	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

February 7, 2019

Archie Miller

Bloomington, Indiana

Iowa - 77, Indiana - 72

ARCHIE MILLER: Well, tough game. Hard fought. Obviously Iowa deserves a ton of credit with their play. They made really, really big baskets, timely baskets and they came up with about five to seven balls, especially in the second half that were right there for the grabbing and we couldn't get it, and first half, you know, give them credit.

They were good against our turnovers in transition. They got a lead. But I wasn't terribly disappointed in our team tonight. I thought we were really together again offensively, whether it was the man or the zone we continued to be able to get 17 assists in the game, which is something we've got to keep doing and we shot a good percentage, as well.

19 points off of our turnovers probably hurt us more than anything but give them credit. They are really hard to guard and it showed tonight.

Q. You talked about the need for programs to get older over time. There's two, three-year veterans, Cook and Bohannon.
ARCHIE MILLER: They have been doing it all season long. They are 18-5. They just beat Michigan at home last week.

You watch them on film, I mean, they are unbelievably well-coached offensively. They have got great pace. They have got an inside-out attack. They have got multiple shooters, and they have the ability to play some zone, as well, and stay big. They don't have to play man-to-man with two big guys in the game the whole game. They mixed it up with their defenses tonight and stuck with the zone most of the time.

We had some good possessions, not, but without question you can watch their team, they are much improved from a year ago. Their young players are now getting a little bit older, but they are really in sync.

Q. The first half, the three-point shot really hurt you, was it just not getting up, not knowing they could shoot that far --
ARCHIE MILLER: We closed out soft and we -- what I mean by that, is we closed out short. We were short on a lot of close-outs and they got range, and you know, Weiskamp got going early in the game. I think he made all four of his 3s in the first half.

Part of that was they had to go small at times because of their foul trouble, and that small lineup presents some challenges at times with their spacing and ability to shoot the way they did.

And we also had some breakdowns in transition, as well, but I think they made seven in the first half. End up making three, and I think all three of them the second half were unbelievably big daggers by Bohannon.

Q. Some of those shots, you talked about Iowa making tough shots. It felt like you worked them to the end of the clock a lot and they were make something tough ones. How much of that was you guys struggling to close out possessions or how much was them finding a tough shot, I guess?
ARCHIE MILLER: We were in a lot of situations under ten on the clock. I mean, the game -- even in the first half or the second half, so at the end of the day, that's going to come down to guarding the ball and getting a long rebound or a 50/50.

You know, Bohannon made an unbelievable step back on Al midway through the second half late at the clock.

Obviously the big one at the end there was really, I think it was a pretty deep shot, as well. They also got some plays in and around the basket under ten seconds where we committed a silly foul or didn't get the first-time rebound and we had some breakdowns at the finish line in terms of being able to close out possessions with good stops.

They were able, for whatever reason, I saw three or four balls deflected on the pass that land in play and they get it and there was a few that were raked out of the paint and it was on the ground and they get it. You have to find a way to get those balls, you know to, win this type of a game. We were never able to get it even and then play with a lead. We were always constantly clawing.

And again, like I said, they were having a great season. They have a really good team and this game right here, it's going to be evaluated just like Michigan State: Are we in check with our attitude; did we come together; did we play hard, and did we play unselfish, and I think we did a lot of those things.

We just weren't quite good enough to finish this one off just in terms of being able to get one-time stops and then obviously being able to quality-possessions with shots when we needed to in those last maybe five minutes.

Q. Michigan State, I believe, it was 27 points off the bench. Tonight, 7. Is that just circumstantial or is there anything you can point to?
ARCHIE MILLER: I mean, if you look, De'Ron and Devonte had, I believe, 24 of the 27.

So if you look at De'Ron and Devonte tonight, De'Ron, although he played 22 minutes and I thought he did some good things to for us, he had 7 assists, zero turnovers and end up scoring four points, makes some free throws.

And then Devonte didn't play as well as he played the other night. In his 16 minutes tonight, he didn't have what I would say a solid game just in terms of being able to take care of it and being able to get into a rhythm offensively.

So those are the two big cogs coming off the bench, and from a scoring standpoint, obviously they didn't give us the scoring.

But De'Ron and Devonte both contributed in the game and that's more of what we'll have to get from them.

Q. You mentioned the 17 assists and 21 three-point attempts. What did you like about the way your offense was moving even with the shots not falling, and what did De'Ron do against the 2-3 zone that allowed you to unlock some things?
ARCHIE MILLER: The first half, the turnovers hurt us. We had eight at halftime and end up finishing with 12, so we didn't turn it over as much in the second half, which is good.

De'Ron gives you high-post and a low-post guy, he can catch it down there and he can command it in the paint and he's a good passer out of the post, as well. He's good against the zone. He wasn't able to get as many shots up as he probably is normally accustomed and us being able to find him to get him the shot but he was fine.

Our zone offense in the second half, we end up shooting, I guess, we ended up shooting 48 percent, 49 percent from the game.

And you know, in the first half, I think from three, we were 4-for-12, so in the second half, obviously, you know, 7-for-21 in the game with some timely ones.

But our offense, to me, you can scrutinize it and you can go through it, and our defense wasn't able to finish it, you know, finish possessions tonight. And we had that on Saturday. We were able to get one-time stops and rebounds and be able to hang in there.

Tonight, we fouled, we didn't come up with the loose ones, the long ones, and they made some big ones and some tough ones, as well, at the end of the clock.

Like I said, they are really good, and we'll take this and we've got to get better from it. We've a fast turnaround and Ohio State on Sunday, so it's going to be the same thing.

Q. To follow up on that, De'Ron had something like 11 assists in the last two games. Just how much of a factor does his passing need to become for you guys because it feels like a lot of those have set-up 3-pointers in particular?
ARCHIE MILLER: Like I said, he's a good low-post player with a good feel how to get the ball from the low-post to either dive, the other guy or outside on the skips, and tonight I think he did a really good job. He hit Dustin a couple times cutting. He caught one left elbow, skimmed it left corner to Devonte for a big three.

He's doing a good job in terms of handling the ball for us. He's always been a good player in terms of with his back to the basket, being able to understand what's a good shot, bad shot and being able to deliver the ball out from the high-post.

Again, his 22 minutes to night, I think 25 the other day, he's playing tired, right now, as well. He's got to continue to work through that, but he's a lift for us right now. He's been a lift.

Q. Outside of De'Ron, you had ten assists and 12 turnovers. How would you grade the perimeter passing?
ARCHIE MILLER: I thought the first half, in particular, we were lackadaisical and probably a little bit sloppy with them. Devonte did not have the best floor game tonight.

Our other guys, one here, one there. Rob's 4 to 1. Al is basically 1 to 1 and Romeo is 2 to 1, so it's not like 10 to 3 is very bad from your perimeter.

It's just you have a couple possessions there that didn't go well that felt bigger than they were. Whether it was a couple turnovers in the part of the game that obviously we had some odd lineups in. Had a little bit more inexperienced team playing with one another.

And you know, big deal, Juwan. You know, it's tough. It's tough for our team to not have him on the floor for that amount of time with foul problems. We have to find a way to keep him on the floor with fouls and he has to be a little bit smarter, I guess, and it was tough when he got that fourth one so early.

Q. Looking ahead to Ohio State game, do you think that's a big game for the team for Tournament chances?
ARCHIE MILLER: Every game's a big game.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297