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INDIANA UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

February 12, 2017

Tom Crean

Bloomington, Indiana

Michigan - 75, Indiana - 63

COACH CREAN: End of the day our ball screen coverages were not nearly what they needed to be and we didn't put enough pressure on the shooters. And maybe my shooters are feeling too much pressure. I'm not sure it was the Michigan defense. Maybe it was. I'm sure they'll credit themselves for it.

Maybe it is. I have to watch the film. But bottom line is we're not making enough shots to win. We're not making enough jump shots. We didn't make enough jump shots the other night. And right now we're not turning that around and getting enough to stops -- we did it for a while in the second half -- but we're not getting enough stops to overcome the misses that we're having.

And again we've got some guys that aren't close to healthy, but that doesn't have anything to do with the setups, setting your man up and being ready to knock down shots.

So not a great performance by any stretch. Though, I always felt like we were in it to the very end, because you felt like the lid was going to come off the basket for us at some point. We made too many mistakes, and it starts with the overhelping defensively. It starts with we didn't control the ball well enough and our rotations weren't as good. And we're still making some of the same mistakes with guys overhelping off corners, because they overreact to the ball.

And so our maturity has got to raise, and I'm in here as far as I need to get to work and continue to figure out more ways that this team can compete on the defensive end and find easier ways to get them baskets. So go ahead.

Q. The four of five on the road now how do you turn around --
COACH CREAN: You know what, Terry, you've been around me for nine years. I'm not going to think much past today. I appreciate the question but I'm kind of locked in what we have to do now. I can't jump ahead, unfortunately.

Q. Since (indiscernible) went down -- I don't know the record off the top of my head -- but obviously it's been a struggle. Why do you think this team has had such a hard time filling his shoes?
COACH CREAN: Immaturity in the back court. We don't play both ends of the floor with the same purpose that we have to play when our shots aren't going.

And we've had injuries in there, too. But that's got to change.

Q. On the turnovers, the problems, I know you work on them. Is this defense --
COACH CREAN: You're asking me a hypothetical. I hope so. In all honesty. I hope so. But we've got to find ways to get easy baskets. So the problem becomes we were working so hard to get the ball inside in the first half and they were backing off of our guys, right?

And so all of a sudden we get it in and we stand like we've never played basketball before rather than cut, space, fill, go cut, fill in behind it, get a crown on the backside, the things that we do, and we just can't -- Thomas Bryant is playing his tail off to become a leader of the team. And he needs a little more help.

And so that's not an answer to your question, but it is part of what our issue is with the turnovers. And he's committing some turnovers and things like that as well.

But I really don't want it to be to a place, especially when you're not shooting the ball as well, then you're going to get more collapsed defenses like we had today where we just say, okay, we've got to go in on every possession.

And because this team is not going to good enough to do that if we don't get easy baskets. If we don't get out on the break and run and if we don't space them. But we've got to figure something because I don't want to -- I'm not trying to take the confidence, we shoot every day. We constantly shoot. We haven't done anything different in our time here.

You know, we've led the -- we've led the country, we've led the BCS in the last five years in 3-point field goal percentage. It doesn't look like that right now. So I don't want to be in a panic, but we've got to continue to figure out, okay, those shots -- some of it is ridiculous setups and cuts. It's just absolute remedial nonsense. And that I'm just trying to bite my tongue here, all right, and so I can get to work.

But some of that doesn't make a bit of sense. But we have been a very, very good shooting team and we still have some very good shooters out there.

And again our ball screen coverages and things like that weren't nearly as good. But at some point in time the window's gotta crack and we're going to have a little bit real leadership during the game. And at some point in time we're going to communicate.

I know a lot of you have fun with those signs, and that's fine. I can wear a lot -- I took the Wagner hit. Guy jumped right up. I hope I get some credit for that. Didn't even bat an eye.

But I'm trying to be proactive, and I'm not shirking responsibility one iota. It falls on me. One thing I've learned in nine years, it all falls on me. But the bottom line is that we've got to do something to get communication up.

And when the shots aren't going is when the communication has got to be even higher. Because it's very easy to have communication. It's very easy to be locked in and connected to one another when the shots are going, but when they aren't going is when real leadership's got to emerge. And we're not having as much of that right now.

Q. What else do you need to see from James Blackmon?
COACH CREAN: You know, I don't even -- we all gotta play better. Every one of us. I can't single it out right now. It's not been a great week for him. Obviously he's coming back off the injury. But he can play better. And he's going to have to.

Q. What did you like about what you got from De'Ron Davis?
COACH CREAN: He played very well considering the shot that he took, couldn't return in the game the other night. He took a real hit, and he didn't do anything with us really on Friday, but he was better yesterday.

And we've got to continue to play him more. And he's not as great in the ball screen coverages. So that sometimes limits some of that. But he's very, very hard to guard, and he's got great feet, great hands, great eyes. He can pass the ball. We want him to do a lot of passing now and we're not doing enough cuts to get those pass.

So I loved the way he played. I know it wasn't Thomas's night, but I feel for him a little bit because he's really, really -- really since -- who asked the question on OG Anunoby? When that happened and we knew he was out, he stepped it up. Blackmon went out after Michigan. He took it to another whole other level with his leadership. It's obviously played out on the court for the most part. Not as much today. But it's a 19-year-old guy trying to find his own game and trying to lead a group of guys that really he should be getting a little more help and I've got to give him more help, obviously.

And so this is one of those nights. It's back to the drawing board a little bit on how we're going to continue to score points and how we're going to make -- we defended very well for the most part the other day, defended pretty well against Wisconsin other than some of the post action, and our rotations weren't as good today defensively, which gave them some open shots. But as I said at the beginning, we're coming off -- we just, it makes no sense to be coming off the corners the way that we are with what we have out there. That's not what we do. We guard the ball. We don't overhelp because it's teams like Michigan that can shoot the ball so well.

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