Postgame Quotes: Indiana vs. Iowa
2/7/2021 3:31:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Indiana vs. Iowa
Postgame Quotes
Feb. 7, 2021
Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller
Opening Statement
MILLER: The game can really take its toll on you but I give our guys credit. Like I told them, preparing after the Rutgers game and going into Illinois, they had attention to detail and I think our guys are playing together and we are getting better. After a hard-fought game, the other night to be able to get back up, play another good team like Iowa, and to be able to find a way to win hopefully give us some confidence that we need. Total team effort and that is not really coach speak. There was not one guy that checked in to that game today and did not do something to help us at some point in the game. I think that is a testament to their work ethic. Our staff has done a really good job of just keep plugging away and getting guys better. We have a number of guys right now that are really helping and contributing. We could not withstand some of the numbers we had for portions of this game earlier in the season. If our guards did not play perfect games, we would not have had the opportunity to be in the game but today I thought that Anthony Leal, Trey Galloway, and Jordan Geronimo did a really good job for us. They changed the game and they have done that a number of times. In both games against Iowa our bench has done a great job.
Q. Talk about Armaan Franklin's mental toughness to stick with it and make the final basket…
MILLER: We were able to get Armaan there, the clock was winding down, and we wanted him to make the last shot. We were going to get a high court ball screen so we could get a switch late clock because he is our best physical guy that can get to the basket and draw a foul. That is what he did against Illinois. This one he did a great job though. He did not force it and I thought he took a nice pull up jumper. That is part of Armaan's game, he is very good at it and when the ball left his hands it looked good. Thankful it went in because overtime would have been a little bit too much for us. Thankful to be able to get the stop. Being able to get the stop before that shot was just as important. I am not worried about Armaan's confidence because he is one of those people we need to play well. Today was not his best day but stayed ready, had some good plays, had some good rebounds, had assists, and made a big shot at the end of the game to win the game.
Q. On Rob Phinisee making a big shot late and what that says about Armaan and Rob...
MILLER: Rob's was also a big one. Armaan finished the game off but Rob's was a huge shot too. We were in a little trouble there, he rose up and hit a big three for us off the bounce. He stuck with it, did not have his best outing, did not have his best week but I thought he had a good finish to the game. Just in general, for us able to absorb them not playing well and win the game is a huge step for us. That has not always been the case where we are able to absorb some guys playing a lot of minutes and not playing well and not paying our bench but at the end of the day we have improved in that regard.
Q. Building on the depth of the bench…
MILLER: I like where our team in terms of work ethic. It is like I told our guys the other day, we prepare hard to have great days in practice because we know that our team can continue to get better. Sometimes it is difficult in February where a team has had ups and downs to come with a great attitude, work every day and prepare. We have not had that problem. Our guys have competed in practice and the guys are trying really hard. We are trying our best to make some individual guys more confident and over time I think we have gotten to the point here in February where we are very confident in playing anybody. Today was a good day and our four freshmen played double figure minutes and all four played an important role in the win. As we continue to grow this is a month where players can really emerge. This is a month where the games mean the most and to able to start the back half of a 20-game league schedule with a win is important. I think as we go in to the coming weeks, we are feeling good coming out of this one. What I feel best about is how hard we have been preparing and we are going to have stay with, keep grinding. It is a game of inches and in this league, it really counts a lot.
Q. On the growth of the freshmen…
MILLER: All young guys, you see them go through the worst of times when it is their basketball careers. Usually every single freshman that comes to an Indiana is going to be a very highly regarded player that has had a lot go right for them. The first time they step on campus, it is the first time in their young adult lives things get really hard. I think watching these four guys go through their ups and downs, watching them have some success, watching them really struggle. If you look at Khristian Lander right now, he is saving us in a couple of games, especially tonight he made some plays for us. A month ago, he was really struggling. To his credit, as a young person, to be able to come to practice every day, to be able to lift weights extra, to be able to get in the gym extra with the coaches, to care that much about staying with it. You see those rewards that you want to have happen for them so much. Jordan Geronimo, very similar story. Right now, he looks like a totally different guy for us than four weeks ago. To watch those guys come in, get hit around, get knocked down. It's not easy. Sometimes guys pick up and leave. Sometimes they don't get back up. These four guys have hung with it good and they have made us better. Not to say the other guys on the team aren't working the same way, but in particular if you are talking about the freshmen, you see them at the worst, at the youngest part of their adult lives. When they are able to see some good out of the work that they have put in that is really rewarding.
Q. On the play of Race Thompson…
MILLER: Race does his job. He does what you ask him to do. He is where is he supposed to be, when he is supposed to be there. He is in the right spots. He takes coaching. I think as the season has evolved he has become a much more confident low post scorer. Sometimes he is getting the match up in the game that is favorable for him in his physicality. I think the thing that he is doing a great job of right now is, he is moving the ball and making other guys better in our offense. He is offensive rebounding. He is playing a guys front court player as much as he needs to. He does everything for us. The fact that he is playing well right now, to me gives us great confidence he has turned into a real leader. Of any player I've been around, I'm not sure I've been around a guy that has evolved more from the first day he got on campus to today. Not even as a player, as a person. He has really grown up, matured, has turned into a leader. He does it all for us and he doesn't say anything about it. He will come to practice tomorrow and he will be ready to go. He is if not the most improved player in our league this year, he is right there. He is one of the few guys.
Q. On the play of Aljami Durham, Rob Phinisee and Armaan Franklin late in the game…
MILLER: I think that in the course of the game you could tell that Armaan clearly, Rob clearly didn't have a rhythm. I thought Al played well. He had some good looks that didn't go down. He played hard offensively and I thought Al did a good job for us of being able to withstand it a little bit, especially defensively. Khristian and Galloway and Leal, they have all contributed. They gave us opportunities. When we got into that last eight, seven, six minutes, you start to go with your gut in terms of what are going to need stops. We are going to need the ability to see if we can't get some stops and let's no let the game break away giving them some easy ones. I thought more than anything we continued to buckle down and Rob, Armaan, you trust those guys defensively. I think that sort of helped us get to the finish line with some defensive stops to transition opportunities, made a couple of hustle plays. Rob's shot biggest one of the game. Armaan's shot obviously ended it, but I think Rob's shot may have been bigger. Also Trayce. Trayce wasn't having a great day at the line, but he banged two big free-throws for us there late as well. We made some winning plays, which is great to see because at the end of the day Tuesday night it was the opposite, we didn't make enough winning plays."
Q. On Trayce Jackson-Davis…
MILLER: He has had to take a large load. When you remove Joey Brunk from our team we become a lot thinner and his legs become a lot heavier because of the minutes he has to play. As you get into February and the games really matter, he is not fresh. He has had to take the load every night. This is a tough week, going against Garza, going against Kofi in there. I thought he responded well tonight when we really needed him. He wasn't good early. I don't think he is getting off to good starts. I think he finishes games really well for us. He rebounded tonight. He has nine defensive rebounds tonight which was great for us. He was able to go up and get some balls with two hands that we haven't been able to get here recently. He is a first team All-Conference player, an All-American. If you look at his usage, his percentages, what we have asked him to do and what he has been able to put up in the best league in the country it speaks to the accolades. I will say this, I think he has another gear in him. I think he has another bounce in him coming. I think his best ball is ahead as the season continues to keep going. I think he can actually play better. As crazy as it sounds. Every game that we play and watch on film we look at the stat sheet and he gets 17 and 12, you look at the film and say man, he could have had 30, he could have had 25. We are always in that mode of wanting him to do more. We'll keep pushing him. He keeps working. He keeps learning. He knows what we are up against every night in and night out, that he is the focal point of what every team is brining against him every game. He is doing a good job of handling it. Trayce's best attribute is every single day he is the same. Whether we win or lose, whether he plays good or bad at the end of the day you know what you are getting with Trayce, which is his best attribute. He is going to come to work and he wants to do what you are going to ask him to do and he is a great teammate.
Indiana Players Armaan Franklin and Race Thompson
Q. On the final play of the game…
FRANKLIN: There was like 15 seconds left. I saw Rob with the ball and then Coach called for me to go get it. He called a play for me to basically, it is like an 'iso'. Race faked the screen, created kind of a diversion, Luka stepped out a little bit. I got going downhill, saw him leaning and stepped back and just let it go. I knew my teammates had ultimate confidence in me. Coaches had confidence in me to get the ball in that moment and it just paid off.
Q. On what was going through his head after he hit the shot and who he pointed to…
FRANKLIN: My mom, my brothers, my niece and a couple family friends. They have not all been at a game together in a long time, so it was good for this one to go. Then after I hit the shot my teammates just came up to me, but I knew we had to get one more stop to win the game.
Q. On his confidence level when shots were not falling…
FRANKLIN: Our teammates do not let us get our confidence down. They constantly talk to us on the bench when we are coming out you know, next spot, next play. They believe in us you know; we are going to hit the big shot. So, it was not really a confidence thing. You have got to go out there and keep shooting because everybody has confidence in you and they are going to get you the ball in those moments.
Q. On Race Thompson's defense in the game…
FRANKLIN: Race is incredible. Every time, both times we played them he has done a solid job on him. I know it is a tough cover to handle by his self, but you know he stepped up to the challenge every game and just battled his heart out, left it all on the floor. Good job Race.
THOMPSON: Appreciate it.
Q. On covering Luka Garza…
THOMPSON: Guarding Garza is a challenge. You really just have got to give him different looks. He is a great player so I mean you really have just got to focus on giving him different looks and not really letting him feel you, and really focusing on trying not to let him get the ball in the first place. So, if you can let him not get the ball then there is no offense for him. So, that was really what I was focusing on. Just different looks and trying not to let him catch it.
Q. On the lift that the freshmen provide him on the floor…
THOMPSON: Definitely, I mean props to the young guys. They bring it to practice every single day. Even when they were not getting the minutes they wanted to, they brought it every single day, and that is just showing the work they have put in day in, day out. You see them in the gym, Anthony Leal, Trey, Khristian, Jordan, they come to the gym nonstop. Off days, late nights, stay in the gym working, working and working. So I mean, I am just so happy for them seeing the work pay off.
Postgame Quotes
Feb. 7, 2021
Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller
Opening Statement
MILLER: The game can really take its toll on you but I give our guys credit. Like I told them, preparing after the Rutgers game and going into Illinois, they had attention to detail and I think our guys are playing together and we are getting better. After a hard-fought game, the other night to be able to get back up, play another good team like Iowa, and to be able to find a way to win hopefully give us some confidence that we need. Total team effort and that is not really coach speak. There was not one guy that checked in to that game today and did not do something to help us at some point in the game. I think that is a testament to their work ethic. Our staff has done a really good job of just keep plugging away and getting guys better. We have a number of guys right now that are really helping and contributing. We could not withstand some of the numbers we had for portions of this game earlier in the season. If our guards did not play perfect games, we would not have had the opportunity to be in the game but today I thought that Anthony Leal, Trey Galloway, and Jordan Geronimo did a really good job for us. They changed the game and they have done that a number of times. In both games against Iowa our bench has done a great job.
Q. Talk about Armaan Franklin's mental toughness to stick with it and make the final basket…
MILLER: We were able to get Armaan there, the clock was winding down, and we wanted him to make the last shot. We were going to get a high court ball screen so we could get a switch late clock because he is our best physical guy that can get to the basket and draw a foul. That is what he did against Illinois. This one he did a great job though. He did not force it and I thought he took a nice pull up jumper. That is part of Armaan's game, he is very good at it and when the ball left his hands it looked good. Thankful it went in because overtime would have been a little bit too much for us. Thankful to be able to get the stop. Being able to get the stop before that shot was just as important. I am not worried about Armaan's confidence because he is one of those people we need to play well. Today was not his best day but stayed ready, had some good plays, had some good rebounds, had assists, and made a big shot at the end of the game to win the game.
Q. On Rob Phinisee making a big shot late and what that says about Armaan and Rob...
MILLER: Rob's was also a big one. Armaan finished the game off but Rob's was a huge shot too. We were in a little trouble there, he rose up and hit a big three for us off the bounce. He stuck with it, did not have his best outing, did not have his best week but I thought he had a good finish to the game. Just in general, for us able to absorb them not playing well and win the game is a huge step for us. That has not always been the case where we are able to absorb some guys playing a lot of minutes and not playing well and not paying our bench but at the end of the day we have improved in that regard.
Q. Building on the depth of the bench…
MILLER: I like where our team in terms of work ethic. It is like I told our guys the other day, we prepare hard to have great days in practice because we know that our team can continue to get better. Sometimes it is difficult in February where a team has had ups and downs to come with a great attitude, work every day and prepare. We have not had that problem. Our guys have competed in practice and the guys are trying really hard. We are trying our best to make some individual guys more confident and over time I think we have gotten to the point here in February where we are very confident in playing anybody. Today was a good day and our four freshmen played double figure minutes and all four played an important role in the win. As we continue to grow this is a month where players can really emerge. This is a month where the games mean the most and to able to start the back half of a 20-game league schedule with a win is important. I think as we go in to the coming weeks, we are feeling good coming out of this one. What I feel best about is how hard we have been preparing and we are going to have stay with, keep grinding. It is a game of inches and in this league, it really counts a lot.
Q. On the growth of the freshmen…
MILLER: All young guys, you see them go through the worst of times when it is their basketball careers. Usually every single freshman that comes to an Indiana is going to be a very highly regarded player that has had a lot go right for them. The first time they step on campus, it is the first time in their young adult lives things get really hard. I think watching these four guys go through their ups and downs, watching them have some success, watching them really struggle. If you look at Khristian Lander right now, he is saving us in a couple of games, especially tonight he made some plays for us. A month ago, he was really struggling. To his credit, as a young person, to be able to come to practice every day, to be able to lift weights extra, to be able to get in the gym extra with the coaches, to care that much about staying with it. You see those rewards that you want to have happen for them so much. Jordan Geronimo, very similar story. Right now, he looks like a totally different guy for us than four weeks ago. To watch those guys come in, get hit around, get knocked down. It's not easy. Sometimes guys pick up and leave. Sometimes they don't get back up. These four guys have hung with it good and they have made us better. Not to say the other guys on the team aren't working the same way, but in particular if you are talking about the freshmen, you see them at the worst, at the youngest part of their adult lives. When they are able to see some good out of the work that they have put in that is really rewarding.
Q. On the play of Race Thompson…
MILLER: Race does his job. He does what you ask him to do. He is where is he supposed to be, when he is supposed to be there. He is in the right spots. He takes coaching. I think as the season has evolved he has become a much more confident low post scorer. Sometimes he is getting the match up in the game that is favorable for him in his physicality. I think the thing that he is doing a great job of right now is, he is moving the ball and making other guys better in our offense. He is offensive rebounding. He is playing a guys front court player as much as he needs to. He does everything for us. The fact that he is playing well right now, to me gives us great confidence he has turned into a real leader. Of any player I've been around, I'm not sure I've been around a guy that has evolved more from the first day he got on campus to today. Not even as a player, as a person. He has really grown up, matured, has turned into a leader. He does it all for us and he doesn't say anything about it. He will come to practice tomorrow and he will be ready to go. He is if not the most improved player in our league this year, he is right there. He is one of the few guys.
Q. On the play of Aljami Durham, Rob Phinisee and Armaan Franklin late in the game…
MILLER: I think that in the course of the game you could tell that Armaan clearly, Rob clearly didn't have a rhythm. I thought Al played well. He had some good looks that didn't go down. He played hard offensively and I thought Al did a good job for us of being able to withstand it a little bit, especially defensively. Khristian and Galloway and Leal, they have all contributed. They gave us opportunities. When we got into that last eight, seven, six minutes, you start to go with your gut in terms of what are going to need stops. We are going to need the ability to see if we can't get some stops and let's no let the game break away giving them some easy ones. I thought more than anything we continued to buckle down and Rob, Armaan, you trust those guys defensively. I think that sort of helped us get to the finish line with some defensive stops to transition opportunities, made a couple of hustle plays. Rob's shot biggest one of the game. Armaan's shot obviously ended it, but I think Rob's shot may have been bigger. Also Trayce. Trayce wasn't having a great day at the line, but he banged two big free-throws for us there late as well. We made some winning plays, which is great to see because at the end of the day Tuesday night it was the opposite, we didn't make enough winning plays."
Q. On Trayce Jackson-Davis…
MILLER: He has had to take a large load. When you remove Joey Brunk from our team we become a lot thinner and his legs become a lot heavier because of the minutes he has to play. As you get into February and the games really matter, he is not fresh. He has had to take the load every night. This is a tough week, going against Garza, going against Kofi in there. I thought he responded well tonight when we really needed him. He wasn't good early. I don't think he is getting off to good starts. I think he finishes games really well for us. He rebounded tonight. He has nine defensive rebounds tonight which was great for us. He was able to go up and get some balls with two hands that we haven't been able to get here recently. He is a first team All-Conference player, an All-American. If you look at his usage, his percentages, what we have asked him to do and what he has been able to put up in the best league in the country it speaks to the accolades. I will say this, I think he has another gear in him. I think he has another bounce in him coming. I think his best ball is ahead as the season continues to keep going. I think he can actually play better. As crazy as it sounds. Every game that we play and watch on film we look at the stat sheet and he gets 17 and 12, you look at the film and say man, he could have had 30, he could have had 25. We are always in that mode of wanting him to do more. We'll keep pushing him. He keeps working. He keeps learning. He knows what we are up against every night in and night out, that he is the focal point of what every team is brining against him every game. He is doing a good job of handling it. Trayce's best attribute is every single day he is the same. Whether we win or lose, whether he plays good or bad at the end of the day you know what you are getting with Trayce, which is his best attribute. He is going to come to work and he wants to do what you are going to ask him to do and he is a great teammate.
Indiana Players Armaan Franklin and Race Thompson
Q. On the final play of the game…
FRANKLIN: There was like 15 seconds left. I saw Rob with the ball and then Coach called for me to go get it. He called a play for me to basically, it is like an 'iso'. Race faked the screen, created kind of a diversion, Luka stepped out a little bit. I got going downhill, saw him leaning and stepped back and just let it go. I knew my teammates had ultimate confidence in me. Coaches had confidence in me to get the ball in that moment and it just paid off.
Q. On what was going through his head after he hit the shot and who he pointed to…
FRANKLIN: My mom, my brothers, my niece and a couple family friends. They have not all been at a game together in a long time, so it was good for this one to go. Then after I hit the shot my teammates just came up to me, but I knew we had to get one more stop to win the game.
Q. On his confidence level when shots were not falling…
FRANKLIN: Our teammates do not let us get our confidence down. They constantly talk to us on the bench when we are coming out you know, next spot, next play. They believe in us you know; we are going to hit the big shot. So, it was not really a confidence thing. You have got to go out there and keep shooting because everybody has confidence in you and they are going to get you the ball in those moments.
Q. On Race Thompson's defense in the game…
FRANKLIN: Race is incredible. Every time, both times we played them he has done a solid job on him. I know it is a tough cover to handle by his self, but you know he stepped up to the challenge every game and just battled his heart out, left it all on the floor. Good job Race.
THOMPSON: Appreciate it.
Q. On covering Luka Garza…
THOMPSON: Guarding Garza is a challenge. You really just have got to give him different looks. He is a great player so I mean you really have just got to focus on giving him different looks and not really letting him feel you, and really focusing on trying not to let him get the ball in the first place. So, if you can let him not get the ball then there is no offense for him. So, that was really what I was focusing on. Just different looks and trying not to let him catch it.
Q. On the lift that the freshmen provide him on the floor…
THOMPSON: Definitely, I mean props to the young guys. They bring it to practice every single day. Even when they were not getting the minutes they wanted to, they brought it every single day, and that is just showing the work they have put in day in, day out. You see them in the gym, Anthony Leal, Trey, Khristian, Jordan, they come to the gym nonstop. Off days, late nights, stay in the gym working, working and working. So I mean, I am just so happy for them seeing the work pay off.
Players Mentioned
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Forward
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