Indiana University Athletics
#IUBB Media Availability – Feb. 19
2/19/2022 6:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Below is a full transcript of the Zoom press conference with Indiana head men's basketball coach Mike Woodson on Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022.
Head Coach Mike Woodson
Q. On the defense continuing to improve or the offense to build around Trayce Jackson-Davis…
WOODSON: Both have to be great. I do not think you can do one without the other in order for us to win. We have been solid defensively, but lately we have not been able to make shots. We have to keep working at it. We have to keep shooting in practice and doing the things that can hopefully get us over the hump. That is the name of the game.
You can't go out and think you are going to outscore a Purdue or Ohio State. You are going to have to defend those guys as well. We have to have both parts.
Q. On the state of mind for the team…
WOODSON: It is my job to try to keep them in the right frame of mind. I think we are okay. This thing has been hovering over our basketball program for some years now. I explained it today to these guys that we could not win on the road. But once we broke that barrier and won the first game on the road, we knew what that felt like. Until we can break this ice… these guys, they do not know what it feels like to make the NCAA Tournament and really compete for a Big Ten title. They do not understand that yet.
We have five games to go and I think we still control our own destiny. It is not like every game that we have played we have not competed in. We have been in every game. We just have not been able to close and that is kind of disturbing. I put that on myself as the coach because it is my job to get them over the hump. But they still have to play, so it is kind of back-and-forth with the coaches and players.
Somehow, we have to break the ice. We have a big game on Monday night at Ohio State. They lost on their home floor today. They are going to be hungry based on the game that we had here. We have to come ready to play.
Q. On Rob Phinisee…
WOODSON: He will not be back anytime soon. We did not have Khristian Lander today and there is a chance he might not play. We are shorthanded but there are plenty of other guys that are wearing a uniform that have to step up until those guys get back.
Q. On the pick-and-roll defense…
WOODSON: We have not been hurt a whole lot by ball screens. I go back to the Michigan and Michigan State games where we were hurt, but for the most part, we have defended ball screens fairly well. Our defense has held us in games, so I will not agree with you on that.
I thought that when we played Ohio State we handled their pick-and-rolls pretty well. They have been doing things a little bit differently since the last time we played them. We had a good practice today and were able to go over some of the new things that they have done.
Our ball screen defense comes down to us getting into the ball. When Xavier Johnson does it right, he has been pretty good. Rob has also been pretty good. Those are the only two guards that have been on the ball when most of these college teams initiate the pick-and-roll.
We had issue with Wisconsin and Johnny Davis the other night, but it was not because of the pick-and-roll. He just kept beating out coverage. He was rejecting. That is a big thing in our defensive system, you cannot allow a reject. You have to send the ball to our coverage. Three or four times he beat our coverage and was able to get home free and get to the bucket and make plays. That can't happen.
Again, with Ohio State, I think that we know them. We will have to commit for 40 minutes just like we did when we were home. That was a helluva game at home that we were able to get away with.
Q. On the 3-point shooting…
WOODSON: Make no mistake about it, our strength this year has been playing inside-out. I am not going to deviate from that. We do not have a great pick-and-roll team to run a bunch of pick-and-roll team actions like most college teams do, so we have to play to our strengths. I think when these guys get shots, and some of these guys are getting some pretty good shots, they just have to feel good about making them and knocking them down. That is where I am with our ballclub and our offense right now.
Q. On the health of the point guard position…
WOODSON: I think that Anthony Leal comes into play, same with Tamar Bates. They do not press a lot but will play a 2-2-1 occasionally back to a 2-3 zone. They do not trap a lot, so we have guards that can get the ball up the floor. Initiating and getting us into our offense based on our quick strikes, they are not used to doing that.
It is what it is. I cannot worry about the fact that we don't have certain guys. We just have to mix and match and see what happens.
Q. On getting this team over the hump…
WOODSON: The only thing that is going to help is winning. We have been in every ballgame. I look at the Michigan game, but you cannot name many games that we have not competed. When you have a bunch of guys that have never won, the mental thing starts to play a role. It is my job to ease that. There is not a day that goes by in practice that I am not positive, but I still have to coach. I have to push guys to play at a high level.
If it were not for our defense, I do not think we would be in a lot of these games. That has set the table in terms of where we are, but we just have to learn how to finish. I have to help them in that category. Somehow.
Head Coach Mike Woodson
Q. On the defense continuing to improve or the offense to build around Trayce Jackson-Davis…
WOODSON: Both have to be great. I do not think you can do one without the other in order for us to win. We have been solid defensively, but lately we have not been able to make shots. We have to keep working at it. We have to keep shooting in practice and doing the things that can hopefully get us over the hump. That is the name of the game.
You can't go out and think you are going to outscore a Purdue or Ohio State. You are going to have to defend those guys as well. We have to have both parts.
Q. On the state of mind for the team…
WOODSON: It is my job to try to keep them in the right frame of mind. I think we are okay. This thing has been hovering over our basketball program for some years now. I explained it today to these guys that we could not win on the road. But once we broke that barrier and won the first game on the road, we knew what that felt like. Until we can break this ice… these guys, they do not know what it feels like to make the NCAA Tournament and really compete for a Big Ten title. They do not understand that yet.
We have five games to go and I think we still control our own destiny. It is not like every game that we have played we have not competed in. We have been in every game. We just have not been able to close and that is kind of disturbing. I put that on myself as the coach because it is my job to get them over the hump. But they still have to play, so it is kind of back-and-forth with the coaches and players.
Somehow, we have to break the ice. We have a big game on Monday night at Ohio State. They lost on their home floor today. They are going to be hungry based on the game that we had here. We have to come ready to play.
Q. On Rob Phinisee…
WOODSON: He will not be back anytime soon. We did not have Khristian Lander today and there is a chance he might not play. We are shorthanded but there are plenty of other guys that are wearing a uniform that have to step up until those guys get back.
Q. On the pick-and-roll defense…
WOODSON: We have not been hurt a whole lot by ball screens. I go back to the Michigan and Michigan State games where we were hurt, but for the most part, we have defended ball screens fairly well. Our defense has held us in games, so I will not agree with you on that.
I thought that when we played Ohio State we handled their pick-and-rolls pretty well. They have been doing things a little bit differently since the last time we played them. We had a good practice today and were able to go over some of the new things that they have done.
Our ball screen defense comes down to us getting into the ball. When Xavier Johnson does it right, he has been pretty good. Rob has also been pretty good. Those are the only two guards that have been on the ball when most of these college teams initiate the pick-and-roll.
We had issue with Wisconsin and Johnny Davis the other night, but it was not because of the pick-and-roll. He just kept beating out coverage. He was rejecting. That is a big thing in our defensive system, you cannot allow a reject. You have to send the ball to our coverage. Three or four times he beat our coverage and was able to get home free and get to the bucket and make plays. That can't happen.
Again, with Ohio State, I think that we know them. We will have to commit for 40 minutes just like we did when we were home. That was a helluva game at home that we were able to get away with.
Q. On the 3-point shooting…
WOODSON: Make no mistake about it, our strength this year has been playing inside-out. I am not going to deviate from that. We do not have a great pick-and-roll team to run a bunch of pick-and-roll team actions like most college teams do, so we have to play to our strengths. I think when these guys get shots, and some of these guys are getting some pretty good shots, they just have to feel good about making them and knocking them down. That is where I am with our ballclub and our offense right now.
Q. On the health of the point guard position…
WOODSON: I think that Anthony Leal comes into play, same with Tamar Bates. They do not press a lot but will play a 2-2-1 occasionally back to a 2-3 zone. They do not trap a lot, so we have guards that can get the ball up the floor. Initiating and getting us into our offense based on our quick strikes, they are not used to doing that.
It is what it is. I cannot worry about the fact that we don't have certain guys. We just have to mix and match and see what happens.
Q. On getting this team over the hump…
WOODSON: The only thing that is going to help is winning. We have been in every ballgame. I look at the Michigan game, but you cannot name many games that we have not competed. When you have a bunch of guys that have never won, the mental thing starts to play a role. It is my job to ease that. There is not a day that goes by in practice that I am not positive, but I still have to coach. I have to push guys to play at a high level.
If it were not for our defense, I do not think we would be in a lot of these games. That has set the table in terms of where we are, but we just have to learn how to finish. I have to help them in that category. Somehow.
Players Mentioned
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