they are kind of relieved. So I feel like with that relief they are focused, more dialed in on basketball.
Q. What would it mean to you guys to get through the non-conference season undefeated, win all those games?
ALJAMI DURHAM: It's always a good thing to have. What, how many games was it in non-conference? I don't even know, but just going undefeated in non-conference is a big thing. But I feel like each game is important to us and we're going to just take it one by one, but it's a good thing to have in your pocket.
Q. What do you think this team improved the most during this time up to this point? How do you think you guys have really improved?
ALJAMI DURHAM: From the beginning to now? Oh, just paying attention to details and being locked in. And we have improved a lot on defense, I feel like. We have taken strides from the beginning to now and I feel like that's our biggest thing.
Q. How do you get everybody to find that consistent level of play that I know that Coach is really pushing for you guys?
ALJAMI DURHAM: Bringing it every day in practice. You reap what you sow. I feel like if you put in the work every day in practice you'll be able to do it in the game. So I feel like us going against each other in practice and continuing to make each other better, I think it's making us a better team.
Q. We asked Armaan after the game, I mean, you made that extra pass for him to hit that three against Notre Dame, what gave you faith to go to him again?
ALJAMI DURHAM: I knew he was going to make it. I had no doubt at all. So it was nothing but swinging it to him. I always told him if he's open, knock it down. And I always told him that I'm going to pass that 10 times out of 10, really, if he is open. So I feel like he, I have faith in him to knock it down and our team did, so it was no problem passing him the ball.
Devonte Green
Q. Coach talked about Arkansas likes to go small. That's something you guys haven't seen a ton of this season. How do you make that work and maybe, I guess, if you can concurrently, how do you force them to deal with your big lineups?
DEVONTE GREEN: We just got to try to get inside the best we can. I know they like to front the post a lot and make it hard to do that. But just got to try to find our bigs when we can because we know that we have the size advantage.
Q. And what's the balance to strike between knowing a lot of the personnel, kind of skill set-wise you saw them twice last year, with understanding that the concepts are going to be a little bit different. It's a different coaching staff, it's as different scheme.
DEVONTE GREEN: We just got to take it as a whole new team, basically. We never take the same approach to any game even if it's the same team we play twice. So I think we just have to come into it, like, just seeing a whole new team.
Q. Follow-up on that. It's a unique challenge, it's going to be a lot of guard play, but Archie mentioned possibly having four guards around Trayce do you look forward to a unique challenge like that?
DEVONTE GREEN: I definitely look forward to it. I always like when we adjust our offense depending upon the style of defense or the team we play, so I think it will work good for us.
Q. Are you noticing in your practices guys being more crisp, more fresh just because you guys haven't had that grind of games and school and all that, and had a little bit of downtime?
DEVONTE GREEN: Definitely we have. You could tell the difference in everybody's bodies and just mental. Taking a couple days off of everything, that's always good. So but you could tell the difference in practice.
Q. How much has it helped that you guys seem to be more healthy than you've been, basically, since the very start of training camp?
DEVONTE GREEN: Definitely a big, huge help. And looking forward to having everybody in at once for the first time.
Q. How much do you feel like you guys are building continuity as a back court now that have you all your pieces together?
DEVONTE GREEN: I think it's a process but we're definitely building every day.
Q. Talk about blending the freshman and Armaan Franklin Trayce Jackson Davis both have done very well with you guys. Talk about how they have played so far.
DEVONTE GREEN: They have been great for us. Trayce, he's been great, of course. Armaan is always ready to make big shots or just whatever he needs to do, he's been working every day, never getting down on himself so I've been proud of him.
IU Head Coach Archie Miller
Q. Second straight kind of eight-day stretch without a game here. You've talked about working yourselves as much as opponents. Just what do you think guys have gotten out of this maybe physically, and also, with the ability to get home for a little while, mentally?
ARCHIE MILLER: I think the big thing is we were coming off finals week leading into Notre Dame, so it's always a mentally, really challenging week. To be able to come through and win that game, obviously, you get a breath of fresh air and sort of a deep breath when you go home to feel good about yourself. Our guys had a nice break. We came back ready to go. And we have had good workouts. But we have, we spent some time on ourselves. And this is a time before you get ready to hit conference play where you don't want to stand still. It can be hard and difficult as you're practicing, especially when you get into a groove of playing a lot of games in a row. But for us it's time to take care of ourselves, continue to work. And we got a really good opponent to play here on Sunday night to finish up non-conference. It's a great test and lead-in to what should be a very difficult stretch in the Big-10.
Q. As you get ready for Arkansas, I mean, what's the balance between kind of reminding these guys of what they know from last year and maybe trying to break them of what's -- of being too comfortable with what they know given that it's a different staff?
ARCHIE MILLER: There's no comfortable about anything. They're a really good team. Obviously, they're a brand new philosophy and they have some of the same players who played against us a year ago, so from a scouting standpoint you know the skill level. But they're playing very aggressively and playing a very small guard-oriented lineup. And Mason Jones, in particular, is just a matchup nightmare with Jimmy Whitt and Isaiah Joe and Sills and their complimentary guys in the backcourt, that it's very difficult to pick and choose who you match up with and what you're doing. They become very difficult to guard. They're prolific in transition.
But their defense really stands out. For being a quick team, a very fast team, they use it to their advantage to get in transition. They turn you over. They do great job of really crowding the floor in terms of not being able to feed the post. A lot of teams are turning the ball over, throwing it inside. You get into that maniac approach of feeding the post, their small they're doing this, and at the end of the day you play against yourself in terms of the way you turn it over, so we're going to have to be smart. But they're lethal in transition. And looking at our Nebraska game and how we played in a that game with that type of transition attack and their skill level, it's a very concerning game. So there's nothing to be real comfortable. This will be as difficult of a game as we have played all year.
Q. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is basically the most healthy you've been since the very start of camp and -- is that correct?
ARCHIE MILLER: Yeah, I think all 11 scholarship players were available here of late. And all scholarship players have been available for practice here as we have finished up. So it's given us a chance to have the most depth that we have had.
Q. And with this downtime, have you seen guys just kind of mentally refresh or practices being a little more crisp because they are healthy and now a little bit rested?
ARCHIE MILLER: Yeah, I think so. You're not as beat up and your practices aren't as long right now. Obviously, we're trying to emphasize the competition level and continue to earn your opportunities in the game and prepare yourself for the game. And you can is have slippage. As a player you can get comfortable. And I think teams that have great competition every day, that value their work, put pressure on each other to be ready to go and that prepares you for the game. So we're still trying to become that team that values what we do every day and we're trying to value the opportunity to compete and earn the opportunity to play. I mean, there's nothing set in stone with us. So as we get ready to head into this game against Arkansas, like I said, we're going to need to find a way to maybe play smaller than we have played and we're going to need to find a way to have our other lineups that have played traditional to be effective. We have to be on their offense and defense, we have to be effective with what they're going to do because they're not going to change much based on their personnel. So this is one of those games, we're going to have to be really ready to play with different combinations of players. And for the most part, I thought, even in the Notre Dame game when Notre Dame went small in the second half, it put some pressure on us. It put some pressure only our defense to be better, especially in transition. So there's a lot of concern, but also I think we have some adjustments we can make with our lineup.
Q. Talk about the unique challenge with their personnel. What do you, especially with freshman like Trayce Jackson Davis not having faced something like this, what can he do to stay in the game sort of and keep things rolling?
ARCHIE MILLER: He's got a lot of pressure on him. He's got -- he's had a lot of pressure on him to start the year, to be a good player for us, and we count on him. But we're looking for Trayce to take the next step. And part of the next step is, really, that attention to detail and coming ready to play against different types of styles and players that are going to give him problems. And this is a game that, quite frankly, he's going to have to be able to answer the bell inside and out. And we're going to have to find a way to maybe play four guards him around him at times in this game to give him a chance to play a little bit bigger, but we're going to have to play the most effective guys and Trayce is one of our most effective guys and he's got to keep growing and getting better and like I said, this is a huge step, teams can really make a jump here early in January, finding a way to dig out and find out big wins in early January is a confidence boost.
Q. Talk about Mason Jones, the matchup nightmare, what makes him that?
ARCHIE MILLER: He's a very, very crafty offense player, he's got great range, he's got good size for a forward, and he can put the ball on the floor. But he also isn't a guy that needs to have it to be effective. He moves without the ball well, he runs in transition well, they use him very effectively off the ball in space. He can also rebound the ball and go. So he's sort of one of those guys that's kind of like a jack of all trades, but from an offensive standpoint he can really, really take advantage of his matchups offensively because he can stretch the floor with the three so well, but he also can put the ball down. So he's a difficult player, he's really improved and their style's given him a chance to really be sort of a focal point.
Aljami Durham
Q. Talk about the unique challenge of playing against Arkansas with their personnel, a much smaller lineup than you're used to playing against.
ALJAMI DURHAM: Yeah, we're aware that they play small there and they are a bunch of guards and there's a lot of guard play, so we got to be able to sit down, guard the ball, keep them in front of us and get stops and allow that to lead our game. And let the defensive side dictate the offensive side.
Q. Having the one game in the two-week span, how much has that helped everybody just kind of take a breath and refresh themselves from the grind that you guys were in?
ALJAMI DURHAM: Yeah, it's always a good break. You get a restart button, I feel like, and it gives us some juice back, and you get ready to come back, ready to play again. So I feel like it's just it gave us a refresher and everybody was eager to get back to work, so I feel like it was a good thing for us.
Q. What do you guys do to try to help the freshmen kind of make that adjustment, because now they don't have to worry about school, they have been through a little bit of the season, and how do you help them?
ALJAMI DURHAM: School's a lot. School's a ton of work. You got to put in the hours, so just not having that load on them, they are kind of relieved. So I feel like with that relief they are focused, more dialed in on basketball.
Q. What would it mean to you guys to get through the non-conference season undefeated, win all those games?
ALJAMI DURHAM: It's always a good thing to have. What, how many games was it in non-conference? I don't even know, but just going undefeated in non-conference is a big thing. But I feel like each game is important to us and we're going to just take it one by one, but it's a good thing to have in your pocket.
Q. What do you think this team improved the most during this time up to this point? How do you think you guys have really improved?
ALJAMI DURHAM: From the beginning to now? Oh, just paying attention to details and being locked in. And we have improved a lot on defense, I feel like. We have taken strides from the beginning to now and I feel like that's our biggest thing.
Q. How do you get everybody to find that consistent level of play that I know that Coach is really pushing for you guys?
ALJAMI DURHAM: Bringing it every day in practice. You reap what you sow. I feel like if you put in the work every day in practice you'll be able to do it in the game. So I feel like us going against each other in practice and continuing to make each other better, I think it's making us a better team.
Q. We asked Armaan after the game, I mean, you made that extra pass for him to hit that three against Notre Dame, what gave you faith to go to him again?
ALJAMI DURHAM: I knew he was going to make it. I had no doubt at all. So it was nothing but swinging it to him. I always told him if he's open, knock it down. And I always told him that I'm going to pass that 10 times out of 10, really, if he is open. So I feel like he, I have faith in him to knock it down and our team did, so it was no problem passing him the ball.
Devonte Green
Q. Coach talked about Arkansas likes to go small. That's something you guys haven't seen a ton of this season. How do you make that work and maybe, I guess, if you can concurrently, how do you force them to deal with your big lineups?
DEVONTE GREEN: We just got to try to get inside the best we can. I know they like to front the post a lot and make it hard to do that. But just got to try to find our bigs when we can because we know that we have the size advantage.
Q. And what's the balance to strike between knowing a lot of the personnel, kind of skill set-wise you saw them twice last year, with understanding that the concepts are going to be a little bit different. It's a different coaching staff, it's as different scheme.
DEVONTE GREEN: We just got to take it as a whole new team, basically. We never take the same approach to any game even if it's the same team we play twice. So I think we just have to come into it, like, just seeing a whole new team.
Q. Follow-up on that. It's a unique challenge, it's going to be a lot of guard play, but Archie mentioned possibly having four guards around Trayce do you look forward to a unique challenge like that?
DEVONTE GREEN: I definitely look forward to it. I always like when we adjust our offense depending upon the style of defense or the team we play, so I think it will work good for us.
Q. Are you noticing in your practices guys being more crisp, more fresh just because you guys haven't had that grind of games and school and all that, and had a little bit of downtime?
DEVONTE GREEN: Definitely we have. You could tell the difference in everybody's bodies and just mental. Taking a couple days off of everything, that's always good. So but you could tell the difference in practice.
Q. How much has it helped that you guys seem to be more healthy than you've been, basically, since the very start of training camp?
DEVONTE GREEN: Definitely a big, huge help. And looking forward to having everybody in at once for the first time.
Q. How much do you feel like you guys are building continuity as a back court now that have you all your pieces together?
DEVONTE GREEN: I think it's a process but we're definitely building every day.
Q. Talk about blending the freshman and Armaan Franklin Trayce Jackson Davis both have done very well with you guys. Talk about how they have played so far.
DEVONTE GREEN: They have been great for us. Trayce, he's been great, of course. Armaan is always ready to make big shots or just whatever he needs to do, he's been working every day, never getting down on himself so I've been proud of him.
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