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INDIANA UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 23, 2018Romeo LangfordJuwan MorganJustin SmithBloomington, Indiana UC Davis - 62, Indiana - 76 Q. Coach talked about this is going to be a tough game. Did you expect it to be this difficult? JUWAN MORGAN: Yeah, we knew they were a tough-playing team. They run good offense. We just had 20 keep sticking to the script, guarding how we guard and I think as the game wore on, we started to get to them. I think that just was staying within ourselves, not trying to do too much, and I think as the game went on we started to wear them down. Q. Juwan, what did you make of the start? Did you feel there were minutes were they just playing really well? What did you make of that and what did you think the key was? JUWAN MORGAN: You have to give credit to them. They are a great team. They were hitting all the shots I'm pretty sure they hit in practice, but I think just defensively we started to just have more pride in ourselves, just playing harder on that side of the ball and I think that turned into good things on the offensive end. Q. Someone said that this off-season you shot a thousand three pointers a day. How far do you think you've come with making that a confidence shot for yourself? JUWAN MORGAN: I mean, I don't know about a thousand but I've always been confident about my shot. I've always considered myself a shooter. It just was a matter of time before they started going in. Q. Justin, at the risk of oversimplification, how much do you feel like if you are in a tight spot you can go through one of these two guys and if you need a play offensively or defensively, you can just kind of lean on one of these two guys next to you to make something happen? JUSTIN SMITH: They are definitely there for us when we needed a play, especially I think we were down maybe 11, 13 points, and Juwan really stepped up to start the game and really kept us a part of the game because they were trying to take it and run away with it. But these two guys over here they are very reliable, and having them on our side is very beneficial to us, especially when we do go through offensive lulls, they can really create their own shot and score the ball really well. Q. Romeo, they had led the entire game, you guys finally tied it when you got the baseline drive. Talk about that play and also talk about what you saw on the subsequent three that you hit on the right wing. ROMEO LANGFORD: Yeah, we were making a run. We were down by about two. Coached called a play for us and run and I just seen the lane to go in there and attack it, attack it hard and I was just going to get a foul and I made the shot to tie us up. The three that I hit to give us a better cushion, me and Juwan we ran a two-minute game and I just seen them backing off on me and I couldn't pass up that shot. He knew it was good when it left my hand everyone and on the team, they always give they confidence and give me the green light to shoot and I shot it. Q. Romeo, was your nose in the back of your mind at all at the beginning in terms of maybe taking a shot or anything that would have made you hesitant? ROMEO LANGFORD: No, not at all. Q. I know you didn't play in that game at Duke a few years ago, but going back down there, you played them tough last year. What does it mean to have a second crack in there and going into that environment in a big game? JUWAN MORGAN: It will be fun. It's us versus them. I can't wait to get there and the ball is in the air, the jump ball. There's not really much more I can say. I'm just excited. Q. Have you watched them at all so far in the first month? JUWAN MORGAN: I watched when they played Gonzaga the other day. They are a great team, but I feel we're a great team, so it should be a good game. Q. How much of this matchup is like a measuring stick to go against a team like that that's been top a ranked? JUWAN MORGAN: I think every game is a measuring stick. Just whether you can stay within yourselves and do the things that's been working for you all day or people will get out of traffic and try to do things they haven't done all year. I think every game we're able to hold ourselves to that. Q. Just in general, these last two games have been closer maybe than you guys have anticipated. Do you feel like having these type of close games is going to pay dividends later in the season when you've already been in a situation like this a couple times? JUWAN MORGAN: A hundred percent. I think being in these situations now always will pay off later. When games are tough and we're deep in the Big Ten season, I feel like guys will have been here before and we know what it takes to win these games and let's do it, and I really think that will get the guys going. Q. Romeo, ESPN has made a big deal about the IU-Duke game and you know some of those guys like RJ and Cam. What's the challenge like playing against those kinds of guys? ROMEO LANGFORD: Obviously they are really good players, an elite players. It really is not like really me, freshmens against freshmens or upperclassmen. It's Indiana against Duke. It's really a team effort. We're going to go in practice the rest of this week and get prepared for them and hopefully try our best and do what we do to get the win on Tuesday. Q. Justin, same kind of question. You guys showed some versatility tonight. You and Juwan operate inside a lot, but you drilled a three at the end, and Juwan was 5-7 a team, and you were 10 of 17 for three tonight. Do you think that's something that you have to show Tuesday night down there, too, that you can go outside and hit? JUSTIN SMITH: I would say if we stick to our game plan and play our game, we'll be right there to win the game when it comes down to it. But we're just going to go in there and play our game and not try and do anything, trying to showcase anything that we can do. We're just going to go in there and do what we do every day. Q. Romeo, when you decided to come to Indiana, a school of this stature, this Duke game coming up, is that one of the games that you looked at, as a team that you wanted to play for, that plays those kind of games? ROMEO LANGFORD: I don't think the Duke game was scheduled when I first committed, so I don't really know. Q. What does it mean to you guys, it's holiday time, a lot of people are out of town, the students are gone and you still got nearly 14,000 people here. Did they help you tonight? It seemed like they did. JUWAN MORGAN: Yeah, they definitely head us, I think they were into the game the whole time and I think as we started playing harder on defense I think they were inspired by them. We gave them something to cheer about, and in return they gave us energy on the offensive end, as we started to build a little lead, I think we just kept our foot on the gas and we never looked back. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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