What Darian DeVries Said After Indiana Basketball's 100-77 Win vs Marquette

CHICAGO — Indiana men's basketball coach Darian DeVries spoke to the media after the Hoosiers' 100-77 win over Marquette on Sunday afternoon at the United Center in Chicago.

Here's what DeVries told reporters during his near-eight-minute press conference, during which he was flanked by senior forward Tucker DeVries and senior guard Conor Enright.

Q: I guess, Darian, in particular just how important was kind of the offense you got from Tucker in the first half, the offense you got from Lamar in the second half. I know you have the foul trouble, Marquette makes a couple runs, but just always having that player that's kind of anchoring what you're trying to do offensively that answers every Marquette burst.

DEVRIES: "Yeah, that was obviously a big performance from Tuck in the first half, just got us going. And that's a little bit how our team was built, just having different guys that can always get in one of those zones a little bit and Tucker certainly had it in the first half. And then the second half, Lamar got going. So that was something that I really like about this team, is we have a lot of different guys that are capable of having moments like that throughout the game. So it was overall a great team effort from our guys and really proud of a lot of different contributions that we got tonight."

Q: This is kind of broad, but you score 100 points, you guys made 14 threes. Just when you look at that, what can you kind of pick and say, 'Okay, this can translate throughout the year?'

DEVRIES: "I just think overall that we just got a group, and I've been saying this for a while, and you're starting to see it now that we're playing games. They're just a really unselfish group and that's what leads to some of the scoring opportunities we get is the guys really understand the game. They're very willing passers and understand in moments like when Tucker has it going, they understand to keep finding him. Lamar has it going, we have guys that understand to keep finding them and then the guys contributed indifferent ways. We should have probably built off Conor's half-court shot at half. He was hot. He should have gotten another one after halftime, but just getting the guys -- like, it's a group that really, I think, plays very unselfishly every night."

Q: Darian, how do you balance wanting the guys to be aggressive on defense with the way the game was being called? Were you disappointed at all maybe that they didn't adjust better especially with you guys short-handed up to just the way the game was being officially called?

DEVRIES: "Yeah, we need to do a better job. We got a little handsy at times and we got to clean that up. We have to be physical with discipline and that's our number one thing right now is continue to get into the ball, continue to be aggressive, challenge ball handlers, challenge screeners. Just do it with a little more or a little less hand activity. So we can still be physical and not foul."

Q: Darian, just with Lamar, a career-high 8 assists today, what does he bring as a ball handler and as a playmaker? Obviously outside of his shooting ability to you guys offensively.

DEVRIES: Yeah, he did a really, really good job today. He was one of the guys that, as we got into the flow of the game, we were using him a little bit more of that facilitator. And then the second half, he got rewarded back with guys finding him. But again, those guys, I just like how they played within themselves. We talked about it before the game, just staying composed. I feel like Marquette's really a team that thrives on making big runs. They've always been that way. And we couldn't let their presses and their tenacity on defense speed us up. So, we needed to stay within ourselves and trust the offense, trust our movement and I thought the guys did that."

Q: Darian, coming into the season obviously a lot of questions about this team with the height and all of that. Today, short-handed. Everything that was going against you guys, but you guys were shooting the ball. You were playing great defense, 27 assists. What did this game tell you about this team going forward even though you're short-handed?

DEVRIES: "Well, I think we have a very resilient group. We have a lot of guys that have played a lot of basketball. So, it's a veteran group for the most part, then we have some younger guys that are sprinkled in there as well. But overall, it's very early in the year, but again I like the approach this team takes every day. I like the way they approach practice. I like the way they are in tune to a scouting report and how they prioritize that because all those little different areas and buckets are what eventually lead to you winning and losing and I think our guys do a good job of kind of taking it all in and making it a priority."

Coach, how big was Sam (Alexis) and really the whole bench today stepping up and playing more minutes with all of that foul trouble?

DEVRIES: "Yeah, it was great. We had certainly some different lineups out there that we haven't had a lot of, so the guys did a really good job and they put in the time to be ready for it, too. Like we've had guys in practice and we've worked on it more and more here recently of getting guys in multiple positions, which is, a lot of times, that's hard to do. Especially when you've got a whole new group, to have guys that have to go in and run an out of bounds play in a position that maybe they ran, like, one time. So I thought the guys just did a good job. Their number got called, they got put in a position and they were able to go in there and execute it."

Q: You were talking about Marquette kind of thriving off the runs. They made that run the second half to cut it to 10 with about 14 minutes left. What did you see going on for Marquette and then kind of how did you change that momentum, obviously extend the lead right after that?

DEVRIES: "Yeah, I don't remember the exact sequence. I know they hit the three there to cut it to 10. Back-to-back buckets there. But I felt like our transition defense was faltering us a little bit. We weren't getting back. We weren't getting our walls built to keep them from getting to the paint, and then offensively, we got a little stagnant there as well. So, I thought we came out of the timeout, we were able to get a good possession and then put a couple stops together to kind of get that lead built back up. I think Lamar also helped out a little bit there too."

Q: Why, a team that's only been together a few months, why are they such willing passers and such unselfish passers?

DEVRIES: "I think they're just good basketball players. They understand it. I think they prioritize winning. None of them really care who gets the credit. They talk about it every day. It's like, I watch them do this in practice all the time. So, one day, TC (Tayton Conerway) may get one shot. There might be a day he gets 10 shots, and he doesn't care. He just plays to win, and that's what this whole group, I feel like, has really bought into right now. And they'll continue to get better and better because it's important to them."