Indiana University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Indiana vs. Marshall
11/27/2021 9:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball
MIKE WOODSON | INDIANA HEAD COACH
Q. Did you remind Trayce, you still have five on him, not in this building but at one point…
WOODSON: No, I never even mentioned that to Trayce. Them days are long gone for me but it's a hell of a game for him. You know, he played pretty much the whole game, and I rode him. A few times in time-out, I asked him, was he okay, "And he said, "Hey, I'm good, let me go." So we rode him, and we needed all 43 points.
Q. Were you at all surprised that they were singling him the way they did…
WOODSON: Early on I was. I expected -- I mean, we practice as though he was going to get trapped the whole game, and they didn't start trapping until the end of the first half. So when I came back in that halftime, I tried to put guys in position based on how they were going to trap, and we ended up -- I mean there were times he was beating the double-team, and then there were times he kicked it out to guys with wide open shots that were made. That was kind of nice to see as well.
Q. Talk about Marshall beating the defense on the inside…
MIKE WOODSON: Again, it's the first time we've been tested. I mean, hey, it's a part of basketball. But as a coach, man, you always want to see what your team is made of. We got down as much as 12, and it wasn't no need to panic or anything like that. I mean, we weren't playing well at that particular time. I made some substitutions. I came back once we got down 12 with the first unit and I thought our defense picked backup, Xavier, especially, where early on, when Khristian got in the game, we just weren't into the ball. Taylor and Kinsey controlled our defense pretty much the whole game where we were beating our coverages. We weren't getting them to our coverages, and that hasn't happened much since we've been together as a unit. So that's something we've got to work on and make sure that it doesn't happen again like that.
Q. When did you realize Marshall was really good…
WOODSON: I mean, we all watch film. They watch film on them, and I thought they were prepared. And we don't take anybody lightly. It's not that type of deal. You know, we knew that they were a good team. They are well-coached. I know D'Antoni's teams. I've worked with dan. His offense is as good as they come. I thought again our coverages weren't solid early on and they were getting behind our defense for layups. I mean, they had I think as many points as we had at halftime in the paint, and that hasn't happened since we been together as a ballclub. So you know, it's something that we were challenged. I mean, hey, it happens in basketball. But me as a coach, I want to see who is going to step up and make plays, and tonight I thought we did in the second half.
Q. How have you seen Trayce grow as a vocal leader since you took over…
WOODSON: Not just Trayce. When I took over the team, this team didn't say a whole lot, you know what I mean. And I told him, it's okay to talk some trash amongst each other. You know, our practices have been so competitive, man, when we do compete in practice against one another. I got everybody now talking. They talk trash to me now. So I mean, hey, that's a good thing because we need communication when you are playing on both ends of the floor.
Q. Talk about the 15 turnovers committed by you guys tonight…
WOODSON: I'm extremely happy. At the end of the day, we knew what kind of game we were going to have. I knew it wasn't going to be a low-scoring game. D'Antoni's teams are not like that. They score the ball. And I thought, you know, we played the second half better than we played the first. We gave up 42 points the first half and 37 in the second. So you know, our defense was pretty solid. They hit a few shots coming down the stretch but for the most part we were pretty solid in the second half. I know they made the one run, but we were able to answer that run and get the cushion that we needed to win the game.
Q. How much does Trayce give you as a passer….
WOODSON: Again, he's grown in that area and to make it all look good, guys got to make shots behind those passes, and we're starting to make shots, you know what I mean. Our three-point shooting tonight was pretty good again. So we are going to need that as we continue to journey as a team. It can't just be Trayce and Race inside. We've got to have guys making plays on the perimeter as well as at the rim.
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS | INDIANA FORWARD & XAVIER JOHNSON | GUARD
Q. Was there an emphasis on getting you the ball tonight…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Most definitely. It was just a big thing -- really, I don't even think it was necessarily an aggressive thing. It was more of what the defense was giving us, and the last two games they have been doubling a lot, so I have been kicking out for open shots. And this game, they decided to pay single coverage, so we made them pay with that.
Q. Do you feel like this performance is reflective of growth in this team's offense…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Most definitely. I think we spaced the floor a lot better than we did last year, and we have shooters everywhere. So you can't just double-down, triple-down and sag and claw at the lane as much as we could last year. So they started doing it a little bit in the second half, and then we made them pay with three-point shots.
Q. Xavier, talk about the spark when you came back in…
JOHNSON: It actually wasn't coach. It was Trayce. Trayce told me when he came on the bench, he said, "Yo, I need to pick it up when we go back in," and that's what we did.
Q. Talk about improving your vision and passing this afternoon…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Most definitely. It's all about reps and repetition. Coach Woodson has us in a flee-flowing offense. You have us doing guard work and they got them doing post moves and stuff of that nature. He wants an NBA-style offense, and you have to be able to do everything.
Q. Did you know when you went in for that dunk at the end that it was the scoring record, and how did that play unfold for you?
JACKSON-DAVIS: I still don't know what scoring record it is, if I'm being honest.
XAVIER JOHNSON: 43, my man, you had 43. (Laughter).
Q. Most ever in this building.
JACKSON-DAVIS: Really? I didn't know that.
Q. You got a chance to watch that 43. How impressive was that...
JOHNSON: I've never, ever, and I told him, I actually told him, I said, "Yo, don't get fooled. They don't want to double." You All-American. I believe he the best player in America. So I'm like, "Go get 40, Brother." That's disrespectful to us and to him as well.
Q. Did you remind Trayce, you still have five on him, not in this building but at one point…
WOODSON: No, I never even mentioned that to Trayce. Them days are long gone for me but it's a hell of a game for him. You know, he played pretty much the whole game, and I rode him. A few times in time-out, I asked him, was he okay, "And he said, "Hey, I'm good, let me go." So we rode him, and we needed all 43 points.
Q. Were you at all surprised that they were singling him the way they did…
WOODSON: Early on I was. I expected -- I mean, we practice as though he was going to get trapped the whole game, and they didn't start trapping until the end of the first half. So when I came back in that halftime, I tried to put guys in position based on how they were going to trap, and we ended up -- I mean there were times he was beating the double-team, and then there were times he kicked it out to guys with wide open shots that were made. That was kind of nice to see as well.
Q. Talk about Marshall beating the defense on the inside…
MIKE WOODSON: Again, it's the first time we've been tested. I mean, hey, it's a part of basketball. But as a coach, man, you always want to see what your team is made of. We got down as much as 12, and it wasn't no need to panic or anything like that. I mean, we weren't playing well at that particular time. I made some substitutions. I came back once we got down 12 with the first unit and I thought our defense picked backup, Xavier, especially, where early on, when Khristian got in the game, we just weren't into the ball. Taylor and Kinsey controlled our defense pretty much the whole game where we were beating our coverages. We weren't getting them to our coverages, and that hasn't happened much since we've been together as a unit. So that's something we've got to work on and make sure that it doesn't happen again like that.
Q. When did you realize Marshall was really good…
WOODSON: I mean, we all watch film. They watch film on them, and I thought they were prepared. And we don't take anybody lightly. It's not that type of deal. You know, we knew that they were a good team. They are well-coached. I know D'Antoni's teams. I've worked with dan. His offense is as good as they come. I thought again our coverages weren't solid early on and they were getting behind our defense for layups. I mean, they had I think as many points as we had at halftime in the paint, and that hasn't happened since we been together as a ballclub. So you know, it's something that we were challenged. I mean, hey, it happens in basketball. But me as a coach, I want to see who is going to step up and make plays, and tonight I thought we did in the second half.
Q. How have you seen Trayce grow as a vocal leader since you took over…
WOODSON: Not just Trayce. When I took over the team, this team didn't say a whole lot, you know what I mean. And I told him, it's okay to talk some trash amongst each other. You know, our practices have been so competitive, man, when we do compete in practice against one another. I got everybody now talking. They talk trash to me now. So I mean, hey, that's a good thing because we need communication when you are playing on both ends of the floor.
Q. Talk about the 15 turnovers committed by you guys tonight…
WOODSON: I'm extremely happy. At the end of the day, we knew what kind of game we were going to have. I knew it wasn't going to be a low-scoring game. D'Antoni's teams are not like that. They score the ball. And I thought, you know, we played the second half better than we played the first. We gave up 42 points the first half and 37 in the second. So you know, our defense was pretty solid. They hit a few shots coming down the stretch but for the most part we were pretty solid in the second half. I know they made the one run, but we were able to answer that run and get the cushion that we needed to win the game.
Q. How much does Trayce give you as a passer….
WOODSON: Again, he's grown in that area and to make it all look good, guys got to make shots behind those passes, and we're starting to make shots, you know what I mean. Our three-point shooting tonight was pretty good again. So we are going to need that as we continue to journey as a team. It can't just be Trayce and Race inside. We've got to have guys making plays on the perimeter as well as at the rim.
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS | INDIANA FORWARD & XAVIER JOHNSON | GUARD
Q. Was there an emphasis on getting you the ball tonight…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Most definitely. It was just a big thing -- really, I don't even think it was necessarily an aggressive thing. It was more of what the defense was giving us, and the last two games they have been doubling a lot, so I have been kicking out for open shots. And this game, they decided to pay single coverage, so we made them pay with that.
Q. Do you feel like this performance is reflective of growth in this team's offense…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Most definitely. I think we spaced the floor a lot better than we did last year, and we have shooters everywhere. So you can't just double-down, triple-down and sag and claw at the lane as much as we could last year. So they started doing it a little bit in the second half, and then we made them pay with three-point shots.
Q. Xavier, talk about the spark when you came back in…
JOHNSON: It actually wasn't coach. It was Trayce. Trayce told me when he came on the bench, he said, "Yo, I need to pick it up when we go back in," and that's what we did.
Q. Talk about improving your vision and passing this afternoon…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Most definitely. It's all about reps and repetition. Coach Woodson has us in a flee-flowing offense. You have us doing guard work and they got them doing post moves and stuff of that nature. He wants an NBA-style offense, and you have to be able to do everything.
Q. Did you know when you went in for that dunk at the end that it was the scoring record, and how did that play unfold for you?
JACKSON-DAVIS: I still don't know what scoring record it is, if I'm being honest.
XAVIER JOHNSON: 43, my man, you had 43. (Laughter).
Q. Most ever in this building.
JACKSON-DAVIS: Really? I didn't know that.
Q. You got a chance to watch that 43. How impressive was that...
JOHNSON: I've never, ever, and I told him, I actually told him, I said, "Yo, don't get fooled. They don't want to double." You All-American. I believe he the best player in America. So I'm like, "Go get 40, Brother." That's disrespectful to us and to him as well.
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