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INDIANA UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEJanuary 14, 2018Robert JohnsonClifton MooreJosh NewkirkBloomington, Indiana Indiana - 66, Northwestern - 46 Q. Just defensively what do you think really helped you guys keep the defensive energy for 40 minutes? JOSH NEWKIRK: Just having a locked-in approach, all five guys talking and staying in the gaps and just finishing the playoff with a rebound. I think that's the most thing. Just everybody talking staying connected and just putting more forth a better effort. Q. After, I don't remember what game it was, Penn State, you said something about back-to-back, complete, 40-minute efforts. In your mind I imagine that's another one. Just what's led to that? Can you kind of point to things across these three games that maybe you can say we've been able to do this consistently and this consistently. ROBERT JOHNSON: First I want to give thanks and glory to God. But I think this was the third game of that. I think on the defensive end it's probably been our best game thus far. And I think if we can build on that and continue to tighten a couple of things up on the offensive side we'll be in a good spot. Q. What do you attribute the improvement defensively to, just more familiarity with the game plan, being more connected? How do you explain kind of the progress? ROBERT JOHNSON: Yeah, I definitely would say it's being more connected. When we're out there, I can feel guys talking more, putting forth a better effort, trying to not let the man to their right or to their left down. So I think we're more connected and there's better communication. Q. Playing time (inaudible)? CLIFTON MOORE: I felt that I was ready because we work hard in practice. So throughout the season just learning the concepts, learning how Coach wants me to play, I felt comfortable out there. Q. Robert, do you think you (inaudible) a lot of confidence right now. What is it about (indiscernible)? ROBERT JOHNSON: It's the guys around me, the coaching staff, my teammates. They never lost faith or confidence in my ability to shoot the ball, so I give all the thanks to them. Q. Him and Freddie in particular, with Juwan in some of the early foul trouble, seemed to give you some quality minutes in the first half. Just how important were those bench contributions down low? JOSH NEWKIRK: It's big for us. When one guy gets in foul trouble or whatever, it's big for guys like Clifton to step up, be ready and just be aggressive. Q. There was a stretch you guys were holding them to under (indiscernible) percent, which is a ridiculous number. What have been the big keys without De'Ron in there as a rim protector that you guys can play defense for a sustained amount of time (indiscernible). ROBERT JOHNSON: I think one of the things that we knew once De'Ron went out was we were going to be smaller so we're going to have to pick up our intensity and our ball pressure. And I think we've caused a little more turnovers, guys are putting that much more of an effort towards defense and I think it's been good for us. Q. When Josh (indiscernible) the second half offense really picked up. What was the (inaudible)? JOSH NEWKIRK: Just attacking their pressure, getting into the gaps of their zone, finding an open teammate and just making the extra pass. Q. You guys run so much of your offense through De'Ron. Without him out there, did that kind of accentuate the need to being in there on the defensive end to maintain that, especially without him on the offensive end? ROBERT JOHNSON: Yeah, I definitely think so. Juwan is such a weapon for us offensively that he's kind of like our safety net when we need a basket we go to them. But I think guys did a good job of sharing the ball and getting better shots. And that was good for us. Q. Rob, just since De'Ron is gone how much did the staff place an emphasis on rebounding, especially for the guards? And how much more pressure is on you guys to get to the ball? ROBERT JOHNSON: It's something we talk about a lot. We have a certain amount of rebounds we want to get every game from the guard position. And Coach is always reminding us throughout the game and at halftime how close we are to that benchmark. And that's something that I think we've done a pretty good job at. Q. Is that a moving target? Does it change game by change, or is it a pretty consistent number? ROBERT JOHNSON: It's pretty consistent, like, 12, I think. Q. Josh, you guys have talked about just having more effort and more connectedness defensively. Are you having fun playing defense now? JOSH NEWKIRK: Yeah, it's fun playing defense, getting turnovers because it leads to easy offense. So we want to keep getting stops, want to keep getting easy transition points because it makes the offensive end that much easier. Q. Rob, I noticed at halftime you all came out, like seven minutes left. Is that normal for you to come out (indiscernible) or were you all trying to get into rhythm shooting a little bit early, get a little more time to practice? ROBERT JOHNSON: To be honest, I really don't pay attention to at what point we come out in the second half. We just went through our normal halftime routine of things we needed to do in the second half, and that was the time that was left. Q. Was there any talk in the locker room saying, we need to turn it up a little bit, even though you had the lead? The ball wasn't quite going down like it did early in the second half? ROBERT JOHNSON: We just wanted to stay consistent on the defensive end and continue to build on that end. And we knew that if we continue to share the ball and play inside/out we were going to make shots. Q. Clifton, I assume you went against De'Ron a lot in practice. Without him in practice now, how has that affected your approach of how you try and challenge yourself? CLIFTON MOORE: Going against De'Ron is a tough matchup. So I think the challenge of that has got me better and better progressively. And that's what made me ready. Q. Can you guys talk about three wins in a row, now you're heading to Michigan State, a place you guys haven't really done that well at, but how your energy and how you're going to go in there feeding off of these three wins? ROBERT JOHNSON: Yeah, I think we're going to go back and try to build each day in practice this week, and I'm sure we'll be confident when we head down there. Q. Clifton, give me three or four weeks that you think are important for you to continue to get playing time moving forward? CLIFTON MOORE: Rebounding. I would say learning the concepts on defense. Learning the timing on plays and executing offense. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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