Michigan Postgame Comments: Tom Crean

  • 02/12/2011 7:16 pm in

(Photo via Indiana Public Media on Flickr.)

Here’s a transcript of Tom Crean’s comments to Don Fischer following the Hoosiers’ 73-69 loss to Michigan at Crisler Arena on Saturday afternoon:

On whether he was disappointed with Indiana’s start in the first half

“No question. First and foremost and like I said to them, aren’t we getting tired of being the team that plays real hard and makes comebacks and gets real close? I mean at some point we’ve got to get tired of that. And it’s never, ever about playing hard. And yesterday’s practice was a great example. And I walked out on this team at the very end of it because I was so disgusted with nobody grasping what I was talking about in this sense. We practice hard and play hard every day. There’s not a doubt about it. This is one of the hardest playing teams I’ve ever coached. But this is not a team that has any opportunity to ever back away from having a combative mindset when they practice. A combative temperament. It’s not just a basketball temperament. That sometimes is overrated. It’s a combative and it’s even more than competitive. When we’ve done that and we’ve built on that and when we’ve taken that to games, we’ve played very well. And what you saw in the comeback was a combative team. Very, very combative. We got calls, we were aggressive and it’s a disappointment because right now, we don’t understand that, we don’t put game plans together in like seven minutes. When we say we need to go inside, when we say we need to drive the ball, when we say we need to get to the rim, it’s not because it sounds good, it’s because that’s the way to win. And we start out this game as we want to attack and pressure and get transition defense and we took two three’s to start the game. That’s not how you can win in this league. And we’re going to keep pushing it and keep driving it. And those that figure it out and can deal with it, will be a part of the resurgence of this program and those that don’t they’re not to be able to play in this because we can’t be a team that plays half way. We’ve got to be all out, all the time.”

On the turnovers and inability to guard the three at the start of the second half

“It’s tough, it really is. But they don’t understand how to sustain what we need to sustain. That’s why I did a little subbing with it. But it’s just the way that it is. We’ve just got to keep getting better with it. And I’ve got to make sure that every time we recruit in this program, that we’re getting a winning, this is what it takes to win mindset. Because these guys are trying but when you’re not locked in all the time the way it needs to be, you’re going to run into moments like that. And there’s no way we should have been giving up three’s. There’s no way we should have been so offensive minded as we were in the sense of living on the perimeter. And it has nothing to do with having a post man in the game. You saw what happened. Our guards got a lot more when we ran our actions on the baseline. They called it much better in the second half to be frank with you. I mean, there’s no way we should have had the discrepancy on free throws in the first half. We were more aggressive in the second half and we got the calls.”

On whether he likes having a week before playing another game

“Well I never get too concerned one way or the other. There’s no question we’re going to work to get better. Last time we had it was after Northwestern and before Michigan and we got a lot better. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do. We do need to heal up, I understand that. We do need to continue to refine things. We’re playing a lot of discombobulated lineups right now and that’s the way it is. I’d love to tell somebody that I have a prototype way for this to be and we know we’re going to throw it to this guy and he’s going to score in the post or we know we’re going to throw it to that guy and he’s going to come off a great screen. It’s not the way it is. It’s not the way it is. Now it’s the way it will be. But it’s not the way it is yet so we’ve gotta keep doing everything we can do to find a way to win games individually, but at the same time improve the players individually and collectively and that’s what we’re going to use the week for.”

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