Christian Watford, Cody Zeller, Jordan Hulls and Victor Oladipo met with the media on Sunday evening at Assembly Hall to discuss the Hoosiers’ selection as the No. 1 seed in the East region for the NCAA Tournament.
Watch and listen to their comments in the embedded media players below:
CHICAGO — The mood was somber in IU’s locker room following the Hoosiers’ 68-56 loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals on Saturday afternoon.
Inside the Hall caught up with Christian Watford, Cody Zeller, Jordan Hulls, Remy Abell, Victor Oladipo, Will Sheehey and Yogi Ferrell following IU’s exit at the United Center for postgame reaction.
Watch and listen to their postgame comments in the embedded media players below:
CHICAGO — Tom Crean, Cody Zeller, Victor Oladipo and Christian Watford met with the media following Indiana’s 80-64 win over Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals at the United Center.
Watch the complete press conference below and read a complete transcript after the jump:
CHICAGO — Indiana advanced to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since 2006 with an 80-64 win over Illinois on Friday afternoon at the United Center.
Here’s a look at five takeaways from IU’s comfortable win over the Fighting Illini:
· Indiana’s balance reigns supreme: When the Hoosiers are at their best offensively, the ball is moving and that was certainly the case on Friday afternoon as IU had assists on 16 of its 27 baskets. For a while, it appeared Cody Zeller would be well on his way to a career-high, but as his looks decreased down the stretch, other Hoosiers stepped in to fill the void. Eight of Yogi Ferrell’s 12 points and 10 of Victor Oladipo’s 12 came in the second half. In total, Indiana had five players finish in double figures in scoring and Jordan Hulls, who didn’t make a field goal, dished out seven assists. ”Coach always says ‘just spraying the court.’ When we do that and we’re just flowing, out there playing, I feel like that’s when we’re at our best,” Ferrell said. “Doing that got us a lot of drives, a lot of open look shots.”
· Productive minutes from the bench: A welcome sign heading into NCAA Tournament time was the production Indiana received from its bench. All five starters avoided foul trouble and played more than 30 minutes, but Will Sheehey and Remy Abell combined for 16 points in 29 minutes. Particularly of note was the performance of Abell, who hit a 3-pointer and a long two and finished with five, matching his total offensive output from his last six games. The play of Abell didn’t go unnoticed by Illinois coach John Groce. “I thought he gave them positive contributions, made a couple of jumpers, which he typically doesn’t do that,” Groce said. “Those are big plays.”
· Hoosiers avenge loss in Champaign: With less than 24 hours to prepare for Illinois, Indiana didn’t have too much time to think about last month’s collapse in Champaign. The Hoosiers led that game by 14 in the second half before a late collapse ended with a Tyler Griffey layup and a court storm by the Orange Krush. But as Illinois trimmed the IU lead to eight with 8:17 to go, the Hoosiers refused to allow the Illini to draw any closer in the rematch. IU quickly pushed the cushion back to 13 at the 5:31 mark on a Christian Watford 3-pointer. “All gas, no breaks” has been this team’s motto all season and offensively, Indiana kept attacking down the stretch rather than playing tentative.
Hoosier fans have often griped about Cody Zeller’s touches this season, but a re-watch of the final minute and a half of Indiana-Michigan reveals this simple fact: IU’s last five possessions were all about getting its big man the ball.
The first two didn’t end so hot: A quick entry pass from Yogi Ferrell on the right wing to Zeller on the right block resulted in a turnover — the ball going out of bounds. The second possession was again a pass off the right wing. Victor Oladipo entered the ball to Zeller, who was set up down in the right corner. A move to the middle of the lane resulted in a travel call for Zeller and IU was on the ropes.
But the Hoosiers stuck with it, running similar action on the last three plays, all resulting in Zeller scores. It was enough to top the Wolverines by a point and win an outright Big Ten title.
A look at these three scores in the latest edition of Film Session:
I. Ferrell streaks down the right side of the court. Oladipo is in a familiar spot in the corner. Christian Watford trails and heads to the familiar left wing. Like we similarly saw on the Ferrell entry pass turnover, Zeller comes over from the left block as Jordan Hulls looks to get a body on Jordan Morgan to set a screen for Zeller and free him:
Hulls gets some body on him and there appears to be a small window to hit Zeller on the right block:
But Yogi decides against it. As he brings the ball back up a bit, we see some secondary action, as Watford sets a screen for Hulls to try and free him up top for a 3-pointer. Zeller is also trying to make himself more available up near the right wing:
The Big Ten Conference released the annual All-Big Ten teams this evening live on the Big Ten Network and several Indiana players were among the honorees.
Michigan’s Trey Burke was named the conference’s player of the year, edging Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller. But Oladipo was named the defensive player of the year and was also on the all-Big Ten first team, along with Zeller, Burke, Michigan’s Tim Hardaway Jr. and Ohio State’s Deshaun Thomas. On the media’s first team, Ohio State’s Aaron Craft replaced Hardaway Jr.
Oladipo and Burke were unanimous picks for the all-conference first team. Oladipo and Craft were unanimous selections on the all-defensive team.
Indiana’s Will Sheehey was named the sixth man of the year, Christian Watford was on the all-Big Ten third team, and Yogi Ferrell was on the all-conference freshman team and also an all-Big Ten honorable selection by the media. Jordan Hulls was named all-Big Ten honorable mention by the coaches.
Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan was named the league’s coach of the year by both the coaches and media.
Derek Elston was IU’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honoree.
Full All-Big Ten teams after the jump.
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