Here is what Coach Crean had to say following last nights game per iuhoosiers.
Opening Statement:
“First and foremost, as we’ve watched on film, that’s the way basketball is supposed to be played in the way that they play together on offense and defense. They beat you on the pass more than they beat you on anything else and I think it starts with Jon Diebler, because he’s as good a shooter as there is in the country and the ball continually finds him back because of the way he finds other people. They’re such a dominant team and they’re so good at so many positions that you just can’t let guys do things that they don’t normally do in games. William Buford gets hot early with the three and it just creates everything else for the rest of the team. We did not have an individual match-up for Jared Sullinger, so therefore the game plan is to be in the zone and the way we practiced didn’t mirror at all how we came out in the game. We don’t move on the catch in practice, we move on the pass. We get into the game we move on the catch. We don’t have our hands up. There’s not as much ball pressure. And I know we’re not preparing against Ohio State in practice – and nobody is – but there’s too much of us not being proactive defensively. When you have a team that beats you on the pass as much as they do, that’s what kills you. Usually when you shoot 50 percent and 38 percent from three and the other team doesn’t make a field goal in the last 8:06 of the game, you’re going to be in pretty good shape, but not tonight because of the way they shot the ball from the three. And they play excellent team defense. So, we’ve got to, as I said to the team, it’s not like we go to the office and say, `Okay, let’s do nine different things in practice now.’ We’re doing the same things that we do, we’re just not doing them well enough. The one thing that you don’t get in the early schedule all the time, when you’re playing teams that aren’t as good as teams as these, and Ohio State is different because of how much talent they have, is that you don’t get the multi-dimensional players. These guys can beat you from three, they can beat you from the pull-up game, they can beat you at the rim and you’ve got to get up and you’ve got to establish more will and grit and resolve to that. That’s what we’ve got to learn to do and that’s what we’ve got to continue to work to do. It’s a discombobulated puzzle right now, but our job is to try and continue to put those pieces in the best position to play and compete and win each and every individual game. That’s what we get started on again as we get ready for the next one.”
On the difference between practice and the game:
“We’re not as good in practice, I mean as far as who we’re going against in practice that’s the obvious one. We’re just not aggressive enough. We’re not up into people well enough. You look at the game last night, Stanford-UConn, the best player in the country just absolutely had someone in her face the entire night. There was no space for her. Now, whether we’re man or zone, we don’t have a player that’s going to just come down and guard (Jared) Sullinger and again, we had a game plan and when he gets baskets, it’s because we’re not following the game plan. And I know it’s hard, I know it’s a lot easier said than done. Me, you, none of us could go out and guard that kid, I understand that, but we have do certain things and when we get away from that we have no margin for error. I think that’s what our team defense is like right now, there’s no margin for error because we’re not up into the ball enough, there’s not enough next man communication and help. You wrote that story about the communication and it aggravates me to no end that that’s the truth. It’s mind boggling that we can’t get that where it needs to be and that’s what we’ve got to continue to fight for and get it to the point where the next man, whether he’s to your side, whether he’s behind you, is continuing to give you the courage to get up and play, man or zone. And this is a different team because of the way they pass the basketball. Most teams do not move the ball off the pass as fast as they do because they can beat you off the dribble at any point in time as well, but they share it and they share it by making quick passes and that’s a tribute to that and the way they play, but it’s a tribute to their senior and junior leadership and the way that they play as well. Because it can be very easy to get stagnate in that team and try to go off and do your own thing when you have so many good players, but they don’t do that and that’s why they score so many points.”
On offensive success:
“When we moved the basketball we got what we wanted. When we got it reversed, when we got certain people in pick-and-roll situations, and that’s what I would say more than anything else. We missed some open shots, but they’re very good. They’ve got a good defense, they’ve got a really good defense and it will continue to get better. And it’s not because of their individual players, it’s because of the chemistry behind it and the way they protect and face it. They’ve got one of the best shot blockers in the country standing back there, you don’t even need to communicate, you know he’s back there. And, we don’t have that. We did, but he’s sitting down there in the sweats, but that’s just the way it is. We just got to be that much tighter defensively.”
On Ohio State never letting up:
“I never felt like we weren’t in the game. To the players’ credit, up until the very end, they didn’t play that way either. I said in here the other day at the 2:28 mark, it didn’t look like we could win. If we had played with the same spirit and energy Monday night that we had tonight – it’s not an excuse, we lost by 18 – but we’d have won the game. We’d be 1-1 going to Minnesota, but we’re not. So, we have to learn from that. They were good defensively when they had to be and especially late in the game when they had the lead and we didn’t make the big key stops when they had to be made. Again, it comes down to communication and moving on the pass.”