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INDIANA UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEFebruary 14, 2018Al DurhamJosh NewkirkJustin SmithBloomington, Indiana Indiana - 78, Illinois - 68 Q. Seems like midway through that first half it was a little sleepy out there and you guys kind of sparked it tonight. How does it feel that you guys are really making an impact in what is really the most important stretch of the season? DURHAM: "We feel like we came and did what we do every day practice. Go hard, compete and we always have each others backs. I feel like we didn't do anything out of the norm, it's what we always do and it was just normal tonight. SMITH: To piggyback off of that, I'd say our coaches always tell us to be ready. When our number was called, we were able to get in the game and make something happen, trying to get the juices flowing. Q. Josh, a lot of fouls tonight, lot of interrupted play. As a player and point guard, how do you fight through that to establish some sort of flow? NEWKIRK: Just staying poised. Making the right reads, taking care of the ball, just knowing that you are going to get hit, you're going to get fouled, just be prepared for that. Q. Al, you've made three-pointers in three straight games know after kind of a dry spell there, how is your confidence in shooting those three's? What's changed? DURHAM: Nothing's changed. I've just been working with the coaches and my teammates. My teammates and coaches have always had confidence in me so nothing has really changed, it's just been following them. Q. Josh, everyone knows you can hit three's but it has been awhile since you did. When they did go down, how did it make you feel in terms of contributing to the game? NEWKIRK: It felt good. My teammates did a good job finding me and it was my job to knock down open shots. Them just having confidence in me and just trusting me to knock down the shots was big. Q. For Al and Justin, how much has learning the defense and getting a feel for what Archie wants and what you need to do each possession to really help get you guys in points where you can make impacts in the Big Ten season? SMITH: I'd just say having experience playing the defense. Now that we get game reps and practice reps, we are able to see how things are maneuvered throughout the defense. We're just getting more comfortable in the defense, we're knowing where to be at the right times, when to do it. It's just confidence building. DURHAM: To piggyback off of what he said, just having the experience playing the defense, going through it, making mistakes and just learning from them. Just repetition of the defense and just keep going through it and learning. Q: Josh, with three to go in the regular season, you guys lock up tonight that you won't have to play in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. Where's the confidence at when you think about March Madness and the chances this group has to sneak in? NEWKIRK: We just need to take it one game at a time. We need to focus on Ohio State right now. Take it one game at a time right now, take care of your opponents, then I think we have a chance. Q: Josh, coming off the bench the last couple games but basically playing the same amount of minutes, the team as a whole seems to be more efficient. Everybody is shooting 5-of-6, 4-of-6 across the board. How does that change the dynamics with the new rotation? NEWKIRK: Just trusting each other. Finding each other in the open spot, knowing where each other is going to be on the offensive end and defensive end. So just working with each other, communicating, and just playing for each other. Q: You guys were better tonight from the free throw line, 69 percent. Have you done anything in practice to work on that issue? Or has it been same old, same old? DURHAM: It's kind of just same old, same old. We go through shooting free throws with each other every day, and we just keep going and doing the repetitions. They just fell tonight. Q. Does it help for you guys to see a teammate have a couple go down, give you confidence that when you go down the line yourself you're going to knock a couple down? JUSTIN SMITH: I'd say so, because I feel a lot of our struggles have been because one person wasn't making free throws and that escalated into everything. We're still working on it in practice, looking to get better. Q. The quality you guys, out of the 78 points, 45 from the starters, 38 from the bench. Five double figure starters. Nobody more than 14. How does it feel to play on a team that's playing like a team that way? JOSH NEWKIRK: It's good. Everybody contributed. Coming off the bench, people giving us spark. So I mean it's fun to see everybody score, everybody contribute. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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