Nick Dorn, Sam Alexis Discuss Indiana Basketball's 77-47 Win vs Minnesota

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana men's basketball junior guard Nick Dorn and senior forward Tucker DeVries met with the media after the Hoosiers (18-12, 9-10 Big Ten) earned a 77-47 win over Minnesota (14-16, 7-12 Big Ten) on Wednesday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.

Here's what Dorn and Alexis said in their four-minute press conference. The transcript is courtesy of ASAP Sports.

Q. Yeah, just how rewarding is it to walk out of here as a winner? That crowd, as loud as it was, just clapping as you guys got to walk off the floor there at the end?

SAM ALEXIS: I mean, it felt good, just senior night, my last game at Assembly Hall, so it just felt great to see the fans out there cheering and supporting us.

Q. Double figures tonight for Sam. We've talked so much about your ability to shoot the three this season, but how much does it help with balance and with court spacing when you've got a post presence like what he's been providing the last few games?

NICK DORN: It does a lot for us. It really opens up everything as well because they kind of have to send two to help him and leaves mismatches on the backside. Just able to get even cleaner looks.

Q. When you get going like that, what are the things that lead to it and what's it like when you really get that rhythm? The alley oops, the dunks, the backdowns.

SAM ALEXIS: Just my teammates finding me. Coach setting up plays for me in the post. I feel like once I get it, it's like I'm going to score, so, yeah.

Q. How do you guys sustain this now? Obviously another big game coming up this weekend, what's the key to keeping this rolling right now?

SAM ALEXIS: Just come into practice every day with the same mindset we've been having the last couple days. Just have great leadership with the team and high intensity and practice we do.

Q. Yeah, along those lines, how much have you guys kind of read into the bubble talk and the NCAA Tournament and how has that affected the approach to the game today?

SAM ALEXIS: Obviously we see social media, but, you know, we just focus on what's ahead of us. We focus on getting these wins and whatever happens happens.

Q. Sam, did you feel like a sense of urgency as a team tonight to end not only the four-game losing streak but also come out here in your last game in Assembly Hall and get a win?

SAM ALEXIS: I mean, yeah, I feel like all the seniors was motivated today just off the fact it's senior night. Last game in Assembly Hall, stuff with like being in March Madness, the bubble and stuff. So everybody was pretty motivated to go play hard.

Q. Nick, just how important are these next few practices leading up to Ohio State, leading up to the Big Ten Tournament?

NICK DORN: We know we had to pay extra attention to detail and just keep rolling with the game plan that Coach provides us and trying to execute that to the best of our ability.

Q. And Nick, off that, big game coming up there but just with the way you guys have been playing coming into this, just how big is it to kind of flip the momentum and have a game like this going into those, the next few days of practice as opposed to continuing the slide?

NICK DORN: It feels good. Just to be able to flip it around now just gives us a lot more momentum going into Ohio State and on from there, just giving us more motivation to keep pushing and that everything is right in front of us.

Q. Nick, your ability to kind of score and be able to regain your shooting rhythm, how much of a confidence boost is that heading into the last regular season game?

NICK DORN: It's a lot. Just seeing a couple go down, especially did a lot for me, just give me more confidence to keep shooting the ball. Keep getting them up and thinking every shot's gonna fall, so.

Q. This is for both you guys. Can you talk about just the level of just focus and motivation you guys had not letting a big lead get away, which we have seen in the past, but how determined were you guys to make sure you can just close the door and get this win here?

SAM ALEXIS: Halftime Coach was just preaching about let's first four minutes, attack the first four minutes because the last couple of games we let the lead come down to it, so we were just different mindset today. Hopefully we do it every game now, so.

NICK DORN: Like he said, we broke it down four minutes at a time. After each media break, media time-out, we assess how much we won or lost that segment, we just got to go focus on the next four minutes and just put together 20, so.