What Darian DeVries Said Before Indiana Basketball's Road Game at No. 8 Illinois

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana men's basketball coach Darian DeVries met with reporters Friday afternoon before the Hoosiers (17-8, 8-6 Big Ten) face No. 8 Illinois (20-5, 7-2 Big Ten) at 1 p.m. Sunday inside State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois.

Here's what DeVries told the media during his near-11-minute press conference.

Q. Darian, just looking back at Lamar's 41-point game last time out and then what he's done overall in Big Ten play, how is he able to get these shots and then kind of capitalize it on them once he gets them?

DEVRIES: Yeah, I just think he's done a great job, obviously, finding his windows all year long. And he's getting a lot of attention. So, he's had to really work at learning how to get open. And our guys have done a great job of finding ways to screen for him and locate him and especially when he gets into a zone of making sure that he continues to get those touches and opportunities to have the nights like he has. But he's playing at an incredibly high level. He's got to be in that conversation with a few other guys as the best player in the league this year.

Q. I'm curious just on Tucker recently. It seems like early in the season, he's obviously scoring more. He had the shooting slump, but it seems he's figured out different ways to kind of contribute to the team, make others better, particularly the rebounding and his ability to dish out assists. How have you maybe seen his game evolve as the season has went along and his ability to play all these minutes has also been, I think, an important thing recently?

DEVRIES: Yeah, I think for us, he's such an important piece of really what we do at both ends of the floor. And us being a little undersized, he's having to really try to manage that four spot, and rebounding's a big piece of that. So, he's in a wrestling match every night down there, but we've made more of a focused effort kind of this last five, six, seven games or so to just get the ball in his hands more so he can play make, facilitate, be able to get in the paint a little bit, use his size once he gets in there to either score or distribute to somebody. So, his all-around game has been really good. And I feel like the shooting's starting to come back here a little bit. He's been shooting it great in practice, like we've talked about, and now he's hit a few here recently in these games. So I feel good about where he's at as we get ready for this stretch run.

Q. Yeah, I believe after Monday, you mentioned with Sam that you kind of had to admit the mistake you made with him earlier in the year. What was that mistake, if you don't mind sharing? And kind of what does that process look like of trying to scout your own team, scout your own choices, kind of weighing that with trying to prep for whoever you play next?

DEVRIES: Yeah, I think the thing with him is just getting him a couple more touches on the block. A lot of our offense is designed around five out. So, just finding different ways, maybe even though it's not directly in our offense, with him in that post a lot. But we want to try to get him some more opportunities down there where he can play one-on-one because of the shooting that we have. He has opportunities where they're probably not bringing a double team. And I think he's done a nice job of taking advantage of that, especially these last couple of games.

Q. Yeah, Conor's high-level effort and energy always stand out when you watch him on the court. You obviously have spent a lot of time with him, recruited him out of high school at Drake. When did you realize that he was this type of guy who lays it all out there every night? Was there, like, a specific moment watching him where that hit you?

DEVRIES: I mean, it was really in the recruiting process back in high school. I've shared this story before. One of the games, I went and evaluated him. He didn't score a single point and dominated the game because he was getting deflections, getting assists, diving on the floor. I just loved everything about him, his ability to lead and desire to want to win. No matter what that looks like on the stat sheet for him, he doesn't care. So those are the type of guys that they just help you win in every facet of the game.

Q. Yeah, Coach, I guess when you look at Illinois, what concerns you, and in particular, how do you counter their size?

DEVRIES: There's a lot that concerns you when you watch Illinois. I mean, they're a really, really good basketball team. And I saw a stat the other day that they hold the record right now for the highest efficient offense in KenPom history. So they are just so big and balanced. And they do a great job of exploiting mismatches and then the offensive rebounds. So there's really not much of a weakness that you can really try to attack. So they present a lot of challenges for you in that way.

Q. Coach, I'm assuming this has been a good week for Tayton, both getting past the illness and the ankle. As you look forward to these next few games, I know you guys have played really well and been winning lately. Like, how do you factor that into, like, getting him back into the rotation?

DEVRIES: Yeah, we'll just take it a game at a time and see what those rotations look like. But as we head into it, we'll stick with what we've been going with here recently and try to get him back involved as that happens. And then those minutes will be distributed based on kind of how we're playing, how he's playing, and we'll just take it from there.

Q. Coach, Nick Dorn had been going through kind of a tough stretch shooting-wise. It looked like he got unglued on those three free throws. Did that get him back into rhythm? And is the rest going to be good for his legs since he kind of missed a lot of that preseason program?

DEVRIES: Yeah, I'm not worried about that. He had a couple games he didn't shoot it as well. And he had some other things that we were working through, too, as that flu bug went through us. But in that game, those three free throws, like, a lot of times just seeing the ball go through the net is a good thing, and that can lead to more opportunities. And I thought after those three free throws, he knocked a couple down. So, I never worry about Nick shooting. Like we said, game to game, you're going to have an off night or two. But he's a good shooter, and we want him to keep letting them fly.

Q. Coach, you spent a lot of time as a head coach in the Missouri Valley, and then you spent last year in the Big 12. So this is obviously your first year in the Big Ten. What's it — I know you're focused, like, on each game — but from a coach's perspective, you're, what, three-quarters of the way through almost your first season in the Big Ten. What's it been like just coaching in this league? And I know coaches like to advocate that this is, their league's the best league in America. But what is it about winning in the Big Ten that's so difficult?

Well, I think, first of all, you have a lot of really good teams. The depth from top to bottom is incredible. And I think when you think about comparing different leagues, I think the Big 10, the biggest difference is that that four and five spot, especially just the size and the physicality is maybe a little bit deeper than it was maybe in some other leagues even back to when I was in the Big East. But just overall, I think the quality of the depth and then also the great home-court advantages that teams have in this league, I think, plays a big part in, too, what makes it so hard to play. You're not playing in very many empty gyms, and you have some — maybe three or four or five — of the best environments in the entire country that you got to go try to win at.

Q, Yeah, Darian, a lot of players talk about this time of season kind of being the dog days of the year, especially with you guys going to Puerto Rico in August. How do you keep them focused during this stretch? And then do you think the three games in basically three weeks helps or hurts the mental focus of the team coming up here?

DEVRIES: Yeah, I anticipate at least getting our legs back a little bit is a good thing.

So, our guys are feeling really pretty good for the most part. The West Coast trip and then coming back and having those two games in three days, was a good one, a good segment for us. But having that break right afterwards, I think was a good timing from our perspective. So, this time of year, practice-wise, you cut back quite a bit anyway as you're getting into February, because you do want to prioritize keeping everybody as fresh as possible so that on game day, you got everything you need to go compete.

Q. Looking at Illinois' defensive analytics, they seem like they allow opponents to attempt a lot of threes, which obviously you guys are looking to shoot a lot of threes as well. Is that what are you seeing of them defensively from a perimeter standpoint? Is that almost like a trap to think you guys are just going to get 35 good looks on Sunday?

DEVRIES: Yeah, I mean shooting threes is a big part of what we do on offense. But they're still going to make it difficult. You still got to do things to get yourselves into spots to create those opportunities. And as we talked about on offense, the same thing is true on defense. They just have so much size everywhere that when you do get in the paint, you got to be pretty selective on how much you want to challenge them. But you still got to get in there and try to get some rim opportunities. And that'll be a challenge for us, playing in transition as well. But in order to play in transition, you got to get stops. And that's always been a big part of our game as well — you can't run when you're taking the ball out of the net. So, getting stops is going to be a big part of that.

Q. Yeah, kind of on that note, with Wagler for them, just what kind of stands out to you about him and how do you slow him down?

DEVRIES: Yeah, he's tough. I mean, they do such a good job of putting you in situations where you got to choose if you want to switch or if you want to commit to the ball. And then he makes the right decision if you put two to the ball and they got shooting everywhere. So that's what makes him so difficult. And then when he does get the switch, he'll shoot it from anywhere. So you have to be so close. And if you're too close, he's going by you and making the right play a lot of times. And he has that ability a little bit like Lamar where he can just, he can get them in a hurry. And so, yeah, I think you got to try to just do as best a job as you can, make sure he's got your focus all the time and not let him get started. Because once he does, he's really difficult to bring back.