John Groce press conference & player interviews (2/6)

[Dan]

Video- http://www.fightingillini.com/allaccess/?media=349450

[Dan]

Rob McColley

[Dan]

Groce: Great challenge tomorrow vs. No. 1 IU. They got size, they got depth, they got speed, drivers, shooters, defend well

Groce: Oladipo as good of an individual defender as they've played this season. Made a lot of progress, plays with lot of toughness

Groce: appreciation for what Indiana has built. They're as good a team as we've played all season. Guys looking forward to challenge

Groce: Guys continue to "bring it" every day in practice. Appreciate their work ethic, very coachable

Groce: We've got to be better on defense. Guys have to be more detailed with what they do. Have to play at a higher level.

Groce: Offense continues to improve. Quality of shots on Sunday were outstanding. Good offense last 2 second halves.

Groce on Paul: He's been good. His attitude's been good. Vocal yesterday. Brandon knows what he wants to do. Ain't about mind games

Groce on Paul: It's not about mind games with Paul. "Guard." Did that a little better Sunday. I love Brandon. We want production

Groce: Egwu becoming more of a leader. More and more confident. He's been real good. Every day he brings it.

Groce: Think of changing defense but at some point, you still have to guard the ball. I don't care what defense you're playing

Groce on losing 4 straight at home: You want to win at home. You want to win period.

Groce: Bertrand attacked on offense. He was really active on offensive and defensive glass

Groce: Indiana and Michigan have added talent but also have developed a winning culture. Made strides here, still long ways to go

Groce: When he watched Big Ten basketball as a kid, he rooted for Indiana. Would watch Bob Knight show. Watched UI and Purdue too

Groce: Grandmother was a Hoosiers fan. "We kind of followed who my grandmother followed." She also was Reds, Bears, ND football fan

Groce: Learn a lot about yourself when you play the gauntlet of games they have.

Groce: Players choose Illinois to play this type of schedule. Grind it out every night. "It's bone on bone."

Groce: Starting lineup not yet determined. Will still depend on guys' performances on defense in practice.

Groce talking about how points per possession on defense have increased dramatically, offense hasn't dropped as much. #statgeek

http://twitter.com/WernerESPNCU

Coach Groce chatting w @IlliniWBB coaches @CoachBollant & Mike Divilbiss after meeting with the media today. #Illini http://pic.twitter.com/JvxEbOKq



http://twitter.com/IlliniHoops

[Dan]

Perhaps Groce has talked with Izzo. Sets of football shoulder pads sat on the sidelines at #illini hoops practice Wednesday.

http://twitter.com/JohnSupinie

[Dan]

[Thor015]

I think Tyler missed 2 shots during DJs interview. All the makes were in and straight down. His misses are obviously mental.

How do you break out of a slump besides continuing to shoot?

You have to change your mentality in order to get confidence back. Stare in the mirror an tell yourself how much of a bad a$$ shooter and basketball player you are.

Then scream it and flex and pound your chest. Be a bad a$$

[lad919]

Tyler has to make a 3 pointer sooner or later even if by accident. The law of precentages is on his side.

[breadman]

Still waiting for TG's inner-LarryBird to come exploding out of his chest!!!!

[Foo G]

TG has been shooting a lot more tentatively in games, especially when there's a defender anywhere near him.
I'd rather see him get blocked than rush or alter his shot.

[bleedsorangenblue]

TG did make a 3 pt. shot a couple games ago but a foul (?) away from the action negated his shot. I was hoping that would get him going but he missed another right after.

[mytwocents]

From his interviews: I’m still very confident in Groce! I think he is doing an excellent job and if our shots were falling the big ten record would be much better. I also think he will improve over the years because he is rational.
I will be at the game tonight and all I want is for the team to fight for 40 minutes.

[Foo G]

I'm still of the opinion that if our defensive intensity was still ratcheted up like it was in the marquee games from Nov/Dec, the shooting would have been better.
When things were going well, the offense fed through the defense and we were a top-10 caliber team.
Now that the defensive effort is sub-par, the offense is struggling, causing the shot selection to be bad and the shooting percentages to be low.
We're an easy team to defend right now.

[DaytonIllini]

What was BP talking about with angry Tweets? I could not understand the conversation.

[SeanO]

Originally Posted by Thor015

I think Tyler missed 2 shots during DJs interview. All the makes were in and straight down. His misses are obviously mental.

Saw that, but had to laugh: he actually lost the handle on a single "dribble" in setting up to take one of the slow motion shots, and one of the shots he missed was from 1 foot!

[pizzaman]

Originally Posted by DaytonIllini

What was BP talking about with angry Tweets? I could not understand the conversation.

I think BP had some negative tweets about him from "fans" after the game. Classless IMO. I don't tweet so I'm not sure if they were just in the tweeterworld or if they were delivered to him like email.