Previewing Tuesday's NIT Quarterfinal Against Wichita State
3/25/2019 3:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana head coach Archie Miller along with Juwan Morgan and Devonte Green met with the media to preview Tuesday's NIT Quarterfinal game against Wichita State. WSU head coach Gregg Marshall also met with the media and his quotes are included below.
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ARCHIE MILLER: Wichita State is on a really good run right now. Finished the season really strong, then continued that into their conference tournament with a really hard-fought loss to Cincinnati. Could have been in their championship game. Now have been on the road in the NIT for two wins, finishing up yesterday at Clemson.
They're a really typical Wichita State team: play extremely hard, do a great job on both ends the floor, they really rebound the ball. Markis McDuffie is one of the hardest covers we'll see all season, as versatile as he is. True size at the five, puts pressure on the rim. Their other guys have gotten older, whether first year in the program or they're freshmen.
Should be a really, really hard-fought game. We're going to have to really bring the energy level and the toughness that you have to deal with when you play them. I think from the environment in the arena, I think both teams are really going to be excited and hopefully ready to play.
Q. As you look at them, they have this pivot point around early January, now 13-3. Do you see differences in them early season versus them more recently?
ARCHIE MILLER: Yeah, without question. They had really a reboot. They had such a veteran-oriented team the last few seasons, you kind of knew they were in transition with all the new faces that they took the floor with this season.
I think they got off to a start they're not accustomed to, with the amount of winning they do. Without question, right around February 1st, you started to see them really kick it into gear in their league. As they go to their conference tournament, beating Temple, playing Cincinnati to the wire, beating Clemson on the road yesterday, they're playing as well as they have all year.
Q. Did you play them when you were at Dayton?
ARCHIE MILLER: We played a fantastic Wichita State team at Dayton in the NCAA tournament. Extremely hard-fought game. The team that they had was very balanced. They had a lot of weapons.
When you play them, you just have to understand what's going on. If you're not ready to rebound and play hard, you're not ready to compete, they're going to get you. That's been their MO as long as Coach Marshall has been there. Their mantra is just toughness.
I remember that game like it was yesterday, us not being able to score enough baskets at the end, but how hard-fought the game was. That team, again, I thought last year maybe won the conference championship, got into the NCAA tournament. But this team is different. They have new faces that are brand-new.
McDuffie is the one guy that's been a mainstay in their program. He's a senior, all-conference player, 19 a game. Offensive rebounds, drives, made 76 threes on the season. He's a very, very difficult matchup.
They do a good job.
Q. Haynes-Jones is a senior guard for them. Most of their team is young. They do have a senior guard averaging double figures. What do you see from him?
ARCHIE MILLER: Very good at ball screens. Very quick, attacking guard. Plays hard defensively. Can really get up after you. He makes plays for them. Hit a huge shot late in the Clemson game yesterday to go from a one-possession game with 20 some seconds, he bangs a huge step-back three to put them up six. He makes plays.
He is their guy at the end of the clock, he's going to make a lot of things happen. They set a ton of ball screens for him so he's constantly in attack mode. He's definitely one of tougher guards you're going to play against that we've seen.
Q. With the way you have been playing, without giving away any game plans, how do you see some of Indiana's advantages over them right now?
ARCHIE MILLER: I think the personnel they have right now is talented, strong, athletic. We're going to have to establish a low-post game in this game. With De'Ron and Juwan, we're going to have to establish some things around the basket because things are going to be tough on the perimeter. You're not going to get great shots. They do a good job of that.
The physicality of the game is going to be way up. For us, we're going to have to find a way to establish the paint. When we've established the paint here recently, good things have happened for us.
Juwan, De'Ron, our ability for our guards, a guy like Devonte, going to have to make more plays. We're going to have to find a way to get in transition. We are at our best when we are in transition. Defense to offense is going to be a huge thing in the game. We're going to have to find a way to get runs.
They're very good. I mean, they're as good as any team here of late regardless of their record. They're playing as well as any team we played here of late. They give us problems with their size around the basket. Like I said, defensively they can get up after you.
Rebounding the ball is huge. If we're rebounding the ball, our team has shown they're able to play with anyone. This is going to be one of those deals where our guards and everyone is going to have to be committed. They're bigger on the perimeter.
Q. With McDuffie, how important is it to make a guy like Justin Smith, that you've trusted, for some of those defensive assignments?
ARCHIE MILLER: He's going to have to step up, a key matchup in the game, being able to defensively hang in there. Juwan, as well. Like I said, he plays like a guard, but he's got unbelievable size and a great motor. He plays hard.
Without question, we're going to need Justin to really give us something on that end of the floor like he has at different times, whether he's guarded Jordan (indiscernible), you name the guys he's had to guard. When he hung in, did a good job in that sort of situation where he's hung in, we've been better.
Without question that matchup is huge. I think Justin has to step up and sort of rise his level a little bit. He has to be ready to go at that end of the floor.
Q. Do you have a target for guard rebounds?
ARCHIE MILLER: It's always been like 12, 12 or more from our guards. Usually that's always a key number. When your guards are rebounding the ball, it means, number one, they're cleaning it up, the other guys are blocking out. 12 or more usually has been a good number for us.
This last game, Devonte had 11 himself. Al and Rob had seven, so 18 right there. We out-rebounded Arkansas. In one-possession games, tight games, you name the situation, rebounding is always a key factor. That will be a big one tomorrow night.
Q. A little bit cliché, but what do you think this team has learned about itself, its ability to refocus the last couple games after the disappointment?
ARCHIE MILLER: It's over now. It's always that first game. You have to get over the hangover. Once you get through the first game, you probably saw it as well as I did on Saturday afternoon, a great environment to play in. Players want to play.
Now you get to the third one. You're playing ball again. You're playing to win. There's obviously a carrot at the end of this one because you're moving on to New York City. You get to New York City, it's good to be playing this time of year. Good for your experience level, good for guys to win games, to be on the spotlight again.
Like I said, that first one's always going to be tough. Clearly it's not what we wanted. You're now through that. You're back playing to win again. You have something to play for, which is a great opportunity on Tuesday.
I think it will be an electric atmosphere for our guys to play in as well as Wichita State. Like I said, either one of these teams wins this game, you move on another week, you're in Madison Square Garden. It's playing ball again.
Q. Echenique can be prone to fouls. Is that sort of the physical presence you're going to have to establish against down low?
ARCHIE MILLER: He's played great in the tournament here, these last two games. He's averaging 17 points a game, giving them an offensive presence. He's a big guy, good touch around the basket. He can do some things.
When you bring in mid guard, it is a whole different level. 7'2", 300 pounds, whatever he is. His presence rolling to the basket reminds me a lot of Jon Teske, gets a lot of rim runs at the basket, playing off the spacing they play with.
Both guys, I wouldn't say they pound ball, but Echenique these last couple games, he's clearly done a really nice job for them. They have true size at the five. McDuffie is a tough cover. They can shoot the ball from a few spots as well. Like I said, they really spread you out and do some good things.
For us, it's looking at what we do well, how does it apply in a quick turnaround. You have to be yourself but there's some tweaks we have to look at. We can't give these guys the easy ones they get off of certain coverages because they will just keep picking on you.
I think it will be an interesting game around the basket. They have great size around their rim. They do a good job of walling up, making things difficult. De'Ron and Juwan, our low-post guys that command the ball, they're going to have to be ready to play through some size down there around the rim.
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Q. Coach talked about they have big guards. That will be a component tomorrow night. Guards are going to have to rebound.
DEVONTE GREEN: Yeah, we definitely are. Their guards crash the boards hard both ends of the floor.
Q. Juwan, they've got a couple big guys that you have to deal with right around the rim, McDuffie, a guy that can play big, small. What is the challenge this front court will present you?
JUWAN MORGAN: I think you nailed it on the head. They have a lot of low versatility, a lot of big guys. They can play any which way really. They have guys that are good around the basket, also good at altering shots without fouling.
It's going to take a high-level focus, keying in on finishing around the basket, driving and kicking, not trying to challenge shot-blockers.
Q. After you got past the disappointment of not playing in the NCAA tournament, the crowd that was here on Saturday had to be electrifying to you. How do you feed off of that?
JUWAN MORGAN: Just them giving us energy on defensive plays, great plays that we have. I think they did a great job just cheering us on. I think we did a good job giving them something to cheer for.
Q. Juwan, this is the first time you're certain this is your last game in Assembly Hall. Have you thought about that at all?
JUWAN MORGAN: No. I think all the emotions with it being my last game went out at Rutgers.
Just another game. Got to be ready to play and come out to win.
Q. Barring anything unforeseen, you'll finish in the top 25 scorers of all time here. Given the history of the program, what does that mean to you?
JUWAN MORGAN: It's a lot of points. That's a lot of points to be scored. Couldn't do it without all the teammates I've had all four years.
Q. Coach said something, once you get past the first game in this tournament, you're back to playing ball. Does this feel normal again? You've been past the emotional points, not making the tournament, do you feel like you're back to playing basketball games again?
JUWAN MORGAN: I definitely think that. You could kind of tell after they announced the tournament field, all the guys were disappointed, nobody really wanted to practice or anything.
I think once the actual game day got here, guys had a different mentality. Guys were ready to play. As you can see, we won the last two. I think guys are feeling more and more great about going into this post-season.
Q. Devonte, does this feel like normal basketball again?
DEVONTE GREEN: I would agree. I think after the disappointment, we got that out of the way, I think we just started to play basketball again.
Q. Devonte, if you're fortunate enough to win tomorrow night, NYC. A good carrot?
DEVONTE GREEN: Definitely a great season, how I'd like to end the season. Always fun playing in front of a home crowd.
Q. How many people do you think would be there? What would the support be like back for you in New York?
DEVONTE GREEN: There would be a lot of people there (smiling).
Q. Devonte, 37 minutes last two games. How hard has that been on your body? Are you fine playing through that?
DEVONTE GREEN: Without Romeo, I know that I might have to play more minutes. I mean, I practice hard every day of the week. It's not anything new really.
WICHITA STATE HEAD COACH GREGG MARSHALL
GREGG MARSHALL: We are just excited to be here in Bloomington, playing for the right to go to Madison Square Garden. Obviously to be playing this late into March, regardless of how old your young or new or old, veteran, inexperienced your basketball team is, it's great.
We had a nice little practice today. Our practice before the Clemson game was our best of the year, so my guys are enjoying playing. I'm enjoying coaching them. As long as we can continue to do that and win, we'll play till there are no games left.
Q. When you look at this Indiana team, what things stand out to you the most? Who do you look at and say those are the main drivers of this team?
GREGG MARSHALL: You got a lottery pick who has not played the last couple of games. You start with him. Juwan Morgan, you're familiar with him if you watch college basketball the last several years. You'd start with those two guys. I mean, really, really good.
But there's other players averaging between 8 and 11 or 12 points a game. All your starters. Your two guard really shoots it well, a tremendous scorer. Your point guard has tremendous acceleration going both ways. Your wing is a strong kid that drives it, gets to the rim. Looks very athletic.
I mean, they're all very impressive to me.
Q. Looking at the trajectory for you this season, started out slow, turned it around to close out the season. Was there a message sent that you flipped a switch?
GREGG MARSHALL: I think the biggest thing for us was we would go on the road early on and for 10 of my scholarship players, it was the first time they had played in a college basketball game on the road, whoever that first game was. Since 2010, prior to this year, we had been the single best road team in the country percentage-wise. Obviously we're not that any more because we did lose a handful or more this year on the road early.
We just played scared. We played tentative. If we didn't make a shot or two, we stopped defending, stopped rebounding. Quite frankly, some games got out of control. That hasn't been the case, but this year early on it was.
You have to have a short memory as a college basketball player because it's not like football where you are able to turn it over, go over on the side, look at your iPad over there, figure out what you did wrong, send the defense on. You have to get back and play defense, you have to rebound. Then you have to go down and try to right your own wrongs quickly.
You only have X amount of timeouts as coaches. I'm not crazy about using timeouts anyway. I don't usually have much good to say during a timeout.
Our guys weren't very good at that. They got better at they got more understanding of what we were trying to get them to do. I want them to fight through adversity. I want them to, as much as they possibly can.
I did use more timeouts early in the year to try to settle a very young team. As they've gotten better and a better understanding, they've just physically been able to make more plays, make more shots, we haven't needed that.
We've been better on the road because of that. It's just been fun to watch this team evolve. We've gotten a lot, lot better in the last eight weeks.
Q. (Question about older players.)
GREGG MARSHALL: Jaime is a junior college transfer. This is his first year with us. He is an older player, as is Ricky Torres, first year in Division I. I count those as far as the 10 new guys.
I've answered this one a couple of ways all year long. Markis McDuffie and Samaje Haynes-Jones have been invaluable for us. Markis is used to winning 25 or more games, going to the NCAA tournament, having a lot of success. It didn't look like our season was headed that way early on. Samaje Haynes-Jones played about 200 minutes last year. He was my second-most experienced player returning, but he was a senior and had played in games.
Those two guys never wavered. They didn't throw the young kids under the bus. They were positive. They were disgruntled. They were upset, angry at times, as we all were. They never threw anyone under the bus.
Markis McDuffie, I always will be very appreciative of him because I think he will be the bridge from one very nice era to another hopefully nice era coming up soon. Samaje and he have been tremendous leaders. Neither one had been leaders prior to this. They had never been forced to lead. In fact, they were followers. They were happy-go-lucky guys that went along with the flow.
This year, this will be a very big life lesson for them because they've had to develop leadership skills. They've done a wonderful job.
Q. Speak to the American Athletic in light of UCF nearly knocking off Duke.
GREGG MARSHALL: They did knock off Duke, didn't they? That's what I saw (smiling).
Q. Do you think it's an underrated league?
GREGG MARSHALL: Oh, yeah, it's a good league, man. It's the best league I've ever coached in. Not only do you have tremendous players, you've got a kid like Aubrey Dawkins yesterday, Johnny's son, he may have played himself into an early entry type situation yesterday. From what I saw, he was phenomenal.
Last year we had three early entry players in our league. It's only 60 draft picks, something like that. We had three early entries from our league, two in the first round and one in the early second round. One was on our team, Lambry Shamet. He would have been a junior for us. We would have looked a whole lot better in November and December if we had him. I understand. That's the way college basketball is these days.
For us, me personally, it's the first time I had to deal with it. Obviously I wasn't prepared.
It's a great league. When you have Landry Shamet, doing great things with the Clippers, you have Jacob Evans in the first round with the Warriors, Melvin Frazier went early from Tulane. I saw arguably the first or second best player from Tulane last year, a senior. I'm drawing a blank on his name right now. Cameron something. He just signed a long-term contract with the NBA.
The league's got very, very good players. Great coaches. National championship caliber coaches. Guys that have won national championships or could win national championships one day. It just seems to be getting better and better.
Q. Jamie Echenique, he was one of the new faces early in the year, his rebounding percentages are really impressive, good around the rim. These last couple games he's been good for you. How have you seen him grow this season?
GREGG MARSHALL: We had three post players. We had Midtgaard in the program as a freshman, he played 80 minutes. My third most experienced player coming into the year after playing 80 minutes. We has Poor Bear-Chandler in prep school. We signed him. We love this kid Morris Edeze, playing as a true freshman early. Out now, had shoulder surgery, the labrum situation.
That being said, I saw Jamie Echenique at a junior college workout and I said, We have to have this kid. He has a real high ceiling. I love what he's able to do. He became our best post player early on. He was really, really good at one point early, then he hurt his foot. He had plantar fascitis. We were up 7 at VCU and he went down. He didn't miss any games, but he wasn't healthy either. I should have just said, No, you're not playing, you're not healthy. He kept saying, I can, I can, I can. He wanted to help. He's got a great heart. But he wasn't able to help us.
We weren't nearly as good because I was playing him, and he was probably 60%. It's probably what Archie is dealing with now with Romeo because of the back. Do you play him? Is he 100%? Is it the right thing to do?
But we would not have been nearly as good as we were early in the year without Jaime. We wouldn't be nearly as good as we are now. He's not 100%. That thing is going to take a while. I've had the same foot ailment, and it takes a while to go away. I mean, six months, a year, I don't know.
I can't imagine playing basketball with it. His was much worse than mine. As big as your fist, a big black spot on the bottom of his foot where it was bruised.
He's been great. He was wonderful in the Clemson game. Between he and Dexter Dennis, they held Marcquise Reed to five for 20, he averages 20 points in the ACC, and Elijah Thomas two for eight. Between those two guys, their best two players, went a combined seven for 28. The defense by Dexter Dennis and Jaime, Jaime having a good offensive game, as well.
Q. Is this your first time in Assembly Hall?
GREGG MARSHALL: Yes. I've only been to Bloomington one other time. When I was an assistant coach at the College of Charleston, I drove up, we did everything by car. There were three events in a triangle. One in Louisville, Kentucky. Somewhere else. Maybe Cincinnati. Then here. Like for five days, I just went in between the three events.
While I was here, I forget who was running those events back in the day, but it was a good event, at a big center where they have like eight courts somewhere in town. I drove over here on my own, grabbed a bite to eat.
As I drove over by Assembly Hall, I actually saw Bob Knight walk out. It was in the evening. He was walking out of a practice, his office, whatever he was doing. Didn't know him at the time. I've met him since. But I did see him. I didn't speak to him.
But I've never been inside. This is my first time inside. Quite a building, quite impressive building.
Q. You saw one of Archie's teams a couple years ago in the tournament.
GREGG MARSHALL: Dayton.
Q. As you prepare for this, do you notice any similarities personality-wise?
GREGG MARSHALL: To be honest with you, I broke down the Clemson film last night. I'm going to start breaking down a little Indiana film today. I can't tell you about that right now. My staff has been poring over it. We did a scouting report for Indiana this morning, did a little walk-through in our practice today. I can't tell you how similar or dissimilar they are to Dayton at this point.
I will tell you his teams play really hard. That group that we played was at the end of an era. He had a bunch of seniors on that Dayton team. We were fortunate enough to beat them in a game that could have gone either way. We made a big three down the stretch. We beat them. I think we lost in the next round to Kentucky. Always Kentucky.
Q. We saw how your fans travel so well in the NCAAs. Are they going to the NIT games?
GREGG MARSHALL: We had a great support in South Carolina on Wednesday, then Clemson on Sunday. I don't know how much of that is how well they travel, my family just dressing up in yellow and black. That was in my backyard. We had a lot of fans.
But our fans do travel really, really well. But this is hard because there's not a whole lot of notice. You don't know when the games are sometimes. At least we knew when this game was, but only a 48-hour turnaround, actually a little longer. We played 2:00 on Sunday, this will be 7:00 on Tuesday.
A couple jets are fueling up right now, friends of mine, people I know in town, they're filling up their planes and heading this way.
I don't think it will be a predominant yellow and black crowd based on how you guys draw.
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ARCHIE MILLER: Wichita State is on a really good run right now. Finished the season really strong, then continued that into their conference tournament with a really hard-fought loss to Cincinnati. Could have been in their championship game. Now have been on the road in the NIT for two wins, finishing up yesterday at Clemson.
They're a really typical Wichita State team: play extremely hard, do a great job on both ends the floor, they really rebound the ball. Markis McDuffie is one of the hardest covers we'll see all season, as versatile as he is. True size at the five, puts pressure on the rim. Their other guys have gotten older, whether first year in the program or they're freshmen.
Should be a really, really hard-fought game. We're going to have to really bring the energy level and the toughness that you have to deal with when you play them. I think from the environment in the arena, I think both teams are really going to be excited and hopefully ready to play.
Q. As you look at them, they have this pivot point around early January, now 13-3. Do you see differences in them early season versus them more recently?
ARCHIE MILLER: Yeah, without question. They had really a reboot. They had such a veteran-oriented team the last few seasons, you kind of knew they were in transition with all the new faces that they took the floor with this season.
I think they got off to a start they're not accustomed to, with the amount of winning they do. Without question, right around February 1st, you started to see them really kick it into gear in their league. As they go to their conference tournament, beating Temple, playing Cincinnati to the wire, beating Clemson on the road yesterday, they're playing as well as they have all year.
Q. Did you play them when you were at Dayton?
ARCHIE MILLER: We played a fantastic Wichita State team at Dayton in the NCAA tournament. Extremely hard-fought game. The team that they had was very balanced. They had a lot of weapons.
When you play them, you just have to understand what's going on. If you're not ready to rebound and play hard, you're not ready to compete, they're going to get you. That's been their MO as long as Coach Marshall has been there. Their mantra is just toughness.
I remember that game like it was yesterday, us not being able to score enough baskets at the end, but how hard-fought the game was. That team, again, I thought last year maybe won the conference championship, got into the NCAA tournament. But this team is different. They have new faces that are brand-new.
McDuffie is the one guy that's been a mainstay in their program. He's a senior, all-conference player, 19 a game. Offensive rebounds, drives, made 76 threes on the season. He's a very, very difficult matchup.
They do a good job.
Q. Haynes-Jones is a senior guard for them. Most of their team is young. They do have a senior guard averaging double figures. What do you see from him?
ARCHIE MILLER: Very good at ball screens. Very quick, attacking guard. Plays hard defensively. Can really get up after you. He makes plays for them. Hit a huge shot late in the Clemson game yesterday to go from a one-possession game with 20 some seconds, he bangs a huge step-back three to put them up six. He makes plays.
He is their guy at the end of the clock, he's going to make a lot of things happen. They set a ton of ball screens for him so he's constantly in attack mode. He's definitely one of tougher guards you're going to play against that we've seen.
Q. With the way you have been playing, without giving away any game plans, how do you see some of Indiana's advantages over them right now?
ARCHIE MILLER: I think the personnel they have right now is talented, strong, athletic. We're going to have to establish a low-post game in this game. With De'Ron and Juwan, we're going to have to establish some things around the basket because things are going to be tough on the perimeter. You're not going to get great shots. They do a good job of that.
The physicality of the game is going to be way up. For us, we're going to have to find a way to establish the paint. When we've established the paint here recently, good things have happened for us.
Juwan, De'Ron, our ability for our guards, a guy like Devonte, going to have to make more plays. We're going to have to find a way to get in transition. We are at our best when we are in transition. Defense to offense is going to be a huge thing in the game. We're going to have to find a way to get runs.
They're very good. I mean, they're as good as any team here of late regardless of their record. They're playing as well as any team we played here of late. They give us problems with their size around the basket. Like I said, defensively they can get up after you.
Rebounding the ball is huge. If we're rebounding the ball, our team has shown they're able to play with anyone. This is going to be one of those deals where our guards and everyone is going to have to be committed. They're bigger on the perimeter.
Q. With McDuffie, how important is it to make a guy like Justin Smith, that you've trusted, for some of those defensive assignments?
ARCHIE MILLER: He's going to have to step up, a key matchup in the game, being able to defensively hang in there. Juwan, as well. Like I said, he plays like a guard, but he's got unbelievable size and a great motor. He plays hard.
Without question, we're going to need Justin to really give us something on that end of the floor like he has at different times, whether he's guarded Jordan (indiscernible), you name the guys he's had to guard. When he hung in, did a good job in that sort of situation where he's hung in, we've been better.
Without question that matchup is huge. I think Justin has to step up and sort of rise his level a little bit. He has to be ready to go at that end of the floor.
Q. Do you have a target for guard rebounds?
ARCHIE MILLER: It's always been like 12, 12 or more from our guards. Usually that's always a key number. When your guards are rebounding the ball, it means, number one, they're cleaning it up, the other guys are blocking out. 12 or more usually has been a good number for us.
This last game, Devonte had 11 himself. Al and Rob had seven, so 18 right there. We out-rebounded Arkansas. In one-possession games, tight games, you name the situation, rebounding is always a key factor. That will be a big one tomorrow night.
Q. A little bit cliché, but what do you think this team has learned about itself, its ability to refocus the last couple games after the disappointment?
ARCHIE MILLER: It's over now. It's always that first game. You have to get over the hangover. Once you get through the first game, you probably saw it as well as I did on Saturday afternoon, a great environment to play in. Players want to play.
Now you get to the third one. You're playing ball again. You're playing to win. There's obviously a carrot at the end of this one because you're moving on to New York City. You get to New York City, it's good to be playing this time of year. Good for your experience level, good for guys to win games, to be on the spotlight again.
Like I said, that first one's always going to be tough. Clearly it's not what we wanted. You're now through that. You're back playing to win again. You have something to play for, which is a great opportunity on Tuesday.
I think it will be an electric atmosphere for our guys to play in as well as Wichita State. Like I said, either one of these teams wins this game, you move on another week, you're in Madison Square Garden. It's playing ball again.
Q. Echenique can be prone to fouls. Is that sort of the physical presence you're going to have to establish against down low?
ARCHIE MILLER: He's played great in the tournament here, these last two games. He's averaging 17 points a game, giving them an offensive presence. He's a big guy, good touch around the basket. He can do some things.
When you bring in mid guard, it is a whole different level. 7'2", 300 pounds, whatever he is. His presence rolling to the basket reminds me a lot of Jon Teske, gets a lot of rim runs at the basket, playing off the spacing they play with.
Both guys, I wouldn't say they pound ball, but Echenique these last couple games, he's clearly done a really nice job for them. They have true size at the five. McDuffie is a tough cover. They can shoot the ball from a few spots as well. Like I said, they really spread you out and do some good things.
For us, it's looking at what we do well, how does it apply in a quick turnaround. You have to be yourself but there's some tweaks we have to look at. We can't give these guys the easy ones they get off of certain coverages because they will just keep picking on you.
I think it will be an interesting game around the basket. They have great size around their rim. They do a good job of walling up, making things difficult. De'Ron and Juwan, our low-post guys that command the ball, they're going to have to be ready to play through some size down there around the rim.
INDIANA PLAYERS
Q. Coach talked about they have big guards. That will be a component tomorrow night. Guards are going to have to rebound.
DEVONTE GREEN: Yeah, we definitely are. Their guards crash the boards hard both ends of the floor.
Q. Juwan, they've got a couple big guys that you have to deal with right around the rim, McDuffie, a guy that can play big, small. What is the challenge this front court will present you?
JUWAN MORGAN: I think you nailed it on the head. They have a lot of low versatility, a lot of big guys. They can play any which way really. They have guys that are good around the basket, also good at altering shots without fouling.
It's going to take a high-level focus, keying in on finishing around the basket, driving and kicking, not trying to challenge shot-blockers.
Q. After you got past the disappointment of not playing in the NCAA tournament, the crowd that was here on Saturday had to be electrifying to you. How do you feed off of that?
JUWAN MORGAN: Just them giving us energy on defensive plays, great plays that we have. I think they did a great job just cheering us on. I think we did a good job giving them something to cheer for.
Q. Juwan, this is the first time you're certain this is your last game in Assembly Hall. Have you thought about that at all?
JUWAN MORGAN: No. I think all the emotions with it being my last game went out at Rutgers.
Just another game. Got to be ready to play and come out to win.
Q. Barring anything unforeseen, you'll finish in the top 25 scorers of all time here. Given the history of the program, what does that mean to you?
JUWAN MORGAN: It's a lot of points. That's a lot of points to be scored. Couldn't do it without all the teammates I've had all four years.
Q. Coach said something, once you get past the first game in this tournament, you're back to playing ball. Does this feel normal again? You've been past the emotional points, not making the tournament, do you feel like you're back to playing basketball games again?
JUWAN MORGAN: I definitely think that. You could kind of tell after they announced the tournament field, all the guys were disappointed, nobody really wanted to practice or anything.
I think once the actual game day got here, guys had a different mentality. Guys were ready to play. As you can see, we won the last two. I think guys are feeling more and more great about going into this post-season.
Q. Devonte, does this feel like normal basketball again?
DEVONTE GREEN: I would agree. I think after the disappointment, we got that out of the way, I think we just started to play basketball again.
Q. Devonte, if you're fortunate enough to win tomorrow night, NYC. A good carrot?
DEVONTE GREEN: Definitely a great season, how I'd like to end the season. Always fun playing in front of a home crowd.
Q. How many people do you think would be there? What would the support be like back for you in New York?
DEVONTE GREEN: There would be a lot of people there (smiling).
Q. Devonte, 37 minutes last two games. How hard has that been on your body? Are you fine playing through that?
DEVONTE GREEN: Without Romeo, I know that I might have to play more minutes. I mean, I practice hard every day of the week. It's not anything new really.
WICHITA STATE HEAD COACH GREGG MARSHALL
GREGG MARSHALL: We are just excited to be here in Bloomington, playing for the right to go to Madison Square Garden. Obviously to be playing this late into March, regardless of how old your young or new or old, veteran, inexperienced your basketball team is, it's great.
We had a nice little practice today. Our practice before the Clemson game was our best of the year, so my guys are enjoying playing. I'm enjoying coaching them. As long as we can continue to do that and win, we'll play till there are no games left.
Q. When you look at this Indiana team, what things stand out to you the most? Who do you look at and say those are the main drivers of this team?
GREGG MARSHALL: You got a lottery pick who has not played the last couple of games. You start with him. Juwan Morgan, you're familiar with him if you watch college basketball the last several years. You'd start with those two guys. I mean, really, really good.
But there's other players averaging between 8 and 11 or 12 points a game. All your starters. Your two guard really shoots it well, a tremendous scorer. Your point guard has tremendous acceleration going both ways. Your wing is a strong kid that drives it, gets to the rim. Looks very athletic.
I mean, they're all very impressive to me.
Q. Looking at the trajectory for you this season, started out slow, turned it around to close out the season. Was there a message sent that you flipped a switch?
GREGG MARSHALL: I think the biggest thing for us was we would go on the road early on and for 10 of my scholarship players, it was the first time they had played in a college basketball game on the road, whoever that first game was. Since 2010, prior to this year, we had been the single best road team in the country percentage-wise. Obviously we're not that any more because we did lose a handful or more this year on the road early.
We just played scared. We played tentative. If we didn't make a shot or two, we stopped defending, stopped rebounding. Quite frankly, some games got out of control. That hasn't been the case, but this year early on it was.
You have to have a short memory as a college basketball player because it's not like football where you are able to turn it over, go over on the side, look at your iPad over there, figure out what you did wrong, send the defense on. You have to get back and play defense, you have to rebound. Then you have to go down and try to right your own wrongs quickly.
You only have X amount of timeouts as coaches. I'm not crazy about using timeouts anyway. I don't usually have much good to say during a timeout.
Our guys weren't very good at that. They got better at they got more understanding of what we were trying to get them to do. I want them to fight through adversity. I want them to, as much as they possibly can.
I did use more timeouts early in the year to try to settle a very young team. As they've gotten better and a better understanding, they've just physically been able to make more plays, make more shots, we haven't needed that.
We've been better on the road because of that. It's just been fun to watch this team evolve. We've gotten a lot, lot better in the last eight weeks.
Q. (Question about older players.)
GREGG MARSHALL: Jaime is a junior college transfer. This is his first year with us. He is an older player, as is Ricky Torres, first year in Division I. I count those as far as the 10 new guys.
I've answered this one a couple of ways all year long. Markis McDuffie and Samaje Haynes-Jones have been invaluable for us. Markis is used to winning 25 or more games, going to the NCAA tournament, having a lot of success. It didn't look like our season was headed that way early on. Samaje Haynes-Jones played about 200 minutes last year. He was my second-most experienced player returning, but he was a senior and had played in games.
Those two guys never wavered. They didn't throw the young kids under the bus. They were positive. They were disgruntled. They were upset, angry at times, as we all were. They never threw anyone under the bus.
Markis McDuffie, I always will be very appreciative of him because I think he will be the bridge from one very nice era to another hopefully nice era coming up soon. Samaje and he have been tremendous leaders. Neither one had been leaders prior to this. They had never been forced to lead. In fact, they were followers. They were happy-go-lucky guys that went along with the flow.
This year, this will be a very big life lesson for them because they've had to develop leadership skills. They've done a wonderful job.
Q. Speak to the American Athletic in light of UCF nearly knocking off Duke.
GREGG MARSHALL: They did knock off Duke, didn't they? That's what I saw (smiling).
Q. Do you think it's an underrated league?
GREGG MARSHALL: Oh, yeah, it's a good league, man. It's the best league I've ever coached in. Not only do you have tremendous players, you've got a kid like Aubrey Dawkins yesterday, Johnny's son, he may have played himself into an early entry type situation yesterday. From what I saw, he was phenomenal.
Last year we had three early entry players in our league. It's only 60 draft picks, something like that. We had three early entries from our league, two in the first round and one in the early second round. One was on our team, Lambry Shamet. He would have been a junior for us. We would have looked a whole lot better in November and December if we had him. I understand. That's the way college basketball is these days.
For us, me personally, it's the first time I had to deal with it. Obviously I wasn't prepared.
It's a great league. When you have Landry Shamet, doing great things with the Clippers, you have Jacob Evans in the first round with the Warriors, Melvin Frazier went early from Tulane. I saw arguably the first or second best player from Tulane last year, a senior. I'm drawing a blank on his name right now. Cameron something. He just signed a long-term contract with the NBA.
The league's got very, very good players. Great coaches. National championship caliber coaches. Guys that have won national championships or could win national championships one day. It just seems to be getting better and better.
Q. Jamie Echenique, he was one of the new faces early in the year, his rebounding percentages are really impressive, good around the rim. These last couple games he's been good for you. How have you seen him grow this season?
GREGG MARSHALL: We had three post players. We had Midtgaard in the program as a freshman, he played 80 minutes. My third most experienced player coming into the year after playing 80 minutes. We has Poor Bear-Chandler in prep school. We signed him. We love this kid Morris Edeze, playing as a true freshman early. Out now, had shoulder surgery, the labrum situation.
That being said, I saw Jamie Echenique at a junior college workout and I said, We have to have this kid. He has a real high ceiling. I love what he's able to do. He became our best post player early on. He was really, really good at one point early, then he hurt his foot. He had plantar fascitis. We were up 7 at VCU and he went down. He didn't miss any games, but he wasn't healthy either. I should have just said, No, you're not playing, you're not healthy. He kept saying, I can, I can, I can. He wanted to help. He's got a great heart. But he wasn't able to help us.
We weren't nearly as good because I was playing him, and he was probably 60%. It's probably what Archie is dealing with now with Romeo because of the back. Do you play him? Is he 100%? Is it the right thing to do?
But we would not have been nearly as good as we were early in the year without Jaime. We wouldn't be nearly as good as we are now. He's not 100%. That thing is going to take a while. I've had the same foot ailment, and it takes a while to go away. I mean, six months, a year, I don't know.
I can't imagine playing basketball with it. His was much worse than mine. As big as your fist, a big black spot on the bottom of his foot where it was bruised.
He's been great. He was wonderful in the Clemson game. Between he and Dexter Dennis, they held Marcquise Reed to five for 20, he averages 20 points in the ACC, and Elijah Thomas two for eight. Between those two guys, their best two players, went a combined seven for 28. The defense by Dexter Dennis and Jaime, Jaime having a good offensive game, as well.
Q. Is this your first time in Assembly Hall?
GREGG MARSHALL: Yes. I've only been to Bloomington one other time. When I was an assistant coach at the College of Charleston, I drove up, we did everything by car. There were three events in a triangle. One in Louisville, Kentucky. Somewhere else. Maybe Cincinnati. Then here. Like for five days, I just went in between the three events.
While I was here, I forget who was running those events back in the day, but it was a good event, at a big center where they have like eight courts somewhere in town. I drove over here on my own, grabbed a bite to eat.
As I drove over by Assembly Hall, I actually saw Bob Knight walk out. It was in the evening. He was walking out of a practice, his office, whatever he was doing. Didn't know him at the time. I've met him since. But I did see him. I didn't speak to him.
But I've never been inside. This is my first time inside. Quite a building, quite impressive building.
Q. You saw one of Archie's teams a couple years ago in the tournament.
GREGG MARSHALL: Dayton.
Q. As you prepare for this, do you notice any similarities personality-wise?
GREGG MARSHALL: To be honest with you, I broke down the Clemson film last night. I'm going to start breaking down a little Indiana film today. I can't tell you about that right now. My staff has been poring over it. We did a scouting report for Indiana this morning, did a little walk-through in our practice today. I can't tell you how similar or dissimilar they are to Dayton at this point.
I will tell you his teams play really hard. That group that we played was at the end of an era. He had a bunch of seniors on that Dayton team. We were fortunate enough to beat them in a game that could have gone either way. We made a big three down the stretch. We beat them. I think we lost in the next round to Kentucky. Always Kentucky.
Q. We saw how your fans travel so well in the NCAAs. Are they going to the NIT games?
GREGG MARSHALL: We had a great support in South Carolina on Wednesday, then Clemson on Sunday. I don't know how much of that is how well they travel, my family just dressing up in yellow and black. That was in my backyard. We had a lot of fans.
But our fans do travel really, really well. But this is hard because there's not a whole lot of notice. You don't know when the games are sometimes. At least we knew when this game was, but only a 48-hour turnaround, actually a little longer. We played 2:00 on Sunday, this will be 7:00 on Tuesday.
A couple jets are fueling up right now, friends of mine, people I know in town, they're filling up their planes and heading this way.
I don't think it will be a predominant yellow and black crowd based on how you guys draw.
Players Mentioned
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