Postgame Quotes: Indiana vs. Maryland
1/26/2020 3:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Indiana vs. Maryland
Postgame Quotes
Jan. 26, 2020
Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, really tough loss. I mean, one of the tougher losses I think you could probably imagine a locker room setting having for our group. Give Maryland a lot of credit, making a ton of plays all game long, especially in the second half after they got down, continuing to fight and make plays, big shots. Whatever it may have been, they answered the bell when they needed to.
I think the last 3:32 of the game, the last media segment as we came out, that's when you've got to be really, really tough minded. That's when you've got to really execute. That's when you've got to know time and score. That's when your communication has got to be at its finest. Little things that on Thursday night kind of went well didn't go well for us in that last 3:32.
A lot of learning can go on in that. There's a lot of situations in that last 3:32 that obviously we could have been a lot better. When our offense plays the way it did tonight in the sharing of the ball, the ball movement, to score 76 points and have 22 assists and only 6 turnovers at home and lose, it's a little bit befuddling. But the way that they played in the first half and the way that they shot, to be able to make 6 of 9 or 9 of whatever there early, they really had us on our heels.
I thought in the second half we did a much better job of establishing offense, inside-out, and then defensively we were able to finally get some stops. We built an eight-point lead, and we had our chances. Tonight's one of those ones you're going to think back on, and obviously it's going to really, really sting.
We had an unbelievable environment again. Disappointed for our fans that we weren't able to win the game, but I give Maryland some credit. Anthony Cowan is a senior guard who can make a lot of plays. He was very difficult to cover. The way that they're playing five out, their frontcourt players shooting three-point shots, the way that they shoot three-point shots. Jalen Smith is the center, and he goes 4 for 6. Ricky Lindo comes out of there and goes 1 for 1, and Donte Scott goes one. So when you look at it, their frontcourt made half their threes at the center position, in the power forward position, six made threes.
Our inability to get to the line against Maryland is another thing that's really perplexing for our team. We're a good team around the basket. We find a way to get fouled quite a bit. We shot 10 free throws here. I think we shot 12 the first time we played them. Again, they went to the line a ton with their dribble drives and our just inability to guard the ball. So the free-throw line was a little disappointing not being able to get there more.
We did enough to win the game. We also did enough to lose it there at the end.
Q. The press obviously was kind of a big turning point, the turnover on the press. You had some press break issues against Nebraska too. What do you see particularly in that area, and where do you need to see improvement going forward?
ARCHIE MILLER: Just time and scoring intelligence situations. We didn't have a problem inbounding the ball here tonight. We had our press break basically set up for their diamond press, trapped the first pass, zone, rotate, and executed perfectly. The ball came in. Trap was there. We had our outlets and got it right to the middle of the floor.
That's a first year player in Jerome, who's never in that situation, where he's just got to be strong with the ball, either bring it across half-court and tuck it, or he's just got to chin the ball and be strong with it. You're in a minute-some situation there. I just talked to him a little bit about it.
It's one of those things as a player you've got to go through, but to be able to throw it ahead to your big guy down the floor, it's about time and scoring in that situation, and that's part of getting better and learning. Not that that one play was the name of the game. It obviously was a big play, but there are a lot of big plays.
We had two major breakdowns, three major breakdowns defensively guarding Cowan on a three-point shot when we already had a stop and a lead. I think Jalen Smith, you know, at the end of the game on his last ball screen, you're relying on communication all game long on ball screens, and on the last one, we're indecisive on what we're doing. He rolls through the basket uncontested. So that's on us.
If you ever want to know as a player why the coach is always screaming about talking and communicating and you've got to do that, it's because it really matters when it means the most. This one stings. The other one on the night felt great. The week is what it is. We're on to the next one.
This league is brutal, and you have to be able to find ways to keep getting better, which I think, if you watched our team this week, or if you've watched our team over the last few weeks, we continue to do a better job, and we're getting better.
I was disappointed defensively in this game although they are very, very difficult to cover with what they're doing offensively. But we were better in the second half. Their percentage in the second half is at 40 percent from the floor and 25 from three. We're good percentages defensively, but they made some real hustle plays. I thought Jalen Smith was obviously a huge difference in the game on the offensive glass, his ability to shoot threes. And Anthony Cowan was really, really good in the game as well, very difficult cover, as quick as they come.
By the mere fact they only had five turnovers on the road in front of that environment kind of shows you their offense was running good. Our offense was doing also a decent job. We had a lot of guys contributing a lot of different ways. We shot it well, took care of it pretty well. But it's a game of inches. It comes down to a couple plays. You've got to be a little lucky, and you've got to be smart. I think we were probably a little less on those two here in the last couple minutes, or at least the last two minutes of the game.
Q. The last play of the game, you had Trayce going to the basket. Is that what you wanted, and what did you get on that play?
ARCHIE MILLER: Last play in the game, we tried to get Trayce and Rob in a two-man game in the middle of the floor, set Rob up for a drive downhill, set Trayce up for maybe a quick lob, pick-and-roll. They denied Rob the ball back, which he didn't fight the now, and Trayce kept it right from the nail, free-throw line area, all the way into the basket.
I asked, just thinking back on it, did he get a good enough look? Was it a clean look? Would you even feel good if he got that shot again? I think everybody said he had a decent look at it. It was a pretty point blank good look. He stepped around on the shot fake, stepped through, and he got a clean two point plank.
So we got a shot. It didn't obviously go down, but that's the way it breaks.
Q. Kind of touch on it a couple different ways -- forgive asking in a loaded way -- did it feel like, yes, there were moments when you could have kind of -- really kind of landed one on them, maybe up seven, up eight down the stretch? What were they doing that was kind of keeping them in touch with the game?
ARCHIE MILLER: I would say there were probably three or four occasions when you made a big shot. I think Jerome may have made a big shot or maybe Devonte hit a big shot on the right wing that you go up six, seven, eight points. I thought that they kept coming back and either getting fouled to the foul line or timely shot. Cowan makes a three behind a handoff. Jalen Smith makes a three behind a handoff, getting to the line and keeping it there.
I thought one key possession, I think Al had a right wing shot, which would have blown the top off the arena, and it was a good look. He missed it, but they get an and one down on the other end, and it was another huge play. Our inability to be up about seven or eight, maybe he makes it or maybe he doesn't, but to get an and one to cut it from seven or eight to five or four, two-possession game, that was a big play going down to the other end.
There was a lot of big plays. I thought we made some. I thought they clearly made some really good ones. But I thought that Cowan and Smith were the difference probably in a lot of those situations. Their two guys really played well.
THE MODERATOR: Jerome kind of broke out with three-pointers. Just how big is that for you moving forward that he might be starting to get back his basketball instincts?
ARCHIE MILLER: He's starting to look the part. His legs look stronger. I think, if you just watch him right now, he has a much better bounce about him on the floor than he's had. It's taken him a while to get to this point, but like I said before, a guy takes a year off from injury, it's difficult, especially a true freshman that never played.
Now he's playing, and he's playing more and more, which is a big thing for our team. He's added value in a lot of ways. He's doing a better job defensively. He ends up getting double figures here tonight but made three big shots, but that's what he can do. He can add some offensive firepower.
He's got to take good ones and be smart, but you're looking -- there's no difference between him and Trayce. They've played the same amount of games in their career. They've played the same amount of minutes. So it's a young guy out there that's showing, I think, he's starting to get his basketball legs back, and he's starting to feel good again about playing the game.
Q. You just mentioned the defense getting a lot better in the second half. What did change basically, especially early in the first 14 minutes of the second half, when you guys were holding them to 15 or 16, whatever it was? What was better about the plan you guys had there?
ARCHIE MILLER: We moved, to start the second half, Joey off of Jalen and moved -- if I'm not mistaken, Joey off of Jalen Smith and then moved, I think, Trayce onto him. We wanted a more mobile guy in the ball screen to not get as stretched, maybe a better cover on the three line, because they weren't setting as many ball screens obviously with Scott, but they missed a couple. At some point you hope the water sort of gets a little bit level. I mean, they started the game basically making their first four. They may have made at least six out of their first eight three-pointers.
The good thing was in the first half our offense wasn't terrible, so we were still in a working margin. But they missed -- they didn't get as many clean ones off dribble drives. We tried to make them earn some more twos, and then we started to get some defensive rebounding, but our offense was good to start the second half. We scored pretty much -- man, zone didn't matter. We were able to score the ball.
Disappointed obviously. This will be one, give them credit for, but this is one you're going to wish you could have those last couple minutes back. But that's the way the game breaks, and that's life, so to speak, in this league.
As you head towards February, you've got to continue to stay focused, and you can't get too high and low. As good as it felt on Thursday, it probably feels this bad, but you probably could have felt this way on Thursday, and you probably could have felt this good on Sunday. That's what it is.
We're off to Penn State. They've had a week off. I think Ohio State will get a week off before we play them. So we'll probably -- maybe everybody gets a week off before we walk in the door. Maybe that's the scheduling philosophy.
Q. Coach, I apologize for the drastic shift here. I'm sure you've heard the news by now of Kobe's passing. If I could get your reaction. Obviously, a devastating day for basketball as a whole.
ARCHIE MILLER: I mean, I just heard 30 seconds before I walked in here, and I'll be honest with you, as sick as I am about the game, I have no idea who was on the helicopter with him, if it was family or whatnot, but I know Kobe Bryant. He was a year older than me in high school. He grew up in the state of Pennsylvania. He played for my dad in the McDonald's All-American game.
I mean, like that can't be real. That's the most sick, stunning thing that's happened. You're talking about generations of kids right now that in their generation, it would have been like Michael Jordan passing away at 40 years old. It makes no sense.
I guess, if there's a silver lining here, man, you look at your players, and you know it's not the end of the world, obviously, that we lost this game when you really think about what's really going on out there at times for other people, keep it in perspective a little bit. But that's just an unbelievable tragedy.
I don't know the details of anything or who was with him. It's just -- you know, I don't know how to really equate it to our youth. In my youth, it would have been Michael Jordan, and maybe in older generations, maybe some rock stars, but that's just a sick, sick feeling, sick sad feeling for a lot of people around the world really.
Indiana Players – Devonte Green, Rob Phinisee, Jerome Hunter
Q. For Devonte and Rob, just your thoughts on what happened there down the stretch. You guys had some turnovers and questionable shots. What do you think was the problem there?
ROB PHINISEE: I'd say lack of communication down the stretch. I know there was a couple of mishaps that happened with ball screen coverage where they got a couple of open rolls. Then obviously, like you said, we turned the ball over last minute, and then they got that easy bucket. Really just communication at the end of the game. Really we just have to settle down on defense and lock up.
Q. Obviously before that, what changed in the second half defensively for you guys? Especially early on you kept them from getting much of anything after they hit a bunch of threes in the first half. What were you trying to change and focus on at that point?
DEVONTE GREEN: They hit a lot of shots early, so we were trying to run them off the line. We were all on the same page on the ball screen. I think we did that better the second half.
Q. Jerome, I know it's not the kind of result where you want to talk about your own good things that happened today, but do you feel like you kind of put some things behind you and really took a step forward today?
JEROME HUNTER: Yeah, it's just a lot to learn being a freshman, just a lot to learn. Just one of them games, tough game.
Q. Devonte, you're a senior. You've been through a whole lot. Can you just, in your words after what you've been through, what was this loss like to lose it that way that late?
DEVONTE GREEN: A lesson, just like every other loss. We were down. We came back. We fought our way back, got the lead, and then lost it. It just goes to show that the game could turn at any point.
Q. I guess for any of you, you kept kind of pushing it to eight. They kept coming back. Was there ever a stretch where you felt you kind of had them close to put away for good? And what was it that kept getting them the answers, I guess?
ROB PHINISEE: Credit to them. I feel like they hit shots when they needed to. So it really, really starts on defense. I feel like, if you can get stops on defense, it translates to offense. I felt like we didn't get stops when we needed to down the stretch, and that's the result we got.
Q. Rob, you talked about lack of communication down the stretch. Is that your responsibility as a point guard to make sure everyone's lined up and where they need to be? Is that something you kind of take responsibility for?
ROB PHINISEE: Yeah, for sure. I mean, the point guard, you have to lead everybody by example. So really everybody needs to be on the same page and everybody has to talk. So we have to execute our game plan.
Q. For any of you guys, obviously Jalen Smith is a really good player, but 29 points is the difference in the game. What was difficult about that matchup, and how was he able to kind of have that kind of game against you guys?
ROB PHINISEE: Yeah, he's a really good player. He's not like a traditional big where he posts up most of the time. He had a lot of pick and pop threes. I don't know how many threes he hit, but he hit a lot. We had to switch up coverages on him and just have different guys guard him because he's such a good player. Credit to him, he made big shots when he did it.
Q. Talking about Jalen Smith, obviously emotions running high at the end of the game, but the reaction to him and your fans?
THE MODERATOR: They never saw it. They were off the floor. They never saw what happened.
Q. The next one then. I'm sure you guys saw other things when you got into the locker room, the reports of Kobe Bryant.
THE MODERATOR: They don't know. We haven't told them yet. Seriously.
Q. Can I get their reaction to it?
THE MODERATOR: Yeah. Kobe Bryant was killed today in a helicopter crash, so yeah.
Q. Huge news for the basketball world. Obviously, you guys had no idea. Your immediate reaction to this? As everyone found out while you guys were on the floor.
ROB PHINISEE: Obviously heartbreaking. He's arguably the best player ever to play. I was a fan growing up. My heart goes out to his family really.
DEVONTE GREEN: Sad.
Q. Rob, you guys go 1-1 in two home games against ranked teams. Do you look at it as pretty much success? Do you look at it as opportunity slipped away to get another one? How do you view this week?
ROB PHINISEE: Move on to the next game. Just focus on the next game when we play Penn State. We can't get too happy after winning, and we can't get too down on ourselves after a loss. We have to move forward and get back after it in practice tomorrow.
Q. For any of you guys, 22 assists today, the ball movement is getting at kind of that optimal level that you'd like to see it at. How do you build off of that, I guess, kind of going forward?
DEVONTE GREEN: I think our ball movement has been better every game. I think we get better at it every single game, and I think we'll just continue to build on it.
Maryland Head Coach Mark Turgeon
Opening Statement…
Before I get started about the game, I want to apologize at Jalen acted after the game. It's very uncharacteristic of Jalen, if you know him he's a great kid. It's one of the best fan bases in the country. Jalen feels terrible about it, I feel terrible about it. I tried to stop it when I saw it but it's not who he is and I want to apologize to Archie, the team, Indiana nation or whatever you guys call yourself Hoosier Nation. With that said my kids were phenomenal today, Indiana was really good I thought. We made shots early, they made shots. We made a bunch of them, we made 9 in the first half. We were hard to guard in the first half. Then they made a run, we couldn't guard them. In about the first 32 minutes they made a lot of shots. Their post-up game was terrific. We had no answer. We couldn't zone them, we couldn't man, and we couldn't do anything. Then in the second half we are normally a pretty good free throw shooting team. We missed a bunch of free throws. Eric missed a few layups. Missed some wide open threes and we were like are we going to get over the hump. Then in the last time out I was like "Guys we just gotta keep fighting". Darryl made the free throw and cut it to 4. Made a dumb foul and we didn't score and the guys just stayed resilient. We got three stops in a row in the end, we got the steal in the press. Wiggs (Aaron Wiggins) made an impossible shot. Got another stop and Anthony made a great play to Stixs got a layup. It's what you want in those situations. Then they missed a two footer. So in the end it was our day. Thought our defense was really good in those last 11 seconds too.
Q. Tell us about Jalen. What did you see at the end of the game?
Just taunting. I don't like it. It wasn't Jalen. If you know Jalen you know Jalen you watched him grow up. He's just a great kid that got caught up. He got caught up. He's 20 years old. He got caught up. He is playing his tail off. I mean he's just been phenomenal offensively, defensively, decision making. He just got caught up in it. This arena is just terrific and it kind of gets you fired up to play in it. I just think the guys were so happy how they handled such a tough environment. They just kept fighting up until the end.
Q. What was the difference at the end of the game and on the last play defensive, I guess it was Jalen playing?
The difference is they were shooting layups. I mean just wide opened layups. Whether it was offensive rebounds, deep post touches, throwing over the top, transitioning when defense wasn't good enough. They're really hard to guard, especially when they can throw it in and throw it out and they are making threes. They are almost impossible to guard. For a team that can't shoot, Archie does a great job at zone offense. I watched Northwestern try to zone them here and they got scored against the zone in the first half. I was desperate and I wanted to keep Stixs out of foul trouble and we went a little zone. But the difference in the end was time of score. There's a lot on these kids today. It was just time of score. We got a deflection and we hit the shot. Stixs blocked a couple shots on Trayce, I mean who knows. But he got a good look. I'm sitting there thinking they've made every shot. I'm like damn here we go again right? And it was our day.
Postgame Quotes
Jan. 26, 2020
Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, really tough loss. I mean, one of the tougher losses I think you could probably imagine a locker room setting having for our group. Give Maryland a lot of credit, making a ton of plays all game long, especially in the second half after they got down, continuing to fight and make plays, big shots. Whatever it may have been, they answered the bell when they needed to.
I think the last 3:32 of the game, the last media segment as we came out, that's when you've got to be really, really tough minded. That's when you've got to really execute. That's when you've got to know time and score. That's when your communication has got to be at its finest. Little things that on Thursday night kind of went well didn't go well for us in that last 3:32.
A lot of learning can go on in that. There's a lot of situations in that last 3:32 that obviously we could have been a lot better. When our offense plays the way it did tonight in the sharing of the ball, the ball movement, to score 76 points and have 22 assists and only 6 turnovers at home and lose, it's a little bit befuddling. But the way that they played in the first half and the way that they shot, to be able to make 6 of 9 or 9 of whatever there early, they really had us on our heels.
I thought in the second half we did a much better job of establishing offense, inside-out, and then defensively we were able to finally get some stops. We built an eight-point lead, and we had our chances. Tonight's one of those ones you're going to think back on, and obviously it's going to really, really sting.
We had an unbelievable environment again. Disappointed for our fans that we weren't able to win the game, but I give Maryland some credit. Anthony Cowan is a senior guard who can make a lot of plays. He was very difficult to cover. The way that they're playing five out, their frontcourt players shooting three-point shots, the way that they shoot three-point shots. Jalen Smith is the center, and he goes 4 for 6. Ricky Lindo comes out of there and goes 1 for 1, and Donte Scott goes one. So when you look at it, their frontcourt made half their threes at the center position, in the power forward position, six made threes.
Our inability to get to the line against Maryland is another thing that's really perplexing for our team. We're a good team around the basket. We find a way to get fouled quite a bit. We shot 10 free throws here. I think we shot 12 the first time we played them. Again, they went to the line a ton with their dribble drives and our just inability to guard the ball. So the free-throw line was a little disappointing not being able to get there more.
We did enough to win the game. We also did enough to lose it there at the end.
Q. The press obviously was kind of a big turning point, the turnover on the press. You had some press break issues against Nebraska too. What do you see particularly in that area, and where do you need to see improvement going forward?
ARCHIE MILLER: Just time and scoring intelligence situations. We didn't have a problem inbounding the ball here tonight. We had our press break basically set up for their diamond press, trapped the first pass, zone, rotate, and executed perfectly. The ball came in. Trap was there. We had our outlets and got it right to the middle of the floor.
That's a first year player in Jerome, who's never in that situation, where he's just got to be strong with the ball, either bring it across half-court and tuck it, or he's just got to chin the ball and be strong with it. You're in a minute-some situation there. I just talked to him a little bit about it.
It's one of those things as a player you've got to go through, but to be able to throw it ahead to your big guy down the floor, it's about time and scoring in that situation, and that's part of getting better and learning. Not that that one play was the name of the game. It obviously was a big play, but there are a lot of big plays.
We had two major breakdowns, three major breakdowns defensively guarding Cowan on a three-point shot when we already had a stop and a lead. I think Jalen Smith, you know, at the end of the game on his last ball screen, you're relying on communication all game long on ball screens, and on the last one, we're indecisive on what we're doing. He rolls through the basket uncontested. So that's on us.
If you ever want to know as a player why the coach is always screaming about talking and communicating and you've got to do that, it's because it really matters when it means the most. This one stings. The other one on the night felt great. The week is what it is. We're on to the next one.
This league is brutal, and you have to be able to find ways to keep getting better, which I think, if you watched our team this week, or if you've watched our team over the last few weeks, we continue to do a better job, and we're getting better.
I was disappointed defensively in this game although they are very, very difficult to cover with what they're doing offensively. But we were better in the second half. Their percentage in the second half is at 40 percent from the floor and 25 from three. We're good percentages defensively, but they made some real hustle plays. I thought Jalen Smith was obviously a huge difference in the game on the offensive glass, his ability to shoot threes. And Anthony Cowan was really, really good in the game as well, very difficult cover, as quick as they come.
By the mere fact they only had five turnovers on the road in front of that environment kind of shows you their offense was running good. Our offense was doing also a decent job. We had a lot of guys contributing a lot of different ways. We shot it well, took care of it pretty well. But it's a game of inches. It comes down to a couple plays. You've got to be a little lucky, and you've got to be smart. I think we were probably a little less on those two here in the last couple minutes, or at least the last two minutes of the game.
Q. The last play of the game, you had Trayce going to the basket. Is that what you wanted, and what did you get on that play?
ARCHIE MILLER: Last play in the game, we tried to get Trayce and Rob in a two-man game in the middle of the floor, set Rob up for a drive downhill, set Trayce up for maybe a quick lob, pick-and-roll. They denied Rob the ball back, which he didn't fight the now, and Trayce kept it right from the nail, free-throw line area, all the way into the basket.
I asked, just thinking back on it, did he get a good enough look? Was it a clean look? Would you even feel good if he got that shot again? I think everybody said he had a decent look at it. It was a pretty point blank good look. He stepped around on the shot fake, stepped through, and he got a clean two point plank.
So we got a shot. It didn't obviously go down, but that's the way it breaks.
Q. Kind of touch on it a couple different ways -- forgive asking in a loaded way -- did it feel like, yes, there were moments when you could have kind of -- really kind of landed one on them, maybe up seven, up eight down the stretch? What were they doing that was kind of keeping them in touch with the game?
ARCHIE MILLER: I would say there were probably three or four occasions when you made a big shot. I think Jerome may have made a big shot or maybe Devonte hit a big shot on the right wing that you go up six, seven, eight points. I thought that they kept coming back and either getting fouled to the foul line or timely shot. Cowan makes a three behind a handoff. Jalen Smith makes a three behind a handoff, getting to the line and keeping it there.
I thought one key possession, I think Al had a right wing shot, which would have blown the top off the arena, and it was a good look. He missed it, but they get an and one down on the other end, and it was another huge play. Our inability to be up about seven or eight, maybe he makes it or maybe he doesn't, but to get an and one to cut it from seven or eight to five or four, two-possession game, that was a big play going down to the other end.
There was a lot of big plays. I thought we made some. I thought they clearly made some really good ones. But I thought that Cowan and Smith were the difference probably in a lot of those situations. Their two guys really played well.
THE MODERATOR: Jerome kind of broke out with three-pointers. Just how big is that for you moving forward that he might be starting to get back his basketball instincts?
ARCHIE MILLER: He's starting to look the part. His legs look stronger. I think, if you just watch him right now, he has a much better bounce about him on the floor than he's had. It's taken him a while to get to this point, but like I said before, a guy takes a year off from injury, it's difficult, especially a true freshman that never played.
Now he's playing, and he's playing more and more, which is a big thing for our team. He's added value in a lot of ways. He's doing a better job defensively. He ends up getting double figures here tonight but made three big shots, but that's what he can do. He can add some offensive firepower.
He's got to take good ones and be smart, but you're looking -- there's no difference between him and Trayce. They've played the same amount of games in their career. They've played the same amount of minutes. So it's a young guy out there that's showing, I think, he's starting to get his basketball legs back, and he's starting to feel good again about playing the game.
Q. You just mentioned the defense getting a lot better in the second half. What did change basically, especially early in the first 14 minutes of the second half, when you guys were holding them to 15 or 16, whatever it was? What was better about the plan you guys had there?
ARCHIE MILLER: We moved, to start the second half, Joey off of Jalen and moved -- if I'm not mistaken, Joey off of Jalen Smith and then moved, I think, Trayce onto him. We wanted a more mobile guy in the ball screen to not get as stretched, maybe a better cover on the three line, because they weren't setting as many ball screens obviously with Scott, but they missed a couple. At some point you hope the water sort of gets a little bit level. I mean, they started the game basically making their first four. They may have made at least six out of their first eight three-pointers.
The good thing was in the first half our offense wasn't terrible, so we were still in a working margin. But they missed -- they didn't get as many clean ones off dribble drives. We tried to make them earn some more twos, and then we started to get some defensive rebounding, but our offense was good to start the second half. We scored pretty much -- man, zone didn't matter. We were able to score the ball.
Disappointed obviously. This will be one, give them credit for, but this is one you're going to wish you could have those last couple minutes back. But that's the way the game breaks, and that's life, so to speak, in this league.
As you head towards February, you've got to continue to stay focused, and you can't get too high and low. As good as it felt on Thursday, it probably feels this bad, but you probably could have felt this way on Thursday, and you probably could have felt this good on Sunday. That's what it is.
We're off to Penn State. They've had a week off. I think Ohio State will get a week off before we play them. So we'll probably -- maybe everybody gets a week off before we walk in the door. Maybe that's the scheduling philosophy.
Q. Coach, I apologize for the drastic shift here. I'm sure you've heard the news by now of Kobe's passing. If I could get your reaction. Obviously, a devastating day for basketball as a whole.
ARCHIE MILLER: I mean, I just heard 30 seconds before I walked in here, and I'll be honest with you, as sick as I am about the game, I have no idea who was on the helicopter with him, if it was family or whatnot, but I know Kobe Bryant. He was a year older than me in high school. He grew up in the state of Pennsylvania. He played for my dad in the McDonald's All-American game.
I mean, like that can't be real. That's the most sick, stunning thing that's happened. You're talking about generations of kids right now that in their generation, it would have been like Michael Jordan passing away at 40 years old. It makes no sense.
I guess, if there's a silver lining here, man, you look at your players, and you know it's not the end of the world, obviously, that we lost this game when you really think about what's really going on out there at times for other people, keep it in perspective a little bit. But that's just an unbelievable tragedy.
I don't know the details of anything or who was with him. It's just -- you know, I don't know how to really equate it to our youth. In my youth, it would have been Michael Jordan, and maybe in older generations, maybe some rock stars, but that's just a sick, sick feeling, sick sad feeling for a lot of people around the world really.
Indiana Players – Devonte Green, Rob Phinisee, Jerome Hunter
Q. For Devonte and Rob, just your thoughts on what happened there down the stretch. You guys had some turnovers and questionable shots. What do you think was the problem there?
ROB PHINISEE: I'd say lack of communication down the stretch. I know there was a couple of mishaps that happened with ball screen coverage where they got a couple of open rolls. Then obviously, like you said, we turned the ball over last minute, and then they got that easy bucket. Really just communication at the end of the game. Really we just have to settle down on defense and lock up.
Q. Obviously before that, what changed in the second half defensively for you guys? Especially early on you kept them from getting much of anything after they hit a bunch of threes in the first half. What were you trying to change and focus on at that point?
DEVONTE GREEN: They hit a lot of shots early, so we were trying to run them off the line. We were all on the same page on the ball screen. I think we did that better the second half.
Q. Jerome, I know it's not the kind of result where you want to talk about your own good things that happened today, but do you feel like you kind of put some things behind you and really took a step forward today?
JEROME HUNTER: Yeah, it's just a lot to learn being a freshman, just a lot to learn. Just one of them games, tough game.
Q. Devonte, you're a senior. You've been through a whole lot. Can you just, in your words after what you've been through, what was this loss like to lose it that way that late?
DEVONTE GREEN: A lesson, just like every other loss. We were down. We came back. We fought our way back, got the lead, and then lost it. It just goes to show that the game could turn at any point.
Q. I guess for any of you, you kept kind of pushing it to eight. They kept coming back. Was there ever a stretch where you felt you kind of had them close to put away for good? And what was it that kept getting them the answers, I guess?
ROB PHINISEE: Credit to them. I feel like they hit shots when they needed to. So it really, really starts on defense. I feel like, if you can get stops on defense, it translates to offense. I felt like we didn't get stops when we needed to down the stretch, and that's the result we got.
Q. Rob, you talked about lack of communication down the stretch. Is that your responsibility as a point guard to make sure everyone's lined up and where they need to be? Is that something you kind of take responsibility for?
ROB PHINISEE: Yeah, for sure. I mean, the point guard, you have to lead everybody by example. So really everybody needs to be on the same page and everybody has to talk. So we have to execute our game plan.
Q. For any of you guys, obviously Jalen Smith is a really good player, but 29 points is the difference in the game. What was difficult about that matchup, and how was he able to kind of have that kind of game against you guys?
ROB PHINISEE: Yeah, he's a really good player. He's not like a traditional big where he posts up most of the time. He had a lot of pick and pop threes. I don't know how many threes he hit, but he hit a lot. We had to switch up coverages on him and just have different guys guard him because he's such a good player. Credit to him, he made big shots when he did it.
Q. Talking about Jalen Smith, obviously emotions running high at the end of the game, but the reaction to him and your fans?
THE MODERATOR: They never saw it. They were off the floor. They never saw what happened.
Q. The next one then. I'm sure you guys saw other things when you got into the locker room, the reports of Kobe Bryant.
THE MODERATOR: They don't know. We haven't told them yet. Seriously.
Q. Can I get their reaction to it?
THE MODERATOR: Yeah. Kobe Bryant was killed today in a helicopter crash, so yeah.
Q. Huge news for the basketball world. Obviously, you guys had no idea. Your immediate reaction to this? As everyone found out while you guys were on the floor.
ROB PHINISEE: Obviously heartbreaking. He's arguably the best player ever to play. I was a fan growing up. My heart goes out to his family really.
DEVONTE GREEN: Sad.
Q. Rob, you guys go 1-1 in two home games against ranked teams. Do you look at it as pretty much success? Do you look at it as opportunity slipped away to get another one? How do you view this week?
ROB PHINISEE: Move on to the next game. Just focus on the next game when we play Penn State. We can't get too happy after winning, and we can't get too down on ourselves after a loss. We have to move forward and get back after it in practice tomorrow.
Q. For any of you guys, 22 assists today, the ball movement is getting at kind of that optimal level that you'd like to see it at. How do you build off of that, I guess, kind of going forward?
DEVONTE GREEN: I think our ball movement has been better every game. I think we get better at it every single game, and I think we'll just continue to build on it.
Maryland Head Coach Mark Turgeon
Opening Statement…
Before I get started about the game, I want to apologize at Jalen acted after the game. It's very uncharacteristic of Jalen, if you know him he's a great kid. It's one of the best fan bases in the country. Jalen feels terrible about it, I feel terrible about it. I tried to stop it when I saw it but it's not who he is and I want to apologize to Archie, the team, Indiana nation or whatever you guys call yourself Hoosier Nation. With that said my kids were phenomenal today, Indiana was really good I thought. We made shots early, they made shots. We made a bunch of them, we made 9 in the first half. We were hard to guard in the first half. Then they made a run, we couldn't guard them. In about the first 32 minutes they made a lot of shots. Their post-up game was terrific. We had no answer. We couldn't zone them, we couldn't man, and we couldn't do anything. Then in the second half we are normally a pretty good free throw shooting team. We missed a bunch of free throws. Eric missed a few layups. Missed some wide open threes and we were like are we going to get over the hump. Then in the last time out I was like "Guys we just gotta keep fighting". Darryl made the free throw and cut it to 4. Made a dumb foul and we didn't score and the guys just stayed resilient. We got three stops in a row in the end, we got the steal in the press. Wiggs (Aaron Wiggins) made an impossible shot. Got another stop and Anthony made a great play to Stixs got a layup. It's what you want in those situations. Then they missed a two footer. So in the end it was our day. Thought our defense was really good in those last 11 seconds too.
Q. Tell us about Jalen. What did you see at the end of the game?
Just taunting. I don't like it. It wasn't Jalen. If you know Jalen you know Jalen you watched him grow up. He's just a great kid that got caught up. He got caught up. He's 20 years old. He got caught up. He is playing his tail off. I mean he's just been phenomenal offensively, defensively, decision making. He just got caught up in it. This arena is just terrific and it kind of gets you fired up to play in it. I just think the guys were so happy how they handled such a tough environment. They just kept fighting up until the end.
Q. What was the difference at the end of the game and on the last play defensive, I guess it was Jalen playing?
The difference is they were shooting layups. I mean just wide opened layups. Whether it was offensive rebounds, deep post touches, throwing over the top, transitioning when defense wasn't good enough. They're really hard to guard, especially when they can throw it in and throw it out and they are making threes. They are almost impossible to guard. For a team that can't shoot, Archie does a great job at zone offense. I watched Northwestern try to zone them here and they got scored against the zone in the first half. I was desperate and I wanted to keep Stixs out of foul trouble and we went a little zone. But the difference in the end was time of score. There's a lot on these kids today. It was just time of score. We got a deflection and we hit the shot. Stixs blocked a couple shots on Trayce, I mean who knows. But he got a good look. I'm sitting there thinking they've made every shot. I'm like damn here we go again right? And it was our day.
Players Mentioned
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Forward
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/ Men's BasketballFB: Under the Hood with Indiana Football - Week 4 (Illinois)
Wednesday, September 17
FB: Kellan Wyatt Media Availability (9/16/25)
Tuesday, September 16
FB: Mikail Kamara Media Availability (9/16/25)
Tuesday, September 16
FB: Curt Cignetti Media Availability (9/15/25)
Monday, September 15