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INDIANA UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 18, 2019Juwan MorganRob PhiniseeEvan FitznerBloomington, Indiana THE MODERATOR: Open it up for questions. Q. Juwan, what is the disappointment level, recognizing that you guys didn't get to the make the NCAA tournament? JUWAN MORGAN: Very disappointed. I think we controlled our own fate. Some of those games, when it came down to the wire, we didn't make the plays we needed to to win. Still playing in the post-season is great. We're going to go into it ready to win. Q. What's the message in terms of readjusting focus, maybe not getting hung up on a couple of those games? JUWAN MORGAN: I think it's just keep getting better each and every day. The season is not over yet. We play tomorrow night. We have to dial in, especially because it's a one-day turnaround. We have to be ready to go. Q. Evan, a guy like Rob or a lot of the younger guys that played a lot of minutes, how valuable is post-season experience for any of them? EVAN FITZNER: It's big. I've learned a lot in the past playing in the post-season. I think Juwan would say he has, too. From an individual development standpoint, it's big to kind of go into these games and play well and gain confidence going into the next year. Q. Rob, what do you know about their backcourt? Couple experienced guards. ROB PHINISEE: I'm not really sure. We haven't gone over any personnel or anything. Figure it out later. Q. Juwan, being one of the senior leaders, how important is it to you to make sure all your teammates are up and ready to play each and every game with a winner-go-home situation? JUWAN MORGAN: It's very important, especially going through it I think my sophomore year. Just going into it thinking, like, you're better than where you're at, you can't really go into it with that kind of mentality. You have to be ready to go. Every team is good in this as well. You can't really lay down and think it's going to be easy. You have to be ready to fight. Q. Any conversations between you and coaches in terms of trying to get the right emotional mindset? JUWAN MORGAN: I don't think it's been clear-cut. We all know what we have to accomplish. Evan, guys that have been in the post-season before, know exactly what it's like. We have to echo that to the young guys. Q. Rob, what do you think is the value for you to be able to keep playing on in your freshman year? ROB PHINISEE: Really just gaining experience. I'm not sure if it's every other day like the NCAA tournament. But it's good to gain experience for the young guys. Have a lot of young guys. We're just happy to be playing again. Q. Juwan, having been in this spot as a sophomore on the road, how much of an advantage will it be to play these games at home? JUWAN MORGAN: Definitely would be a huge advantage, to be able to feed off the energy from the crowd. I remember the game, it's funny, I was watching it two days ago. It was like 37-38, Thompson got a dunk, we were up. Next thing you know, (indiscernible) hit a three, then a post hook. The next thing you know, we never saw the lead again. The home crowd can be such an advantage, especially in post-season play. Q. You were watching the 2017 NIT game? JUWAN MORGAN: Yes. Q. Why? JUWAN MORGAN: I honestly couldn't tell you (smiling). Q. Not a thing that comes on the TV. JUWAN MORGAN: Oh, I remember. Me and OG were talking about it. We always talk about throwing no-look passes even though we're looking right at the guy. I threw a no-look pass to Thompson that game. I ended up watching the whole thing. Q. What kind of memories did that bring up? JUWAN MORGAN: It sucked. It was terrible to go out that way, especially how we started out that season. It just hurt. Q. How can you use that right now not only for yourself but for your teammates? JUWAN MORGAN: I can use it as a lot of motivation, echoing to all the guys, making sure they don't feel what I felt then, especially with it being like me, Evan and Zach, Q and Johnny's last go around. Even though it's not where we want to be, we can still make something happen especially out of this. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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