Postgame Quotes vs. Saint Francis

Postgame Quotes
Indiana vs. Saint Francis
Nov. 3, 2022

MIKE WOODSON | INDIANA HEAD COACH
Q. On what the second unit does well on the floor…
WOODSON: Well, again, I'm still learning. I haven't had an opportunity to really play these cats a lot of minutes together, so we've had some practice time, but some of these guys have been in and out. It's hard to gauge it right now.
I've just got to stay with it and take it a practice at a time and see where it leads us.

Q. On what Jalen Hood-Schifino and Malik Reneau has done to impress you in these last two games…
WOODSON: Well, again, they've been solid. They're doing all the things that we've been working on for the last four and a half, five months now, and it's nice to see practice is totally different than the game, but I always felt if you develop good habits in practice, it can be a nice carryover for you into ballgames, and I think that's what's happening to these two guys.

Q. On how the team stacks up heading into the season…
WOODSON: Only time will tell, man. I don't know. Again, these were two exhibition games. Yes, our size was a big difference in both ballgames, but we know as we continue this journey, we're going to face teams that are just as big as we are. Then we've got to see what we're made of.
Again, only time will tell. I just was anxious to get these two games under our belt just to see where we were from a player-coach standpoint, and now it starts for real on Monday against Moorehead State. We've got a lot of work on our hands still. I mean, the real thing starts Monday.

Q. On trying to figure out what Trayce Jackson-Davis, Malik Reneau and Race Thompson are capable of…
WOODSON: No, they can do that. Trayce and Race did that last year for us. I've gotten away -- and I started this in Atlanta coaching the Hawks, and when I coached the Knicks, I got away from the whole conventional way of, well, the big gets it off the board, he gives it to the guard, he brings it up. We've got a number of guys, we work on ball handling drills, that I feel good about guys making plays in the open court and being able to push to initiate our break.
Now, until you prove me wrong, then I'll scale you back and take the ball out of your hands and tell you that hey, you've got to play the conventional way. But Race, Malik and Trayce have proven that they can make basketball plays in the open court.

Q. On what you liked from Trayce Jackson-Davis and Tamar Bates…
WOODSON: Well, again Tamar has really been one of our most consistent guys on this journey since we've been together. Unfortunately he got hurt the past week and a half and it's kind of slowed him down, so it was good getting him back, Tamar.
Trayce is who he is, man. He's going to be there when it counts. It was nice having him back in the lineup.

Q. On how well Trayce Jackson-Davis and Malik Reneau mesh together…
WOODSON: Well, both can pass the ball and both can make basketball plays. It helps us in terms of how we run our offense now. I mean, they can both run pick-and-roll, they can both post the ball, and they're smart enough when they're double teamed to get rid of it to the right guy.
We've just got to continue to grow, get Malik in a really comfortable place where we're not trying to put him in a bad position defensively because where Trayce is used to switching and guarding smaller guys, he's not, and we've got to get him comfortable in that role.

Q. On a rotation number for the season…
WOODSON: It's hard to say, man. I wish I could play everybody 30 minutes on this team, but it's impossible. You know, but when you're building a team, and I've said this, when you get minutes, you've got to make the most minutes -- the most out of those minutes. You've got to, to help us win.
If you don't play, you've still got to be a good teammate because you never know when your time will come. Somebody gets hurt and you're grumbling and mumbling about not playing, and then now you're not ready to play.

I don't think we have that amongst our team. I think we've got 17 guys -- it's kind of nice to see what the walk-ons did today and coming in there not ever really playing much in a game. They were solid based on the fact that they've been with us, too, going through the grueling practices every day.
I just think we've got a good team that everybody is going to have to sacrifice and be willing to buy in to do what we need to do to get where we need to go.

Q. On free-throw shooting…
WOODSON: Well, don't jinx us. It's early right now, really.

No, I agree with what you're saying, man. We've got to figure that part of it out. We score 100 points and we miss, what, eight free throws? Free throws are important. They're free. I've just got to get these guys to understand and relax and make them.

If I had a magic pill to give them, I would, on free throws, but I just don't. It's something that can bite you in the butt if we're not careful, man.

That's one of the first things I said before I broke huddle was our free throws. I mean, it's unacceptable. Somehow we've got to figure it out.

Q. On the importance of defense that Bob Knight instilled in you…
WOODSON: Well, I tried to play defense, but Coach always thought I was probably the worst defender. I didn't think I was, but he probably thought so.

But I did what I was told to do, and that was put the ball in the hole.

But no, I talk about defense so much because of my experience not only playing for Coach Knight here the four years that I played, but that run that we made with that Detroit Piston team in the NBA when we beat the Lakers, that team defensively was -- they will probably go down as the greatest defensive team ever, and I saw it up close firsthand, and I know it wins games. It won a championship for us.

I've got to push these guys in that direction. That gives us a chance, man, to be in every ballgame if we defend and rebound.

Q. On Xavier Johnson…
WOODSON: Well, I told Xavier after the game, you don't have to do it all this year. You really don't. I think we've got enough pieces on this team that you can just do your part and not have to stress out about thinking you have to do everything. That was my words to him because there's going to be nights X is going to really, really explode offensively and have big games, and there's going to be nights that might not happen. But he's still got to be Xavier Johnson for us. He's still got to defend. He's still got to get the ball where it's got to go and set us up, break press defenses and things of that nature.

I mean, it's just not his scoring ability. He's shown he can do that towards the end of last year, and I just think right now he's playing too fast. I've just got to slow him down and get him in a good frame of mind.

Q. On CJ Gunn…
WOODSON: Well, again, it's the minutes that you get. He played well tonight, but he made a lot of mistakes from a defensive standpoint. You expect that from freshmen. I get it.

I've just got to get him where he understands that every possession counts. It's important. You can take possessions off in high school and get away with it, but the talent level is too steep now in the college game, and you can't take possessions off. That's with all our freshmen.

He's just got to keep working. That's all I can tell him. Keep working.

MILLER KOPP | INDIANA FORWARD
Q. On the freshman class…
KOPP: Yeah, no doubt. There's no surprise over here because Coach, even the first exhibition, Coach has a lot of trust in Malik to put him in the starting lineup, and we believe in him, too.
There's no surprise on our end. We've seen what they can do. They compete their butts off.

When it comes to game time, we trust them, and they're only learning a lot more every single day, so we're in a good spot.

Q. On what makes the second unit work…
KOPP: Well, the first thing that comes to mind is just energy and toughness. The guys coming off the bench, Coach Woody says all the time that our bench is as important as our starting five. That rings true.

You can tell that anybody who comes off the bench is coming in with energy and life.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter really who starts or whatever. Whenever anybody is in the game, we're playing our tails off.

Q. On your three-point shooting…
KOPP: No, I haven't changed anything. Those shots are weird because usually I'm not that open, but I do practice those shots where I have more time than normal. Yeah, no, it's just another shot.

MALIK RENEAU | INDIANA FORWARD
Q. On what is working well in your college career so far…
RENEAU: Just being an energizer off the bench and just showing that I'm able to do anything on the court, helping my team out with rebounding, posting up, stepping out and handing the ball on the perimeter.

It's just showing that I can do a lot of stuff and just being a spark plug off the bench.

Q. On what you can expect from teammate Jalen Hood-Schifino…
RENEAU: What you can expect from Jalen Hood-Schifino is just a leader, someone that's going to be there every day working hard every single day and ready to go. He has a pro bag. He gets to his spots.

He's a very impressive player to me.

Q. On how you handled the double-teams…
RENEAU: I think I held up pretty well, just understanding that the double-team is coming, getting the ball out to my teammates who were open, and getting them in a position to be able to catch and just shoot.

Yeah, that's pretty much it.

CHAD LaCROSS | HEAD COACH
OPENING STATEMENT…
LACROSS: Unbelievable opportunity for our team, our players, university, and just to come down. So thankful to Coach Woodson for giving us this opportunity. I thought it was a fun experience. I thought we competed in stretches and did a nice job. How the first half ended, and then in the second half they scored easy buckets. I wasn't sure how it was going to finish. But then I thought we really picked it up and played well for about ten minutes there and did a nice job. I was proud of our guys and the way we fought.

Q. On the positive takeaways from the game…
LACROSS: Our fight. Our main focus is to try to get downhill, try to create easy shots for our teammates, and try to space the floor. I thought we did that in stretches. Defensively, we are not the biggest team, and that's the biggest question for our season. Right now, it's can we fight and can we battle. We've got to clean that up a little. IU's size and athleticism really hurt us on the glass. I'm not sure how many offensive rebounds they had, but it seemed like every offensive rebound led to an easy bucket or a dunk. Those things we need to keep stressing to keep fighting all season long. It's going to be tough for us, but I like our fight in our players.

Q. On playing the effect of playing in Assembly Hall…
LACROSS: Early on, it's 11-11 at the first media timeout. Obviously very pleased with that. I thought we came out of that, and we had two great looks at threes that just didn't go on. I felt like our play elevated the way they played. I love their team. I love how hard they play and defend. With their size, strength and athleticism, it's just tough to score, especially with our size. They do a nice job. Coach Woodson does a great job. He obviously has talented players. I think they are really deep team. They can continue to go to their bench. There's just no let up. I was impressed by their size and the way they defend, the way they get up and pressure and really hurt us trying in running our offense.

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