Indiana University Athletics
Previewing Wednesday's ACC/Big Ten Challenge at Florida State
12/8/2020 3:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana men's basketball head coach Archie Miller as well as junior Rob Phinisee and freshman Trey Galloway met with the media to discuss Wednesday's game at No. 20/21 Florida State. Below are videos and a transcript from the availability.
Opening Statement
"ACC/Big Ten Challenge is here. It is one of the premiere events in college basketball. Every year it gets the season kicked off. Obviously, this year is a little different. The fact that the two conferences are able to pull it off gives us another opportunity to play a marquee non-conference game. Florida State coming off an ACC championship a year ago. We had them at our place last year. We have the outmost respect for what they are doing there with their program. They are very similar to what they were a year ago. In talking to a lot of people, feel like Florida State feels like, not speaking for them, but Florida State has a chance to contend for another ACC championship. Playing against a great opponent on the road. For our guys it is going to be a good test. We have to deal with a lot of pressure, that is what this game comes down to. Having some real feedback coming out of Asheville, a week ago and seeing the different styles we played there, hopefully our guys are a little more mature and experienced in game situations. This one is going to present a lot of challenges. Going down there and playing them at their place where they have had tremendous success recently and they have a great culture of winning right now. Florida State is a great team and to be able to go down there and play and get another game in hopefully. You watch college basketball right now, there is no guarantee you are going to be able to pull games off. Hopefully we get down there and things go well and we get to the jump. Very few teams in the country will have played the schedule that we have played to start.
Q. On the health on Aljami Durham and Joey Brunk and the play of Rob Phinisee…
"First of all, on our health going into today we have to be smart with practice. We have been limited with our bodies coming out of Asheville. Joey hasn't participated in anything. I doubt he will be available in the near future just because we are trying to figure out what the best plan of action is for him. We are not planning on having Joey right now or in the immediate future unless something changes. Al has been very slow on his recovery. Realistically he had a tough ankle sprain. It has been about a week. He has started to increase his activity. He did a little more yesterday in practice, which was a live practice. His live action wasn't very much. We will see how he feel today and then we don't play until tomorrow night. I assume he will continue to do his treatment and get better. It will be more of a game time decision to see how he feels.
I think Rob is one of our most consistent shooters on a daily basis right now. He has worked very hard in the offseason. He has a lot of games under his belt and I think he has shown at times in his career he has made big shots. The thing with Rob is to be confident and be more of a catch ready guy, not when he has to take it. When he is open we feel like he is a guy who has to deliver for us from three. He made two big shots against Stanford. Really big shots. It wasn't his best game down there. It was probably the worst game he played during the course of the thing. For him to step up and bang two really big shots they went under a ball screen he hit one at the top and one in the right corner, I'm not sure who kicked it to him, maybe Armaan. Definitely Rob has confidence in his shot. He shoots it every day in practice like he does in the game. Rob takes good shots and I think when he takes good shots he has a chance to be one of our most consistent guys. As the season continues to unfold, we are going to need more consistency from behind the line, especially for guys like him. The more consistent he is, the more difficult we become."
Q: On how to deal with Florida States size and length…
"I think Coach Hamilton and his staff do a phenomenal job recruiting to their style and to their system. It is built realistically to withstand major departures. They have had a lot of guys go to the NBA in the last five years. They lost two first-round lottery picks off last year's team in (Devin) Vassell and Pat Williams, and Williams didn't even start. They are stunning. I think they stun you when you look from top to bottom. It has got to be one of the biggest teams in college basketball year in and year out. Not just inside, but the perimeter guys are all very, very physically gifted, long and athletic. That is what they do with their system. They bring 10-12 players a game. They are able to use their depth and their physicality over the course of the game to pressure you and wear you down. Clearly, that is what they are built to do. You don't see very many teams like it. I think Texas was very, very athletic and physically strong inside. I don't know if Texas' guards are as big as Florida State's over the course of the depth. I think Texas gave us a real hard time in and around the basket and a real hard time making things easy on us with their athleticism, their length and their talent. We had to learn a hard lesson that day about being good at what we're doing. Be stronger with the ball and our execution. This game is even a little bit different than that one because it is underneath out of bounds defensive. It is full-court pressure on makes and misses. It is side out abounds pressure, when you cross half-court there is pressure, it is constantly on top of you in terms of not allowing you to do what you want to do. Most coaches that you will talk to you can pretty much scrap 95 percent of what you do on a daily basis because it doesn't work against them. So, you have to go in there with a different mindset and a different game plan. Playing them a year ago, I think it gives the returners an indication on how good they are, but last year's game, if you remember, was an incredible environment in Assembly Hall. There was a lot of juice in the building, a lot of adrenaline that night. That won't be the case as we go down there. We won't have the type of advantage that we had last year in our home building. We will have to go down to a place where they are very successful. I know they will be ready. They haven't played a lot of games, maybe just one game, so to me, they have to be chomping at the bit to play against a team like ourselves coming in the door."
Q: On FSU's point guard, Scottie Barnes, and what that means for IU's defense…
"Scottie Barnes is a really highly decorated player coming out the door. He was one of the best players to come out of high school last year. Tremendous size, he has to be six foot nine plus, but he has great ball skills. He is a guy who can really handle the ball. He has great length and makes good decisions. But when you are playing him at the point, that is a different match-up. I think that we played Stanford the other day, and they had Ziaire (Williams) who was similar in size, but not the same guy in terms of with the ball. Scottie does a lot more facilitating for them. He is much more of a hard driver. He is clearly a great around the basket. He is a point guard that is going to hit you off the offensive glass at six foot nine. It does, it creates a number of match-up problems in terms of being able to scout and whatever you are going to do against them. His size and playing over the top of you is definitely a unique thing for them. He does a really good job. Even early in the season, watching them play their first game he runs their team. But as the season continues to evolve, he is going to continue to grow up. He creates a lot of problems defensively. He is six foot nine on the perimeter, and they are doing a lot of switching and a lot of denying. In transition he is really good and into half court. He seems to run their team the way they want him to run the team, and he doesn't have a problem doing that. Once he is in and around twelve feet that's where it gets unique. Whether it is post ups, drives, offensive rebounding, he is a unique match-up for any guard."
Q: On the value of breathing room between games this season…
"I guess that is probably a good way of looking at it on a normal setting is that you can use the space in between games to continue to improve and to get better. You have more time to work. But I think with what we have done in terms of down time in the off-season, pauses and down time in the pre-season, we have been chomping at the bit to get to the games. Once you get a taste of playing the games, you want to play more games. You only are going to get better, especially the young guys, when they get in the heat of the battle. I thought being able to play a game before we went to Maui was really important. The Maui event playing three games in three days is a difficult challenge, but you are playing the game. You are learning on the run and trying to improve. There is not a lot of practice time. For us coming out of Maui, it would have been nice to have another game, but looking at what we had to endure down there and with our health status, it was probably good that we had a few days in between. I think right now we're ready to play the games. I think every team in college basketball right now is almost in slow motion and you want to keep it going. You want to keep your momentum going. You want to play. For us, I think in a normal setting, you are looking for home games in the month of December, and that's not the case this year. It is one of those things where we are going to spend the entire month before we get to conference play, playing good teams on the road. It is a unique year in that, but I think in general people want to get to the games right now. They are almost anxious and nervous to play them. You want to play them, and coaches need the games to help their players rather than practicing another four or five times."
Q: On the play of Armaan Franklin…
"I think one of the things is that Armaan got a lot of credit playing really good defense against Stanford. He was matched up against a really high regarded guy, and he did a good job. But Armaan has played very good defense for our team from the very first game to the Providence game and the Texas game. Armaan has become very quietly, as I said the other day, dependable. When the coaching staff doesn't worry about him and you are not concerned about him on the floor, that is when you sort of arrive as a guy in college that you can play the right way on defense as a team defender and you are giving great effort. At the end of the day you are playing rock solid, and you are starting to become accountable to your teammates and dependable. I think that is what Armaan has become. A year ago, at this time, he wasn't as big or strong, and he didn't have the experience. He although was playing some minutes earlier in the season, but he didn't mix it up as much. He didn't rebound the ball enough at the guard spot. He got blown by a lot to be quite honest with you, which a lot of young guys do earlier in their career. A year later in just watching him become stronger being a guy I watch in practice every day doing the same thing and coming into the games, bringing what he did a year ago with great IQ, great team awareness, and a great understanding of concepts and now being bigger, stronger, and more physical has given him a chance to be better on one-on-one situations. After Maui, the thing I was most impressed with Armaan in that tournament was his eighteen defensive rebounds for us at the guard spot. For averaging six defensive rebounds at the guard spot is a heck of a number for a guy like him. Last year at this time, we were begging him to mix it up. Get loose balls and a couple of rebounds for us at the guard spot. That's what we are going to need him to do. This year's team, I think the biggest efficiency is rebounding overall as a team. For him to be able to play the third guard and play with another couple guys out there depending on the position, for him to be able to rebound the ball the way he is doing it is a big help for our team. It is a big advantage. The thing I am most proud of for Armaan is that he is has the same attitude every day. He understands what needs to be done. He doesn't question anything. In terms of playing against Providence and Stanford or Texas and going into Florida State, we have a trust with Armaan in terms of how to play and what needs to be done. We done question in terms of his effort level. His ability level has gotten better because he has gotten older and stronger. For our team in general to have a guy that has emerged from that side of the ball is big. I think Rob does a pretty good job for us as well, but to have another guy that our coaching staff really trusts, knows scouting, and pays attention, to me is big. That is part of the evolution of a player. His opportunity this year, he is taking full advantage of it. He is growing his role. He is one of the bright spots this year that he is a much-improved player."
Opening Statement
"ACC/Big Ten Challenge is here. It is one of the premiere events in college basketball. Every year it gets the season kicked off. Obviously, this year is a little different. The fact that the two conferences are able to pull it off gives us another opportunity to play a marquee non-conference game. Florida State coming off an ACC championship a year ago. We had them at our place last year. We have the outmost respect for what they are doing there with their program. They are very similar to what they were a year ago. In talking to a lot of people, feel like Florida State feels like, not speaking for them, but Florida State has a chance to contend for another ACC championship. Playing against a great opponent on the road. For our guys it is going to be a good test. We have to deal with a lot of pressure, that is what this game comes down to. Having some real feedback coming out of Asheville, a week ago and seeing the different styles we played there, hopefully our guys are a little more mature and experienced in game situations. This one is going to present a lot of challenges. Going down there and playing them at their place where they have had tremendous success recently and they have a great culture of winning right now. Florida State is a great team and to be able to go down there and play and get another game in hopefully. You watch college basketball right now, there is no guarantee you are going to be able to pull games off. Hopefully we get down there and things go well and we get to the jump. Very few teams in the country will have played the schedule that we have played to start.
Q. On the health on Aljami Durham and Joey Brunk and the play of Rob Phinisee…
"First of all, on our health going into today we have to be smart with practice. We have been limited with our bodies coming out of Asheville. Joey hasn't participated in anything. I doubt he will be available in the near future just because we are trying to figure out what the best plan of action is for him. We are not planning on having Joey right now or in the immediate future unless something changes. Al has been very slow on his recovery. Realistically he had a tough ankle sprain. It has been about a week. He has started to increase his activity. He did a little more yesterday in practice, which was a live practice. His live action wasn't very much. We will see how he feel today and then we don't play until tomorrow night. I assume he will continue to do his treatment and get better. It will be more of a game time decision to see how he feels.
I think Rob is one of our most consistent shooters on a daily basis right now. He has worked very hard in the offseason. He has a lot of games under his belt and I think he has shown at times in his career he has made big shots. The thing with Rob is to be confident and be more of a catch ready guy, not when he has to take it. When he is open we feel like he is a guy who has to deliver for us from three. He made two big shots against Stanford. Really big shots. It wasn't his best game down there. It was probably the worst game he played during the course of the thing. For him to step up and bang two really big shots they went under a ball screen he hit one at the top and one in the right corner, I'm not sure who kicked it to him, maybe Armaan. Definitely Rob has confidence in his shot. He shoots it every day in practice like he does in the game. Rob takes good shots and I think when he takes good shots he has a chance to be one of our most consistent guys. As the season continues to unfold, we are going to need more consistency from behind the line, especially for guys like him. The more consistent he is, the more difficult we become."
Q: On how to deal with Florida States size and length…
"I think Coach Hamilton and his staff do a phenomenal job recruiting to their style and to their system. It is built realistically to withstand major departures. They have had a lot of guys go to the NBA in the last five years. They lost two first-round lottery picks off last year's team in (Devin) Vassell and Pat Williams, and Williams didn't even start. They are stunning. I think they stun you when you look from top to bottom. It has got to be one of the biggest teams in college basketball year in and year out. Not just inside, but the perimeter guys are all very, very physically gifted, long and athletic. That is what they do with their system. They bring 10-12 players a game. They are able to use their depth and their physicality over the course of the game to pressure you and wear you down. Clearly, that is what they are built to do. You don't see very many teams like it. I think Texas was very, very athletic and physically strong inside. I don't know if Texas' guards are as big as Florida State's over the course of the depth. I think Texas gave us a real hard time in and around the basket and a real hard time making things easy on us with their athleticism, their length and their talent. We had to learn a hard lesson that day about being good at what we're doing. Be stronger with the ball and our execution. This game is even a little bit different than that one because it is underneath out of bounds defensive. It is full-court pressure on makes and misses. It is side out abounds pressure, when you cross half-court there is pressure, it is constantly on top of you in terms of not allowing you to do what you want to do. Most coaches that you will talk to you can pretty much scrap 95 percent of what you do on a daily basis because it doesn't work against them. So, you have to go in there with a different mindset and a different game plan. Playing them a year ago, I think it gives the returners an indication on how good they are, but last year's game, if you remember, was an incredible environment in Assembly Hall. There was a lot of juice in the building, a lot of adrenaline that night. That won't be the case as we go down there. We won't have the type of advantage that we had last year in our home building. We will have to go down to a place where they are very successful. I know they will be ready. They haven't played a lot of games, maybe just one game, so to me, they have to be chomping at the bit to play against a team like ourselves coming in the door."
Q: On FSU's point guard, Scottie Barnes, and what that means for IU's defense…
"Scottie Barnes is a really highly decorated player coming out the door. He was one of the best players to come out of high school last year. Tremendous size, he has to be six foot nine plus, but he has great ball skills. He is a guy who can really handle the ball. He has great length and makes good decisions. But when you are playing him at the point, that is a different match-up. I think that we played Stanford the other day, and they had Ziaire (Williams) who was similar in size, but not the same guy in terms of with the ball. Scottie does a lot more facilitating for them. He is much more of a hard driver. He is clearly a great around the basket. He is a point guard that is going to hit you off the offensive glass at six foot nine. It does, it creates a number of match-up problems in terms of being able to scout and whatever you are going to do against them. His size and playing over the top of you is definitely a unique thing for them. He does a really good job. Even early in the season, watching them play their first game he runs their team. But as the season continues to evolve, he is going to continue to grow up. He creates a lot of problems defensively. He is six foot nine on the perimeter, and they are doing a lot of switching and a lot of denying. In transition he is really good and into half court. He seems to run their team the way they want him to run the team, and he doesn't have a problem doing that. Once he is in and around twelve feet that's where it gets unique. Whether it is post ups, drives, offensive rebounding, he is a unique match-up for any guard."
Q: On the value of breathing room between games this season…
"I guess that is probably a good way of looking at it on a normal setting is that you can use the space in between games to continue to improve and to get better. You have more time to work. But I think with what we have done in terms of down time in the off-season, pauses and down time in the pre-season, we have been chomping at the bit to get to the games. Once you get a taste of playing the games, you want to play more games. You only are going to get better, especially the young guys, when they get in the heat of the battle. I thought being able to play a game before we went to Maui was really important. The Maui event playing three games in three days is a difficult challenge, but you are playing the game. You are learning on the run and trying to improve. There is not a lot of practice time. For us coming out of Maui, it would have been nice to have another game, but looking at what we had to endure down there and with our health status, it was probably good that we had a few days in between. I think right now we're ready to play the games. I think every team in college basketball right now is almost in slow motion and you want to keep it going. You want to keep your momentum going. You want to play. For us, I think in a normal setting, you are looking for home games in the month of December, and that's not the case this year. It is one of those things where we are going to spend the entire month before we get to conference play, playing good teams on the road. It is a unique year in that, but I think in general people want to get to the games right now. They are almost anxious and nervous to play them. You want to play them, and coaches need the games to help their players rather than practicing another four or five times."
Q: On the play of Armaan Franklin…
"I think one of the things is that Armaan got a lot of credit playing really good defense against Stanford. He was matched up against a really high regarded guy, and he did a good job. But Armaan has played very good defense for our team from the very first game to the Providence game and the Texas game. Armaan has become very quietly, as I said the other day, dependable. When the coaching staff doesn't worry about him and you are not concerned about him on the floor, that is when you sort of arrive as a guy in college that you can play the right way on defense as a team defender and you are giving great effort. At the end of the day you are playing rock solid, and you are starting to become accountable to your teammates and dependable. I think that is what Armaan has become. A year ago, at this time, he wasn't as big or strong, and he didn't have the experience. He although was playing some minutes earlier in the season, but he didn't mix it up as much. He didn't rebound the ball enough at the guard spot. He got blown by a lot to be quite honest with you, which a lot of young guys do earlier in their career. A year later in just watching him become stronger being a guy I watch in practice every day doing the same thing and coming into the games, bringing what he did a year ago with great IQ, great team awareness, and a great understanding of concepts and now being bigger, stronger, and more physical has given him a chance to be better on one-on-one situations. After Maui, the thing I was most impressed with Armaan in that tournament was his eighteen defensive rebounds for us at the guard spot. For averaging six defensive rebounds at the guard spot is a heck of a number for a guy like him. Last year at this time, we were begging him to mix it up. Get loose balls and a couple of rebounds for us at the guard spot. That's what we are going to need him to do. This year's team, I think the biggest efficiency is rebounding overall as a team. For him to be able to play the third guard and play with another couple guys out there depending on the position, for him to be able to rebound the ball the way he is doing it is a big help for our team. It is a big advantage. The thing I am most proud of for Armaan is that he is has the same attitude every day. He understands what needs to be done. He doesn't question anything. In terms of playing against Providence and Stanford or Texas and going into Florida State, we have a trust with Armaan in terms of how to play and what needs to be done. We done question in terms of his effort level. His ability level has gotten better because he has gotten older and stronger. For our team in general to have a guy that has emerged from that side of the ball is big. I think Rob does a pretty good job for us as well, but to have another guy that our coaching staff really trusts, knows scouting, and pays attention, to me is big. That is part of the evolution of a player. His opportunity this year, he is taking full advantage of it. He is growing his role. He is one of the bright spots this year that he is a much-improved player."
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