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INDIANA UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEJanuary 11, 2020Devonte GreenJustin SmithBloomington, Indiana Indiana - 66, Ohio State - 54 Q. Devonte, after what happened late in the Northwestern game, not playing the last 12 minutes, what was your mindset the past couple days, and how do you kind of explain being able to fight through the adversity and play as well as you did today? DEVONTE GREEN: I mean, the game never changes. I mean, some days it's good, some days it's bad. And you've just got to bounce back from the bad ones. So that was the mindset I had coming into today, to the next day, and to every day moving forward. I always want to have a better day than the last, bad or good. Q. I think obviously you guys were able to hold them to 16 points in the paint, seemed like it was really difficult for them to get inside. What went well on the defensive end to keep them from getting anything going? JUSTIN SMITH: I would say that Joey and De'Ron specifically did a really good job on Kaleb Wesson. They really made it difficult for him to catch the ball, and when he did get the ball inside, we really closed down the defense and they played really good defense on him. I mean, you've got to tip your hat to those two guys. Q. What does it do for you guys offensively when somebody like Rob comes out and hits three threes like that real quick in the game? DEVONTE GREEN: Energy. It gives us energy. The fans get hyped. Energy in the building, energy for our team. Q. To stay on Rob, obviously he's gone through a lot with the injuries and everything he's dealt with physically. What's it been like to see him battle through that, and what did it mean to you to see him come out and show the kind of progress he's making getting through everything? JUSTIN SMITH: He's a warrior, and he's stuck with it through the hard times. He was due for one of these games. He came out hot, and that really set the tone for the rest of the team going forward during the game. He's a key part of the team, and we're glad that he's playing well again. Q. Jerome played a lot of key minutes in this game. Obviously we dwell on the shooting numbers, but he's obviously doing some good things that we don't see in practice and had some good minutes today. What are you seeing out of him that stands out to you in practice? DEVONTE GREEN: He's a good player. He knows how to get his touches near the rim, and he knows how to finish around the rim or draw fouls, and he comes to practice to work every day. I think he deserves the night he had tonight. Q. Justin, it seemed like you guys had that scoring drought at the end of the first half and it seemed like you guys have had a tough time bouncing back from scoring droughts. What did you do to start the second half in a better way than you ended the first half? JUSTIN SMITH: I think that we let our defense create our offense. We really got some stops down the stretch that, although we really weren't -- we had a tough time at the foul line, and we really weren't hitting a ton of shots, but we just -- we really focused on defense, and Coach has really been on us about that, and it worked out tonight. Q. Devonte, if you wouldn't mind, I'm going to ask that talk-about question I hate, but talk about your commitment to defense tonight in general. DEVONTE GREEN: I've always been a player who took pride in my defense, and seeing it as a plus to my game is a big part of the game for our team specifically. But coming into tonight, I think I just had the mindset of I'm going to be the best that I can defensively so that we can get the W. Q. Did you come here with that? Are you saying that was your mindset? Did you think to play that way? DEVONTE GREEN: Yeah, definitely came into the game with that mindset. Q. As a freshman? DEVONTE GREEN: Yeah, even as a freshman I came in with a defensive mentality. It was one of the upper sides of my game coming in, even as a freshman. Q. For both you guys, double-figure win over the No. 11 ranked team in the country today. After some of the struggles you've had, what does this say about where you're at and where you guys can do? DEVONTE GREEN: I think we just take it one day at a time, one game at a time. We really don't worry about the ranking of the team or who it is. This is a good league, every team is going to be good, so we've just got to get as many wins as we can. JUSTIN SMITH: I would say that, like Devonte said, we really don't care about rankings, we're know we're going to have to play anyways, so we might as well go out there and play hard, try to win the game, and just see what happens. Q. Justin, Devonte's two best games have been against Florida State and Ohio State, which are your two biggest wins. Is that a sign how key he is to the success of this team? JUSTIN SMITH: Yeah. I mean, there's nobody in that locker room that doesn't doubt the necessity he is to our team. He can do a lot of different things. He can score, pass, defend. I mean, like he's a very, very important part to our team, and we need him in these big games, and he showed up. Q. Coach Miller talked a lot in the last game about needing to improve ball movement, that that was something that needed to get better. What worked well in that regard today and what didn't work well? DEVONTE GREEN: I think we moved the ball well today. We've been emphasizing it in practice, and I think we definitely displayed it on the court today. Q. Devonte, you've had to go through some up and down moments through the course of this year. How do you handle that yourself when you go out of a game, say like Wednesday night when it wasn't your best? Are you good at shaking it off and moving on? DEVONTE GREEN: Like I said earlier, there's just some bad days and some good days, and I just try to not let the bad days be too bad and try to bounce back from all bad days and limit my bad days, make them lower as I go forward. Q. Devonte, I know coming off the bench today, you kind of led the second unit. There were only five bench points against Northwestern. How much pride did you take in that, leading the second unit, and your thoughts on the other guys around you that stepped up off the bench today, as well? DEVONTE GREEN: What's the question? Q. Just about the bench production today compared to Northwestern, and you were part of that. DEVONTE GREEN: I mean, I try to lead the guys on the floor every time I'm on the floor. I mean, I guess today I just happened to be a big part of the bench, but everybody that came off the bench did play well and did what they needed to do in order for us to get this win. I'd say it's been more productive. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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