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INDIANA UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 28, 2017Juwan MorganClifton MooreTim PrillerBloomington, Indiana Q. Juwan, Coach was talking earlier about wanting you to become more offensive minded this year, I guess. How do you go about that? What's it look like? How do you put it into practice? JUWAN MORGAN: I think it's just attacking each other each and every day, not taking plays off just because you're team mates. Especially since we're playing so much together, I think we know the different tendencies just from watching each other, and I think it makes it that much harder to get to your offensive game, and I think it makes it that much better for the person on offense to develop those skills. Q. How are you personally being more offensive minded? JUWAN MORGAN: I just have to be aggressive, and whenever I see something, I have to take it. Q. Juwan, from a mental toughness standpoint, are we going to see a visible change with this year's crew as opposed to what we saw this time last year? JUWAN MORGAN: Definitely. Q. Could I follow that up? Juwan, is that a direct testament to what Archie's put in place here in his short time? JUWAN MORGAN: In a way, I believe it's a testament to what he's put in place, but also just the guys around the team. We decided that it's time that we have that leadership and all that. So I think it's just everybody's going to take their own role. Q. Juwan, just a couple guys that I imagine you work with a lot, Cliff and also De'Ron, what have you seen from them? Particularly De'Ron since the spring, and obviously Cliff since he got to campus. JUWAN MORGAN: For De'Ron, I've just seen a newfound confidence in him. I just believe, since he's been changing his body, he's just more confident in his game. He's more willing to go at people instead of just saying, oh, I'm too tired or just taking a couple plays off. And as far as Cliff, he just has a willingness to learn. Every time something goes wrong, he's never just putting his head down, he's asking what he can do to change that. I remember like the first couple times when we went at it, I just posted him up right away. He thought we were just doing a drill, and then he learned that you always have to be ready at any time. Q. Clifton, what's been the biggest adjustment for you transitioning from, obviously, the high school level to college these first couple months? Is there anything that's kind of stood out as something you've had to make an adjustment on from your game standpoint or maybe just the physical part of it? CLIFTON MOORE: From a basketball standpoint, I'd say the biggest change would be learning the system and how Archie wants me to play it. Because in high school I had free range to do whatever I want, but with Archie's organized system, I just have to learn where to be in the right place and how to run it correctly. Q. This could be for any of you, but we read about Archie's approach to play, and we read terms such as back line, man-to-man defense, and whatnot. He's talked about 75-25 percentages in terms of emphasizing defense so far. What can you tell us that's maybe a little bit different in terms of what he's asking from you guys defensively? TIM PRILLER: First of all, I think we play defense a lot. Most of our practice is defense, and I think we're going to be really good defensively this year. JUWAN MORGAN: Just adding on to that, like Tim said, just going at each other every day defensively, the 75-25 thing, because championships are won on defense. So if we can get the stops all the time, then there would be no problems scoring. CLIFTON MOORE: From a defensive standpoint, I'd say we'd be pretty good. Q. This question is for Juwan. You came into IU with Thomas and OG, and now they're out doing their thing in the NBA, and obviously you're happy for them, but how much does that motivate you to really want to just work and get to the next level? JUWAN MORGAN: It motivates me a lot, especially just knowing them for so long. I've known Thomas since tenth grade, and I've known OG since sixth grade. It motivates me that those are my best friends growing up, and now they're in the league living out their dream. I talk to them every day still, and they still just motivate me, telling me that I have to get there. That's the best thing ever. I think that's a great testament to their friendship as well. Q. This question is for Clifton. Clifton, Archie Miller described you as kind of a guy on ice skates, slippery ice. Have you ever been ice skating, first of all? And just what's your reaction to that? Have you been ice skating? CLIFTON MOORE: What was the second part of your question? Q. So have you or have you not? CLIFTON MOORE: Oh, no, I haven't ice skated. Q. Okay. So I guess you don't have anything to compare that to, but just what do you think he means by that statement, and how do you think you need to improve upon that? CLIFTON MOORE: I think I need to work on my coordination. I think that's what I was trying to get at because I hit my growth spurt and my coordination is a little down. So sometimes I like trip and stuff. Q. Clifton, when I went out to Philadelphia to watch you, there were times you were on the block. There were times you were out on the perimeter handling the ball outside the arc. Where on the floor do you feel you're most likely going to play a lot early on here at Indiana? CLIFTON MOORE: In practice, I'm usually around blocking the paint, but I'd say my strength would be on the perimeter or like in the midrange area. And with Archie's system, you can do a variety of different things, and I see myself playing all over the place. Q. Tim, I read a quote where Coach Miller said it's good to be a fan favorite, but it's better to be a coach favorite. How do you become a coach favorite? TIM PRILLER: Just doing everything I need to do in practice. Just whatever he wants me to do, I'll do it. I'm just going to work as hard as I can in practice. Q. Clifton, being left-handed, do you find that that helps you on the block a little bit? And then as a follow-up question, when Cody Zeller played here, he was a guy that was like a 6'2" guard when he was a freshman in high school, then he had his growth spurt. You mentioned your growth spurt. So do you feel like some of those guard skills you had when you were younger were able to stick with you even as your growth spurt happened? CLIFTON MOORE: So on the post end point, I'd say -- well, I'm right-handed. Q. Oh, sorry. CLIFTON MOORE: That's fine. That's fine. I usually use my length and my height, and I can use that to my advantage. When I hit my growth spurt, I was a guard, and continuing to grow, I still kept the skills of being able to handle and shoot, and I think that really complements my game. Q. Juwan, this summer you've got to go to Nations. I saw some stats, and it looked like you shot the ball fairly well. Just kind of talk about that experience and what you felt you did well down there. JUWAN MORGAN: It was a great experience just playing all the top players from college basketball and then even a few coming into college basketball like Mike Porter. It was just a great experience being able to guard those guys. I think we played four or five games that whole weekend. And just being able to go against the best, it just really gave me, I guess, a measurement of where I'm at. One thing I did well there was shoot. Like every time we went down, my coach that I had for my team was just telling me shoot every time I touched it. That was kind of fun. Q. Who was your coach? JUWAN MORGAN: I think his last name was Jensen, from the Jazz. Q. Clifton, you've added, what, how many pounds? 14 pounds or so? What has that meant for you since your arrival here in June? Have you become more of a post player, or how has it helped you on the court? CLIFTON MOORE: Well, coming in, in high school I played wing. Archie wants me to play more in the post, using my strength and my length. So adding those pounds really helped me over the past couple months, and I've really been able to continue to get better and be more effective there. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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