Saturday afternoon, the IU men's basketball team will take on in-state rival Purdue at 2 p.m. in Assembly Hall for the second meeting of the two Indiana schools. When the teams first played this season on Jan. 30 in West Lafayette, IU won in dominating fashion, 97-60, yet the Hoosiers failed to stop freshman A.J. Hammons from dominating in the paint, as he went off for a career-high 30 points.
IU Coach Tom Crean said after that game that his team would have to adjust to how to defend Hammons to prevent him from having another career night. Friday afternoon, Crean, along with freshman guard Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell and sophomore forward Cody Zeller talked to the media about attempting to stop Hammons, along with their experience at Purdue a few weeks ago and several other topics.
Crean on how to defend Hammons
"I'll make it hard for him to catch it. I think that's going to be key. I think making it harder for him to get it where he wants it and continuing to make him work on the defensive end of the floor, and then blocking him out because for a tall guy, he's very quick. He's very quick. He's got quick moves. He's got quick feet, and you've got to get into his body on the block outs, and if you don't, he can get around you in a hurry."
Crean on playing three games in 6 days
"It's very challenging to have it happen the way it does, two out of three weeks. We've got to be very concerned with making sure your preparation is right and your energy is right. It's not like our guys go into any game and take possessions off or coast through it. We don't have any of that. Our guys are playing as hard at the end of the game as they were during it."
Crean on what he needs to see from his bench players
"Playing the games at the same level of confidence that they practice in. When you practice, you're going against really good players. Remy is locking up against Yogi, Victor, and it's just carrying that over to the games and just making sure they bring that same level, and that's the beauty of having a group of talented players."
Crean on living up to the 37-point win against Purdue this season
"I think when you're starting to look ilk 'How are we going to do this? How are we going to do that? How are we going to live up to this or that?' and you start giving your team negative energy. We're not about negative energy or negative thoughts. We're about how to get better inside the game that we're in. We played well that night, and we had to play that well to win on the road and beat them, and we're going to have to play really well tomorrow."
Zeller on maintaining the same level of focus they did in the first game against Purdue this season
"We're going to have to come out and play with the same intensity, the same fight. We did a lot of things right, but there were several things we could have done even better that game and the past few games we've played. There's always room for improvement, and we'll have to come out and play well.
"The reason why we won by so much last time is we came out with a lot of energy and toughness, and that's the same thing we're going to have to have tomorrow night."
Ferrell on the intensity of playing Purdue Saturday
"It's rivalry. We're ending rivalry week here, so playing against Purdue gives us a little more of an edge, I'd say."
Ferrell on what he learned by playing in his first IU-Purdue game
"I realized how much Purdue hates us. I'd never really seen it. I'd heard about it, but to actually witness it and hear the things that they say at us, they really do hate us. I wouldn't even say it's a bad thing. It just adds to it. It just shows how great this rivalry has become the past few years"
