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INDIANA UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEFebruary 23, 2018Juwan MorganJustin SmithRobert JohnsonBloomington, Indiana Ohio State - 80, Indiana - 78 (2OT) Q. I know it's senior night but for either Juwan or Rob, Justin, I think it's like four or five straight games now, it seems like the energy he's given you around the rim, the points, how much have you seen him grow in the last few weeks I guess? JUWAN MORGAN: I've seen him grow a lot. It translates from practice. He's finishing really well, focusing more getting to the rim and putting it in the basket. We used to call him a practice dunker because he could always dunk it hard in practice but he never was trying to dunk on anybody in the games. And now he's attacking the rim with that kind of aggressiveness. Q. You had a hard-fought game, but to see it end like that in the final seconds how tough is that for you guys to watch that? ROBERT JOHNSON: I think it's really tough, especially, you know, with it being two overtimes and it coming down to that. We have the lead, what seemed like -- he put up what seemed like a tough shot for it to go in. Kind of stung a little bit, but at the end of the day I'm proud of the way we fought all the way to the end. Q. Looking ahead to maybe the Big Ten Tournament, I know this is a loss, a tough loss at that, but can you carry any momentum from this game into the tournament? JUWAN MORGAN: Definitely. As the way we've been fighting hard as a team, we have to keep that momentum going. We can't just let up. We can't take some time off and let ourselves get lackadaisical. We have to go in with the same fight we've had coming down the stretch of the season and we have to go into New York and have a fighting mentality. Q. Robert, what do you remember about that last drive in regulation? Was the angle not right with the bank? Was It a similar type of play that led to the two free throws? ROBERT JOHNSON: Yeah, it was pretty much the same play but, yeah, I just didn't have the type of angle that I wanted. But, yeah, both of the plays are pretty much the same. Q. Rob, we've asked this a lot of different ways this season. You've watched it for three years. How would you describe Juwan's growth as a player, a guy who goes from reserve to being the key guy in key moments? ROBERT JOHNSON: I think he's continued to grow. Every year he's gotten better. And I think this year he really found what he was good at and stuck to it and just tried to add things to that. But always plays within himself. And he's a great player with a lot of different weapons and things that he can do. So when you do that and stay within yourself, you're going to get good results. Q. Robert, being a senior, had to go through a lot of changes this year, how rough has it been for you to go through all that, your final year, making all the adjustments, trying to come out and win games? ROBERT JOHNSON: I think starting off it was a little different just because it was a new coach and a new system. A lot of new faces you had to learn and new plays, new schemes and things like that. But I think the guys have -- my teammates and I have done a good job of sticking with it throughout the season and trying to get better regardless of what point of the season we were at. Q. 45 percent (indiscernible), last play of the game, what do you think contributed to the output? ROBERT JOHNSON: I think it's my teammates' confidence in me. I never -- they never told me to stop shooting or stop looking for me when I was open. So I think it's a mixture of that and just taking better shots. Q. Justin, you continued to improve as well. After you take this, going to the Big Ten Tournament, your first time in the Big Ten Tournament, without having that experience, having a good year so far, what do you take into that? JUSTIN SMITH: I would just say keep doing what I'm doing. I'm trying to go out there, do whatever is possible to try to win. I'm not going to go out there and just -- I'm going to go out there and play my role and then just look to my teammates for help, just ride this momentum. Q. Juwan, you were in foul trouble throughout most of the later part of the game. How do you stay aggressive without -- JUWAN MORGAN: I guess just playing smart and using positioning and angles more so than just trying to use brute strength to get people off their spots. And I think as we went down the stretch, that proved to be better, more often than not. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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