	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

INDIANA UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

March 26, 2019

Archie Miller

Bloomington, Indiana

Wichita State 73, Indiana 63

COACH ARCHIE MILLER: Not able to win tonight, and again, in front of our crowd, great support all the way through, and you know, gave us an added advantage tonight and we couldn't take advantage of it.

You've got to give Wichita State a lot of credit. Excellent defensive team with great size. Our inability to get to the foul line and run good offense was the big difference, and then you know, 11 made threes. Coming in the game, they weren't a great three-point shooting team and they had some guys really step up, especially Dexter Dennis making five of them.

For us, you look at the three-point shooting and you look at the free throw discrepancy and that's a big deal right there just in terms of how we weren't able to get to the line because obviously we try to play a style where you can get there and that discrepancy, obviously fouling late didn't help.

But the inability to get to the foul line for us tonight, because around the basket, we knew things were going to be very hard, and they were. Everything was challenged.

Q. Big picture as you start to look at to have season, what are some of the keys you're going to look at?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: I haven't thought about it yet. But at the end of the day it takes time here in the off-season to really take a deep breath. It's a long year, and then we have to make sure that our players are all on same page as we move through the spring.

Q. Can you talk about what Juwan has meant to the program?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: You know, couldn't obviously be anywhere without him. He was an outstanding player. He's an outstanding guy to be around every day. Battles hard. You know, easy to coach. Just a great guy. Great teammate.

But really improved and now he's got to rest his body and get ready for the next step, and I'm with him 110 percent this next thing. I think he a chance to be a heck of a player here for a long time at whatever level he can get to.

He's a guy that could add value to any locker room; that's the one thing about him, and he's going to better as he sort of gets away from college and really starts to hone in on his game and his body and whatnot. I think he's got a bright future.

Q. The play of your guards tonight, you had some good, some bad. Your thoughts on how they did tonight?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: Our guard play wasn't very good. Our shot selection was tough. Our inability to score around the basket and convert didn't get done. You know, if you really look at it, the difference in the game to me was just a few open shots that weren't able to go in. You know, played hard defensively I thought at times. I thought we were a little bit winded as the game went on. Just not having our full depth.

But I thought those three guys kind of hung in there but it wasn't one of our better games. We probably needed Devonte, Rob and Al to play as good as they have played all year with that type of defense.

The guards are going to have to make plays in a game like this just because of the size around the basket and the way that they give you the lane, but there's nowhere really to go.

Q. It seemed like every time you grabbed some momentum in the second half, Wichita hit a dagger on the other end. How much was that a lack of focus or Wichita hitting good shots?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: I think we competed hard and I thought the game right back to -- right there, 50-50. It could go either way there. They made the plays. We didn't.

And they capitalized; every single time we were right there, we could not get over the hump, whether it was a foul at the end of the shot clock, a rebound on the weak side that leads to an end one -- they just made some really tough, hard plays in a game like that when we didn't.

That's the ability of a group like they have. You know, they are tough guys. They play hard. They have been playing really, really well here in the last two months and I'll be honest with you, I'll be surprised if they don't win the NIT. I think that's the type of team that they have right now.

But they definitely didn't allow us to get over the hump and we couldn't get over the hump in a couple of those stretches where it was right there for the taking.

Q. How do you build on this postseason experience and make sure the guys take as much out of it as they possibly could?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: More games. The more games you're playing, it's always good for your players. It motivates them in the off-season, how they finished the year, sometimes good and bad.

It also gives them a lot of evidence when you play this amount of games on this stage on what they need to do to get better. Without question, we had some guys here in the last two weeks, whether it's the end of Big Ten or into the Big Ten Tournament or into this three games, they got a lot more reps and opportunities to play.

Some guys really finished strong. Some guys didn't finish as strong. But at the end of the day, there is now a clear picture on what has to be done with them as individuals and players to get better to help us be better in a lot of areas; offensively I think is the one thing.

But yes, the postseason always adds experience to you. You always finish on that last game, and you want to build on it.

Q. The lack of consistent perimeter shooting, would you rank that as the biggest offensive issue you had throughout the year? How impactful was that?
COACH ARCHIE MILLER: Shooting from the three-point line is the No. 1 reason in many ways that our team could not get over the hump so many times. You've got to be able to make shots in the Big Ten because they turned it into a halfcourt league, and you have to be able to stretch games out and break them open when you have your opportunities from three and this team this year couldn't make shots.

When Devonte Green, you know, really stepped up here in the last probably six games, the one difference was he gave you a guy that was making shots behind the line.

And just overall, guard play in general, the firepower from behind, the scoring punch, that's got to go up for us.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297