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INDIANA UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEDecember 10, 2016Robert JohnsonFreddie McSwainJuwan MorganBloomington, Indiana Houston Baptist - 61, Indiana - 103 Q. What changed in the second half? ROBERT JOHNSON: I think in the second half, we just decided to really sit down and get stops on defense and string stops together. And I think when we do that, that allows us to get out in transition and get easy baskets. And I think it translated well for us. Q. Robert, talk about Freddie's improvement. What have you seen from him and how he's played? ROBERT JOHNSON: I think he just continues to get better in every area and his confidence has really risen. He plays point guard for us at times, he can knock down open shots. Everybody seen the game, he had that monster double double. So as he continues to get better, I think so will the team. Q. What happened when you missed the shot, Juwan? JUWAN MORGAN: Oh, I just -- probably looking at the film, my feet probably weren't right. My left right probably wasn't as good as it could have been. Because usually I would have hit that, so. Q. Freddie, can you talk about your play today. FREDDIE MCSWAIN: We're just playing confident. My teammates have the confidence in me to keep pushing, keep working and just getting better every day is why I came here, so. Q. Robert, could you talk about how you guys always seem to make the extra pass to get the open look early on. Even if the shot didn't drop, it seemed like there was always an open look because somebody made the extra pass. ROBERT JOHNSON: That's just something that guys have really bought into. And I think it's gotten contagious throughout the team. And I think good teams do that. So we, obviously, want to be a good team and we want to have good ball movement and things like that and that's one of the things that you have to do. Q. You blocked a shot off a player's head. How does that feel? Did you want to do that again? JUWAN MORGAN: I would like to block every shot if I could do it, so, yeah. Q. Juwan, just a follow-up on your recent really strong play. Do you feel that you're really better at this point, this year, than maybe even this time last year? JUWAN MORGAN: I think that just being in the right spot at the right time and making the extra pass and not think about it, those two just going together. I think that's one of the best things. And then also just the mentality side of it, just being confident, knowing my teammates will find me, knowing that, like I said before, just running hard, they will find you over the top or just making the back cut and they will find you there. And they will always put you in the position to score. Q. Juwan, Freddie spoke of being more confident out there. In what ways or how have you seen that show just getting a little bit more comfortable and how have you settled in? JUWAN MORGAN: I think, personally, he was making the right plays, and he just wasn't finishing. And I know that early on that was my big issue, too. Just getting down on myself knowing I was missing shots that I could have been making. And as he started to see them drop, and he started to see that we weren't losing confidence in him, like he was getting to the basket and things like that. He just had to put the ball in the hole, and as he started doing that, we never lost confidence in him. And as he started doing that, he's just continued to grow. Q. Josh isn't a new guy, but did he have maybe some rust to knock off early in the season. Where do you feel like he is in terms of being able to command the floor offensively? FREDDIE MCSWAIN: I would definitely think so. Sitting out for a year and then having to come, step on the team and starting with a new team. But I think that as we continue to grow, our chemistry will, and so will his leadership skills. I think that's something that will be big for us. Him really commanding the offense and getting guys in the right spots will be something that helps us get better. Q. For any of you guys, you had that stretch of four games and then you go a week without having a game. What did you get out of having that time off, everything, practice, and that. Anything specifically that you guys work on in that time off that you feel like maybe translated today? JUWAN MORGAN: We had all the little things that even in those stretch of games, there was a lot of great things that we did, but there was a lot of things that we could work on. And in those practices, we were just working on those things and we really got after each other, making each other better and that's what we continued to do every day. We have to keep getting better each and every day and not let a day goes by because you either get better or you get worse, you never stay the same. Q. For any of you guys, what is it like to play with a player like James, who can score so consistently. How does it help the offense? ROBERT JOHNSON: It just make it that much easier for the ball movement, to get in the lane, you have a guy like that, that's a constant threat. It just makes it easier on everybody. Q. Robert, assess where you are. You got one week off and then you got another week, what do you guys need to develop or what do you think you need to do better? ROBERT JOHNSON: The key would be coming in every day and getting after it like we did this past week. We don't have a set of things that we really want to work on as the week progresses. And I think that we really like to focus on that and just try to get better day-to-day to be where we want to be by the time that next game comes. Q. Does it feel like your guys' legs had more jump from the five days of not playing? FREDDIE MCSWAIN: Yes, I think so, too. We really just, really working this whole week, things we needed to fix on. But I feel like yeah, we had fresh legs coming into the game. Q. Can you talk about taking better care of the ball today. JUWAN MORGAN: This past practice week, we really were taking responsibility. Not just having the coaches do it, but responsibility for each other in practice. And we were just like making dumb turnovers, we were getting on to each other. I think that's why we had probably one of the more competitive weeks since I've been here. And just doing that, it translates to the game. Because it's a lot harder in practice going against somebody that knows exactly what you're about to do, as far as place, than it is in a game. And we like to try to make practice a lot harder than the games that way. It will flow together when we get into the games. Q. (No microphone.) FREDDIE MCSWAIN: No. But thank you for reminding them, though. Q. For any of you, can you talk about what Zach brings to the floor, especially defensively? ROBERT JOHNSON: I think Zach is just a guy that's well aware. His awareness is really high on defense. That's just as his feet continue to get better, I think that it will give him an opportunity to play even more. And I think that will be something that's good for us, because he's just such a smart player that he helps everybody on the court. Q. (No microphone.) FREDDIE MCSWAIN: Not that I know. I'm just playing. Really. Whenever my time was called within the game, I was just go all out, play a hundred percent, and just try to be ready every moment. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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