Player Post Game

Christian Watford, Jordan Hulls and Verdell Jones, III talk about the teams game with Purdue. The Hoosiers will travel to Ohio State on Sunday for a 4 pm et tip off.

Here is the transcript from Coach Crean.

Opening Statement:

“I think the bottom line in this game is we played very hard, they played very hard and they played very smart. We didn’t always do that. Offensively, they made their close shots and we missed, at one point, five one-foot and in shots in a row. Bottom line is do you get good shots, especially in the second half we did. We probably got more opportunities at the rim than we have in a long time. We didn’t complete it and they did.

“When it’s all said and done, those two (JuJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore) make the game so much easier for everybody else. They allow people to play over their talent level and that’s what great players do. We knew we had to be really good at stopping those two and we weren’t. When Johnson was out, we didn’t always capitalize the way that we could’ve. We missed some shots, but again, those guys make the game so much easier for their teammates. If we weren’t competing against them, it would be a joy to sit back and watch them because they make the game easy and we’re not there.

More after the jump.
“We played hard and we competed, but like I said, we weren’t as smart as they were. We had too many mistakes, especially in the first half, defensively. We couldn’t get over the hump. When we were missing close shots, they would come back and they would make something. They’re a very good team and those two are not only All-Big Ten players, but I don’t know how they both don’t make numerous All-American teams.”

On giving up transition 3’s in the first half:
“The transition was part of it. There’s no doubt about that. We made too many mistakes and it’s just the way that it is. You’re so focused on trying to stop those guys in the half-court and then all of a sudden other guys are hitting 3’s that they don’t always make, but again, they make the game easier for people. I’ve been there with teams that can do that. Boy, you can go a long way when you’ve got great players that can really pick everybody else up on that team. They all defend pretty high, but no question they made some shots in transition and we weren’t as good.

“Again, we had our chances. We felt like it was a long game. We felt like we were going to come back and we did. We just never got over the hump with making the shots that we need to make and then they answered the bell with some big shots of their own. You can’t have four point or five point swings in possessions like that when you’re getting great looks like we are.”

On keys to the game:
“We played hard, we really did. We competed. We got on the floor for loose balls. You look at the stat sheet and it’s a very even game except for the points off turnovers. There’s such a big difference there and our turnovers were costly because they were able to turn those into layups. Transition hurt us a little bit in the first half, helping off guys because we were trying to stop Moore on drives. We didn’t do a good enough job of one-on-one defense. You’ve got to keep your chest in front of him and we didn’t do that at all. We didn’t capitalize when we had the foul trouble on Johnson, we didn’t capitalize. You’ve got to capitalize on Patrick Bade and Travis Carroll. You’ve just got to do that and we didn’t do that.”

On the reason for Christian Watford’s struggles inside:
“I don’t know, you know, he got great looks. When you’re getting close shots and when you’re getting layups, I thought we moved the ball really well. We moved it better and we were a little more off the dribble in the first half. We really weren’t getting a lot out of that, but the whole game-plan was to keep the ball moving constantly and to attack and we got those. It’s like that rebounding bubble was up there a little bit, really it was. There were some in and outs.

“That’s what you want to get. You’ve got to try to drive it. You’ve got to give yourself a chance to score or get fouled when you’re playing against a team like this because if you let this thing differentiate with them with the way that they can get to the foul line, that’s going to be a problem.”