INDIANA UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 23, 2021

Miller Kopp

Xavier Johnson

Postgame Media Conference

Indiana 70, Jackson State 35

Q. Get your offensive game going a little bit more and attack the basket early and got bunch of points early. Was that part of the mindset to be aggressive?

XAVIER JOHNSON: The mindset for every game is to be aggressive. For the past two game I been in foul trouble in the first half, so where I can be aggressive in the first first half. Today I was on the floor, I was available for my team to play.

I just can't say anything else. We came out on top.

Q. Xavier, what do you think worked well against their zone and what did you particularly try to do to keep everybody flowing against the zone they were using?

XAVIER JOHNSON: Movement and ball penetration really helped us against the zone, and late in the second half I think I drove it out Miller and I saw that he was just kept being wide open, they was leaving him wide open. That created more scoring opportunities.

Q. For both of you guys, why do you feel your defense has been so impactful to start the season?

MILLER KOPP: I think that's just what coach harps on the most. In practice every day we start with defense and that's what we focus on a lot, and when he first came here that's what he talked to all of us about is guarding.

Q. Xavier, how difficult do you think it is for teams to prepare for your game changing elite speed?

XAVIER JOHNSON: It's hard because you can't prepare against speed. I just got to be composed and be available for my coaches and my teammates to be on the floor to help them out so we can win.

Q. Xavier, what are you doing to kind of balance maintaining being aggressive while still playing under control? Those two things seem like they're a conflict. How do you go about preparing and managing that?

XAVIER JOHNSON: I mean, it's a lot of film that goes into that. I mean, I try to slow down and speed up, recognize numbers. Today, I mean, I just took advantage of that and I was successful with it, so I'm just going to keep on getting better and better at doing that.

Q. Miller, obviously Xavier just mentioned you were able to find some holes in the zone; what were you trying to do against that? What were you doing to try to find some holes against it and what do you think worked out for you and the team as a whole against the zone?

MILLER KOPP: I think it took us a couple possessions to figure it out, but after that we just wanted to move and get some obviously open looks and get the ball in the middle of the zone and make plays from there.

We felt like if we get the ball there we could get lobs and kick-outs and wouldn't be able to make plays from there.

Q. This is for either one of you. Is there anything that you guys do specifically in practice just to work on communication or what has allowed you to have kind of this advanced defense so early in the season?

MILLER KOPP: I think it's nothing like special. It's just coaches are always on us about talking in walk-thrus and stretching and whatever it is. If we're doing anything, we need to be talking and over-talking pretty much.

Q. Xavier, what's your take, you played against a lot of really good point guards. Give me your take on Khristian Lander, a young guy developing; what do you see with him?

XAVIER JOHNSON: I see a guard that's just come out of high school, he's a five star, he didn't play much last year, but honestly when I came here I wanted to help him out and just help him be a point guard.

I'm not the greatest point guard, but I played against a lot of point guards and I'm just trying to put my competitiveness in him because I see a bright future in him.

Q. Give me two or three things you see that he does really well?

MIKE WOODSON: He shoots the ball really well in practice. I know it doesn't show in the game, but that's going to get better. That's more of a confidence level thing. He plays really good defense. Yeah, he really runs the team well as well.

Q. You guys have been really good at two-point defense this year. Obviously helps having Trayce and Race in the paint behind you as guards on the perimeter. How helpful is it to have those guys being able to block half the shots that go into the lane?

MILLER KOPP: It's nice, you know, for everybody in the perimeter knowing those two guys are back there just protecting the paint, protecting the rim. Every shot is pretty much contested, and it's hard to get lay-ups and make lay-ups against those two guys.

So it's good.