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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 14, 2019Archie MillerJuwan MorganDevonte GreenChicago Ohio State - 79, Indiana - 75 COACH MILLER: Congratulations to Ohio State. They played a really well-played game. And we just didn't play at a high enough level for long enough of stretches in the game on either end of the floor to keep ourselves in a little better striking distance. And you've got to give them credit for that. I thought offensively that was probably as poor as we've played here in a long time. Our turnovers in the first half really broke us down in terms of giving them 17 points off turnovers. We had 10 in the first half. And that was kind of a little bit of a deal-breaker for us at halftime. And then I thought in the second half, hopefully coming out of halftime we would be able to regroup. But we weren't able to make a couple plays there in the first four, eight minutes, especially long rebounds and some 50/50 plays that just kept the lead right at the same time. Then once they broke it open, I thought our team kind of responded how we normally have. And to their credit, especially the guys that finished the game, to be 55 seconds in a one-possession game, I thought showed a lot of heart, which is what this team's had a lot. It's been some really tough sledding at times and we've had some good moments. But to finish the game like that was encouraging for the guys that were on the floor. But just weren't good enough at this game at this level for what was at stake -- needed to play smarter and sharper and at the end of the day be better defensively in terms of rebounding, some things that we could control and we didn't. Q. Juwan, obviously it's hard to play with foul trouble. How much does that disrupt your rhythm, just when you're having to worry about the whistle and you know you're going to be sitting down for a while, more than you want to, what goes through your mind? JUWAN MORGAN: Just gotta stay in the game, stay engaged in the game mentally. That's just as important as the physical aspect of it. And you have to be ready to go once you go back in. You can't sit there saying, I should be playing, the refs or anything. You have to just be ready to go once you're back out there. Q. You talked about once they kind of broke it open you guys responded. During that crucial couple minutes, what was going on? Were they just making shots and you weren't, or what did you see happen there? COACH MILLER: Combination of things. Obviously offensively we weren't scoring or turning it over. And I think just our overall toughness on the ball wasn't good enough. When the screens hit us, in my opinion we died on a few and we had to stay a little longer than we needed to in rotation. And I thought they delivered the ball out of the ball screen a few times off of the corner pass and they made some timely 3s. We struggled. We just did. We struggled for whatever reason. We struggled on the ball today. If you look at their guards play, you know, if you look at C.J. Jackson and you look at Keyshawn Woods, 35 points between those two guys and nine assists and three turnovers. Guards win at this time of year. They've got to make plays. They've got to make shots, because it's difficult. And those guys made some really, really big baskets for them inside out of the post. I thought Woods in particular, he may have scored the last seven points or at least seven in a row in a tough stretch when we couldn't do it. So those guys played well. And Kaleb, let's be honest with you, if Kaleb isn't an all-conference player then I don't know what one is. He hasn't played in the last three games. That drastically changes the structure of what you're doing. I thought he did a great job getting back. They did a great job getting him the ball. And they're a tournament team. And at the end of the day they advance and I wish them well. Q. Talk a little bit about Devonte's play and stepping up when the team really needed some bucket late. COACH MILLER: He was all we had there for a while. He stepped up and made shots. That's what it's going to have to be like in this type of a game. They're going to give some guys some shots. You're going to have to step up and make some easy, assist-type passes early in possessions where you don't over-dribble. They crowded the floor on the dribble all game long. I thought Devonte here in the last three weeks has really raised his level of play. He was great yesterday in our workout. He's the one guy, he's playing with really good confidence right now. And he hit some late ones there that were long ones. But without him I don't think we would have even been close coming back that last eight minutes. He made some really good plays for us. He's had a good finish in the last month of the season for us, which is good to see for an older guy. Q. What do you think this means for you guys going forward, especially regarding the NCAA Tournament? COACH MILLER: We'll wait and see. It will be difficult. Our resumé at the end of the day if you put it up there with a blank sketch I'm sure it compares favorably to some other teams. We've played a ridiculous schedule. And obviously have beaten teams that obviously made the tournament. And I think the one thing in this stage when you're comparing everybody -- can you beat a team in the tournament? Can you win a game? And this team can win a game in the tournament because it's played good ball here lately and has also played good ball early. When you're able to beat a Marquette or Louisville, you're able to get a Michigan State twice. You're able to get Wisconsin here lately. Those teams are all highly seeded teams. So are we capable? Yes. Did we do enough? I'm not sure. I know if we are in the tournament, I believe our guys are capable of winning the game. But for me to speculate, it's hard. I know that our league is the toughest in the country this season. And to play the schedule that we've played and be able to sort of come up with our head above water here these last three weeks is a good sign. So we'll take whatever they give us. You obviously earn what you get. And for us right now we'll just kind of wait and see. But I think our league in general, though, will be represented well. Q. Ohio State, I assume you think they are a tournament team at this point? COACH MILLER: Yes, they're in the tournament. And I hope they get rewarded with that. Their last three games, like I said, are playing without a dominant player. So that has to go in consideration with their resumé as well. And they should definitely be in the tournament. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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