What Archie Miller Said on His Radio Show 12/28/20

Archie Miller recapped the Hoosiers' two losses to Northwestern and Illinois, as well as talked about what his team needs to do to get back on track.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Archie Miller joined Don Fischer Monday night for his weekly radio show called "Inside IU Basketball with Archie Miller."

Miller looked back at Indiana's two losses to Northwestern and Illinois, and he also previewed the upcoming game against Penn State.

Below are some of the key highlights on Miller's conversation with Fischer:

On the loss to Northwestern:

Miller thought Indiana "didn’t deserve to win the game" against the Wildcats last week.

He wasn't pleased with the way his team had a 54-50 lead in the second half and couldn't hang on to it.

"They just really took our confidence away defensively," Miller said. "It wasn't schematically as much as it was concentration, effort, things that are uncharacteristic."

The Hoosier head coach also believes that even though Trayce Jackson-Davis' stat line looked good against Northwestern, he didn't have his best night.

On the loss to Illinois:

Miller compared the Illinois loss to the road loss at Florida State, which both came down to the wire where the other team made the winning plays.

"We were good enough to win the game,” he said.

But it came down to 50/50 balls, and Ayo Dosunmu just hit big shots down the stretch for the Illini.

On the bright side, Miller was pleased with the amount of turnovers the Hoosiers had in the game, and he also liked the response his team showed after the Northwestern loss.

On Indiana's backcourt:

There's no denying Al Durham and Rob Phinisee have been criticized for their performance as of late, and Miller also thinks the two have to play better.

"There's no question about it, that Rob and Al have to get rolling here," he said.

Miller thinks it's a confidence thing with Phinisee right now, and he believes the junior guard is best in transition, so the Hoosiers will look to push the pace more with the ball in Phinisee's hands. Miller also said he asked more from Durham on the offensive end.

On Monday in practice, Miller said both Phinisee and Durham came ready to play, so that's a promising sign.

On the upcoming game against Penn State:

The Nittany Lions are 0-2 in conference play so far and don't have its star player from last year in Lamar Stevens, but Miller still thinks they will be a challenge to guard.

"They have a good system, they haven’t changed much and to me, they’re explosive on offense," Miller said. "They shoot the crap out of the ball from three."

He stressed the importance of how there are no nights off in the Big Ten, as nine of the 14 teams in the conference are ranked inside the top 25.

But Miller also said Wednesday's game isn't about Penn State. It's about Indiana getting back on track and putting itself back in the Big Ten race.

"We have to be really locked in. We have to play super hard. We’re going to have to get some guys playing at a higher level with some desperation."