HD Video: IU players react to win over Chicago State

  • 11/08/2013 9:46 pm in

Devin Davis (10 points, nine rebounds), Noah Vonleh (11 points, 14 rebounds, three blocks) and Jeremy Hollowell (16 points, four rebounds and four blocks) met with the media following IU’s season opening 100-72 win over Chicago State on Friday night at Assembly Hall.

Watch their postgame comments in the embedded media player below:

Quotes are available after the jump.

Q. Talk about the defensive effort that you had and the blocked shots?

Noah Vonleh: We’re a big team; we’re really long. Coach stresses defense every day in practice, and we just want to keep getting back in transition, finding our man and just running after the boards and things like that.

Q. Jeremy, talk about how much emphasis was put on taking the ball to them and being aggressive?

Jeremy Hollowell: We knew they were going to get up and press us. We prepared for it this week. With the new rules, we wanted to take advantage of it and attack the basket and get fouled. I think we did a good job of that.

Q. You guys seemed like you really enjoyed that fast pace out there tonight and really attacked the basket. Could you talk about that?

Devin Davis: Yeah, I like to play fast pace and get out there. When we’re playing Chicago State or any other team, or just this team, we like to get up and down and just run.

Q. Just how quickly did comfort come to you guys in your first regular season game?

Devin Davis: I mean, it came pretty fast. You’ve just got to play relaxed. There are guys out on the court that will help you get through it, and if you make a mistake, they’ll just tell you the next play.

Noah Vonleh: Like Devin said, guys will help us get through at the things. I think the exhibition has helped a lot, getting the feel for what to expect playing against Division II teams. I think we came out and brought it into this game.

Q. Talk a little bit about your mentality going into that (the free throws)?

Noah Vonleh: Yeah, I just told myself I need to start calming down and focus on the shot and I’ll make it. Before I felt like I was just rushing myself, that was it.

Q. Jeremy, how did the athleticism of this team, how is it different than last year? How does it change you guys on the court?

Jeremy Hollowell: It allows us to get up on guys and use our length. We’re really athletic, but we’ve got to do a better job of getting back on defense. But the athleticism helps with the rebounding, obviously, and defensively. Like you said, with the blocking size, we just use our length, and it factors in for us.

Q. Jeremy, how can this team be stronger around the rim, and what areas do you need to improve in as a team?

Jeremy Hollowell: Could you repeat that, please?

Q. Do you think the team will be stronger around the rim, and what areas do you need improve on?

Jeremy Hollowell: Yeah, definitely, we’ve got a lot of slashers and a lot of guys that like to crash and play above the rim. The biggest thing coming from this game is we’ve got to get back in defense like I said. I thought they got out a lot of easy points on the fast breaks. So I think that’s one thing we’ve got to focus on, taking care of the ball and things like that.

Q. Jeremy, you talked about being more athletic this year, all three of you did, and Coach has talked about being more aware. Do you feel like after looking back a little bit tonight getting there as a team that you maybe understand better just what length and athleticism means to this team and what goes with it?

Jeremy Hollowell: Yeah, definitely. We’re still a young team and we have a lot to learn. But our length, we’re just going to use it to our advantage. In practice, we’re getting after it, and it carries over into the game. So I think we just need to keep competeing in practice and then going after each other. I think it will help us out.

Q. Jeremy, with the career high 16 points tonight, what do you feel allowed you to get into a rhythm tonight and on the offensive end?

Jeremy Hollowell: I think attacking the basket, and getting points at the free throw line. I just felt really comfortable out there once I got out there. But I think attacking the basket and getting to the free throw line, getting some easy points off the line helped.

Q. Those four blocks also worked for Devin and Noah. Could you also talk about the record day? 15 total fouls called. In your first college game, how tough was it to have that stop and start because there were so many foul calls and so many stoppages in the play of the game, and you didn’t have quite the rhythm?

Devin Davis: Well, with the new rules, like Jeremy said, we just wanted to take advantage and the touch fouls that the refs are going to be calling. We’re kind of used to the start and stop because we go over the touch fouls in practice, and just every foul we shoot free throws.

Noah Vonleh: With the new rule, we just want to keep using our length and athleticism, keep our hands up, and don’t put your hands on a guy and work on free throws a lot in practice also.

Q. How much did length and athleticism make up for guys? How many times were you not in great position and able to get a block or something like that?

Jeremy Hollowell: It played out for us really well. Sometimes we maybe get blown by. We’ve got a good help side defense. The length is just a big factor for us with this team. We can rotate guys around, guard different positions and everybody plays good help side defense. We just use it to our advantage blocking shots, deflections and things like that?

Q. How comfortable were you bringing the ball up the court?

Noah Vonleh: I’m really comfortable bringing up the ball. I did that a lot in high school. Coach Crean wants me to be really versatile. So he said, whoever gets the ball, just push it up the court, and Yogi can run up and we’ll start our offense. We’re just going to keep working hard and hopefully I can get more double doubles.

Q. What was that?

Noah Vonleh: I said I’m going to keep working hard and getting better and hopefully I can keep getting double doubles.

Q. Jeremy, do you guys block shots like that in practice, what was your favorite blocked shot tonight?

Jeremy Hollowell: I mean, we definitely work on shots like that in practice. Everybody’s meeting at the rim in practice. You have to go up strong and finish in practice. But my favorite block was probably when Yogi on the fast break when the guy kind of had Yogi and he just came over and blocked. That was probably my favorite. I don’t really even remember any of my other blocks to tell you the truth, but I guess I have four, so I’ll take it.

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