Video: IU players react to win over Northwood

  • 11/06/2014 10:08 pm in

Hanner Mosquera-Perea (10 points, 12 rebounds), Nick Zeisloft (24 points, six rebounds, three assists) and James Blackmon Jr. (26 points, seven rebounds, two steals) met with the media following Indiana’s 94-70 exhibition win over Northwood on Thursday at Assembly Hall.

Watch the full press conference below:

A full transcript, via ASAP Sports, is available after the jump.

Q. What was it like for you guys to get out and just play a game tonight, sort of get out there in front of the fans and get the whole experience?

NICK ZEISLOFT: It was great. We had a lot of fun out there tonight. We will continue to learn a lot from this tomorrow and Saturday and Sunday before our game on Monday.

Q. After what I would imagine was a pretty special week, how was it to just have the release to go out there and play?

JAMES BLACKMON, JR.: Yeah, it was a stressful week and that’s what we’ve been preaching, so I guess all the hard work we’ve been putting in this summer and preseason paid off a little bit.

HANNER MOSQUERA?PEREA: We have been dealing with that stuff, but we cannot let anything really get in between us right now. We just need to keep being strong, just keep working hard because we have a long season ahead of us, so just keep working on it.

Q. Nick, how do you think you played and why do you think you were so effective?

NICK ZEISLOFT: Well, my teammates made the extra pass a lot tonight. We’re going to continue, and there’s a lot of shooters out there and a lot of weapons that we have, and plenty of guys that can find the open man and make the play to get someone else open.

Q. You had a little bit of a struggle after that long three. After that start what do you think happened?

NICK ZEISLOFT: I mean, you’ve just got to stay with it. Shooters know that you just got to let the last one kind of go, and you’ve got to stay with it, and my teammates were great tonight getting in the lane and making passes. They deserve all the credit for getting me open tonight.

Q. Hanner, what did you like about what you did on the floor and what do you still need to improve?

HANNER MOSQUERA?PEREA: I still need to improve a lot of things, being careful with the ball, slowing down a lot. We’ve been working on a lot of things, just need to keep doing those things.

Q. What did you like that you did?

HANNER MOSQUERA?PEREA: You know, I was moving around. I was helping my teammates out with the rebounds on the defense, which is something I need to do a lot this season.

Q. You’re a shooter. Give me your take as a shooter on Nick. What did he do well?

JAMES BLACKMON, JR.: Well, just like you say, he’s a shooter, and like the mindset you have to have is if you miss, you can’t get down, just go for the next one. So I think that’s what he did, and I actually think that’s what we all did tonight.

Q. Talk about your performance, as well. Coach has talked about wanting you to be aggressive, being happy with you being aggressive offensively. In your first game in Assembly Hall how natural did it feel?

JAMES BLACKMON, JR.: Well, it felt really good to play my first game here. I felt my teammates gave me the confidence I needed to get going, and once they got me involved, I felt like it got better for me scoring the ball.

Q. Nick, how anxious was this team do you think to play a game here tonight?

NICK ZEISLOFT: I mean, we were pretty anxious tonight, but not just that. We understand with the new rules, the preseason is a longer preseason, so we were very anxious for that first one. We anticipated it a lot, and we were glad to get out there tonight. I mean, I’m sure we all can see that out there for us.

Q. Coach mentioned that you guys have been going to the hospital. He said some of you guys might go. Have you been able to talk to Devin, and if so, what have you said?

NICK ZEISLOFT: We’ve all been seeing Devin regularly. We’ve been conversing with him a little bit, and he’s been moving forward, and he’s going to continue to do that.

Q. If you guys don’t mind sharing, Coach said that Emmitt, Stan and Troy had 30 seconds to speak to you at halftime and after the game. What did they tell you?

JAMES BLACKMON, JR.: Well, they basically told us no second chance rebounds for them. We needed to do a better job of blocking out, and also they said move the ball around because we have a lot of scorers on this team, so they just said, keep it moving.

NICK ZEISLOFT: Yeah, they were doing a great job, even though they couldn’t play tonight. They were helping us out a lot. The ball stuck a few times in the first half, and then when it stopped sticking, we made our run, so that was one key that they saw and that helped us in the second half, as well.

Q. James, I want to get your thoughts on Hanner. What did you see from him tonight?

JAMES BLACKMON, JR.: We just know that he’s been consistent so far in practice every day. He’s working hard, and it looks like to me he’s getting better and being more of a leader this year, and I think it’ll keep going.

Q. Is there anything in particular you see in November that maybe he wasn’t doing in June or July?

JAMES BLACKMON, JR.: For me I really didn’t get to see it a lot coming in. To me I just know he’s been doing a great job of rebounding for us since we had a small lineup, and he did a good job of that tonight.

Q. You’ve talked about being more of a leader, and you’ve also talked about producing more on the court. How hard is it to be growing into both of those roles for you?

HANNER MOSQUERA?PEREA: That’s going to be hard for anybody, but just having the teammates I have, knowing they’re going to be there for me to help me help them, it makes everything easy for me.

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